Turmelle on last night's Council / BOE budget talk
From the NHRs Luther Turmelle:
Town Manager Michael Milone said the projected 2010-11 budget is about $98.6 million, about $4.1 million more than this fiscal year.
Milone made his projection during a special joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of Education Tuesday night. The school budget proposal will be presented next month, while Milone’s final proposal for municipal spending won’t be aired until March.
Tim White
10 comments:
Tim, can you scan and post the presentation handout from Tueday night's budget preview? I think there's a lot of good detailed information that was made available to attendees at the meeting but it hasn't made it's way to the rest of the public yet.
We finally get some transparency into the numbers and this information should be shared with folks that didn't/couldn't attend/watch the meeting Tues night.
How dare the TM present a possible look at future budgets without presenting it to the Budget Committee first; Common courtesy dictates this.
9:42 - Are you for real??? This is the #1 issue/problem for every municipality - what's wrong with everyone hearing it at the same time?
Not all members of the BOE were there. The finance chairmen was MIA. Maybe he was sharpening his pencil or talking to the union heads because there is a lot of work to do on the budget.
Neither the town council or the BOE will see the actual budget proposal until 1/7/10. Me thinks January is going to be a very fun month.
Mwroka, Massey and Sobol were missing from Tuesday's meeting. No surprise there. Perugini called out Milone on the budget...did anyone catch that? The 'projected' budget uses the $7.8M fund balance to make up some of the projected revenue short-fall. Milone used $500K in each of the next 4 years from the fund balance. Interesting how that fact was 'hidden' from the presentation. Additionally, Milone stated that none of the capital projects passed at referendum will have any impact on the budget. I find that very difficult to believe. It's like saying the turf field is going to fund itself with no impact to the town. :-)
Mr. Perugini does his homework as one saw from his election run. I believe he will keep everyone on their toes and do what is right for the BOE and the TC. A breath of fresh air. A great request by Mr Schrumm "Give us an answer by Jan 15". PRICELESS.
9:42 AM
The Council Chair sets the agenda. This meeting was set by me as a special joint Council & Budget committee meeting for the purpose of a 3 year budget overview which staff prepared and presented.
The public must have a sense of the what lay ahead for all of us. This meeting is no different but for the fact that all council members could ask some questions along with members of the public sooner rather than later. BOE members were invited and those able could attend. This was not , however a "joint" meeting of both bodies.
The respective budgets for BOE & the Town will unfold in the months ahead with far more specificity and with ample opportunity for public input.
Tim Slocum
Tim, I agree it your responsibility to set the agenda and I respect the you for the taking on a tough job as our leader. The future budget presentations were very informative. They still should have gone to the budget committee first. The budget presented was one sided and completely ignored the citizens of Cheshire’s reduction of income. Many people of our community; especially our seniors have had large reduction of income, their retirement plans have taken great losses. The budget presented is indicating increases of taxes in the near future. The Budget Committee should be looking into, how to cut taxes not raise them. Perhaps, we should reorganize some management staff positions.
10:30 - Do you even know who is on the Budget Committee? If the entire Town Council is there, then ALL the committees are present. Perhaps the joint council/budget meeting is a misnomer.
A three year overview was presented, it was NOT an actual presentation of the next fiscal year (FY 2010/2011) operating budget. It is too soon for that and there is a timetable for department heads to submit their budgets and for the town manager to review them and make his recommendations.
Despite what you might think, the Town is NOT overly staffed with managers.
My concern was that the budget committee did not review presentation prior to the public. This is similar to our congress pushing through a healthcare bill that no one understands.
The higher the number of employees and staff, with their higher salaries, insures that the management can demand higher salaries for them selves, don’t be a naiveté the management of the school system and town are out for themselves. Sure, some of them held back on wage increases but they will be back for more in the future. Look at what the teachers got, almost 14% over 3 years; when their student’s parents lost their jobs and many parents took cuts in pay. Why do we keep on increasing staff when technology makes us more efficient? It is my understanding is we are on their second set of software for accounting and it is not working properly. Whoever was responsible for the selection should be demoted or dismissed. They are experimenting with our money without accountability. The town budget should be geared to what the people can afford not what the special interest groups want.
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