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    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Jason B.
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    • Post n°1

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Jason B. Sat May 21, 2011 1:13 am

    (AP) – Life is good for the full-time lifeguard staff at California's Newport Beach, or at least it was, until someone caught a glimpse of their paychecks. Since a newspaper editorialized about salaries, benefits, and overtime pay that in at least two instances top $200,000 (with $400 for sun protection), a swell of anger from beachgoers and budget-watchers has blindsided the lifeguards. Only about half of that paycheck is salary, the rest is in the perks; after adding in overtime, special compensation, pension—Newport Beach's lifeguards can retire at 50 with 90% of their salary—medical benefits, and life insurance, even the lowest-paid officer made more than $98,000. The news comes as the city struggles to rein in pension costs.

    Those whose salaries are in question point out that they hold management roles, have decades of service and are considered public safety employees under the fire department. "Unfortunately, there's a lot of disinformation out there. People get this idea that we're talking about 17-year-old kids in lifeguard towers making $200,000 and that's not correct," said the president of a lifeguards’ union. "We're professional level. Lifeguarding here is different than any other place in the entire world."



    http://www.newser.com/story/119029/newport-beach-lifeguards-make-200k-a-year.html
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    • Post n°2

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty Re: CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 10:39 am

    LOL. They wanna cut people's pensions....but there is no uproar over CEO's making tens of millions of dollars a year and getting bonuses that stump the yearly salary of these lifeguards and everybody else when THEY are the ones who don't do shit. So freaking what. If these lifeguards can make that kind of money, then let them.
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    • Post n°3

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty Re: CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Alan Smithee Sat May 21, 2011 10:48 am

    Nystyle709 wrote:LOL. They wanna cut people's pensions....but there is no uproar over CEO's making tens of millions of dollars a year and getting bonuses that stump the yearly salary of these lifeguards and everybody else when THEY are the ones who don't do shit. So freaking what. If these lifeguards can make that kind of money, then let them.

    Oh I think there is an uproar over CEO salaries but those aren't paid by taxpayers. Not directly anyway. Still, I guess we can make "Become a CA lifeguard" to Tony's list of how to become a millionaire. Does that really seem right?
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    • Post n°4

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty Re: CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 11:15 am

    alan smithee wrote:
    Nystyle709 wrote:LOL. They wanna cut people's pensions....but there is no uproar over CEO's making tens of millions of dollars a year and getting bonuses that stump the yearly salary of these lifeguards and everybody else when THEY are the ones who don't do shit. So freaking what. If these lifeguards can make that kind of money, then let them.

    Oh I think there is an uproar over CEO salaries but those aren't paid by taxpayers. Not directly anyway. Still, I guess we can make "Become a CA lifeguard" to Tony's list of how to become a millionaire. Does that really seem right?

    What's not right? These employees are public servants. So yes, their salaries are funded by taxpayers. You want to attack the pensions of people who dedicated years of public service to you. A lifeguard at this beach could work there for 20, 30 years and NEVER make the kind of money the CEO of Morgan Stanley makes in a year OR the kind of money he gets just for a Christmas bonus. They've piggybacked their salaries off of taxpayers and they've done nothing to contribute to public service. Unless you wanna count employing illegal immigrants to clean their mansions, landscape their lawns and watch their kids. And furthermore, the lifeguards aren't making 200k working a standard 40 hr week. They are putting in overtime to make that kind money. Working holidays, weekends, I'm sure putting in 60 and 70 hr weeks, sometimes more, and don't hardly see their families just to bring home a check that would pay their mortgage and at least live comfortably in this wretched economy. They have to work for that 200k. If you can become a millionaire playing basketball, why the uproar of becoming a millionaire saving someone's life? And that's just speaking theoretically. They might make 200k, but I'm sure they don't see it.
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    • Post n°5

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty Re: CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Shale Sat May 21, 2011 11:30 am

    Nystyle709 wrote:
    alan smithee wrote:

    Oh I think there is an uproar over CEO salaries but those aren't paid by taxpayers. Not directly anyway. Still, I guess we can make "Become a CA lifeguard" to Tony's list of how to become a millionaire. Does that really seem right?

    What's not right? These employees are public servants. So yes, their salaries are funded by taxpayers. You want to attack the pensions of people who dedicated years of public service to you. ...

    The point being that the outrageous excesses of private enterprise has nothing to do with what we the taxpayers support (And you see the outrage when we taxpayers had to bail out the banks and other 'rich' businesses to ward off a depression - I hope someone makes them give us all our money back).

    The fact that a median wage is under $40K a year and our "public servants" are making way more than we who are struggling to support them is the issue here. It has come to light as cities are struggling to remain financially solvent and other necessary services by other 'public servants' are being cut, like teachers and public hospitals.
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    • Post n°6

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    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 12:02 pm

    Shale wrote:
    Nystyle709 wrote:

    What's not right? These employees are public servants. So yes, their salaries are funded by taxpayers. You want to attack the pensions of people who dedicated years of public service to you. ...

