Detroit Has No Horses But Pays $56K for Horseshoer — Union Boss Says It’s ‘Not Possible’ to Eliminate Positions

"The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) pays a “horseshoer” $29,245 in salary and roughly $27,000 in benefits. There’s only one problem — Detroit has no horses for the horseshoer to shoe."


"Daniel Edwards, a construction contracts manager with the DWSD, said the so-called horseshoer was transferred from the Detroit Police Department five years ago. And even though the police department does currently have horses, the DWSD employee doesn’t work with the animals. So the question is: what exactly does the horseshoer do?

“DWSD has a blacksmith shop in our Central Services Facility,” Edwards explained, attempting to justify the position. The shop “also … repairs equipment and works with various metals and welding for the department when needed.”

Detroit Free Press editorial editor Stephen Henderson recently described the “intolerable waste” in Detroit’s water and sewage department. He writes:

“For unions and the whole idea of collective bargaining, this is the kind of report that just makes any sort of future very, very hard to negotiate,” he wrote. “It suggests that collective bargaining turns government into a provider of jobs instead of public services.”

[link to www.theblaze.com]

The waste at every government level in this country is appalling...