Twenty three cents is the amount allowable under our tax cap here in Derry on town side budget items. The tax cap which is determined by the previous years CPI index this year came in at 2.8%. Meaning that town side spending this year has a maximum allowed increase of .23 cents.
What this tax cap does is to keep town side taxes from run away spending and forces the councilors, dept heads and administrator to prioritize projects. We cannot do everything all at once.
Over the last few years, with health care increases in the double digits percentage wise, cost of living increases, step raises and retirement costs going up every year- the town is put into a corner eventually by pitting employee costs vs infrastructure improvements and this is where councilors jobs get tougher each year. However, because at some point the allowable increases on future budgets will "force" the hand of the town to make serious employee cuts ( if we don't bring in more tax revenues from our depts and from economic development the matter can be worse). It is thought that next years "2010" budget we will begin to see these issues.
Some people are not worried about possible lay-off or reduction in staff and some believe it will benefit the community. I look at it this way. You will still see increases in the town side budget however you will be getting "less bang for your dollar". What do I mean by this? Less workers will have to do more work for the same coverage. You say whats wrong with that? Overtime budgets! Don't they get trimmed back too. Eventually yes! and then what? Services will begin to be effected in a negative way.
Some are pointing the finger at this council to not spend an additional penny of the 23 allowed. You do the math. 23 Million dollar budget with no increase this year however we pay the increases in health care, COLA's gasoline, oil and all other costs that have gone up in price and then next year the CPI will more than likely be under 3%. You can see this would create an even more dramatic cutting of personnel and services.
The tax cap was created to be a fixed budget to work with each year. It forces us to make priority decisions. hard decisions which is a good thing
However, we can't be irresponsible. Not this does not mean we need to increase right up to the cap however the folks that think not spending an additional penny should look at the facts a little bit harder.
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35 comments:
So tell me Brian how is it that the council driven by KC,JF and BC (brent Carney)and the taxpayers group have spent 80,000 dollars on a road to nowhere, have increased the tax eemtion for the lederly (which we pay for) and spent 200,000 dollars of economic money on paving 2 miles of bike path that will bring in what kind of economic money? money from spring water sales? and all this was done outside of the budget hearings so if i'm not mistaken increases our taxes yet the first thing KC wants to do is cut $100,000 from the bugdet? if thats whats necessary why did we spend the taxpayers money on the giveaways? I would give KC his tax cuts and let the ax fall. When the roads have fallen in disprepair and we can't get services when we need them, when departments have personnel cuts maybe then we will see the reality of what these folks have done.
KC needs to pack up his bags, just like his Janet, and move out of Town.
These two have had a negative effect on the Town. Their days are numbered.
Just like Kev said, he won't be here next year... we can only hope!
Let's not forget that KC and JF did this last year as well -- Increased exemptions, etc. Then they want to cut services so that they can appear to be "heros" saving us on our taxes. Time for both to move out of town.
Boys, boys... rather than blaming Kevin for every sin, did any one you read the Nutfield News article on Derry employee labor rates vs. comparable towns? Quick math shows that the deals our councils have inked are probably costing the town $1MM per year in excess costs. Let's talk about that for awhile before you envision unmaintained streets and fires raging out of control. Derry is and has been poorly managed. Period.
By the way, Janet is not leaving town anytime soon (I'm delighted to say).
I also heard KC say he would not be here next year. Do you know anything about it Brian?
anon 7:49,
I think what he means by that is he will not be running for re-election. His term is up in March. KC has lived here his whole life so i doubt he would be moving out of town.
anon 7:34,
JF is probably looking to down-size. Doubt she would leave town at least for a few more years if ever. As for a re-election bid? We will see if she decides to take on another 3 year commitment.
anon 7:32,
Nobody is blaming KC for all the towns problems. There is enough blame to go around! Although it is not easy seating in the council seat either.
What's the yearly salary of a councilor? Are they compensated fairly for all the criticism they endure?
KC, JF and BC... I count 3. Aren't there 7 on the council?
11:02 you are being a bit difficult to understand. Is your problem with them that they are spending money or that they are trying to cut budgets? You can't have it both ways. (Well, you can but we will all just laugh at you.)
MANDATORY READ!! anon 7:32 is correct to refer everyone to the recent NN article. derry HAS been poorly managed for a long, LONG time. good to see more of the last remaining old time architects of this accident we call home recently fly the coop. it's the down stream "yes's" that have now made the upstream "no's" necessary. thank goodness there are some on the council that are willing to clean up the mess resulting from years of pub;ic sector sloppiness feasting at the trough.
BC,
We should be looking at dept heads. (managers) for wasted spending.Thats the way it is in the working class world.
When a business is failing, its management that takes the hit, so why the town keeps its managers is beyond me.
So BC. the town managers(dept heads) want the taxpayers to take another hit on their taxes so we still can run a mismanaged town.
If the managers in this town ran their depts like a businness we would not be in the mess we are in,or have 11 week vacation time or lifetime employment.
