11 quirky budget cuts
From police horses to fireworks to wrangling stray chickens, these cash-strapped cities are eliminating all kinds of services.
Chicken buster gets busted - Miami
Some cities have dog catchers. Miami has a chicken catcher -- or at least it did.
Four years ago, Miami residents were overrun with loose chickens. So the city added a full-time Chicken Buster to the payroll with an annual salary of $13,000. Since then, the program has resulted in 15,000 hens and roosters being wrangled and sold to an area farm for a total of $10,000, which was donated to city charities.
But when Miami started squawking about a $118 million budget deficit, civic leaders decided to cancel the program. On top of the Chicken Buster's salary, Miami estimates it will save $7,000 a year in operational costs, including transportation and uniforms.
NEXT: Fireworks fizzle - Chicago
More Galleries
It's spent billions to buy companies in advertising, communications, and software. Which one of them will drive Google toward its next $20 billion? More
The "Easy Rider" left us earlier this year. Now his stunning Venice, Calif., compound is on the market - listed with Coldwell Banker Previews International for $6.245 million. More
Special Offer
© 2010 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Advertising Practices.
| Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2010 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2010 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2010. All rights reserved. |
