Vallejo's Greedy Firemen Wanted 21% Pay Raise

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Vallejo,CA's public sector greed:

Vallejo's finances, already battered by years of trying to meet police and fire department payrolls and pension liability payments, fell under the weight of the housing crisis, which has siphoned off revenue contributed to city coffers through taxes on home sales and property taxes.

At the time of the city's fiscal meltdown, the Vallejo firefighters union was angling for a 21 percent pay increase over the next three years. It's pretty difficult to feel bad for one of the highest-paid agencies in the state.

The local union even has a playbook, written by its parent union, on how to negotiate with municipalities that go belly-up.

The manual, "Surviving an Economic Crisis," is a step-by-step guide for firefighters on everything from how to promote their point of view to negotiating jobs versus firehouses in talks with city officials.

Nowhere in the manual does it talk at all about firefighter unions demanding a level of compensation and benefits so high that it places a municipality at risk.

And what's particularly disconcerting is that many of the same factors that pushed Vallejo beyond the precipice of financial stability are at work in many other cities around the state, including Oakland, where property, real estate transfer taxes and builder permits and fees make up 74 percent of the city's budget.

Your taxes are their high salaries.