    The point being that the outrageous excesses of private enterprise has nothing to do with what we the taxpayers support (And you see the outrage when we taxpayers had to bail out the banks and other 'rich' businesses to ward off a depression - I hope someone makes them give us all our money back).

    The fact that a median wage is under $40K a year and our "public servants" are making way more than we who are struggling to support them is the issue here. It has come to light as cities are struggling to remain financially solvent and other necessary services by other 'public servants' are being cut, like teachers and public hospitals.

    The median wage for most of them is under 40K a year too. They make over that amount of money because the work OVERTIME. If you actually read what I wrote, instead of quoting only one part, you'll see that I said them making 200k isn't standard. They have to WORK for it. And what do you mean 'struggling to support them'? Struggling to support who? HOW?! It's wrong for them to have health benefits? Dental benefits? Read the article. These lifeguards 'perks' are health benefits and life insurance. That's what they get after dedicating half their damn lives to public service. LOL, and you have a problem with that? Cities are broke because of greed and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with them and it's not their fault. To fix the mess cause by said greed and management, they look to cut services from the public sector when they weren't the ones who caused this fiasco. That's not right and it's not fair. Why should the financial crisis and cities budget be fixed and balanced on the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries? Who actually put in the time and sacrifice more than enough to make that kind of money? Bullshit.
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    • Post n°7

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    Post by Shale Sat May 21, 2011 12:57 pm

    Nystyle709 wrote:
    The median wage for most of them is under 40K a year too. They make over that amount of money because the work OVERTIME. If you actually read what I wrote, instead of quoting only one part, you'll see that I said them making 200k isn't standard. They have to WORK for it. And what do you mean 'struggling to support them'? Struggling to support who? HOW?! It's wrong for them to have health benefits? Dental benefits? Read the article. These lifeguards 'perks' are health benefits and life insurance. That's what they get after dedicating half their damn lives to public service. LOL, and you have a problem with that? Cities are broke because of greed and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with them and it's not their fault. To fix the mess cause by said greed and management, they look to cut services from the public sector when they weren't the ones who caused this fiasco. That's not right and it's not fair. Why should the financial crisis and cities budget be fixed and balanced on the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries? Who actually put in the time and sacrifice more than enough to make that kind of money? Bullshit.

    I read all that, but for brevity I often quote only the part that is pertinent to the point rather than all the non-pertinent stuff of ranting on the private sector greed.

    Question still begging then answer then is why did they get $160K in overtime? How do you take a $40K job and turn it into a $200K job. Could be inept management who let that happen, rather than put in for more employees to avoid O/T, or it could be padding - a common practice with unsupervised hourly employees. We had a prob a few years back with the police pulling this OT scam - like all these unnecessary cops show up at a crime scene while the timeclock is ticking away. South Florida and Southern California seem to be competing for the worst place award. Either way ppl (taxpayers) are apparently pissed about it.

    BTW, my $35K annual salary is before the money taken out for my benefits, like health insurance and taxes. Which, when I went to the doctor yesterday, my deductible went up from $40 to $50. My company is feeling the pinch and it trickles down to our insurance coverage which means higher premiums & deductibles. Add to that the state of Fl is going broke, unemployment is up and the Reptilians in charge are finding ways to make us pay more to the state without actually using the words "higher taxes."

    You seem to have a personal agenda here, referring to "the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries?" I thot I was middle class at $35K. That makes ppl earning $200k three times my middle class. See the incongruity here? Bullshit!
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    • Post n°8

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    Post by Alan Smithee Sat May 21, 2011 1:00 pm

    Nystyle709 wrote:The median wage for most of them is under 40K a year too. They make over that amount of money because the work OVERTIME. If you actually read what I wrote, instead of quoting only one part, you'll see that I said them making 200k isn't standard. They have to WORK for it. And what do you mean 'struggling to support them'? Struggling to support who? HOW?! It's wrong for them to have health benefits? Dental benefits? Read the article. These lifeguards 'perks' are health benefits and life insurance. That's what they get after dedicating half their damn lives to public service. LOL, and you have a problem with that? Cities are broke because of greed and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with them and it's not their fault. To fix the mess cause by said greed and management, they look to cut services from the public sector when they weren't the ones who caused this fiasco. That's not right and it's not fair. Why should the financial crisis and cities budget be fixed and balanced on the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries? Who actually put in the time and sacrifice more than enough to make that kind of money? Bullshit.[/b]

