Mono County Assessor Jody Henning handed in a letter of resignation at the end of May. Today the Mono Supervisors were expected to talk about replacement of Henning and her assistant, Chris Lyon, who also resigned.
With the resignation of two top officials in one department, members of the public have asked if the Assessor’s office has problems. At least one supervisor does not believe there are concerns. Sierra Wave Media spoke to Supervisor Larry Johnston who referred us to Henning’s letter of resignation. In that letter, Henning writes that she will resign effective June 28th to “pursue other professional opportunities.”
Henning says she was elected in 2008 and as a result the Assessor’s office, she said, is “more professional and accountable” to taxpayers. Prior to Henning’s election, past Assessor Jim Lovett was the subject of a re-call election and a Grand Jury report. He had faced accusations of drinking on the job and failure to come to work. He was also arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in a county car. Lovett retired, and Henning won the election.
The Mono Supervisors’ agenda says that officials will consider options of dealing with the two resignations. They may consider re-organization and options for hiring and filling the vacancies. Mono County did send out a job flyer for the Assistant Assessor job.
Supervisor Johnston said that he understands the tax roll is close to done and will soon be posted.”
I totally agree with you, “just one.” There are many fine people who through no fault of their own must allow their union stewards to baby miscreant government employees who get away with … everything. And now to make things worse, we have elected officials who made out like bandits… Read more »
As Bennet points out, the government needs to cut back just like private business. The country of Greece is having a hard time swallowing the austerity pill. Greece as an exmaple has a negative GDP yet a high percentage on a per capita basis of the population is employed by… Read more »
There are cases where government union employees are clearly not pulling their load and taking advantage of every situation, ie., sick days on Fridays and Mondays, they can think of, minimum work every day, yet it is nearly impossible to terminate these slackers due to the power of the union.… Read more »
It means alot, mostly to those public union servants that WORK their butts off for the public. The ones that get the job done, the ones who get lumped in with the bad. The ones who have to take it and deal with it. The ones who honestly care about… Read more »
Just one, yes your right everyone sees the slackers and they want to fire everyone .. send em down the road kicking horse turds. there are many who give it their best and care about what they do, an in any sector.
Hey John, you got a couple of interesting points. One is Austerity actions…it has been shown that ‘austerity’ is actually detrimental to recovery…ie. you need people to be able to spend money to get a country out of recession…thus in basic economics you are taught about about deficit spending as… Read more »
Good post John
“The scale of these layoffs or compensation cuts would dramatically reduce the quality of public services.” I think we need to ask our selves if we’ve been getting our monies worth in the first place. I don’t think so. Same applies to education. Why throw more money at something when… Read more »
Expenditures must equal revenues; otherwise a state faces a budget deficit. States spend money on many things, from employees to roads to building maintenance. If public employee compensation is a huge drag on state budgets, then this trend would likely show up in the data on state expenditures on government… Read more »
Not sure if that’s a correct conclusion. Check out this Reuter’s News Service report on pension costs: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-economy-california-pension-payments-idUSBRE84G01J20120517. The California Legislative Analyst Office reports that in 2009-2010, California had roughly 357,000 full time employees at a cost of $22.2 billion. You have to look closer to know whether employee expenditures… Read more »
“Bureaucrat Beat by Benett Kessler”
This as they say, should say it all.
“You have to look closer to know whether employee expenditures are a problem”
Tell that to the Mono supervisor who insists it is THE problem.
Evidently he has looked at it, and has decreed “Off with their heads!”
Public employees are an easy target PV .. easier to cut their pay than cut social services .. and that is a can of worms too hot to touch .. but politicians will not touch that can .. just go after the public employees .. because everyone thinks they are… Read more »
And the school kids .. yes cut them as well .. they are easy targets too .. Oh and by the way .. why did we get a state lottery? Wasn’t for schools .. obviously.
What do you mean .. in regard to education Rob .. just asking .. expand on that .. might be a good discussion.
It is clear that public-sector compensation is not spiraling out of control, yet government workers will probably need to make additional sacrifices to help states with severe shortfalls balance their budgets. But if policymakers do attempt to reduce their budget deficit by cutting solely public employee compensation—rather than by considering… Read more »
If you do the research you will find that the public sector — government jobs at all levels — have decreased and private sector jobs have been increasing for over two years. The private sector may not be “fine” in your particular situation, but it’s a lot better than it… Read more »
Government employees and public-sector unions are the folks conservatives love to tar for the unpleasant fiscal situation in state and local governments. But there is little evidence that government workers or public-sector unions are responsible for budget deficits. Employee compensation has remained a constant share of state expenditures, and state… Read more »
It is highly unlikely that a blanket anti-authority/anti-supervisor POV that is spreading everywhere, is going to result in increased morale, civility, and overall peace of mind in a community. History will show you how quickly thugs can take over and rile everyone up unnecessarily when a cooler heads prevailing should… Read more »
It isn’t too hard to figure out that the whole County is suffering from poor management and supervision! Every entity is losing employees and having issues due to the Department Heads that govern them. Just today there were printed stories about issues with the Assessors office, Airport management, and the… Read more »
Mono County should consider contracting for Law Enforcement services with the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. By all accounts they have a Chief who has turned the department around and is doing a good job. MLPD could take care of much of the south county, Lee Vining, June Lake, Crowley Lake… Read more »
The money Larry Johnston is maniacally claiming to save from reducing the salaries of qualified people will never go back to the taxpayer. Ever. It will go into the coffers of the county. The taxpayers will see not one penny they think is going back to them. The only thing… Read more »
Johnston’s M.O. is to reduce every manager’s salary, take away travel expenses and convince the other board members to go along with this. This is fair to Johnston even though he took the same perks when he as a county manager. Hypocrisy? You be the judge. The result wil be… Read more »
I have to reply on these critiques. Times are hard. Revenues are down. Many people have lost jobs or are losing income in their businesses. Government has to downsize the same way private business, and individuals, must. Attacking Supervisor Johnston may miss the point – change is needed. Clearly, some… Read more »
“It Can’t Happen Here” is a semi-satirical American political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935. It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement “patriotic” and creates his own militia (the Minute Men or “MM”, paralleling Hitler’s “SS”) and takes unconstitutional power after winning election —… Read more »
“Your personal attacks on Johnston seem …” I am quite sure Mr. Johnston is a good man and means well. However in the political realm it is evident Mr. Johnston is obsessed with the reduction of every supervisor’s salary in Mono County and now we have newly elected supervisors who… Read more »
My hope is that those who comment will site facts and details that back up opinions rather than mere attacks.
Then we can have a reasoned debate about issues. As for what Mr. and Mrs. Johnston may have been paid, frankly,
that was then and this is now.
Benett Kessler
“what Mr. and Mrs. Johnston may have been paid, frankly, that was then and this is now.” With all due respect, it is my belief that politicians who have the “do as I say – not as I do” comes into play here. Suggesting people with college degrees in supervisory… Read more »
But I thought “the private sector is doing fine”. Milk came out of my nose and I almost strained an abdominal muscle when the President said that the other day.
Just kidding BK you hit it right on the head.