Sen. Tom Coburn endorses...

No. He didn't endorse my guy... physician-politician, Ron Paul.

But Sen. Tom Coburn did endorse McCain. And though DC-based political endorsements rarely mean anything to me... along with Reps. Flake and Shadegg, Sen. Coburn is one of the few people who I feel really is working to stop the spending binge in Washington. After all, as a freshman GOP Senator... Coburn was the only Senator willing to take Sen. Ted "porkmeister" Stevens and his $250 million dollar bridge to nowhere to the floor of the Senate and... call him out on it... publicly.

Sure, Coburn didn't make many friends that day in Washington. But I think he made friends all across the country... everywhere except inside the beltway.

Anyway, since Coburn is making a concerted effort at fighting Washington's wasteful, deficit spending... his endorsement actually does mean something to me.

Tim White

Stop n shop

Going shopping in Cheshire can be fun... never know who you might see. I didn't see Congressman Chris Murphy there tonight, but I did see his wife. I was tempted to say hi and ask her to ask Chris to tell the Kongressional Kids in the District of Corruption to balance the budget, but... I decided against saying anything. I'm sure she had more important things to do... if it were Chris on the other hand... balance the budget!

Tim White

School budget I: certified staff

This post has two goals:

First, it's an explanation of an analysis that I've done of the BOE budget for the past few years.

Second, it's my analysis of the first of the six "major" categories within the BOE budget.

But first the explanation...

A few days ago, I posted this about the BOE budget... explaining the difference between the (six) "major" budget line items and (all) the "minor" budget line items.

Anyway, here is the previously posted summary... intended to detail the first (and second) of the six major categories:

As you can see, "a/c 110 - Administration" above, agrees to the detail in "a/c 110 - Administration" below (note the color coding):

And continue to follow the color coding below:

Then if you're reading the image directly above (just click on it to enlarge it), you should be able to see what I've done... while the BOE budget books normally include a "history" of budgetary line items... I've created a "history of the histories." That is... while the BOE Budget books normally include:

1) actual expenditures,
2) adopted BOE budgets, and
3) proposed Superintendent's budgets

even the historic numbers have changed over time... remember how no one knew how many teachers we had? Well, this is where that inconsistency in history "fell out."

Anyway, since I'll be trying to provide this analysis for each of the six "major" categories (as well as the minor categories) over the next few weeks... I encourage you to take a look at my analysis and ask me questions to clarify anything that is unclear.

Finally, I don't see much of interest here in the major category of "certified staff." Generally though, of most interest to me is seeing how actual expenditures align with both the BOE adopted budgets and the Superintendent's proposed budgets... particularly over time.

Tim White

Transparency needed at the Fed

Here's a comment from Ron Paul's website. It's a topic on which I agree with him wholeheartedly. And while I'm not sure if I support or oppose the existence of a central bank because I'm not versed well enough on the merits... I absolutely believe we should have greater

Transparency at the Fed

Excerpts from Dr. Paul's comments...

Fed bankers quite literally determine the value of our money, by controlling the supply of dollars and establishing interest rates. Their actions can make you richer or poorer overnight, in terms of the value of your savings and the buying power of your paycheck. So I urge all Americans to educate themselves about monetary policy, and better understand how a small group of unelected individuals at the Federal Reserve and Treasury department wield tremendous power over our lives...

Transparency in monetary policy is a goal we should all support...

There are no true audits, and Congress knows nothing of the conversations, plans, and actions taken in concert with other central banks...

All paper currencies are vulnerable to collapse, and history is replete with examples of great suffering caused by such collapses, especially to a nation's poor and middle class...

In 2006 dollars, the minimum wage was $9.50 before the 1971 breakdown of Bretton Woods. Today that dollar is worth $5.15. Congress congratulates itself for raising the minimum wage by mandate, but in reality it has lowered the minimum wage by allowing the Fed to devalue the dollar. We must consider how the growing inequalities created by our monetary system will lead to social discord.

How can a policy of steadily debasing our currency be defended morally, knowing what harm it causes to those who still believe in saving money and assuming responsibility for themselves in their retirement years? Is it any wonder we are a nation of debtors rather than savers?

