Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

privatization of municipal jobs

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » Places » Maine Donate to DU
 
luckyleftyme2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 06:55 AM
Original message
privatization of municipal jobs

approx. 4 years ago the town I live in put its garbage rte out to bid. the reason was mainly workers comp. you see unlike many of the municipalities who went with the new vehicles that have only a driver(who seldom has to get out of the truck)hence stopping all the repetitive heavy lifting.
well needless to say the costs have increased to the point that we pay for our bags.
you see its a proven fact that private always raises costs;except for the low ball
initial contract.
you see I base this conclusion on more than speculation, in my younger day I bid more
than one municipal contract. AND I also designed and built more than one street with municipal employees.
the last one was approx 3/4 of a mile which was put out to bid,the lowest bid was over
$250,000. this included 12" gravel base,3" pavement and new culverts.
we done it for less than $100,000! the difference= the employees that built it got benefits like sick leave,retirement,vacation. but their was no profit!there was piece of equipment setting on the project unused and being charged at an hourly rate.their was no entity charging the contractor a bloated fee for equipment. you know the shell game they play to avoid taxes and raise costs.
I love to hear these think we know state their myths, the fact is most non-union contractors bid as much as union contractors on projects
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
Angsty Donating Member (52 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 07:32 AM
Response to Original message
1. Questions
Edited on Wed Oct-03-07 07:32 AM by Angsty
How long is the contract with the private company? Is the private company allowed to raise costs in the middle of a contract? I would hope not! Assuming they can't, why doesn't the town put it out to bid again when the contract is nearing the end and they've been told that costs will go up? Have the costs now exceeded what they could do themselves if they went back to handling trash themselves?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
luckyleftyme2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-06-07 02:12 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. absolutey

of course it has,show me when private is ever cheaper except for a low ball bid.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Angsty Donating Member (52 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-06-07 06:13 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. So...
why don't they dump the current company and put it out to bid again? And if they can do it cheaper themselves now, then why don't they?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
luckyleftyme2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-06-07 08:40 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. now that would be intelligent

now really since when can you get things changed intelligently fast in any group?
example we spend how much each week on war? and we can't afford health care for our people?
do you see any right wing t.v or radio hosts pushing for it? and no i'm not just talking about the local yokel !
the fact is most engineers will tell you that land fills will be future problems and in the long run will cost far more than other means of disposal.
evidently us humans have a trait (let the other guy worry about it,better you than me etc.)to let others clean up our mistakes.
land fills can and do ruin water supplies!
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sat May 04th 2024, 08:47 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Places » Maine Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC