Saturday, March 13, 2010

Budget meeting schedule - 2010 / 2011

Here is the schedule for budget meetings set by Budget Chairman, David Schrumm:

Tim White

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only one public hearing... and at the end when most of the decisions will already have been made? Wow, I am a little surprised by that. Isn't there usually more?

Anonymous said...

You mean, aren't there usually more?
You have many opportunities to question or give comments about the boe & town budgets. You could have gone to any of the Boe budget meetings and asked questions. You can also go to any of the town budget workshop meetings and do the same. You can write or email your councilors or boe members too.
If you don't express your opinion or ask your questions, you have only yourself to blame.

Anonymous said...

"If you don't express your opinion or ask your questions, you have only yourself to blame."

Well said. Besides the meetings, one can write, call and/or email the town council. I've found that talking directly with town council members outside of the meetings is the best way to.

Anonymous said...

The budget workshops that Tim White has listed here are open to the public and members of the public are welcome to attend and to ask questions. We often see a handfull of people at these meetings. Please come to these sessions. They are not televised. The town manager's budget, which is currently under review is available in loads of detail on the town's website. Tim has a link on his blog site.

Since many are concerned about the BOE section that presentation takes place 3/15.

The town is faced with tough choices and everyone should have an understanding of the economic facts Council is confronted with this year and the potentially far worsening financial constraints for next year given the wonderful financial condition our state leaders have put us in.

Tim Slocum

tim white said...

Thanks Tim S... and speaking of the state... one of my concerns is if they pull another post-election budget cut. I think it was Nov 2003 that they cut Cheshire's $10,000,000 funding by about $1,000,000 or so. That's problematic to say the least.

Furthermore, my guess is that whether it's a D or an R elected in November... s/he will begin the term by doing the heavy lifting that hasn't occured for years.

Anonymous said...

The Democrats had more public input. The Republicans don't want to hear what you have to say-lookout because this is what they have been waiting for.
We know better than you-that is the same Rep attitude that gave us Iraq,the bank crisis and the pool.
Republicans-its what for disaster

Anonymous said...

6:47 engages in pure partisan sniping, but he forgot to blame George Bush too. Oh wait, Bush isn't here to kick around any more.

The Dems might have had more public hearings, but they didn't listen to anyone, so we got screwed tens of millions of dollars (teacher contract, boiler, other giveaways).

Just like the Obamessiah and his Dems on Congress about about to screw us for TRILLIONS of dollars, 15% of the economy, by taking over health care.

btw, bank deregulation happened under Clinton; it only played out under Bush. Weren't the Dems supposed to be the party of the working man?

Anonymous said...

"The Democrats had more public input. The Republicans don't want to hear what you have to say-lookout because this is what they have been waiting for."

Do you have anything pertinent to say this time around or are you simply planning on doing what you've done all along which is get up to microphone and complain nobody listens to you. Brilliant strategy, it's worked well for you so far hasn't it?

Anonymous said...

"Since many are concerned about the BOE section that presentation takes place 3/15."

Ah yes, the annual education budget crying game. Don't bother attending, it's the same old sob story:

Super: "Wah...the BOE cut my budget, again, and the children will suffer."

Super: "Wah...we don't spend enough per student."

Super: "Wah...our buildings are old".

Super: "Wah...Schrum and White are out to get me."

Super: "Wah...I can't do my job without having 80% of my budget increase go directly towards salary/benefits increases."

Super: "Wah...the unions are being mean to me, raise the mill rate for the sake of the children!"

Then there will be the line of band and music parents defending their respective programs.

The usual hoard of administrators and teachers will be in attendance to make certain their cut of the budget doesn't shrink.

Did I miss anything?

Anonymous said...

Did I miss anything?

Yeah, "It's Bush's fault!"
Oh wait, he gave the Educrats everything they wanted (and it's never enough). Never mind.

Anonymous said...

Did you miss anything?
Maybe just this -

Super - I tried talking to the unions about giving up some of those 4.4% raises that the dems approved but they were only willing to give up a few furlough days. They want to be paid back for them too.
It wasn't a savings - just a loan.

