Wednesday, October 5, 2011

IOU? No! UO Us!

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, formerly the White House Chief of Staff, has suggested to City of Chicago employees that they do something a little out there...pay their parking tickets.

Of course, His @#%*& Honor would like everyone in Chicago to pay their parking tickets, but he has a vested interest in city employees doing so, as their non-payment makes it kind of tough to get regular folks to pony up what they owe. He also has a little bit bigger handle with which to grab them, as a failure to pay or set up a payment plan will result in garnishment of their paychecks. Such a move is certainly a way to make city government a little bit more efficient, since removal of money owed to the city from checks paid by the city is probably a very simple process these days. Wherever he is, Da Honrable Richard J. Daley, Mare a Da Great City a Chicago and All Its Great People, is probably verry jealous of the possibilities for securing contributions offered by the direct-deposit systems many people use these days.

Emanuel has taken it one step more, though, as city employees who owe more than $1,000 will result in even bigger savings because they will be dismissed. Chicago's municipal code prevents the hiring of someone who is in debt to the city. This means in the strict fiscal sense, of course, as city employees since the time of Da Mare and before knew darn well who they were indebted to and what they owed for the jobs they had.

The story at the link details which city departments are the worst in paying. The CTA or Chicago Transit Authority owes the most, while the mayor's executive staff owes the least. More than one-fifth of the former will be writing some new checks soon, while only one person in the different mayoral offices has some @#%*& 'splainin' to do. Of course, the story was filed Tuesday. I'm betting that guy doesn't owe anything anymore.

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