Budget waste favors elite

I feel compelled to respond to Jim Camden’s Sunday (Dec. 13) column concerning Spokane County’s union contracts and cost-saving measures.

Surprisingly, some of the issues in the article were very accurate, those being: Contracts are contracts and deals are deals, and those should be honored; to eliminate that, you give something up. That how it’s done, that being said, let’s pinpoint just where the savings really are, and it’s not in wages and benefits of union employees. Do you understand the term “top-heavy”?

To address financial distress, start at the top with over-staffed management positions, transportation provided, car allowances, and the list goes on.

Finally, the last union contract the Road Department signed was not outlandish by any stretch of the imagination but other unions agreed to it. We didn’t, but that is another story.

As put by County Commissioner Todd Mielke, “We (that’s management) thought we cut a good deal,” and boy did they, at our expense.

Ed Ellenz

President, Local 1135, Spokane County Road Department