PROSSER -- The Prosser City Council will vote tonight on an ordinance giving nonunion employees a 2 percent cost of living wage increase.
Union employees, according to their contracts, also will receive a 2 percent increase. If the council approves the increase for nonunion employees it would go into effect Jan. 1.
About 80 percent of Prosser's city employees belong to unions, said City Administrator Charlie Bush. The city is renegotiating union contracts with several groups of workers, Bush added.
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Tri-Cities Community Health, union reach contract agreement
Tri-Cities Community Health, union reach contract agreement
After nearly two years of negotiations, workers and management at Tri-Cities Community Health have reached an agreement on a new union contract.
Members of Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 8 voted in favor of the contract this week, officials told the Herald on Friday.
About 94 percent of members who attended the meeting voted yes.
Kennewick cautiously OKs lower property taxes
Kennewick cautiously OKs lower property taxes
Kennewick council members hesitatingly approved Tuesday a slightly lower property tax levy for 2012.
The new rate of $2.11 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which is about a nickel less than this year, includes a
1 percent increase in the amount the city can collect. State law allows the city to add 1 percent to its levy base each year.
But several council members said the 1 percent increase -- about $105,000 -- comes at a bad time for taxpayers.
City council considers increasing utility rates
City council considers increasing utility rates
PROSSER -- The Prosser City Council is considering increasing rates on water, sewer and irrigation service.
Otherwise, the proposed 2012 budget contains few changes from the year before because city officials last year passed a two-year financial blueprint that covers both 2011 and 2012.
Under the proposed budget, water rates would jump by 1 percent, sewer by 3.5 percent and irrigation by 5 percent. Overall, it would mean roughly an extra $2.64 on a monthly bill for an average household.
AGENDAS: Mid-Columbia public meeting schedule
AGENDAS: Mid-Columbia public meeting schedule
Here is a listing of the agendas this week for Mid-Columbia public agencies:
Monday
* Pasco City Council, 7 p.m., city hall, 525 N. Third. Ave.: create a local improvement district in the Kurtzman area on S. Cedar and S. Hugo avenues and E. Alton Street and approve an incentive program to encourage private investment.
FAST FOCUS: We need a strong middle class
FAST FOCUS: We need a strong middle class
The public sector unions have become very relevant in a most detrimental way ever since President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988 in 1962, allowing the unionization of public employees. The symbiotic relationship between the public sector unions and the Democratic Party has driven many state and local governments into near bankruptcy. This has been well documented and need not be discussed further herein.
The private sector unions are another matter however. Their membership has steadily declined over the years whereby it is now less than 12 percent of the workforce due to right to work laws, worker apathy and public revulsion over labor leader excesses. This is unfortunate. Collective bargaining by unions carried out in an ethical and responsible manner is important to our society. Our financial system is highly dependent on a strong middle class. During the past few years the top tier have been earning more and more while the middle class and the underprivileged earnings have stagnated or gone downhill
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