Insanity in CT

[Jim in CT]

I cannot take living in this state much longer, God I wish I could talk my family into moving to NH with me.

(1) the University of CT has its own police force, about 30 officers who attend the state police academy. Unlike many universities, UCONN is really in a rural/farming area, it's nowhere near a city. The chief of this force makes a whopping $247,000 a year, which is $30,000 more than the top cop in New York City makes.

(2) my state, like many states, offers lower tuition rates at public universities for taxpayers (there is an in-state rate and an out-of-state rate). My brilliant legislators are proposing (and it will pass) that the lower, in-state rates be applied to the children of illegal aliens, who pay no taxes. I called my state Rep, and asked him "how is it fair that you are taking my tax dollars, and instead of using it to help me send MY kids to school, you will use my money to help the kid of someone who is illegally dodging taxes?"

He had no answer...I mean, what's my incentive to pay taxes??

Unbelievable. My only conclusion is that all of the Democrats in the CT state legislature own rental properties in New Hampshire that are currently vacant. They pass these laws hoping that people like me will move to NH and rent their homes. There just isn't any other explanation...no one can be this clueless, can they??

[RIROCKHOUND]

I'm only going to address # 1. I'm undecided how I feel about number 2 without seeing more information on it (here and in CT)

A few things to consider:
Coach Calhoun makes what, 2Mil/year? what about the football program at UCONN? what does that cost? or is it all a net gain b/c of revenue the sports bring in? (I'm sincerly asking)

Second:
What percentage of the schools budget actually comes from taxes?

Third:
The UCONN president is paid ~600K or so. Is that too high?

for what it's worth, UCONN is typically regarded as one of the safest, and one of the best public universities in the US....

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

(1) the University of CT has its own police force, about 30 officers who attend the state police academy. Unlike many universities, UCONN is really in a rural/farming area, it's nowhere near a city. The chief of this force makes a whopping $247,000 a year, which is $30,000 more than the top cop in New York City makes.

To your first point:
I went to UConn (2001-2005). While yes, Storrs and Mansfield are rural/farming areas, for 9-10 months out of the year, the population goes from a few thousand people to 40,000 students. Being from CT, I'm sure you're aware of what Spring Weekend is (though they have castrated the version of Spring Weekend that I knew and loved), the logistics for that weekend alone are incredible.

I agree that $247k is a ridiculous amount. However, the school brings massive amounts of revenue, infrastructure and commerce to the surrounding community that otherwise wouldn't exist.

Did they every move forward with the Mansfield Village commercial development (or whatever it was called)?

I can't be bothered to search, but I'd be curious what comparable chiefs get paid at schools like UMass Amherst.

To your second point:

They should give out paperwork for the illegals to fill out to receive instate funding. Then forward it over to INS to get them shipped out. No more of this "If you educate them, they'll contribute to society." Sure, a few might, but most won't.

[RIJIMMY]

same here in MA jimbo -

Governor Eyes Tuition Breaks for Illegal Immigrants BOSTON (AP) — Gov.Deval Patrick said he'slooking into whether he can skirt the Legislature by unilat- erally allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state col- leges. Patrick's revelation touched off strong reaction on Beacon Hill, where House lawmakers two years ago defied Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and defeated a bill that would let those students pay the same rate as their high school classmates. "We have

But you're missing one of the biggest problems.

What if I live in RI and work in MA. I pay MA state taxes but I cannot get in-state tuition for my kids if they wanted to go to UMass. But, an illegal alien who is not a resident of MA (you cant be a resident if you're illegal, your not a resident at all!) would be able to go to UMass and pay the same tuition as a MA resident, my kids would pay higher tuiton even thoughI pay MA taxes.

I'll save you the trouble - this is the whole mental disorder///

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

To your first point:
I went to UConn (2001-2005). While yes, Storrs and Mansfield are rural/farming areas, for 9-10 months out of the year, the population goes from a few thousand people to 40,000 students. Being from CT, I'm sure you're aware of what Spring Weekend is (though they have castrated the version of Spring Weekend that I knew and loved), the logistics for that weekend alone are incredible.

I agree that $247k is a ridiculous amount. However, the school brings massive amounts of revenue, infrastructure and commerce to the surrounding community that otherwise wouldn't exist.

Did they every move forward with the Mansfield Village commercial development (or whatever it was called)?

I can't be bothered to search, but I'd be curious what comparable chiefs get paid at schools like UMass Amherst.

