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Just read the article from the Statesman Journal about the equality of pay between public employees and private sector employees.  Based on the relevant report it is clear that the total compensation is similar.  The difference lies in how it is paid.  Private employees get paid more in actual paycheck while public employees give up the extra money to get the paid medical benefit and partially paid retirement benefit.  There is no easy way to fix the budget issue.  One favorite idea of some like Bill Sizemore is to privatize much of the work being done by the state employees.  Looking around at other states where this has been done I see that on average it does not save money for the state and in certain situations results in an increase in fraud and crime as the private employers do not have the same checks and balances in place that the government agency uses.

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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I am disappointed that the Governor has once again leapt on the "Tax the smokers" bandwagon. This was tried last year. The money brought in by the increase will not cover the cost of the programs being set up and as fewer people smoke, there will be even less money brought in each year. If he really feels that a targeted tax is necessary, he should tax ready to drink coffee. At a nickel per cup sold in Oregon, then I am sure enough money would be brought in to cover the cost of the proposed child healthcare.

On the proposed increase in title and registration fees, this is Oregon, not California. The people who live here do not make enough money to have to pay out $110 per title change and $162 for two years of vehicle registration. Also with the way the law in Oregon is set up, the money collected through DMV fees can only be used on highway projects. I can see an increase in the number of people not bothering to transfer the titles to the cars when they buy them and an increase in the number of cars running around with expired registration. I do support an increase in the gasoline/diesel tax. It has not been raised in quite a few years and a small 2-4 cent increase would be beneficial to maintaining our highways.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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