Taxpayers deserve common courtesy
The Issue: Arrogance of government employees when handling requests for assistance, etc.
Our View: Government employees must learn to extend common courtesy to their employers–taxpayers!
Perhaps most public sector employees have never come to understand who their real employers are: The Taxpayers!
Yes, every 15th and 30th of the month, tax deductions are taken out of taxpayers hard earned income that is appropriated annually to pay the $5 million dollars a month government payroll. This translates to $130 million annually in total sum in taxpayers money for government salaries alone!
On top of all the perks that are accorded public sector employees, they also have 14 holidays per year, not to mention abuses on their time cards (punch-in and out) heading to coffee shops to kill time. Hardly any of these employees realize that they have a fiduciary duty to the general public, the public that pays taxes to ensure that their incipient juvenile servants earn their loot.
Perhaps this arrogance is rooted in the obvious lack of a mandatory requirement (only found in the private sector) to show profit margin at year’s end. Thus, the lack of accountability is conveniently translated into arrogance, completely negligent that people out there (taxpayers) are their real employers.
If secondary roads are the purview of the Saipan Mayor’s Office, then it should have a list of critical areas usually rendered impassable after the storm. Getting to the site shouldn’t be that difficult and we trust that the Mayor’s Office has diligently worked the clock to get to these critical venues.
Understandably, people who suffer seriously from monsoon storms with roads ripped into deep trenches would call for assistance.
Meanwhile, it should also have trained staff to handle phone calls from taxpayers seeking assistance. That they pay taxes is more the reason to be able to extend common courtesy in times of near or real crisis. Si Yuus Maase`!
