I am not sure Mayor Segarra has not grown out of touch with his constituents. To try to justify a $10,000 bonus to one of his buddy's who is already making over a $150,000 a year salary doesn't sit well with most residents I have spoke with. One former City employee I spoke with yesterday was telling me how glad they were spring was here because they were struggling to pay their heating bills. Other seniors tell the stories of cutting expenses to pay for medications.
Those are the realities Hartford resident's face., City hall employees who actually show up for work and do the jobs they were hired to do are handsomely rewarded with bonuses. But at City Hall , the orchestra is still playing loudly on the Lido Deck as that first iceberg begins scraping the hull and impending disaster should appear obvious to anyone watching.
The iceberg begins to rip open the hull ,mainly because Captain Segarra was in his quarters signing ESI bonus checks. His Media spokesperson runs below decks frantically trying to close the watertight doors to prevent as much damage as possible, but the damage has already been done. City Hall is taking on water and beginning to list to port side.
Luckily the Mayor's Cabinet members were already on deck and they are able to shove their way into the lifeboats, leaving Hartford's residents sitting in the deckchairs as the icewater comes up around their ankles.
The fate of the residents of Hartford is sealed because the life boats are full and they have no where to go except listen to the Band playing as their futures slip away.
While the media spokesperson was trying to seal the watertight doors, she was also meeting other people at the railing, myself included to explain that Segarra wasn't nearly as reckless as his predecessors and the whole story needed to be told.
Segarra's ESI bonuses were more palatable because they were a fraction of his predecessor, Eddie Perez. Perez had a high annual figure $179,484 while Segarra's highest was a mere $38,184.
While I looked at the list it was interesting to me that with the exception of one assistant Police Chief, there appeared to be no bonuses to any police officers or firefighters, some police officers who had actually been shot in the line of duty. Now to me that would be exceptional service. But then again they know what the salary is when they accept the job, and getting shot, unfortunately is part of the job they accept when they sign on and the salary they agree to.
Why that same thinking doesn't apply to a department head making $150,000 dollars a year is beyond me, They were hired to do a job, now do it and be happy with your salary, if not, get out the wanted ads.
The rhetoric continued this afternoon as another press release was fired off, seeming to blame the criticism of the Mayor on a Councilman who has a political agenda. Maybe, just maybe the Councilman might have a little bit better gauge of the public sentiment regarding bonuses given out by a cash strapped City. The release even took a shot at the Councilman's assistant because she received an ESI.
MAYOR
SEGARRA STATEMENT ON EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE INCREMENTS (ESI)
--- NEWS AND
COMMUNITY STATEMENT---
(March 21, 2013) – Mayor
Pedro E. Segarra released the following statement regarding ESI’s for City
employees:
“To suggest that we don’t take Hartford’s fiscal challenges
seriously is completely false and inconsistent with every financial decision
I’ve made since the day I took office. The ESI’s are just that; compensation for
additional responsibilities or the delivery of services that goes above and
beyond the usual. The average ESI amount is $2,000 and they fall within the
allotted payroll budget that is approved by Council. We follow a judicious
process that involves a series of interdepartmental approvals, all within the
parameters set forth by Human Resources.
“To juxtapose them with the 14 individuals who were laid off is
false advertising. The layoffs were a result of not securing $1MM in employee
concessions; part of Council's unanimously approved budget. The ESI’s are
distributed only after thoughtful consideration, many of those employees have
also taken furlough days; questioning them suddenly undermines their hard work,
including Mr. Kennedy’s assistant who received one in 2011.
“My administration is focused on real solutions to our fiscal
challenges, such as reducing department budgets, updating salary classifications
and salary ranges, attracting and developing businesses, restructuring our debt,
and stabilizing our finances. Unfortunately, some have short memories; my
comments opposing an ESI in 2010 were made when the aggregate value was over
$100,000 per year, the unemployment rate was higher and one person received
$11,000 after resigning. I’ve substantially decreased the amounts compared to
the previous administration and we’re considering deferring them altogether next
year. I’ve said this before. This political posturing distracts from the real
work being done to balance the budget and move our City forward.”
The final sentence claims that "This political posturing distracts from the real work being done to balance the budget and move our City forward.” But the question to me is who is actually doing the political posturing. Councilman Kennedy's assistant Georgianna "Jean" Holloway fired back her own explanation this afternoon.
