This stuff is all union sponsored fodder to see if they can fend off budget cutting. In so cal we would have all the money for this stuff if we were not paying retirees 100k+ a year plus bennies plus COLA increases in retirement for 40 yrs. Arnie already tried this scare tactic to pass prop 1A which voters fortunately snuffed out.
It’s unbelievable to me that there is so much negativity and so little positive thought to solving some of our challenges.
Fireman’s Fund should be congratulated for their efforts to contribute to solutions and I hope that others mimic their attitude and give back to their communities.
Everyone in the insurance industry should be supporting the fire service. There is not a policy we write that isn’t one way or another influenced by the actions of the brave men and women who make up the fire and rescue service in this country. These are the folks who not only help reduce property loss ratio’s but their actions also reduce the medical expenses in comp, auto, gl etc. Yes, the Firemens Fund is to be commended. I wonder why other carriers aren’t doing the same?
70% of all firefighters in this county are VOLUNTEERS. Yes, city firefighters are paid well, but many of US, do this for free. I’ve been an agent for 27 years and an unpaid firefighter for 15 years. Out of the 42 departments in our county, only CDF and the forest service are paid. As a matter of fact, north of Sacramento, there are only a few paid departments,Redding, Chico and Red Bluff. Outside of So Cal many departments are under funded. Our county is the fourth largest(area wise) in California, over 6000 square miles. My brother,and all others who work for Caltrans, have accepted a 10% pay cut, while CDF has accepted a 15% pay cut.
we would like more volunteers or like in Ronhert park “public safety” people that do both law enf and fire. The problem is govt unions. they have bankrupt the system. read on http://www.californiapensionreform.com/calpers/
Oh and “cuts” in govt speak usually mean no planned increases…not real cuts. Let the budget war between the taxpayers and the govt unions begin.
State Senator Tom McClintock (R., Thousand Oaks), who holds a razor-thin lead for a Congressional seat from the Sacramento area, ended his Sacramento career with the following words:
Sen. McClintock: …The recession does not explain why it is that we have spent $11 billion more than we have taken in during this past twelve months…With respect to taxes…the Republican opposition to taxes is not ideological, it is not political, it is practical. As a practical matter, this course has been tried and it was proven to be a disaster. In the first quarter of 1991, the national recession officially ended. In the third quarter of 1991, the Pete Wilson administration imposed the biggest tax increase in the history of this or any state. And in the fourth quarter of 1991, we saw the biggest plunge in retail sales that we had suffered in any time in the prior 30 years. In the following two years, our revenues did not go up; in fact, they declined a billion dollars a year…
The final and most important point that I want to make…is because I want to avail myself of this one last opportunity to try to get through to the majority on this point. I agree with you. Line item reductions, cuts alone, will not bridge this gap. They would have a couple of years ago but we have long past that fiscal tipping point. What we are talking about is redesigning these systems.
Mention was made to the Pat Brown administration. I challenge every one of you to go back and reflect upon what this state produced as services during the Pat Brown administration. We were offering a free university education to every Californian who wanted it. We had the finest highway system in the world…We were producing electricity and water so cheaply that many communities didn’t bother to measure the stuff. If you look back at that administration, you will find that we were spending about half, inflation and population adjusted, what we’re spending today, about 2/3 as a percentage of personal income of what we we’re spending today. You have to look at the way that money was being spent…
We have grossly centralized and bureaucratized and unionized [government’s] service delivery systems over the past forty years and that is why we have reached a paradox where despite record levels of spending and record levels of taxes, we can’t seem to scrape together enough money to build a decent road system or educate our kids or protect our families from predators…
Please consider that it is not what we are spending but the way we are spending it that has been the problem and that’s going to require not reforming these bureaucracies but redesigning and replacing them, and the sooner we get to it, the better.
You’ve got to love surveys taken by insurance companies. With ONLY 30% of fire department’s responding the results are far from conclusive – actually only anecdotal. I can only imagine where these fire departments are located – certainly not in communities where firefighters, police and sheriffs are represented by powerful public employee unions.
While I am sure the departments that responding to the survey might be indeed suffering, I think most of us are tired of Armageddon happening if we don’t open up our wallets. I’m suffering, too. The revenue at my company is off 30% since 2007. We have had to reduce staff and freeze expenditures.
It’s kind of funny, though. Fireman’s Fund, the company that conducted the survey, are headquartered in California where the “average” public employee makes $75,000 a year. Don’t get me started on the firefighters – one City of Los Angeles firefighter made close to $575,000 in regular and overtime pay over three. Have I mentioned benefits and pensions? Moreover, in California, where the “real” unemployment rate is close to 14%, there have been no reductions or layoffs in the public sector.