    I think we hit a nerve here. In some cases the mismanagement had to do with state and local governments not adjusting the Cadillac benefit packages of public employees after their wages and benefits caught up to and in many cases surpassed those in the private sector. I concede that the average rank and file public worker isn't going to become a millionaire off the system but too often they are the ones who won't concede that the system is unsustainable. Many members of private unions have recognized that if they don't make some give backs on the job, they won't have jobs. It wasn't that long ago that it was pointed out to a high official in our state's teacher's union that the public didn't have the money to pay for the benefits her organization was demanding. Her response was, "Well they better find the money." That attitude doesn't endear me to her cause.
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    • Post n°9

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    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 1:49 pm

    Shale wrote:
    Nystyle709 wrote:
    The median wage for most of them is under 40K a year too. They make over that amount of money because the work OVERTIME. If you actually read what I wrote, instead of quoting only one part, you'll see that I said them making 200k isn't standard. They have to WORK for it. And what do you mean 'struggling to support them'? Struggling to support who? HOW?! It's wrong for them to have health benefits? Dental benefits? Read the article. These lifeguards 'perks' are health benefits and life insurance. That's what they get after dedicating half their damn lives to public service. LOL, and you have a problem with that? Cities are broke because of greed and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with them and it's not their fault. To fix the mess cause by said greed and management, they look to cut services from the public sector when they weren't the ones who caused this fiasco. That's not right and it's not fair. Why should the financial crisis and cities budget be fixed and balanced on the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries? Who actually put in the time and sacrifice more than enough to make that kind of money? Bullshit.

    I read all that, but for brevity I often quote only the part that is pertinent to the point rather than all the non-pertinent stuff of ranting on the private sector greed.

    Well, your 'point' doesn't really negate anything that I've said. Are they not greedy? A Wal-Mart comes to your city and uses taxpayer funded subsidiaries to build and buy the land there, then turn around and pay the workers slaving for them barely a living wage. Yes, I can rant....because now the government and the media has got you thinking people who work overtime and make 100k are the reason why they're broke. This system has being going on for decades and the cities 'weren't broke' when proper management was around. This is essentially what you're saying: "I have no problem with a person making $8 an hour trying to feed a family working at Wal-Mart, but I have a problem with the firefighter, police officer, lifeguard making $20 an hour who often works longer and does a public service job that benefits and helps me." They make that kind of money because they put in the TIME dear. Time is money. They pad their pension near retirement so they can have more to live on in retirement. So what?! They still WORKED to do that. You're hating on them for working more than you do? And they're STILL not getting any ostentatious perks. Life insurance and a pension. Ooooooh. Let's cut that out.     eye roll

    Question still begging then answer then is why did they get $160K in overtime? How do you take a $40K job and turn it into a $200K job. Could be inept management who let that happen, rather than put in for more employees to avoid O/T, or it could be padding - a common practice with unsupervised hourly employees. We had a prob a few years back with the police pulling this OT scam - like all these unnecessary cops show up at a crime scene while the timeclock is ticking away. South Florida and Southern California seem to be competing for the worst place award. Either way ppl (taxpayers) are apparently pissed about it.

    A 40k a year turning into 200k is pretty farfetched. But okay. Let's say it turns into 100k or 90k. What's the problem with that salary if they put in the hours for that? You can't make someone work overtime without paying them for it. Most unionized jobs, they get time and a half for working overtime. You fail to understand that regardless of WHAT job they're doing, or whatever they're doing on the clock...they are still at the JOB. They are still somewhere they don't have to be longer than 40 hrs. A police officer at that crime scene is obligated to protect you or respond if something goes down. These people who are making that kind of money are making it working FOR YOU. They're building and repairing roads so that you can ride your bike and drive on. They're driving the buses so that you can get to work on time. Teaching your kids. How bout you put that fire out yourself if your apartment goes ablaze? How bout you just don't worry about it if someone assaults or robs you? I wonder if you'd be thinking about a lifeguard's salary the next time you're frolicking on your little nude beach, go swimming and get caught in a current. And unlike other jobs where you'd have to know somebody, get on your knees or be the bosses' favorite nephew.......they hire YOU. So if you want to make 200k a year without a college degree, apply and get on the list and wait for them to call.     Smile


    BTW, my $35K annual salary is before the money taken out for my benefits, like health insurance and taxes. Which, when I went to the doctor yesterday, my deductible went up from $40 to $50. My company is feeling the pinch and it trickles down to our insurance coverage which means higher premiums & deductibles. Add to that the state of Fl is going broke, unemployment is up and the Reptilians in charge are finding ways to make us pay more to the state without actually using the words "higher taxes."

    And you blame this on the public sector?

    You seem to have a personal agenda here, referring to "the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries?"

