Phoenix taxpayers spend millions of dollars to pay full salary and benefits for city employees to work exclusively for labor unions, a Goldwater Institute investigation found.

Collective bargaining agreements with seven labor organizations require the city to pay union officers and provide members with thousands of additional hours to conduct union business instead of doing their government jobs.

The total cost to Phoenix taxpayers is about $3.7 million per year, based on payroll records supplied by the city. In all, more than 73,000 hours of annual release time for city workers to conduct union business at taxpayers’ expense are permitted in the agreements.

The top officials in all of the unions have regular jobs with the city. But buried in the labor agreements are a series of provisions for those employees to be released from their regular duties to perform union work.

For top officers, the typical amount of annual release time is 2,080 hours, a full year of work based on 52 weeks at 40 hours each. They continue to draw full pay and benefits, just as if they were showing up for their regular jobs. But they are released from their regular duties to conduct undefined union business.

Union officials say the time is a good investment that leads to a more productive workforce. Critics say it amounts to an illegal gift of taxpayer money.

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By ColdWarrior

Original post: http://goo.gl/LI1ht

I live in a city that borders Phoenix, Arizona. Yesterday was the last day to cast a vote in the Phoenix city government election, in which those city residents who bothered to register to vote could cast a vote for their next mayor, for their city council representative, and for two ballot initiatives. (Only about 5/8 of the residents, though, got to vote for a city council representative, as only half of the eight slots are voted upon every two years. As one of the mayoral candidates had stepped down from one of the council seats not up for election this year, that district also had an election.)

The Phoenix city government currently grapples with many problems, including bloated government bureaucracies, public employee pension funding shortfalls, etc. And things are so bad, that a whopping 15% of those registered to vote bothered to cast a ballot for their elected city representatives. Unfortunately, the “tea party” candidate for Phoenix

Former Councilman Greg Stanton is headed to a fall showdown against newcomer Wes Gullett in a runoff election that will determine the next mayor of Phoenix. 

Unofficial results in the Phoenix election Tuesday night showed Gullett and Stanton as the top two vote-getters in the six-way race, with no one earning the more than 50 percent needed to win the mayor’s seat outright.

Stanton landed at the top, early results showed, as the only Democrat in the officially nonpartisan mayor’s race.

Gullett likely benefited from a split vote among all the remaining candidates, who are Republicans. Two of them, like Stanton, have City Council experience: Peggy Neely and Claude Mattox.

Gullett used that fact to position himself as an outsider who would be more willing to make changes at City Hall. The campaign also featured candidates Anna Brennan and Jennifer Wright, a “tea party” favorite.

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Today is the last day to vote in city elections in Surprise and Phoenix.

Surprise voters will elect a mayor and three City Council members. Phoenix voters will decide the race for mayor, five of eight City Council seats and two ballot measures.

Unofficial election results for both cities are expected to be released shortly after 8 p.m.

So far in Phoenix, 105,000-plus voters have turned in their early mail-in ballots and more than 5,600 have voted in person for the Phoenix mayor and council election.

The 110,600-plus ballots cast so far mean the city already has surpassed the nearly 98,000 ballots cast in the last mayoral race four years ago.

Nearly 17 percent of 646,787 voters have cast ballots so far in the Phoenix election, close to the 18.6 percent total turnout reported in the last mayoral election in September 2007.

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With the voting period under way for the Phoenix mayoral election, one candidate has put into action the platform she stands on.  That candidate is republican candidate, Jennifer Wright. 

Thursday, August 25, found Wright surrounded by dozens of her supporters enjoying a meal that one could only describe as family style-spaghetti, with homemade sauce, and fresh salad.  Simple, elegant, and to the point, a description that matches this Phoenix based attorney.

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Ms. Wright entered Caffe Italia, located at 4201 E. 7thAvenue in Phoenix, followed by her husband and two small children.  The festivities continued for several hours amidst laughter, well wishing, and positive thoughts for Tuesday night. 

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2011 City of Phoenix Elections

Mayor and Council Election

• Mayor and Council Election
  Voting begins at voting center locations on Saturday, August 27, 2011 and continues on Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30.

Beginning in 2011, City voters in City of Phoenix elections no longer are required to vote at a specified polling place in the voter’s precinct. Traditional polling places have been replaced with voting centers. Any voter can use any one of the 26 voting centers to cast a ballot and the voting centers will be open for voting for THREE DAYS. For voting convenience, in addition to Election Day, the voting centers will be open on the Saturday and Monday prior to Election Day.

Voters may also use voting centers to obtain replacement early ballots or to drop off voted early ballots.

Voting Hours: For voting convenience, voting centers will be open on the following three days.

• Saturday, August 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Monday, August 29, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Tuesday, August 30 (Election Day), 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Election results will be available on August 30 beginning at 8 PM on Phoenix.gov and on Qwest and Cox cable channel 11.

CITY OF PHOENIX VOTING CENTER LOCATIONS

Phoenix mayoral candidate Jennifer Wright unveiled today her ten-point contract with Phoenicians putting taxpayers first in city governance and eliminating the influence of special interests in City Hall. 

“Jennifer is truly a citizen candidate with no questionable ties to lobbyists, developers, unions, or other special interests groups that rob tax dollars for pet projects,” stated Ami Francisco, Wright’s campaign manager. “For once, we have a candidate that is not interested in personal gain, but in restoring prosperity for Phoenicians.”

Under to the Wright Contract, Wright has committed to eliminate the food tax while safeguarding essential services, end the practicing of subsidizing big business at the expense of small, remove burdensome barriers to business growth and development, and end sanctuary city policies.