Laserfiche WebLink
• <br />CITY OF <br />FALCON HEIGHTS <br />2077 W. LARPENTEUR AVENUE FALCON HEIGHTS, MN 55113-5594 PHONE (651) 644-5050 FAX (651) 644-8675 <br />March 12, 2003 <br />Senator Ellen Anderson <br />120 Capitol <br />75 Constitution Avenue <br />Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155-1206 <br />Re: Wage freeze proposals <br />Dear Ellen: <br />Our city council respectfully requests that you vehemently oppose the proposed wage <br />freeze for city employees. <br />The city council is held accountable by our voters for making all decisions about how to <br />• most effectively and efficiently manage the delivery of services within Falcon Heights. If <br />the legislature and the governor decide to freeze the wages of public employees, they <br />should limit that action only to state employees and allow local units of government to <br />determine whether or not to do so. Each city council, held accountable by our local <br />voters every two years, should maintain the authority to make spending decisions within <br />the context of our local priorities and resources. <br />Finance Commissioner McElroy has identified Falcon Heights as a model for fiscal <br />management for Minnesota cities. Not only do we maximize limited resources by <br />creative cost sharing contracts, but we also have assembled a highly efficient team of <br />employees who we are striving to retain. In the 1990's, while many other cities were <br />adding staff, we reduced our full time equivalents from 13.9 to 11.7. We have done this <br />while increasing service levels in the areas of public works and communications. A <br />mandated wage freeze puts us at great risk for losing key members of the team we have <br />worked so hard to build. As a small city, our wages are already considerably lower than <br />our larger neighboring suburbs. If the state removes our ability to give our employees <br />any salary or benefit increases for the next two years, we will have no way of retaining <br />key staff. <br />I heard Representative Abrams say that he had been contacted by some city council <br />members from some suburban cities who requested that the legislature help them out with <br />union contract negotiations by mandating wage freezes for city, as well as state, <br />• employees. All cities in Minnesota should not be penalized because a few city councils <br />are not able or willing to exercise appropriate fiscal controls within their own jurisdiction. <br />....~ <br />HOME OF THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR AND THE U OF M ST. PAUL CAMPUS <br />PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER <br />TREE CITY USA <br />