We need more transparency in how the Federal Reserve carries out monetary policy, and we need it soon.

I hope the other Presidential candidates start talking more about monetary policy.

Tim White

Upcoming ND vote

The ND proposal will again be on the PZC agenda... this time at a special meeting scheduled for this Wednesday at 7:30pm. I'm not sure if there'll be a vote though. I believe PZC is not yet pushing up against their deadline... so they could wait until later this month.

In an unusual occurence, Republican Sean Strollo will be Chairing the meeting... though it will be a Democratic majority (D - Patti Flynn Harris, Lou Todisco, Marty Coburn, Andy Maye, John Kardaris; R - Sean Strollo, EJ Kurtz, Woody Dawson, Leslie Marinaro).

As I've said before... it should be rejected as currently proposed. Based on my understanding there are too many problems with it... it's not self-sustainable and it's unnecessary sprawl. These shortcomings are too great and can be overcome... though at a cost to the developer (remember my previous post where I said "stacked" parking costs $30,000 per parking space).

Additionally, the fiscal impact analysis is incomplete. And I don't fault W/S for that. They're upfront about this... they're a business and they want to make money. So they tell the best case scenario. That's what I expect of them. But it's not what I expect of my elected officials.

My representatives should also consider the secondary impacts of this project, particularly in relation to the schools. After all, like everyone else in town, the PZC is concerned about traffic. (MRJ, by Stacy Graham Hunt) And traffic is arguably a secondary impact... so the PZC should be consistent and either be concerned with all (obvious) secondary impacts... or be concerned with none... and they're not about to ignore traffic... which means they should consider the secondary impact on schools... along with the secondary impact on our already-stressed electric grid, etc.

Anyway, I'm hitting the sack now. In the meantime, any closing thoughts on the ND before they vote?

Tim White

CPD defense tactics class

A portion of a $15,000 state grant will enable the Police Department to offer self-defense training classes for women this year. (NHR, by Luther Turmelle)

Among the uses will be:

Block watch programs.

Home security audits done by officers.

The department’s Citizens Police Academy, in which residents who are enrolled gain an in-depth understanding of how police officers do their jobs.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

High level schools budget

Here's a high level detailing of the Superintendent's proposed school budget for '08/'09. Traditionally, the school budget is broken down into six major categories. Then the six major categories are further broken down.

My understanding is that reason for the six major categories is a legal one. That is, by law only the BOE may reclassify budgetary items among the six major accounts... while the Superintendent may reclassify budget items among any of the "minor" categories... as long as the money stays within that "major" category. But I'm not a lawyer... that's just what I've picked up over the past few years.

I'll try to provide more detail and analysis over the coming weeks and months.

Tim White

Paul beat Fred!

Here's the CNN clip of the Ron Paul post-primary party in NH:I'm not going to get into it now, but simply put... last weekend was a phenomenal experience being up in New Hampshire and helping with the campaign. The level of energy and enthusiasm was amazing. Even the locals (reporters, police, security guards, etc.) told me that they had never seen so much excitement and passion for any candidate.

Tim White

Open forum 1/12

I'm not sure what to write about right now. So here are some odds'n'ends.

As many of you know, my dad does some freelance work as a literary agent. Here's a book he recently started working on... written by someone known to many of you... Pat Depaolo. I don't know him myself, but I do know some of his kids from CHS.

Here's the business card from a recently opened Cheshire business. It's located in the Watch Factory. It's a coffee shop and I give it a thumb's up.


Luther Turmelle of the NHR reported on what will happen with the $165,000 being given to the CPD from Elim Park.

There's a new scholarship being established in town for CHS grads. Details are here:I think the Chamber of Commerce is having its annual awards dinner on January 24.

Anyone see the GOP debate on Thursday night? In discussing Iran, Presidential candidate Ron Paul mentioned the false information that led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution... which led to war with Vietnam. I know I've mentioned it before, but the lies that led to the Vietnam War were largely exposed as a result of a letter to the editor from my dad to the New Haven Register. My point? Despite the fact that America was led to war in Vietnam under false pretenses... letters to the editor can make a difference. And they shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes to write. So speak up and be heard!

Someone at CTLP reported that Tony Nania has filed his paperwork for a primary contest with Dave Cappiello... for the chance to run against Chris Murphy.

