SEIU Bankrupting Santa Barbara
As a politically minded newcomer to Santa Barbara, I began searching for reasons why this city is struggling financially. It didn’t make much sense to me at first; the city’s residents appear to be fairly well-off. The average value of a house was over $1 million in 2007, and the city seems to be weathering the recession better than most of the state. Yet the city still cannot pay the bills.
I’ve discovered the reason, and it wasn’t hard to find.
Many in this city and on the pages of this paper have discussed this issue at length, but never before has it been addressed with all the necessary data compiled into one column. As I looked at these figures with fresh eyes, the case became clear.
Consider that city employee salaries and pensions make up 75 percent of the budget. The average salary for a city employee is approximately $75,000 compared to the city’s private sector average of around $55,000.
In April, the News-Press published a list of more than 100 city employees making over $90,000, even excluding the city’s police and fire departments. The paper held back on publishing the 8-page list of city employees making over $60,000 and the list of past and current employees with pensions over $100,000. The fact that these lists even exist is astonishing.
Plus, the current employees have raises coming their way in the next two years. By looking at these exorbitant salaries and unprecedented benefits, you would never guess that the city is running millions in red ink and that we are in a recession.
Why has the city continued these unsustainable practices? It’s simple, really.
We forget that it is only businesses that are forced to cut back during hard times while the government largess continues to operate from the fruits of those same businesses. When times get tough, government usually looks to make up for lost revenue by raising taxes instead of rolling back its own spending.
This pattern occurs at all levels of government because vested interests don’t want to give up power. In Santa Barbara’s case — as in many cases across the nation — the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) is the strongest of these interest groups.
SEIU Local 620 represents a majority of the city workers in Santa Barbara. The union’s objective is to get as much pay and benefits for their members as possible — an acceptable and even noble goal for a union.
SEIU is no normal union. Nationally it represents millions of workers from various industries who band together financially to bargain effectively with employers. The problem arises when they begin to collude with the government.
In Santa Barbara’s case, SEIU circumvents the normal union-employer battle and simply gives money to the politicians in charge of the budget. When this happens, SEIU ends up on both sides of the negotiating table, leaving the taxpayer unrepresented.
The current and future mayor and three of the six current and one future council member have received substantial campaign contributions from SEIU.
Mayor Marty Blum received $2,000 for her reelection campaign in 2005; Mayor-elect Helene Schneider got $8,500 in 2009 and $5,000 in 2007; Councilman Grant House received $11,500 in 2009; Councilman Das Williams received $5,000 in the 2007 election; Councilman-elect Harwood “Bendy” White received $1,000 this year; Dianne Channing even collected $9,000 in her 2009 losing bid.
This is big money in local elections, and while this is not illegal, it is certainly unscrupulous and shady.
Political action committees (PACs) have been giving money to candidates supportive of their desires for years, leading many people to distrust these special interest groups. SEIU consorts the functions of a PAC and a union; this becomes particularly worrisome when this union represents government workers.
This combination of factors leads to a slavish trust between the city officials and SEIU. The union helps fund campaigns in direct return for higher benefits and salaries for their workers.
Usually, during union negotiations, the people who would be forced to pay the higher salaries are present. The taxpayers appear to be unrepresented or at least under-represented at these talks. The future taxpayers saddled with paying for the pensions of current workers — some of them over $100,000 — are definitely not there.
The good news is that city voters can take steps to change this broken system. The obvious first step is to demand that officials stop taking money from SEIU. The second is to demand reform of the current system.
Not all city employees are overpaid; it would be unwise to make across-the-board cuts. As one recent letter-writer pointed out, some employees have modest salaries and benefits. But in many cases, they have gotten out of hand and must be rolled back.
These changes would ensure a more honest, affordable and sustainable government for the residents of Santa Barbara.
The author is a student at Principia College in St. Louis. He is interning at the News-Press this winter.
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