To your second point:

They should give out paperwork for the illegals to fill out to receive instate funding. Then forward it over to INS to get them shipped out. No more of this "If you educate them, they'll contribute to society." Sure, a few might, but most won't.

Hey Johnny - I went to UCONN as well...

"for 9-10 months out of the year, the population goes from a few thousand people to 40,000 students."

Johnny, the population of NYC is 8 million, with God-knows-how-many visitors a day. Compare that to UCONN. NYC has more than 1000 times as many cops as does UCONN. Meaning the top cop in NYC has more than 1000 times as many employees as the top cop at UCONN. How does that suggest that UCONN's top cop earn more than NYC's top cop?

"I'm sure you're aware of what Spring Weekend is "

I am well aware. I am also aware that the top UCONN cop, with his fat 250k salary, cannot handle spring weekend alone, so they bring in lots of outside help from surrounding state police barracks.

UCONN cops write some parking tickets, and they deal with drunk teenagers. They have 1 challenging weekend per year. Cushy.

Finally, if they posted that job at $150k, they would get hundreds of applicants. That's how I know that $250k is an insane salary.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

I'm only going to address # 1. I'm undecided how I feel about number 2 without seeing more information on it (here and in CT)

A few things to consider:
Coach Calhoun makes what, 2Mil/year? what about the football program at UCONN? what does that cost? or is it all a net gain b/c of revenue the sports bring in? (I'm sincerly asking)

Second:
What percentage of the schools budget actually comes from taxes?

Third:
The UCONN president is paid ~600K or so. Is that too high?

for what it's worth, UCONN is typically regarded as one of the safest, and one of the best public universities in the US....

Rockhound...

"what does that cost? or is it all a net gain b/c of revenue the sports bring in? (I'm sincerly asking)"

That's a good question. The answer is, the men's basketball program at UCONN makes a ton of money, so you could make the case that his salary is a good investment for the state.

How does that logic apply to the UCONN police chief? How is he bringing in millions in revenue to offset his bloated salary? Are people buying tickets to watch him sit in his car and drink coffee? Do TV stations give UCONN millions of dollars to televise a broadcast of him sitting at his desk? Does the state get millions in revenue from the sale of t-shirts that say "UCONN police #1" on them? I do not follow your logic here at all, not at all...

"Second: What percentage of the schools budget actually comes from taxes? "

I don't know. What I do know is, until the answer to that question is "zero", that cop is a public servent, and that's just not a job that should allow someone to become a multi-millionaire. It's just not. His pension (assuming his salary maxes out at $250k) will be $175,000 a year, guaranteed for life. Come on, you're going to defend that?

"Third: The UCONN president is paid ~600K or so. Is that too high?"

To answer that, I'd have to know the salaries for presidents of similar schools. In this case, how in God;s name does the top UCONN cop command a higher salary than the top cop in NEW YORK CITY??

"for what it's worth, UCONN is typically regarded as one of the safest, and one of the best public universities in the US"

That's probably true. And that's either due to (1) the outstanding job done by the UCONN police force to reduce crime that would occur if a less effective police chief was hired, or (2) the fact that UCONN is in a rural area in the middle of nowhere, with no reason to attract significant numbers of criminals. The answer is #2.

[RIROCKHOUND]

In answer to the president question, he makes substatially more than the URI president, and I think I read more than UMASS and others...

If the answer, in state funding is 20%, then in effect, taxes would be paying 50K a year of Salary... I don't know what UCONN's breakdown is for tuition/taxes for income....

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Being from CT, I'm sure you're aware of what Spring Weekend is (though they have castrated the version of Spring Weekend that I knew and loved), the logistics for that weekend alone are incredible.

.

The New York City police chief deals with things every single day (like 81 Yankees home games) that are more complicated than spring weekend, plus Al Queda would love to hit NYC again, and Osama Bin Laden couldn't find Storrs CT on a map.

Again, if the NYC police chief makes $220k a year, there is no earthly way to defend giving the UCONN chief 30k more than that. It's the stupidest thing I ever heard. How did they arrive at that salary? Did they just ask this guy to name his price?

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

A few things to consider:
Coach Calhoun makes what, 2Mil/year? $13 Million over 5 years
Second:
What percentage of the schools budget actually comes from taxes? 35.9%
http://cfo.uconn.edu/Senate/9.20.10.pdf

Third:
The UCONN president is paid ~600K or so. Is that too high?
The last president left UCONN and made slightly more money to be the President of the University of Illinois.
UConn president Michael Hogan is pick to be next president at Illinois | News-Gazette.com
..

..

