Town Council fails in their duties again. 6.8% Tax Increase Approved. Budget Referendum Imminent.
I kind of feel like I got gang-mugged last night. Gagged, beaten and mugged, all while my attackers repeatedly insisted it wasn’t their fault and patted each other on the back for doing me a favor.
It may not be their fault that the economy is upside down, but it is their fault East Hartford can’t remember what economic growth is. It is their fault that employee wages and benefits are bankrupting this town. It is their fault that the Board of Education spends more every year for a worse education. Where is the leadership?
I will give the Republicans some credit, they at least took the basic procedural step of moving to amend the budget this year, an action that has been conspicuously absent from past budget sessions.
I won’t give the Democrats any credit. The ball was in their hands and they decided the best thing to do was nothing. Both parties’ budget proposals were abysmal at best. Marcia LeClerc was entirely unknowledgeable and contradictory in her criticism of Eric Thompson’s suggested removal of administrator raises (really? administrator raises?) and take back of administrator vehicles which in some cases go across the state and out of state every night. Her suggestion that these cuts can’t be done because these non-union employees are protected by union contracts removes any faith that I have that these people know what they are doing.
All told both parties proposed about 2.2 million dollars in cuts from the Mayor’s proposed 8.1 million dollar deficit. Unfortunately both budget proposals cut the same things making them almost identical. Neither proposal included any sign of political courage or desire to protect we the taxpayers. Neither proposal even looked in the direction of ensuring that the same problems driving this year’s budget won’t be back next year. The result, next year we will have a 6 million dollar shortfall from federal funny money (Thanks Bush & Obama), wage increases we can’t afford, benefit increases we can’t afford, and more capital expenditure requests for the Mayor’s pet project of turning Town Hall into the palace she clearly deserves (is there a sarcasm font?).
Hey, at least when we can’t afford birthday & Christmas presents for our kids or Thanksgiving dinner thanks to this 6.8% tax increase we can take them by Town Hall for a tour of the new granite curbing to show them where our priorities are.
Thank you East Hartford Town Council. Thank you Mayor Currey. Together you have ensured I have no faith in my government. This man does have faith in one thing though, referendum and initiative. I will sign the petition and vote for referendum and I encourage my neighbors to do the same.
If 2010 is going to go down as the year of political cowardice I can’t wait to see what 2011 will bring. In this meeting nobody wins the performance award. Nobody performed and everyone loses.
Taxpayers Win at Garbage Tax Meeting… For Now
The Council and Mayor clearly didn’t expect the packed room at the Town Council Special Meeting last night. The Mayor’s expression appeared to turn rapidly to one of of concern and agitation when a minute into the hearing a member of the crowd began to express his concerns.
I will work on getting the video up today. Unfortunately the crowd is not very audible, though no doubt the rounds of applause Councilman Thompson got for refusing to take this abysmal failure of a tax savings plan lightly will be audible.
Chairman Kehoe in an attempt to save himself the political punishment of letting an idea such as this even see the light of day couldn’t say enough that the meeting wasn’t for anything more than to talk about an idea. Interestingly I checked the public notices history and found that any time the Council has called a special meeting it has specifically been to act on an idea agreed upon behind closed doors.
The Council does not ever call special meetings to discuss ideas and plans it has no intention of acting upon.
Kehoe, at least own up and say you didn’t realize we’d stand up against you.
Councilman Don Pitkin also made a surprise visit for this meeting to defend the taxpayers and ensure any action the Democratic Majority attempted to take would have maximum opposition.
The proposal itself was an absolute joke. The salesman from WasteZero, the company which sells the bags and skims the profits, gave the hard sell with purely imaginary figures. The salesman told the Council that the Town would see 2.1 million dollars in new revenue from this program from a combination of reduced tipping fees and actually save taxpayers money. His assertions of course rely on total fiction. The fiction that the average East Hartford residence uses just 1.25 garbage bags per week. That’s right, WasteZero, the Mayor, Public Works Director Taylor… all of them went right along with this clear lie that we use 1 and a quarter garbage bags per week. It is clear where their motivation is. Even then the numbers don’t make sense.
Doing unscientific surveys I have found that most of the smaller households (1-2 people) are using 3 to 4 bags per week. In my own, a household of 4 we use 4-6 bags per week. No doubt you are somewhere in this 3-6 range as well. If the true average is about 4 bags per week East Hartford’s 16,400 trash pickup households will consume 65,600 bags per week at a cost of $82,000 per week or $4,264,000 per year. All to save 2.1 million on our taxes?
Councilman Horan in his classic “if you don’t like it tough” attitude gave a moving speech suggesting that East Hartford ought to be the leader in taxation and environmentalism for the hell of it. The highlight of his speech was were he suggested that we should tell him how to do the job he and his fellow democrats ran for election telling us they could do. He complained that although he received over a dozen emails nobody told him how to write the budget. That is your job Mr. Horan. Do it. His lack of leadership clearly showed when he suggested that we, the taxpayers, have a choice of a new garbage tax or a tax increase. Unacceptable.