    Yes I do. Being that I am a public employee, being that I contribute GENEROUSLY to my pension and retirement so I won't be eating sardines when I retire, being that I put in A LOT of overtime, being that I work seven damn days a week most weeks (because I like money), being that I don't get to see my family and friends that much because I'm always working because I have goal. 43k in savings and counting. I'm trying to buy a house. I'm trying to have something to pass on to my family when I get it. I'm trying to build wealth and have things. And if I'm willing put in the time, don't tell me I can't make the money. I don't sit on my ass and make money. I WORK.

    I thot I was middle class at $35K. That makes ppl earning $200k three times my middle class. See the incongruity here? Bullshit!

    You're crazy. The fact that the budget is being balanced off the middle class isn't a fallacy. What are you trying to say? ALL public sector jobs should only be capped at 40k a year? So what if somebody is making more money than you. Why are you hating on them for that? There are plenty of jobs and careers that make more than the others....esp ones that come with more responsibilities. Your tax dollars goes to a lot of ridiculous bullshit, but you have a problem paying the people who basically work to keep the basic need and services that you've grown accustomed to. LOL.
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    • Post n°10

    CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year Empty Re: CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year

    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 2:01 pm

    alan smithee wrote:
    Nystyle709 wrote:The median wage for most of them is under 40K a year too. They make over that amount of money because the work OVERTIME. If you actually read what I wrote, instead of quoting only one part, you'll see that I said them making 200k isn't standard. They have to WORK for it. And what do you mean 'struggling to support them'? Struggling to support who? HOW?! It's wrong for them to have health benefits? Dental benefits? Read the article. These lifeguards 'perks' are health benefits and life insurance. That's what they get after dedicating half their damn lives to public service. LOL, and you have a problem with that? Cities are broke because of greed and mismanagement. It has nothing to do with them and it's not their fault. To fix the mess cause by said greed and management, they look to cut services from the public sector when they weren't the ones who caused this fiasco. That's not right and it's not fair. Why should the financial crisis and cities budget be fixed and balanced on the backs of the middle class who actually work for their 200k salaries? Who actually put in the time and sacrifice more than enough to make that kind of money? Bullshit.[/b]

    I think we hit a nerve here. In some cases the mismanagement had to do with state and local governments not adjusting the Cadillac benefit packages of public employees after their wages and benefits caught up to and in many cases surpassed those in the private sector. I concede that the average rank and file public worker isn't going to become a millionaire off the system but too often they are the ones who won't concede that the system is unsustainable. Many members of private unions have recognized that if they don't make some give backs on the job, they won't have jobs. It wasn't that long ago that it was pointed out to a high official in our state's teacher's union that the public didn't have the money to pay for the benefits her organization was demanding. Her response was, "Well they better find the money." That attitude doesn't endear me to her cause.

    I am NOT for privatizing the union. And that's what they want to do. If anything, I can see contributing a little more to our benefits and pensions. They have the money. If they would take the money that is supposed to be used to pay the salaries and benefits of public workers, there wouldn't be a problem. Explain how a system that has been run with no problems basically for years all of sudden becomes a problem when you're looking to make cutbacks? That doesn't sit well with me. They want to make us sacrifice more and more until it's done away with completely. The union benefits used to be a lot better than it is now. We've already bucked. And they want us to buck some more. I don't see them going so vigorously after the Morgan Stanley CEO's and hedge fund managers.
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    • Post n°11

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    Post by Shale Sat May 21, 2011 2:02 pm

    TMI DNR ^^^

    At this point, you may note that I did not even attempt to read any of the above two posts.


    Last edited by Shale on Sat May 21, 2011 2:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 2:04 pm

    Shale wrote:At this point, you may note that I did not even attempt to read any of the above post.

    You're entitled. I've noticed that you don't like to participate in discussions where your sentiments aren't shared. I've given valid reasons for my arguments. Tis all good though. *insert Nystyle dig here*. CA lifeguards can earn up to 200k a year 273237
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    • Post n°13

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    Post by Shale Sat May 21, 2011 2:10 pm

    Nystyle709 wrote: ...I've noticed that you don't like to participate in discussions where your sentiments aren't shared. I've given valid reasons for my arguments. Tis all good though. *insert Nystyle dig here*. [/b][img]

    No, I just don't like to engage in pointless "discussions" akin to beating a dead horse that will go on and on without really going anywhere.

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    • Post n°14

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    Post by Nystyle709 Sat May 21, 2011 2:16 pm

    Shale wrote:
    Nystyle709 wrote: ...I've noticed that you don't like to participate in discussions where your sentiments aren't shared. I've given valid reasons for my arguments. Tis all good though. *insert Nystyle dig here*. [/b][img]

    No, I just don't like to engage in pointless "discussions" akin to beating a dead horse that will go on and on without really going anywhere.


    LOL! It's 'pointless' for me to disagree with you?     eye roll IYSS. LOL, what a crack up.
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    • Post n°15

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    Post by Marc™ Mon May 23, 2011 12:47 am

    I can't hate (no matter how silly it sounds.) Get that money.
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