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

However, the school brings massive amounts of revenue, infrastructure and commerce to the surrounding community that otherwise wouldn't exist.

.

And exactly $0.00 of that is because of the current police chief. The students are on campus for, what, 28 weeks out of the year? What the hell does this guy do the other 24 weeks? Can you IMAGINE how easy that job is for those 24 weeks?

But I think we're sort of saying the same thing.

I'm actualy heading up to campus this week to interview some students for jobs at my company. Any excuse to get a Ted's Giant Grinder and ice cream at the Dairy Bar!

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Hey Johnny - I went to UCONN as well...

"for 9-10 months out of the year, the population goes from a few thousand people to 40,000 students."

Johnny, the population of NYC is 8 million, with God-knows-how-many visitors a day. Compare that to UCONN. NYC has more than 1000 times as many cops as does UCONN. Meaning the top cop in NYC has more than 1000 times as many employees as the top cop at UCONN. How does that suggest that UCONN's top cop earn more than NYC's top cop?

"I'm sure you're aware of what Spring Weekend is "

I am well aware. I am also aware that the top UCONN cop, with his fat 250k salary, cannot handle spring weekend alone, so they bring in lots of outside help from surrounding state police barracks.

UCONN cops write some parking tickets, and they deal with drunk teenagers. They have 1 challenging weekend per year. Cushy.

Finally, if they posted that job at $150k, they would get hundreds of applicants. That's how I know that $250k is an insane salary.

I don't disagree at all to above. Your initial post made it seem like UConn is this quaint little school in a CT farming town, when it has a population very much the opposite of that.

I do have to disagree with your reply to RRH:

That's probably true. And that's either due to (1) the outstanding job done by the UCONN police force to reduce crime that would occur if a less effective police chief was hired, or (2) the fact that UCONN is in a rural area in the middle of nowhere, with no reason to attract significant numbers of criminals. The answer is #2.

My first year at UConn was at the peak of UConn being a "party school where you could get a good education." There were a lot of programs put in place and cooperative efforts between the school administration and the police force to cut down on crime and drugs. There was a huge push to improve the school's image after a popular magazine had an article that named UConn the #1 party school one year and the next year left UConn off the list and stated "We found it inappropriate to include a professional with this list of amateurs."

After my first year, there was a huge effort to reform places like The Jungle (North Campus dorms) by turning it into a dry dorm and dedicating a police officer to The Jungle and the Freshman dorms. A drug task force was put together and there were a significant number of drug dealers busted on campus and in the off-campus apartments - this was all internally operated. The Greek village was built to centralize fraternities/sororities into one area with a few police officers dedicated to operations there. A number of drug networks with ties to Willimantic and back to Hartford were broken up while I was there.

A number of major efforts were made to curb underage drinking. The closed down the big nightclub behind Store 24 after a handful of stings that showed they were serving minors; regular roadblock/drunk stops on Rt101; very regular raids on the bars... along with strict punishments for getting caught drinking or supplying alcohol to those under 21.

I've talked to people currently attending UConn or recently graduated and, in terms of the social scene, it is a completely different place than it was 10 years ago. Being on campus during the transition was very interesting. As a student, they were raining on our parade. As an adult, I can appreciate the effort and how much they accomplished over a short period of time.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Any excuse to get a Ted's Giant Grinder and ice cream at the Dairy Bar!

This has me very, very jealous. I miss the days of 1am DP Dough deliveries and waking up at noon and grabbing and ice cream from the Dairy Bar.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

This has me very, very jealous. I miss the days of 1am DP Dough deliveries and waking up at noon and grabbing and ice cream from the Dairy Bar.

I can taste that cheeseburger grinder from Teds, washed down with a chocolate shake from the Dairy Bar.

We'll agree to disagree. I was there before you and after you (hiatus in the Marines). While it's less of a "party school" now, even when it was a party school, I would not call it a place where public safety was a major challenge. How much violent crime occurs there? Not much at all. The security forces at Yale (New Haven), Trinity (Hartford), and Wesleyan (Middletown, CT) have it much tougher (in my opinion) because of the socio-economics of the surrounding areas.

Even if the guy has some good accomplishments, he should not be a multi-millionaire on the backs of middle class taxpayers. Not in this economy. He probably makes more than the Commandant of the Marine Corps. I have trouble swallowing that in terms of relative responsibility. And he for sure makes more than the top cop in New York City, which I find mind-boggling...



I liked my time there, though the math department was pretty weak IMO. Not a bad place to spend a few years, that's for sure.