The audience for their part were loudly approving to Horan’s surprise when he suggested reducing payroll in government. To which Mr. Horan asked who to cut. I for one gave a nice summary of excess positions on the BOE side just about a year ago. They still exist.
As a result of our active citizenship this egregious plan will not be in the budget tonight. ( I hope… you never know) But I highly doubt this is the last we have heard of it. This has been a long time pet, one which is ill tempered and has bitten before in other towns, of this administration and they are not going to willingly put it down.
In my opinion Councilmen Thompson and Pitkin were the best of the night. It is not every meeting that the Republicans have the best showing, but this night was a Republican night. Correction, this night was the people’s night.
Edit: Here are is the video.
Part 1
Part 2
Action Alert: Please Attend Garbage Tax Meeting – Monday March 8, 2010 @ 7PM
Are you in favor of the new plan to make you Pay As You Throw by buying town garbage bags? Did you know this program will cost East Hartford taxpayers at least $80,000 per week? Did you know this program will cost East Hartford Taxpayers between $4,000,000 and $8,000,000 per year year in bag fees?
I can’t afford to pay another $390 per year in bag fees. Can you?
If you are as fed up with the runaway tax and spend policies of this administration as I am please attend the Special Meeting on this new Garbage Tax tomorrow in the Town Council chambers at East Hartford Town Hall at 7PM.
Feel free to protest in front of Town Hall before the meeting and bring your signs inside to show the Council we have had enough of irresponsible leadership.
Where:
East Hartford Town Hall
Town Council Chambers
When:
Monday, March 8, 2010
7:00PM
What:
Garbage Tax Protest
Can’t attend? Send the Council an email and let them know how you feel.
CLICK TO SEND COUNCIL EMAIL
More information:
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/East_Hartford_Trash_Bags_Hartford.html
http://www.brainflation.com/2010/03/05/town-council-calls-special-meeting-on-garbage-tax/
http://www.courant.com/community/east-hartford/hc-east-hartford-trash0305.artmar03,0,7487374.story
Something stinks in East Hartford. Mayor/Public Works propose a new tax to pay for garbage.
Is this coming to East Hartford?
Mayor Currey and Public Works Director Billy Taylor took the lid off a plan they’ve been discussing behind closed doors for a while at Monday evening’s Public Works budget presentation before the Town Council.
The pair are pushing a plan which will require every household in East Hartford to purchase special garbage bags in order to dispose of their trash. According to the Hartford Courant the estimated cost per bag is $2 for 33 gallon bags, $1.25 for typical 14 gallon kitchen size bags and $0.63 for an 8 gallon bag.
In a sinister fashion this plan is being pushed as an alternative which can trim 2% off the 9.2% proposed tax increase if the Town Council adopts it this year. Based on the Mayor’s calculations in her budget message a decrease in the tax increase of 2% would yield a $78 savings, yet the cost to a taxpayer who disposes of 4 kitchen bags of trash per week will be $260. Clearly this is an ill thought idea or one whose motives are not truly rooted in any sort of fiscal prudence.
We get a clearer look at what the true story might be with the following from the Mayor.
“I believe this is where the rest of the country is going to be in the next 10 to 15 years,” Mayor Melody Currey said. It would enable the town not only to save money, she said, but to be an environmental leader. If all goes according to plan, and residents cut back as much as WasteZero says they will, the town’s 17,489 tons of trash output could be reduced to less than 10,000 tons.
“I know we are a poor community, but that doesn’t mean we have less of a responsibility,” Currey said.
Let’s be clear. The Town will not save a single dollar, the taxpayers will pay substantially more taxes while satisfying the personal moral objectives of certain elected leaders, the wallets of the taxpayers be damned.
Every dollar in reduced tipping this plan could save can already be saved through efficient single stream recycling. No new tax is needed, no new tax is wanted. Just as we saw a significant increase in illegal bulky waste dumping, such as at Gorman Park, when the Town decided to charge a permit fee for disposal we will almost certainly have examples like the above photo around town if this plan is implemented when those of us already struggling can’t afford to dispose of our garbage legally.
Can I back it up? I wouldn't have said it otherwise.
As I stated tonight when I gave my public testimony regarding Daley Court, I have documents to back up everything I said. Soon I will process the relevant parts of the council video and scan in the relevant documents which are not already scanned in for the review of the general public.
In the meantime I have a few comments.
First, I sincerely hope the Mayor is honestly going to start an investigation tomorrow. I have documents.
Second, if Mr. Kehoe was interested in the accuracy of any of my statements or information he could have asked me to demonstrate the information during my comments or when the questions arose. I was sitting right there. Instead he attempted to impugn my character, research and the accuracy of my data. It is evident based on the course he chose that finding out the truth was not his goal.
Third, I invite any media outlet to contact me to verify my information. My claims will stand, theirs wont.
Fourth, I am disappointed that the matter was not referred to the Investigation & Audit Committee for review despite documentation to warrant it.
All in all it was a great night for the citizens of East Hartford because those on the council and in town hall are on notice that at least one person is watching.