This stuff is all union sponsored fodder to see if they can fend off budget cutting. In so cal we would have all the money for this stuff if we were not paying retirees 100k+ a year plus bennies plus COLA increases in retirement for 40 yrs. Arnie already tried this scare tactic to pass prop 1A which voters fortunately snuffed out.
What do you expect a survey of anyone to say?…”we are fine and being paid too much in a time of recession”?
It’s unbelievable to me that there is so much negativity and so little positive thought to solving some of our challenges.
Fireman’s Fund should be congratulated for their efforts to contribute to solutions and I hope that others mimic their attitude and give back to their communities.
Everyone in the insurance industry should be supporting the fire service. There is not a policy we write that isn’t one way or another influenced by the actions of the brave men and women who make up the fire and rescue service in this country. These are the folks who not only help reduce property loss ratio’s but their actions also reduce the medical expenses in comp, auto, gl etc. Yes, the Firemens Fund is to be commended. I wonder why other carriers aren’t doing the same?
70% of all firefighters in this county are VOLUNTEERS. Yes, city firefighters are paid well, but many of US, do this for free. I’ve been an agent for 27 years and an unpaid firefighter for 15 years. Out of the 42 departments in our county, only CDF and the forest service are paid. As a matter of fact, north of Sacramento, there are only a few paid departments,Redding, Chico and Red Bluff. Outside of So Cal many departments are under funded. Our county is the fourth largest(area wise) in California, over 6000 square miles. My brother,and all others who work for Caltrans, have accepted a 10% pay cut, while CDF has accepted a 15% pay cut.
we would like more volunteers or like in Ronhert park “public safety” people that do both law enf and fire. The problem is govt unions. they have bankrupt the system. read on http://www.californiapensionreform.com/calpers/
Oh and “cuts” in govt speak usually mean no planned increases…not real cuts. Let the budget war between the taxpayers and the govt unions begin.
State Senator Tom McClintock (R., Thousand Oaks), who holds a razor-thin lead for a Congressional seat from the Sacramento area, ended his Sacramento career with the following words:
Sen. McClintock: …The recession does not explain why it is that we have spent $11 billion more than we have taken in during this past twelve months…With respect to taxes…the Republican opposition to taxes is not ideological, it is not political, it is practical. As a practical matter, this course has been tried and it was proven to be a disaster. In the first quarter of 1991, the national recession officially ended. In the third quarter of 1991, the Pete Wilson administration imposed the biggest tax increase in the history of this or any state. And in the fourth quarter of 1991, we saw the biggest plunge in retail sales that we had suffered in any time in the prior 30 years. In the following two years, our revenues did not go up; in fact, they declined a billion dollars a year…
The final and most important point that I want to make…is because I want to avail myself of this one last opportunity to try to get through to the majority on this point. I agree with you. Line item reductions, cuts alone, will not bridge this gap. They would have a couple of years ago but we have long past that fiscal tipping point. What we are talking about is redesigning these systems.
Mention was made to the Pat Brown administration. I challenge every one of you to go back and reflect upon what this state produced as services during the Pat Brown administration. We were offering a free university education to every Californian who wanted it. We had the finest highway system in the world…We were producing electricity and water so cheaply that many communities didn’t bother to measure the stuff. If you look back at that administration, you will find that we were spending about half, inflation and population adjusted, what we’re spending today, about 2/3 as a percentage of personal income of what we we’re spending today. You have to look at the way that money was being spent…
We have grossly centralized and bureaucratized and unionized [government’s] service delivery systems over the past forty years and that is why we have reached a paradox where despite record levels of spending and record levels of taxes, we can’t seem to scrape together enough money to build a decent road system or educate our kids or protect our families from predators…
Please consider that it is not what we are spending but the way we are spending it that has been the problem and that’s going to require not reforming these bureaucracies but redesigning and replacing them, and the sooner we get to it, the better.
You’ve got to love surveys taken by insurance companies. With ONLY 30% of fire department’s responding the results are far from conclusive – actually only anecdotal. I can only imagine where these fire departments are located – certainly not in communities where firefighters, police and sheriffs are represented by powerful public employee unions.
While I am sure the departments that responding to the survey might be indeed suffering, I think most of us are tired of Armageddon happening if we don’t open up our wallets. I’m suffering, too. The revenue at my company is off 30% since 2007. We have had to reduce staff and freeze expenditures.
It’s kind of funny, though. Fireman’s Fund, the company that conducted the survey, are headquartered in California where the “average” public employee makes $75,000 a year. Don’t get me started on the firefighters – one City of Los Angeles firefighter made close to $575,000 in regular and overtime pay over three. Have I mentioned benefits and pensions? Moreover, in California, where the “real” unemployment rate is close to 14%, there have been no reductions or layoffs in the public sector.