THANKS ALOT MR. SWAN , AND OTHERS LIKE YOU!!!!!!!!
BC - That's not true. These fools on your blog site anon 11:02, 4:19 and 4:54 are willing to blame KC for everything including the Kennedy Assassination. Talk of people leaving town should be greeted with the same response as racial slurs or other remarks that immediately identify the speaker as an idiot.
Brian,
The overall proposed gross budget shows a decrease of almost 4% but the net appropriation is up almost 3% due to revenues estimated to be significantly less.
But I have to disagree with you in general terms. If I look at my personal situation, if costs go up, I cut back. Sometimes I have to cut back severely. I think Derry is close if not already in that situation. People are already struggling to cope with the increases in food and gas prices. The town of Hanover has realized this and is proposing no tax increase in their proposed budget. Is that too much to ask in Derry? I don't think so.
When looking at the budget, the question is where are the increases coming from?
You mention health benefits but health insurance is down almost 11% in the proposed budget, presumably because the new union contracts require employees to pay more of their health insurance. This decrease was more than enough to cover the increases in the other benefits such as dental, STD, LTD, FICA, unemployment & workers comp to overall, the generic benefits is down 6%.
What I like to look at is how the budget breaks down. When 10% of the budget is due to "extra" benefits such as longevity, proficiency, earned time buybacks, and insurance buyouts then I have a problem to continue business as usual. I realize these benefits require negotiations with the unions but you are asking me to fund them and I believe we can no longer afford them. So, if the unions are not willing to budge in this area then the town has to make hard choices which may mean layoffs. That is not something I want but something that may be necessary.
Anon 6:57,
Alan Swan has been gone for years. How can you blame him for today's problems?
Bruce,
I appreciate what your saying however Hanover does not have a tax cap. In your own home for example, if a roof needs to get repaired and you put it off for the year because you don't have it in your budget, Does this mean you will not have to deal with the roof the following year? Yes you will. and it may cost more. If you are saying that there is fat in the budget-please point it out. The tax cap works in both good times and in bad. Your method you use for your own home budget is that when times are good-you can spend what ever you want. With a tax cap that will never happen. The town will always be limited or capped in its spending. When Hanover realizes that they "postponed" certain things in one year-they have the option to "make -up" for it in future years. Derry can not.
anon 8:23,
Councilors make $2700 yr stipend. The chairman makes $4100.
Supervisors to the checklists make more than the town councilors. And the highest paid elected official is the town clerk. That postion makes salary, plus all the benifits
Brian,
When Russ Marcoux came on board, he did a good job of putting Derry's house in order. I do not believe there is much fat and that I not what I was saying.
You indicated that the town is being forced to choose between employee costs and infrastructure improvements. My point is that there are some employee costs that are overly generous and the town needs to negotiate those back. If the unions will not do that then the town has no choice but to layoff employees because it needs to invest in infrastructure.
BC 10:18 you have that right. Imagine what the town would have squandered had there been no tax cap?
The towns largest expense is wages and benefits. It's about time labor unions realize this. By and large, this is a small community despite it's relative size by NH standards. There are financial limitations. They have now been reached. So stop your whining.
Time for Derry union employee's to do more for less, union negotiations or not. It's going to be like this for quite a while. Townies be glad you have a job that pay's you very well for what you actually do.
BruceK is right. The union members have to realize that if we can't reduce their costs per employee, unfortunately we have to reduce the numbers of employees.
The real danger to the union's employees is when we realize that we can live with fewer employees and the world doesn't come to an end.
BC-- stop wining about the tax cap. Without it you and your buddies would drive us all out of town. It is all that is saving us. Pity that the school district doesn't have a tax cap, this might be an affordable place to live.
The Town can go ahead and eliminate positions. It will most likely be done through attrition anyway. So the Town will have less employees, but the employees will still get the same benefits.
There will be less employees and thus less services. There will be less public works employees to complete projects in Town. Police/Fire/EMS response times will be longer, if they're available in the first place(when there are multiple calls). Parents will be spending far more money for private sports clubs because there will be far less recreation employees to refereee and maintain the facilities. Personally, I belive Parks and Recs should be the first department to close down all together. Parks and Rec. is ALL extras that aren't necessary in a community. The only other option is to make the USERS fund the programs.
I have to compliment Stenhouse on his demeanor and work lately. I did not like him from the start, as he came across as arrogant. During the budget process, he has been informative, and a great advisor to the Board.
Anon 6:57,
Its tough to blame Swan on today's budget problems when he has been gone for years.
So the council cut 4 tenths of 1% of the proposed budget. (40 cents of each $100 in spending). Very gutsy. You all get the taxpayers' hero awards. Thanks a bunch.
On a differant subject....
Has anyone seen this weeks ZBA meeting replay on cable? What a feasco! God Bless Cecile. It was so disorganized.The lack of experience and knowledge about the cases was so clear to see. Why aren't the newest members attending classes before sitting on cases? Brian, just watch one case (if you can make it all the way through). There's more aka'new blood' new appointees sitting on this board than experienced ones. Is this really what the council was looking to do?