[RIROCKHOUND]

So, if 36% of there money comes from the state and the rest is tuition generated, then the state is paying approximately 90K of his salary, as opposed to NYC that is paying all of their chief.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

So, if 36% of there money comes from the state and the rest is tuition generated, then the state is paying approximately 90K of his salary, as opposed to NYC that is paying all of their chief.

Congrats, you did the math correctly. Can we (the taxpayers) get our 90k back? Because if his salary was 90k less, or 160k, I am sure that the state would still have many qualified candidates to choose from.

There are no students living there for 24 weeks out of the year. It is a ghost town during that time.

Unbelievable...

[RIROCKHOUND]

I'm doing the math in jest.

Is it an easier job than the Chief of NYC? Probably.

Are there are much bigger fish to fry in terms of a states economy than the chief of police at the states largest public university.... absolutely.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

I'm doing the math in jest.

Is it an easier job than the Chief of NYC? Probably.

.

No, not probably. Certainly. By many orders of magnitude. One guy has 34,000 employees, one guy has 30. One guy has 8 million residents to protect, one guy has 20,000 residents for 60% of the year,and zero for 40% of the year. One guy deals with murders every single day, one guy has a murder every 10 years.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

I'm doing the math in jest.

Are there are much bigger fish to fry in terms of a states economy than the chief of police at the states largest public university.... absolutely.

True, and many of the problem areas will have the same cause...public unions, in bed with democrats who give the unions a blank check in return for campaign support...

[PaulS]

The salary is outragous.

The scholarships to me is even more outragous. I also hate that you can get a state grant/scholarship to go to a private college.

UConn stopped being a party school when the drinking age went up. Use to be able to get a 6 pack delivered to your dorm. I saw a 6 pack delivered to a class during a final exam.

[striperman36]

I think these state school are out of control, you retire from MA politics, get a kiss in the mail and work as the Chancellor of dimwit section of the state university for 200k. Total ripoff.
Makes me sad I didn't get the job at UMASS.

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

The New York City police chief deals with things every single day (like 81 Yankees home games) that are more complicated than spring weekend, plus Al Queda would love to hit NYC again, and Osama Bin Laden couldn't find Storrs CT on a map.

Again, if the NYC police chief makes $220k a year, there is no earthly way to defend giving the UCONN chief 30k more than that. It's the stupidest thing I ever heard. How did they arrive at that salary? Did they just ask this guy to name his price?

The NYC police chief is nothing more than a politician. He doesn't do "things every day", that would be the job of the individual precinct chiefs. The NYC police chief gets on TV and talks about the hard work his officers are doing and all the wonderful things they're planning.

And the NYC commissioner isn't exactly a model citizen himself.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

My first year at UConn was at the peak of UConn being a "party school where you could get a good education." There were a lot of programs put in place and cooperative efforts between the school administration and the police force to cut down on crime and drugs. There was a huge push to improve the school's image after a popular magazine had an article that named UConn the #1 party school one year and the next year left UConn off the list and stated "We found it inappropriate to include a professional with this list of amateurs."

I'm sure many schools use this line of professionals / amateurs but I'm fairly certain I heard this line years ago regarding URI.

That said I believe I went to the all time champ High School Party school, being just 15 minutes from 2nd largest beerfest in world, few hours from largest, and just general international incident level (often legally) partying.

Just saying.

[RIROCKHOUND]

That refered to a playboy article in the mid90's regarding URI not being on the top of the list.. "We on't put pro's w/ amatures" which lead to the crackdowns at URI

[zimmy]

Originally Posted by JohnR

I'm sure many schools use this line of professionals / amateurs but I'm fairly certain I heard this line years ago regarding....

Every school, practically. I first heard it about Lehigh. I checked out snopes and apparently the line was "If your school wasn't listed, it is probably because we didn't include professionals." It was not said about any one school.

Also, $250,000 is alot of dough for a police chief. I did a quick check and it looks like 150,000 is about typical for large university areas.

this next one is pretty good, too.
CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. (CBS 2) – The salary of a Rockland County police chief is drawing a great deal of attention from members of his community.

According to a new report, Clarkstown Police Chief Peter Noonan is the highest paid municipal employee in New York State — earning just over $301,000 last year.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

That refered to a playboy article in the mid90's regarding URI not being on the top of the list.. "We on't put pro's w/ amatures" which lead to the crackdowns at URI

glad I got out in 91
ahhh, the memories

[The Dad Fisherman]

I went straight in the Navy outta High School......Basically the same, College Kids.....With a Paycheck