Maybe qq66 is the kind of boss who gives you a 2004-vintage Windows XP machine that's so full of dust you can't even tell what components are inside and expects you to work 16-hour days on it without overtime.

If you don't need to do anything that you can't do effectively on a 2004 machine, why would you need anything more? City employees are welcome to buy iPads and Lexuses with their own money (although it comes from my pocket, it's theirs to dispatch as they see fit), but when it comes to spending mine, they shouldn't have anything beyond what they need to perform their job function.

You know what I love? Waiting a tiny eternity while a city employee waits for their crappy, slow computer to load up a simple form so they can help me with something routine.

Next time you're put on hold for that reason, remember money spent on appropriately powerful hardware is never wasted.

I certainly do believe that some city workers would become more effective through choice of their computer, but Mac purchases, if allowed, should be limited explicitly to these individuals. The way governments work, that doesn't happen - everyone finds a way to justify it.

Are there programmers and graphic designers that are City employees?

I don't see why not. But even if they are contractors and not full-on "city employees" they are still likely to be working on city issued equipment which makes their actual employment status a moot point.