What else is happening?

Tim White

Isn't it strange...

Here's a guest post from Cheshire resident, Ira Kushner:

For the past 3 weeks I have noticed a full page color ad in the Cheshire Herald. The heading of this ad is: DON’T “MALL” CHEHSIRE! Now I know what you are thinking…another letter for/against the North End Development. Well I am not going to state my view because I feel that there is a bigger issue here than my view on the matter. That issue is what the people of Cheshire are allowed to know…who is trying to sway public opinion. Sure the ad has the names of elected officials, it even suggests a website to go to for more information. But what does the ad not have, what information is missing. That’s right…who is paying for the ad, who is trying to sway the decision making process. I spoke with folks at the Herald, I spoke with some of the elected officials listed in the ad and I spoke with some members of the Town council. Guess what, either they did not know, were not willing to share or in the case of the Herald were asked not to share the name of the person (or persons) responsible for the ad. Now I don’t think the intent of this ad is questionable, it is clearly taking a side on this issue…

Here we have a very expensive ad, yes even a somewhat informative ad but also an ad whose purpose is to influence the folks of Cheshire yet we don’t even know who is paying for the ad, who is standing behind the ad…I find that strange. I feel given the impact of the North End Development decision, given how involved the people of Cheshire are in this decision and yes just to add some sort of credibility to the ad, the people of Cheshire should know the source of the ad.

Ira A. Kushner
Cheshire

p.s. As always, guest posts are welcome and appreciated.

Caligiuri may have opponent

Sam Caligiuri may have an opponent. The MRJ (by Jason Vallee) is reporting that Southington Councilman John Barry is considering a run against Sam.

Also in 2008 news, I haven't heard anything recently about the reported Steve Nania challenge to Dave Cappiello for the GOP nod to run against Congressman Chris Murphy. Anyone know what's happening with that?

Tim White

Turning point for DC GOP?

For those of you who are interested in (what I see as the fight for) the heart and soul of the Republican Party, you may be interested to know that Sen. Trent Lott's resignation led to a Mississippi member of the House Appropriations Committee being appointed to fill his seat. In turn, there's an open seat on the Committee.

Now GOP Minority Leader John Boehner has to fill the seat. And according to Townhall.com, Boehner is likely to choose RSCC Chairman Rep. Tom Cole (R.-Okla.) to fill the position. “Cole argues the appropriations seat would help him raise money for the cash-strapped NRCC.” But fiscal conservatives are pushing for an alternative, Jeff Flake of Arizona.

I don't know much about Flake, but similar to Shadegg and Boehner... he's one of the few members of Congress who doesn't request earmarks. Flake not only says he's a fiscal conservative, he also votes that way.

For the sake of the GOP, I hope Boehner gives the seat to Flake.

Tim White

Fund balance policy vote

About eight or nine months ago I raised a point during a budget committee meeting: before legislating a fund balance policy, the Council should determine if the benefits of the Town's ever-growing fund balance were worth the costs. (I’ve described my concerns in great detail, see a few of the links here and here.)

In other words, while a rainy day fund is important… is it worthwhile to have a rainy day fund of $8,000,000 (8% of a $100,000,000 operating budget) instead of a rainy day of $5,000,000 (5%)? What is the benefit of the additional $3,000,000 taken from the taxpayers? And what is the benefit of maintaining that additional 3% at a cost of $90,000/yr?

Unfortunately, the Council did as I expected. That is, when I initially suggested a cost/benefit analysis, the Town Manager immediately rejected the idea. And though I’ve been advocating this idea since then… including doing my own cost/benefit analysis based on the information provided by the Town Manager… the Council did as I expected they would. Though they listened to hours and hours of testimony, they never documented the costs and benefits and never offered the information to the voters in a digestable form. This is a lack of oversight.

The fund balance is an accounting function. And accounting requires that you put pen to paper. So to not put pen to paper and document the rationale for the “8%” was a failure of leadership.

To his credit though, Matt Hall was very candid. He said the Democrats won the election. Herego, the voters disagreed with my call for a cost/benefit analysis. Of course, I could’ve argued that my reelection was a voter mandate for a cost benefit analysis, but the writing was on the wall a long time ago. If the Town Manager says something… don’t expect this Council to overrule him. (Anyone recall our recently created Public Information Officer position??)

