Saturday, January 01, 2011

2010: Looking back, including an untold story

While the Herald takes a look back on 2010, I want to highlight another story of 2010. I'm fairly certain I never blogged about it, but it needs to be mentioned.

If you're concerned about taxes and spending, you can thank the Council -- led by Councilman Jimmy Sima -- for fighting wasteful spending and saving the taxpayers $10,000. That's the money that was saved when he demanded an explanation for the TMs unnecessary request for a new pickup truck that included an extended cab pickup. The pickup was needed. The extended cab was not.

The reality is that the $10,000 for an extended cab was simply another request for wasteful spending. It was typical of Town Hall's wasteful spending that consistently benefits the members of The Inner Circle... at the same time the taxpayers get fleeced.

Anyway, there are many stories that are left untold. But I thought this one was important... not as a story of an elected official saving the taxpayers $10,000, but as part of the much larger story of elected officials who are more concerned with fighting bureaucrats ever-growing call for more taxing and spending, than with attempting to satiate their thirst for benefiting their cronies.

And before we look forward to 2011, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, good holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Tim White

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the WASTED money having to do with the school bus contract and the municipal waste collection contract??? Many multiple thousands of dollars more than $10K!!! We certainly didn't forget.

Anonymous said...

What department was this truck for? Depending on the purpose of this truck, an extended cab may be warranted. I really like how a request goes to a person with no idea of the intended purpose to answer questions about

Anonymous said...

Regarding the bus contract, remember, it was the last TC council that botched the bid waiver that would've saved us THOUSANDS of dollars...$167K to be exact. Brilliant.

Anonymous said...

The facts regarding the pickup truck for Public Works are that the extended cab truck was intended for the Street Supervisor who must carry a myriad of items in the vehicle, many that would not easily fit into the cab of a regular truck. The figure of $10,000 dollars for the extended cab option is actually more like $2,000.00. There is nothing wrong with an opinion but you should have the facts straight before you print it.

tim white said...

a myriad of items in the vehicle

I appreciate your comment, but it is vague. I think specificity would be helpful.

What precisely are those items that would not fit in a regular cab or in the bed? Surely, the list can't be that long. And if something isn't an item commonly known... could you provide a link to an image?

Also, the extension may be only $2,000. But I recall the budget request was in the $10,000 range. I wouldn't be surprised if the budget was completely detached from reality, as you suggest.