The Budget Proposal Details – Here are the Republican and Democratic Plans
Here are the specific budget plans put forth at yesterday’s budget meeting. It’s interesting to note that the Democrats’ proposed (and adopted) budget is actually less than the one put forth by the Republicans.
The Democrats’ proposed reductions totaled $2,285,916 for a proposed mill rate of 33.81824.
The Republicans’ proposed reductions totaled $2,201,518 plus a plan to increase revenue by $50,000 by auctioning surplus town equipment for a proposed mill rate of 33.84615. The Republican plan shares many of the same cuts as the Democratic proposal and as a result proposed only $799,103 in new reductions.
Had the entirety of both plans been adopted the mill rate would be 33.55 which would still represent a tax increase greater than 5.9%.
I am convinced that a referendum is necessary here, even though under current Charter rules it is toothless. Perhaps the proper followup to a referendum would be to submit our own citizens’ budget to the Council and Mayor. We don’t need to get elected. We have the political courage to do right by ourselves and our neighbors.
2010-2011 Republican Budget Report
2010-2011 Republican Budget Proposal
2010-2011 Democratic Budget Proposal
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.
Video: Garbage Tax AKA “Pay As You Throw” Meeting
Part 1
Part 2
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
Video: East Hartford Budget Meeting – Public Hearing
Video: East Hartford Town Council Meeting – March 2, 2010
Town Council Calls Special Meeting on Garbage Tax
The East Hartford Public Notices system sent me an email a little bit ago informing me that a special meeting has been called relative to the Pay As You Throw garbage tax that the Mayor and Public Works director Billy Taylor presented to the Council this past Monday.
The meeting will be on Monday, March 8th at 7PM, directly against an important meeting of the Republican Town Committee at which the Republican Town Committee members will elect officers for the 2010/2011 term. This will force the Republican Town Council members and other Republican Town Committee members such as myself to either not participate in an important RTC meeting or skip the special meeting and perhaps be excluded from an opportunity to prevent this new garbage tax from being implemented.
Perhaps the Council will reschedule. Hopefully.
East Hartford Mayor Sets Stage for Tax Increases Statewide
East Hartford has one of the earliest municipal budget calendars in the state and as a result can offer a predictive window into the state’s municipal budget climate. If this year’s East Hartford proposed budget is any indication than Connecticut taxpayers are in for a world of hurt.
Municipal elections are now past and Councils, Mayors, Boards of Finance, Selectmen and all of the other various forms of leaders we employ in our Connecticut towns are feeling a bit less politically squeezed and, as predicted by myself and candidates in other towns, tax increase proposals from these leaders will be coming fast and furious as they deal with falling revenues in the only manner they have the political fortitude to employ, tax increases.
East Hartford Mayor Melody Currey on Tuesday night presented her budget in what to this observer seemed a nervously defensive tone. No doubt she was well aware that a tax increase of over 9% would not be met with smiles and commendations.
To the credit of the Mayor each year the public availability of budget information has increased and this year is no exception. In fact, this year the Mayor has presented the most complete set of information yet. So Mayor, while I won’t thank you for raising my taxes, thank you for providing me with the details I need to know the how and why behind the increase.
I encourage you to review the budget information on the town website.
BUDGET INFO
Budget sessions continue with the Board of Education on Thursday night at 6:30, an all day session Saturday starting at 8:30 and a Monday night finale starting at 6:30. These can be viewed in person at Town Hall, or on EHCTV Channel 5 on Comcast.
Citizens should keep in mind the public hearing on Wednesday, March 3rd at 7PM where we can express our concerns about this proposal as well as plans to REDUCE spending proportionally to the losses in revenue rather than continuing spending unabated.
I am happy to say that I have heard from a Town Council member who is at least as outraged about this proposal as I am. Maybe there is hope.
East Hartford Swearing In Ceremony & Organizational Meeting
Video: 11-09-09 Town Council Swearing In/Organizational Meeting.
I have been trying to post this for two weeks and finally got it up. Blip.tv was not loving this video and kept breaking it off around 20 minutes.
This is the swearing in of our newly elected officials. The Town Council selects a Chairman and names the Majority and Minority leaders as well. There are no surprises.
The sound is a bit better because I used a wireless mic placed next to the speaker instead of the in camera mic. The Mayor afterward asked me not to use the wireless mic because she felt it was an invasion of privacy. I’m not sure whether I’ll respect that request in the future, it is after all a public chamber with no expectation of privacy and it is common for the reporters to place their tape and digital audio recorders on the same window sill.
