Driving a debate
Is it fair to say that if an individual controls most of the speaking time during a discussion, then that person is driving the debate?
Although I didn't attend the Budget Committee meeting on the fund balance policy, I did notice that some people seemed to speak more often than others.
Based on a quick "ctrl+f" analysis, I see the following names mentioned "x" number of times in relation to people speaking:
Milone 27
Ryan 14
Ecke 10
Ruocoo 9
Esty 8
Slocum 3
Sima 6
Altieri 6
Hall 0
Decaprio 0
Of course, you can also read the minutes in their entirety in the following post. Nonetheless, I'm wondering... who is driving the debate and setting the policy with regard to the millions of tax dollars that the town has collected over the past few years?
Since the Council is the policy board for the town, it must be the Council... right?
But according to the minutes, "We are talking about preserving the 8% and re-directing anything over 8% the way the Council decides."
Whoops! Silly me... I forgot what I mentioned in a prior post... "I was under the impression that the Council sets policy, including the size of the rainy day fund. But I guess I was wrong."
Tim White
14 comments:
You can bet that there will never be anything over 8%. Some how that will be spent from now on.
I disagree. Read the minutes. You'll see that this whole idea that the fund balance discussion relates to 8% is largely a shell game.
Why?
Because there are so many other reserves in existence... many of which are growing... and more reserves being considered.
Again... just a shellgame that the Council is playing.
The key is in defining the terms... in accounting (and this is fundamentally and accounting function) you have a general reserve and specific reserves.
What's happening with this "fund balance policy" discussion is a shell game that avoids the reality that everything is a reserve that can be moved from one reserve account to another reserve account... whenever the Council votes to do so.
So make no mistake... this whole conversation is a shellgame.
And having seen this conversation develop, I'd suggest at this point that we eliminate all the specific reserves and move to one big general reserve... but that would provide greater transparency to the public... and many of you saw what happened when I tried to increase transparency last summer... so I wouldn't count on the Council supporting my common sense suggestion of placing everything in the general reserve.
anyway... I do share your concern.
The Town Manager needs to have explained to him he is just the CEO and works for the Council. The Council shall decide what is the correct amount for a reserve fund. He can offer his opinion along with his financial person but theirs is only that, an opinion. No we all know why the town employees refer to him as The Furor. Either do it his way or your out of the way.
are you required to ACTUALLY reside in town or just own a property to be eligible to run for town council? example: Say I owned an otherwise vacant home, while residing in a neighboring community.
12:59...you are exactly correct. If the Council (either party) does not have the backbone to put that on the line, then all the commissions that are set up are all for naught.. the dictator will have the last say..
12:59 and 2:30 I totally agree. We need a council with a backbone. We also need a Board of Education with a backbone as we have a superintendent who needs to be told that he works for the Board of Ed.
A bit surprised that Hall had nothing to say or ask. Did he doze off or something? Not surprised that DeCaprio had a zero next to her name.
9:20 For at least part of the time, Matt was across the hall speaking with me. As for Laura... geez... give her a break. She's brand new. And while I think this issue is extremely important (quantifying the benefits received for millions of tax dollars paid), I suspect most people find this topic rather boring... for instance, it's tough to simply stay atop a conversation with terminology that I feel is inappropriately used... to the point where I feel there's a certain degree of obfuscation occuring. And if I'm a CPA, how will the rest of the Council be able to understand this!? :) Obviously that raises other concerns, but I'm not getting into that right now.
Btw, I feel I need to substantiate that comment, so I'm currently researching my concerns and will try to update as soon as I can articulate them in an intelligent manner... but as you can tell by reading the minutes... there's just a lot of detail to digest... particularly when individual words may need to be parsed and defined for a thorough understanding of the discussion.
This town better have an 8 percent surplus when Petit sues the living crap out of it for negligence
My wife is fond of reminding me that when I do all the talking I am not doing any listening. I try to keep that in mind especially since she has always been a bit wiser than me on many matters and secondly since I have a lot to learn as I enter the council arena.
Let's make 08 a wonderful year here in our town
Let's make an extra effort to be nice to one and all
No negative comments here or in our community
It will serve us all much better if we extend a hand of friendship to eachother and say something postive every day
Will Cheshire become just another part of the Southington sprawl?
Some people just don't care about the future of this town so long as they can make money.
There is more to life than making money.
There are so many good things to look at when it comes to our fair town
Great people
Good government
Good schools
Let's look on the postive side not the negative
We will still be a great town
Make the commitment in 08 to say something nice about our town
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