Anyway, the conversation started off unsurprisingly. The same old story was being spun about how it’s impossible to measure the value of the rainy day fund. I pretty much figured that was how it would go, so I had pretty much already resolved myself to a “no” vote on this measure.

Instead I decided to simply use my expertise as a CPA to add some value to the conversation. And while Matt Hall protested that I was not the only CPA on the Council, I'm quite confident that I am the only Council member who is a CPA. I’m confident that any claims to the contrary are false. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person sitting behind the dais who has any financial qualification. And for that reason, I felt the need to clarify the debate. After all, we’re talking about millions of taxpayer dollars. The least I can do is try to make sure this new policy makes sense from an accounting perspective because it is an accounting function.

And since there was no one behind the dais who was qualified to discuss the terminology of the “fund balance policy,” I asked the Town’s Finance Director, Patti Lynn Ryan, to work through the terminology with me. Although she didn’t have all the answers, she did do a good job and recognized the importance of the terminology being used, including:

terms often used by the town are “reserve” and “fund balance.” Terms used by others (GASB and GFOA) are “reserved fund balance” and “unreserved fund balance,” along with “designated unreserved fund balance” and “undesignated unreserved fund balance.”

And since it’s possible that the town’s “reserve” is someone else’s “designated unreserved fund balance,” it’s possible that we may need to reclassify all of the Town’s “reserves” and include them in the town’s newly adopted “fund balance” policy.

In layman’s terms, that means the reserves currently set aside by the town would all be returned to taxpayers… perhaps in the form of a mill rate reduction this year? I’m not sure.

Nonetheless, the majority’s poor judgment in passing the legislation and rejecting my suggestion to table the motion and review the policy may prove to be a windfall for the taxpayers. To enforce the 8%-9% policy may soon require all those additional reserves to be returned to the taxpayers in some form.

Bottom line though… I knew I didn’t have the votes to reject this policy as written (I'd be happy if it were 5%, not 8%). I just wish that I could have found at least one member of the Council majority who felt that the additional $3,000,000 tax burden already levied and the additional $90,000/yr in ongoing tax burdens that will be levied needed to be justified in real dollar terms and documented for public consumption. Unfortunately, since it didn’t happen, I conclude that the benefit is not there… hence, the Council majority is comfortable with excessive taxation.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Republican caucus tonight

The Cheshire GOP will be holding its biennial caucus tonight to elect members of the Republican Town Committee. All registered Republicans are invited. The meeting will take place at 7:30pm in Town Hall.

Tim White

The primaries

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the heart

-- Geddy Lee, Rush

I love that song. Anyway...

While the primaries are just beginning, the debates started last May. And to me, the words spoken in the debates have been immensely important. Anyone remember "this smackdown?" Now with the votes starting to roll in... we're just beginning to be able to declare a winner.

But back to today... the number one "issue" for why I support Ron Paul is that he's not simply discussing taxes... he's discussing spending... in particular social security and healthcare (he is the only M.D. running). And to his credit, Fred Thompson is also discussing social security. But I'm not sure if any other Presidential candidates are even talking about reducing spending.

So a big thank you to both of them for at least acknowledging that America has some major issues with it's long-term liabilities... because if the men who hold high places don't... who will?

Tim White

Council agenda 1/8

Here's the agenda for Tuesday's meeting:I haven't read the agenda, so can't comment... though I did see the "fund balance policy" on the agenda as an action item... should be an interesting conversation.

Also... I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much posting for the next few days... maybe one of you would like to do a guest post?

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Paul beats Guiliani!

Ha! How's that for spin? Ok, ok... I'm not thrilled with the Iowa caucus results, but I'm fine... I still intend to work to get Ron Paul as many delegates for when the GOP convenes in Minneapolis this summer. My real goal is to reinstate the Constitution, not to elect any particular candidate... and I think Ron Paul's voice is the best way to do that. Go Ron Paul! Go US Constitution!

