Sunnyside Mean Household Income $27,583
October 28, 2008 3 Comments
Lowest Paid Receptionist for the City of Sunnyside Makes $31,656
For reference see the salaries article in the Daily Sun News from 10/27/08.
According to the 2000 US Census, Sunnyside, Washington, had a mean household income of $27,583. 35% of the population lives in poverty. 46% of Sunnyside children under 18 live below the poverty line. These figures are important to keep in mind as we compare them to how our poor, overworked city employees have to scrape by. The city staff only work four days a week. That’s right…four whole days. How many days do you work in a week? If you are like most Americans it will most likely be more than four. O.K. That wasn’t fair of me, was it? After all, the poor civil servants at Sunnyside City Hall don’t make much money, so at least they get a break in only working 80% of even bankers hours.
The public school teachers, of course, get decent compensation. For the complete table of teacher salaries, go here. A teacher with no experience at all, will bring home almost $33,000 the first year. This puts them significantly ahead of the median household income for the city. Not that I am complaining about this, seeing as how a teacher must have a four year degree, and other qualifications. (Also, I am the spouse of a schoolteacher and directly benefit from government largess in this area.)
Recently, the local McDonald’s started running ads in the Daily Sun News advertising the position of Store Manager, with starting pay around $31,000. You can bet that the manager will be expected to put in more than four days a week in that position! In addition, they will have to supervise others, and not just sit by answering the phone when it rings. The Store Manager does not necessarily need a four year degree, but McDonald’s is famous for its Hamburger University, a college level management training course. Is it just me, or does it seem like the lowest paid receptionist for the City of Sunnyside has a pretty good deal going on here? I do not know if a four year degree is required to answer the phone for the City. Perhaps, someone would be kind enough to share that with me in the comments section of the blog.
Multiple patrol officers bring home $50,000+, without having to supervise anyone. Firefighters and paramedics are making $46,000+. Even maintenance workers are making $44,000+. This is happening when the mean household income is $27,583? You bet it is.
Consider what Bill Gant, a career government employee before becoming a City Council Member had to say at last night’s meeting:
”Quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of hearing about the citizens. A lot of times citizens choose crappy lifestyles which lead to crappy lives and that’s the choice they make.”
I guess the 46% of those under 18 living below poverty have crappy lives because of the choices they have made. I suppose private employers don’t pay as much in salaries and benefits as the City of Sunnyside because business owners and citizens have decided crappy lives are better.
Or perhaps our decision to elect people like Bill Gant to City Council is making our city crappy. By the way, Mr. Gant, you and the rest of City Council have yet to balance the budget.
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As we were going to the city council meeting;we went by two police officers with guns pointed at a person as they were putting him to the ground ! I admire these people and the EMS people. Then I have watched the public works department for 40 years. I have seen them working on the airports runway in 105 degree weather. These people work hard. Are they worth what they make? Yes they may be. But the question is can this city afford these wages?
Per Bill Gants words that he is tired of hearing people gripping about wages. Here is the problem. Many of us had children in the high school when Bill Gant was principal. Talking with many others today; we had the same opinion. The way Bill Gant ran the highschool. He would had been fired if it were a public business! Maybe Bill has an ego to fulfill ?
Now if the city council would vote to lower wages 10% as they should have. It would save this city taxpayers well over $400,000.00 per year.
There is talk in the city of Sunnyside that the new city manager will not last. With this council unless he is a puppet. He will not make it. This city has become a socialist ran town. Lets wait until next election. Change is coming.
I received a [phone call] from councilman Bill Gant today chewing me out. He says I took a low blow at him. This councilman that talks with forked tongue says I took a low blow. What about the low blow he took towards the lower class taxpayer in the city of Sunnyside. Mr Gant says everyone picked their own route to education and job. They had a chance of earning as he did. But, here is where Mr Gant talks with forked tongue. I chose to devlope my land he voted not to let me. Bill Gant is spending taxpayers money with the city as he did in his principal post ! Taxpayer monies are welfare monies for the school districts and municipalities. And the majority of these council members do not appreciate the money they get. All I ask is for Bill to represent the people. He is a representative for the people. But, he assumes he knows what they want, more than the taxpayer does. It is a sad situation this community finds themselves in.
I really enjoyed John Fannin’s article in the daily news today. It is one of the better articles written in that paper in a long time. Fannin is a welcomed addition to this normally one sided paper ! I really appreciate what he said about councilman Gant’s outburst towards the crappy people of Sunnyside. Well the crappy voters of Sunnyside elected a crappy representative when they elected him. So the crappy people, as Bill Gant put it, have to put up with this crappy councilman Gant.
The way Gant talked was that I made the wrong decision to stay home and watch my parents while my sibling went to college and got good paying jobs. Yes, I am paying for it. Being crappy Bill Gant and all seven of the crappy council members are keeping me from developing my land in this crappy town with their crappy low intelligence and are more about control than wisdom! But guess what Bill Gant. I like my crappy life and my crappy constant pain ! And I also remember when I had my crappy kids in your crappy high school and you were the crappy principal. That you ran the high school as crappy as you are a crappy city councilman. But the other six councilmembers are doing crappy things against the crappy people of Sunnyside. I guess all our parents were crap to settle in this crappy town. But I remember one thing. This was a great city until you brought your crappy self to this crappy town with the crappy school system. Oh crap; I am getting tired of talking about the crappy councilman Bill Gant. My body hurts like crap and bet I sleep like crap tonight and probably have crappy dreams. Maybe crappy Bill Gant ate crappy chili before the meeting the other night. So, he just had a crappy night and crapped all over the crappy taxpayer that has paid his crappy wages since he moved to the crappy city. Oh crap, crappy Bill Gant really got really set this crappy grouch off about a crappy letter! I am crappy sorry !