Doesn't this put the town at risk for lawsuits down the road?
Anon 8:15 - I do believe the unions realize that things are getting real tight budget-wise. The question is what is the membership willing to do. I believe most town employees work very hard and we do a disservice to them by implying they do not work hard enough. The benefits they have received is the fault of previous councils not the unions. All of us would accept benefit packages like this if offered to us.
Anon 9:33 - I do not agree with your statement that we can live with fewer employees. I have looked at the employee count in Derry with 12 other municipalities with over 20,000 residents. Derry has the fourth lowest number of employees per thousand. Its not the number of employees but the generous benefits ($1.5M per year), and NHRS (25% increase in 2 years).
The town can work to address the generous benefits but it has little say in the NHRS costs. If HB1645 passes, the increase next year is about 2% but if it fails to pass, I have been told the increase could be 42% and that alone will pretty much guarantee layoffs.
How about new revenue streams? To start, why not sell advertising space on the Derry official website. Only sell to Derry stores, like Benson's, etc. It does not have to be "advertising" revenue, it could be considered "This website is sponsored by ..." (Similar to PBS.)
It could start simply enough, and grow.
I use official websites like this all the time to get information. It tells people what stores are available in Derry. Imagine looking at the Derry website to look up Pizza restaurants rather than the yellow pages.
Derry already owns this URL, and it has inherent value that has yet to be tapped.
From your friendly neighbor Nick Arancio.
What about a Farmer's Market?
There are very small start up costs, even less when you consider the benefits.
There could be permits for farmers, permits for residents to sell their goods. Those goods should be hand made or home grown (flowers / vegetables).
It would be in the true spirit of Derry.
I have mentioned this before ... and I think it is worth another mention.
The focus on the budget seems to be just on the expense side. There needs to be some focus on creating new revenue streams.
Nick Arancio
Another idea, is a Telephone Pole Tax. I thought I was "pushing the edge of creativity", but I see there are arguments for such an idea. See HB 1416-FN .
This is from the Union Leader:
"BOSTON – A Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board ruling last week said it's OK for cities and towns to tax telephone poles and wires over public ways.
The decision allows Bay State communities to tap a new source of revenue, in some cases dating back to 2003, and could support taxation of cable television and other utility lines.
In New Hampshire, utility poles and wires are not subject to property taxes.
The state Legislature has rebuffed repeated efforts to end their tax exempt status.
The most recent attempt came in 2006 in the Granite State, when a House bill was killed without debate. A similar effort died in the Senate in 2005."
I say, get creative and find a way to tax these services. And find other sources of revenue.
Nick Arancio
Has the town considered Wind Power to supplement its' electric bill? Solar, water power?
We have many natural assets which we could and should tap into.
I read about the "Derry going green" issue a while ago. But, I don't recall a focus on electric generation.
The Windmills, Solar Panels, and Watermills would act as advertising. Their statement would be simple, "Derry knows best how to tap into what we have."
Nick Arancio
BruceK- Do you really think we "can not live without" every single town employee?
Check out this site: http://www.realtytrac.com/MapSearch/MapSearch/MapSearch.aspx?a=b&zipOnly=true&txtcity=03038&selStatus=R&zipcode=03038&selCounties=NHRO&accnt=148627&
It has 90 recently foreclosed homes in Derry. Our neighbors are being crushed economically and you can not envision one less town employee. In tough times, tough decisions are needed. For those 90 families, times don't get any tougher than when you lose you home. I've got to believe that they are the tip of an iceberg of families struggling to hang on. So what is our answer? Raise their taxes.
re: Pole Tax
Even though it sounds like a great idea, its would be a mess. Any tax and/or fee paid by the companies would be passed onto the comsumer (you and me). We would lose out in the end.
Nick,
With a budget measured in tens of millions of dollars, I'm afraid that the web site ads might not generate enough money for Derry to warrent the effort.
Also I'm not sure but I would think that if windmills were a good investment around here we would see requests coming before the zoning board. Derry is just not very windy. No wind, no revenue.
anon 9:18...i specifically want to address your sentiment that parks and recreation should be shut down altogether. i don't have a detailed handle on the numbers we are talking about here, but i dare say that in terms of numbers of users vs. expenditure, it provides more resident bang for the buck than any other department.
do yourself a favor and check out the fantastic boy's and girl's basketball program that runs like a swiss watch throughout the winter, then go check out the exceptional lifeguarding and food services at both hood and galieon's beach. if these examples do not convince you that it is generally well run (certianly better than any counter-part in the neighboring community's), then it's clear that you know little of community. and even less of the enormous problems we may foster with kids not learning to respect fair play, authority, and team work without the benefit of such activity's avalible outside of school and the home. are there excesses, maybe, as i mentioned i have not looked at the numbers. but pose your idea to scrap the department outright? well that's just a good old fashioned plain stupid idea. surely you mispoke and got carried away...i hope.
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