But back to the caucuses... Congratulations to Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama! While Ron Paul is my favorite candidate on the GOP side, I'd say that Obama is probably my favorite candidate on the Dem side... though I really don't know much of anything about his federal voting record... other than his noteworthy sponsorship of the "Transparency in Federal Spending" bill. Also interesting to me about Obama... the reports are that a most unusual thing happened... while CW says you should never count on the youth vote... it seems that they may not have left him standing at the altar and actually turned out to vote for him.

Most interesting to me though from the reporting I saw tonight... statewide, Iowa Democratic turnout went from 126,000 to 212,000... that's a massive increase in turnout... and I'm wondering if that's a harbinger of things to come in November... I'm sensing that the Democratic landslide in 2006 hasn't yet subsided... and it'll probably continue right through to November 2008... speaking as a Republican... yikes!

Lastly, I guess Chris Dodd has decided to drop out and move home to Connecticut.

Tim White

Wetlands vote explanation

For anyone who missed it, the NHRs Luther Turmelle reported today why only five of the seven IWWC members voted: Matt Bowman recused himself due to his family's financial interests and Tod Dixon had resigned in relation to becoming a BOE member.

Furthermore, the 5-0 vote was a reflection of the rules... not necessarily the wishes of the entire Commission. Long-time member Charles Dimmick said "Although I personally don't want to see a mall there, I can find no technical reason to deny the application."

Anyone know when the PZC will be voting? Their meeting is normally the second Monday of the month... but I think that's MLK day. Are the even ready to vote yet?

Tim White

Wetland approval given

According to Lauresha Xhihani (WRA), Inland Wetlands approve the proposed ND last night with a 5-0 vote.

As for me, I hope the PZC sees this project for what it is... unnecessary sprawl... and rejects the proposed project until a higher density proposal... with more serious consideration given to it's sustainability... is brought to the table.

Tim White

Analyzing the rainy day fund

As many of you know, I've been advocating a cost/benefit analysis to understand the Town's "rainy day fund." Unfortunately, I haven't made much progress... though the recent budget committee meeting minutes have shed some light on the difficulties I'm encountering...

Budget Committee Chairman Mike Ecke said "(I am) not sure how this would be approached."

And "Mr. Milone pointed out that this fund balance does not lend itself to a cost benefit analysis, because the start is a false premise that there is a cost involved. There is no cost; there is a revenue investment that sits there that is being debated as to its use."

Now understanding why it's been impossible to perform a cost/benefit analysis, I realized that the only way to move this discussion forward would be to do it myself... a rather time-consuming, but worthwhile effort I think.

So here's my first attempt at an "investment/benefit analysis" of the rainy day fund:
And just a bit of explanation for this... as noted in the minutes, the TM said there were 15 reasons for the fund balance policy (or the related 8% funding level??)... and if you read the minutes... the conversation was likely fluid and while I'm sure the minutes are an accurate representation of the discussion... the discussion itself is not entirely clear. And the 15 reasons are not listed anywhere... so I'll email the Town Manager for the list of 15 reasons. In the meantime, I thought you all may be able to offer some analysis of your own.

Oh... and one benefit I forgot to include... with the additional $3.3million in taxes that have already been collected and the additional $90,000 in taxes that will be collected annually... we'll be saving about $20,000/yr. (I base that number on last year's estimated savings of $30,000 - 50,000 for the biennial bond issuance... I averaged it to $40,000 and divided by two.) Of course, if we went from a AA bond-rated town to a A bond-rated town, we (or the underwriters) could just buy bond insurance for $5,500... and we could return to the 5% level (that was perfectly acceptable only four years ago) and return $3,000,000 to the taxpayers! But of course... it's not that simple... so bloggers... I hope you can do your stuff and provide some critical analysis on my investment/benefit analysis.

By the way... that $550,000 that gets incorporated into the budget... that seems to get incorporated every year... that's normally fallout from the seemingly annual surplus of $2,000,000. So it's not as if that is necessarily a "drawdown" of the rainy day fund.

Anyway... is the cost to maintain the 8% rainy day fund worth the benefit?

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

p.s. For the record... generally speaking, during his tenure, the Town Manager has done a good job with the town's finances. But going forward, I don't want to see my favorite Democratic Council become Cheshire's version of the Republican "no oversight is needed" Congress. :)