Your Phoenix government rulers think you should be proud of them because they reduced the cost of an average employee down by a measly 0.7 percent or $640 from $97,707 to the current $97,063.

As a weekly wage that average salary of $97,063 is a measly $1,866 a week. And if you assume these government bureaucrats work 40 hour weeks that is a measly $46.66 per hour.

According to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon the average salary of a Phoenix employee is only $60,104. The $97,063 figure includes benefits. Wow! Almost $40,000 a year in benefits, well $36,959 in benefits to be exact.

I bet many of your are so proud of our Phoenix rulers that you think they should be strung up from street lights.

Source

Phoenix saves $108.3 million in worker costs, figures show

by Lynh Bui - Jan. 2, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

The average cost of an employee in Phoenix has gone down this year by more than $640.

Phoenix has saved more than $108.3 million in employee costs for the 2010-11 fiscal year by reducing positions, cutting salaries and requiring furloughs.

The figures come from the city's Budget and Research Department, which analyzes employee costs every December. The information also comes at a time when elected officials have been fighting over whether Phoenix spends too much on its employees.

Assistant City Manager Ed Zuercher said the savings come from wage reductions and the shrinking of the labor force.

"When you eliminate more than 2,000 positions, you're going to cut costs," Zuercher said.

While there have been some layoffs, most of the workforce reductions have come from keeping positions vacant when someone retires or leaves a city job. Phoenix employees also took 3.2 to 4.3 percent wage cuts, saving the city an estimated $50.3 million for the next two years.

Phoenix's employee head count has dropped from 16,698 at its peak in 2008 to about 14,531 in 2010.

According to the latest figures, the estimated cost per employee has gone down 0.7 percent to $97,063, from $97,707. These figures don't reflect the average salary of employees but show total costs including wages, benefits, overtime pay, pensions, health insurance, uniform allowances and other items.

"These savings continue to show how serious we've been in terms of reducing the burden to our residents and still deliver them quality services," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said.

Gordon and Councilman Sal DiCiccio have been sparring over city spending on employees. DiCiccio has insisted the city should outsource more services and reduce the labor force because the city spends on an average of about $100,000 on an employee annually. But Gordon has said employees are not overpaid and that an average employee earns about $60,104 annually.

DiCiccio says costs still need to go down compared with what the city was spending per employee before. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, Phoenix had 15,649 positions on the books, with each costing an average of $80,347. In 2009-10, the city had budgeted for about the same number of full-time positions, 15,622, but the average cost per employee was $97,707. Employee raises continue to drive up costs, he said.

Zuercher said the jump in 2009-10 reflects labor contracts and wage increases that were negotiated with employee unions and associations before the economic downturn. Much of that increase is the result of increased public-safety hiring. The city cut wages, but DiCiccio said much of that is canceled out because it will give out $27.5 million in merit and longevity pay this year.

Gordon insists that the city has been doing "more with less."

"The numbers speak for themselves, and anybody who says we've been doing otherwise is either not paying attention or lying," Gordon said.