Simsac : What about the money in the budget for a new guy on the road crew? I haven’t heard of anybody being hired yet…where is the money set aside for that position going right now?
Or, what about the First Selectwoman’s ‘Executive Assistant’ who quit to go back to school in September? I heard that someone who was already “in-house” is doing the job. Where is that money going right now?
And, just how overworked is everybody if someone from inside can just switch over to do somebody else’s ‘full-time’ job?
Lucida : In the end, the 4% raise for the non-union employees was actually larger than that. Union employees have to pay dues to the union every month/payday. I don’t know if there are benefit increases as well, but overhead costs are usually based on pay scale. That would imply there would be increased costs in that category.
Seadog : How about Barbara Rich leading the Board of Finance charge against the Town Attorney’s interpretation of Prop 46, the Board of Finance then ordering a larger cut than what would have occurred if they followed their own lawyer’s opinion, and then Barbara ends up with a larger percentage raise than those employees in the school system the BOF whacked? That’s real justice isn’t it?
Talk about dishonesty in government. The FY 2006-2007 General Government Budget shows no salary increases in the accounts for Selectmen, Assessor, Tax Collector, Finance (Town Treasurer), Town Clerk, Town Planner, Building Official, Fire Marshall and Highway Road Foreman. The Contingency Fund account shows a 150% increase from $40,000 to $100,000 with a notation that Town Hall Union Contract was under negotiation. None of these employees are in the union are they? When do we get to find out how much of the contingency was used for the 4% pay raise those non-union employees grabbed? Is any surplus just squirreled away?
Karnac : Despondent – In the entire seven years I have closely observed the workings of the Board of Finance, I have never seen them do any evaluation of any expenditure relative to costs or discuss any options. Their process consists of three simple steps:
1. Calculate the Cap.
2. Calculate the Cut.
3. Allocate the Cut.
Then, run out of the room. The proposed bonding of capital projects is directly taken out of the Democratic campaign ads; Webster Bank handles the occasional bonding work; Treasurer Barbara Rich calculates the cap; and the allocation between Town/Education is based on previous year expenditures (+/-70%/30%). So all WBOF does is #2 – subtract the budget requests from the cap. Not a group of rocket scientists, I think this is all they can handle. If the voters want to keep P-46, we desperately need to upgrade this talent pool, so we can do what candidates keep talking about “be more creative”. I don’t think Wisneski/Rapose/Dowd/Hosmer are up to the task. Read the rest of this entry »