Anonymous said...

There were two public hearings during the 2009 budget cycle. The first was staged 3-16-09 following the the budget workshop section for the BOE was presented the night before. It was largely attended by dozens of school faculty who lined up and made their case for the council and the public to accept living with their exorbitant contract.

This was likely a pivital moment in public perception regarding the teachers contract and the taxpayers ability to support it which resulted in the Republican landslide last November. You see it wasn't all about the kiddies it was about their kitty. And this year is no different...probably worse.

Anonymous said...

This budget can't keep going up. Our growth for this year is around $250,000. It's simple. Our budget can't increase by more than that amout period. No tax increase of any kind. Give the taxpayers a break this year. Thank you..

Anonymous said...

Why do we need public input? Schrumm knows better than anyone what we need.

use the meat cleaver now said...

No budget increases, no tax increases, period. We're in a recession and can't afford it.

Since the 4.4% teachers increase is built in and they won't give any concessions (oink, oink), that needs to be offset by cuts in other school spending. The overall education budget should receive zero increase.

If state aid is going to be cut another million, the Council and BOE need to cut another million in spending. Some of us taxpayers have no jobs at all, let alone 4.4% pay increases.

The Nov '09 election was a taxpayers revolt. The new Council and BOE need to bite the bullet and make the hard cuts now. This will be the bottom line in Nov '11.

Anonymous said...

"The Nov '09 election was a taxpayers revolt."

Correct. Public input was given last November. Enough said.

Anonymous said...

Hard cuts were made last year. The overall budget increase was only $300k the lowest ever in town, did you all know that?

Anonymous said...

RE: "Hard cuts were made last year. The overall budget increase was only $300k the lowest ever in town"

Cuts in last years budget were offset by raiding the Rainy Day Fund (not reflected in the above figure).

Even harder cuts should be made this year.
No increased spending or taxes, period.

Anonymous said...

"Hard cuts were made last year."

Really, specifically what do you consider to be a hard cut to last years (current year's) budget?

Anonymous said...

No the spending only increasesed $300k it had nothing to do with the rainy day fund. That fund was used to offset lost revenue from the state.

Anonymous said...

"No the spending only increasesed $300k it had nothing to do with the rainy day fund. That fund was used to offset lost revenue from the state."

Right, revenue was down so instead of decreasing spending we increased spending AND raided our rainy day fund. Borrow now, worry about it later.

Anonymous said...

8:23 & 12:54 must be the same tc member that made that ridiculous remark at tonights budget meeting...you know, the snack munching, eye rolling guy who always gets angry.

Anonymous said...

"8:23 & 12:54 must be the same tc member that made that ridiculous remark at tonights budget meeting...you know, the snack munching, eye rolling guy who always gets angry."

You mean the TC member that said "David, when its you against the teachers' union everyone loses and the students will suffer."

Yep, I'm betting it's him. Between the amount of time he spent on his blackberry tonight, rolling his eyes, shaking his head and the general attitude of not wanting to be there...he did his voters proud. I call him precious.

Anonymous said...

354 teachers vs 29,000 citizens give or take. Do the math.

Anonymous said...

maybe he was mad b/c there were no snacks there so he had to try to chew someone's head off

Anonymous said...

Speaking of folks that didn't want to be there tonight...what was up with Milone this evening? Not only did he not defend Florio tonight it looked like his underwear was on way too tight the whole evening. Has he given up already?

As for Ecke...well his actions spoke loud and clear tonight.

Anonymous said...

” Speaking of folks that didn't want to be there tonight, what was up with Milone? … it looked like his underwear was on way too tight”

Maybe because Tim raised the question of defunding Mr. Zullo’s position and using that $103K/ year for schools, police, and/or to cut spending.

What does Mr. Zullo do as “Personnel Director” anyway? Seems like he doesn’t do a very effective job, with all the problems in the police dept and DPW. Now Milone has to justify the $103,000/ year we pay to his old crony.