Writer shares his statement of concerns about City’s employee contract votes, Tuesday night

Dear Editor:

Following is the statement I gave to the Antioch City Council, tonight.

I question if you really care about this city over your personal, political wants. By paying labor agreements that lack actual funding, is a knife in the back of Antioch before you are out the door. I hope the labor unions that you have talked to fully understand how bankruptcy of a city can impact personal incomes. Tonight, you’re putting Antioch in a position of almost certain bankruptcy.

We already carry major unfunded debt on our books and now you add an additional burden for your successors to deal with. And that can only be seen as a political move.

I figure if you lay this groundwork tonight and hurt this city, as I know you will, you then as the knights in shining armor, can ride back in during the next elections and pretend to save the day.

Tonight you plan on taking advantage of a city that is already bruised, battered, underfunded and unsafe, for what purpose? For the betterment of our city? Or for the appeasement of your political base and to grease the skids for your future election.

Hold off any vote and let the new council decide what is best in managing the budget as they will hold the responsibility and accountability to our city and its future.

Fred Rouse

Antioch


2 Comments to “Writer shares his statement of concerns about City’s employee contract votes, Tuesday night”

  1. Julio says:

    This was a huge mistake they have made since CALPers is going to double the cities retirement payments immediately. Seems CALPers is paying out more money than it is taking in so we the taxpayer has to bail them out. Bad news for a city that cannot make their payments anyway.

  2. Andrew says:

    Great points Fred.
    It’s been a perfect storm for Democrats and unions in Antioch for quite a while. Whether a person is happy or unhappy regarding the path of Antioch, there’s no disputing this city has been run by Democrats with very, very strong ties to unions.
    We’ve had a Democratic majority from almost all decision makers, including our schools, the counties Section 8, our liberal court system, Democratic State and County Leaders, etc..
    Fred, if I’d have known you felt this way, I probably would have helped your campaign last month.

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