Getting ready to kick-off our marathon budget meetings in April. This is where the 7 councilors will collectively shape an already tough budget for 09 which takes effect on July 1. With big numbers to balance, I'm sure the council will be up to the challenge to balance the books in a fiscally responsible way.
For people who are newly interested in town budget, The town MUST live with-in a tax cap.
The tax cap is determined by the CPI index from the previous year. This is mandated by the town's charter. This prevents run away spending and forces the 7 town councilors to prioritize budget items year in and year out.
The town's budget is about 80% personnel driven. and so one can see the challenge councilors have when health care costs increase yearly, raises and COLA's typically increase yearly as well.
Items such as fuel, heating costs are rising at such a high percentage increase that one can appreciate that a budget held at a 2.5-3.3% overall increase allowed per tax cap- the budget gets tougher and tougher to make ends meet.
This year, I made a motion to have a full, comprehensive budget book ( the same as a councilor would get) made public and at town hall for taxpayers to see ALL THE DETAILS. and not a condensed version. This is an opportunity for the taxpayers of Derry to see where your money is going and to ask questions of your councilors about spending priorities. So with that said...
Let the budgets begin..
Update: The budget book will be at the Town Clerks office for public viewing. Starting 3/31, It will be there for public viewing.
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14 comments:
Why isn't it broken down, in digital format (pdf or better excel), and available on line?
You could also provide a couple of copies of each past year and have them available at the library.
Better still, charts and graphs provide lots of information at a glance. They allow comparisons etc.
My electric bills provide me with that simple service ...
Am I asking too much?
The Town of Derry has an accounting firm, they must use these tools, so why isn't that data available?
I do appreciate the information being public even if it does not appear that way ;-)
Nick Arancio
Nick,
It took me two years to get a full book for the taxpayers to see at town hall.
The budget is about 5" thick with many pages and would take awhile to get this scanned and put into PDF format. Thats not to say it can't be done however... we are making progress.
I appreciate your hard work, and it is a great accomplishment at that.
To let you know, PDF Distiller is a program. And you simply "print to pdf distiller" to make a PDF file. Just like sending something to an HP priter etc. So long as you have it in some digital format (Excell, Peachtree, and any other program).
Scanning is only for when you have a hard copy and want to create a digital image. Scanning with OCR, optical character recognition is not worth the time. But, that is the process of scanning a hard copy and having the computer attempt to guess what each character is ( is it a 3 or a B) ... and not worth it.
If the town does not have a PDF Distiller licence, it would be well worth the fee.
I am sure the accounting company uses Peachtree Accounting or other advanced accounting programs. All of which can produce pie charts etc, and all of which can be printed to pdf.
anon 11:09,
The town has specialized software called "MUNIS". I will have to find out if this software has those capibilities
BC As you can see Derry is awash in technical expertise that no one has ever tapped into.
Next question... once we have the data, are there equivilant sites or consolidated data for the rest of NH? If so, then we can compare Fire Dept budgets,labor rates, etc. Digesting all this information would be a significant task even if the Councilors were fulltime. Let the people have access to the data and step back... who knows what insights might come forth.
Great job BC in promoting this information access.
It's kind of funny, in a refreshing kind of way. FINALLY! Derry officials gets dragged into the twenty-first century. Openning "our" books details for towns people to review. Imagine that.
For many decades the books were closed in an attempt to keep people in the dark. The devil's alway's in the detail. For the most part, the oldtime Derry pol has been spooked and to no one's surprise have flown the coop. It will be interesting to see the details of the mess they've created and left in the roost.
I was waiting for that. Anon 2:12 only mentions the Fire Dept budget. Considering the fact that the Derry Fire Dept budget is what, 6-7% of the total taxpayers cost per year (please correct me if I am wrong here), I would think it more appropriate to mention budgetary outlays that consume a considerably greater proportion of the taxpayer's burden than the Fire Dept. It sounds to me like the emphasis is being placed in the wrong area. Looking at services to cut is the LAST place we should be looking to make a dent in our bill every year.
Anon 11:25 there should be no sacred cows. All budgets should be examined to find opportunities for savings. If you want to start that search with the biggest budget, I would welcome your thoughts on our school district but be prepared to feel their rath. Go for it.
Let's hear some feedback how we can ever expect to fund an addition to the Taylor library in the midst of the potential educational funding cuts. I guess folks will need to drive to the other library as I can not endorse this low priority spending when we have a library with a great addition. kmc
Brian, this is on a completely differant subject, but I just can't help myself from writing tonight. What a week this has been. Tuesday's council meeting has set yet another 'course' for Derry.Well seasoned candidates were snubbed and insulted.I just finished watching the ZBA Meeting tonight and it was so painful. The chairman was in unfamiliar territory, the members so uneducated on even the protocal of making motions. Thank God for Cecile!!!Will our legal fees climb, due to the blunders these folks will be making this year...Another night for Al D. to use up meeting time.
And how professional is it to go before the Planning Board and in the back of the meeting room two young children of a board member running around? Get a babysitter Jan!The Chair of THAT board should speak up. It's a reflection on her as well. Where is the respect for the citizens, developers, and businessmen? How can any business come before this board or the ZBA and think Derry is a town to be taken seriously about its growth or knowledge of how to achieve it. The taxpayers are paying about $90,000 on a Economic Development Coordinator. Could you make her job any harder?
It did not make any sense to have to watch experienced well educated (previous) board members insulted by chosing to fill vacant seats with unexperienced ones.
Those who chose to take this action,you may think you won the battle, but you may have also just shot yourselves in your own foot!! I realize you were not in attendence Tuesday night Brian. Know that you were sorely missed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for letting me vent.
BC,
Derry is not awash in technical expertise like the above poster states.
If you want to create PDF's for someone you can do it for free - check out www.pdf995.com. If you know how to print something you can make a PDF. It's that easy and it's FREE.
Save the town the $300 or so dollars.
"RE: Let's hear some feedback how we can ever expect to fund an addition to the Taylor library in the midst of the potential educational funding cuts".
How about we NEVER fund Taylor Library. If the folks that live near it want an edition raise the money yourself with car washes or the like. The town already has a very good library we don't need two. Better yet make the tiny building a museum and be done with it. The way Pinkerton is putting up buildings without ANY oversight we are already thinking about moving away, if we can sell our house with taxes over $1000 / month.
Anon 10:59 I beg to differ. Derry and the surrounding area has a very high concentration of high tech workers, many of whom are employed in the information area and commute into MA.
Your comment about pdf is interesting but irrelevent. PDF's don't allow you to manipulate the data to calculate things like Police officers per 1000 population for each large town in NH. (This fact might have saved Derry $50,000 or $100,000 last night.)
Anon, Sounds as if you have an issue with all the boards ... or could it be that you are one of the individuals who decided to resign instead of serve your community when your friends didn't get back on.
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