CLOSUP’s recent report presenting the findings of its latest Michigan Public Policy Survey received coverage by the Associated Press (AP), among other national and local media outlets.
The report, “Michigan local government leaders’ views on employee pay and benefits,” presents Michigan local government leaders’ evaluations of their jurisdictions’ employee pay and fringe benefits.
As noted in the AP’s coverage, which was picked up by more than 50 publications, the “survey finds that salary-cutting efforts among the state’s local governments have been easing with an improving economy, yet workers are shouldering more of their health care costs.”
Despite the CLOSUP report pertaining specifically to municipalities in Michigan, the AP story was picked up by media outlets nationwide, including the Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.), Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), and Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.).
Locally, Thomas Ivacko, CLOSUP administrator and program manager, discussed the survey’s findings last Thursday as a guest on Capital City Recap with Michael Cohen on WILS Radio 1320 AM, in Lansing.
“Whether public employees are paid too much or benefits are too rich compared to the private sector is a pretty controversial topic,” Ivacko told Cohen (audio here). “A lot of different places have looked at it and tried to do studies to compare it – and it’s hard to compare. So, we just wanted to ask local leaders what their thoughts were about it.”
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