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.
10 comments:
Segarra is no better than his predecessor. Politics is a real dirty business in Hartford. Does Segarra really think he is fooling anybody?
i dont advocate violence but city hall is frankenstein an we should storm it pitchforks an all
I honestly don't know why you live in this city. I wouldn't dare allow my tax money to go to these people. I was seriously considering renting a place to live in the city, then I forgot that I'd have to pay a car tax to these knuckle heads (at what mill rate again?) Nobody seems to care even when you expose them. They might blush a little, but don't deviate from what they were going to do.
I work for the city of Hartford. I give funny looks when people complain about their pay. Working for government, you're supposed to get paid blue collar wages, with the benefit of good medical and a livable retirement pension.
15K as a bonus on a 150K job? Not even in the private sector do you see that kind of bonuses being handed out. Not to mention for all the "stress" and "hazard" he is going to have to go through in his executive government job, he will reap a full medical retirement and pension after a dedicated five years of service.
Oh well best of luck exposing them, I'm seriously doubting the point. Even eddie didn't seem like he was going anywhere until the feds/state swooped in.
Mayor Pedro Segarra and his best friend C.O.O Borges they need to be ashamed of them selves, wasting Taxpayers hard earn money giving out bonuses. The print out is too small to see who's getting these Bonuses, are they the first one on the list, cause I'm sure they are not going to leave themselves out,.It's time that the City Council starts to ask questions and open an investigation,They are both, the City top Lawyers and they are more corrupted then Eddie Perez. What is going on in city hall.Did the title all of a sudden went to their heads or are they paying off everyone to keep their mouth shut while they play games. They need to open up an investigation, or is the Mayor and C.O.O are having an affair behind their mates. Those are the latest rumors in City Hall. The need to stop being lovey dovey and start taking care of the City rssidents. Stop giving people bonuses, they are doing the job that they were supposed to do when they were hired. Stop the corruption now, before it gets out of hand.
I hope the Feds are lookin into this non sense. Maybe pedro and eddie can share a cell at Fort Dix New Jersey, federal prison. And yes, eddie you are going to go sooner or later. Pedro, your book of excuses will not work when the feds come and take your files. Maybe you should quit before more is piled onto the already over flowing fed inquary. ( Land Deal) and also, the excuse that you did not know what you were signing does not fly....at least eddie had better excuses..
Soon Pedro, it will be funny when all your allies turn on you when the feds come knocking, just like rowland, and eddie. Shit flows uphill when its a federal corruption charges. Way to send Htfd into the sewer. Too bad Brookman cant be mayor. At least wooden is smartening up and knows that pedro's days are numbered. What are the chances that htfd has two corrupt mayors in a row...our next mayor will be uncle sam, and hopefully he brings a large enough garbage bag to stuff La Luz and Borgas into it.
After reading all these comments I realized that Eddie Perez did a great Job and he should come back to fix the mess these idiots are causing within the city of Hartford budget. They are drawn the city to backrupcy when Eddie gave so much to the people. of course Eddie was not a lawyer. Scary scenario to see two corrupted lawyers acting together. I won't doubt these corrupted city official have anything to do with Eddie's fate since they were getting ready to get his sit. Soon we will see ugly . Eddie is a saint compared to these two educated criminals. Feds should pay attention to city employees remarks , we have witness so much injustice and enough corruption. It is time to stop it!
I do feel that Eddie was in fact was better than Pedro. Eddie gave a lot to the people in Hartford. He could have been arrogant but he did a good job. He only made a mistake for which he has paid a high price. Now we have not one mistake but we have two consciously corrupted and greedy attorneys manipulating tax payers money for their own profit. Now we are in real danger.
No you are not right. We don't have two corrupted attorneys as city officials, we now have three because attoreny Figueroa has just joined the "Corrupted Elite, inc. & asst's".
To March 22, 2013, 12:51pm
There is nothing wrong living in the City, its the people who we voted in, they the problem, they are the ones that are creating a mess. They are the ones that are suppose to set an example,they cannot be trusted to manage our budget, because they think its play money and can use it as their hearts desire, just like if they were going on a shopping spree.
You are right only in our City you see crap like this. the poor stay poor and the rich get richer, nothing is being done to these bunch of air heads, They need to be exposes and replace with people who wants to see our city progress. Hartford is a beautiful City. I am a City of Hartford employee, born and raised here. In our next Election we have to be very careful who we put in charge. As we see, now we have three top Attorneys and we are still in a big mess. Blame Segarra and his so call leadership. Who is keeping all our budget to paid off his buddies, instead of creating and building our city up. Its time to open up the can of worms and let them loose.
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