Councilors just finished up their 2nd round of budgets with a whole Saturday marathon meeting. We started the budgets last Thursday on April 16th with both the Derry Library and the Taylor Library. Right out of the gate, councilors looked to trim back a budget that was presented with both increases in salaries and benefits in some cases and putting money aside for capital projects. Both were either trimmed way down and/or eliminated all together.
For instance, Library staff were looking for a 2.5% salary increase and those were trimmed to a 1% increase instead. To my surprise, Councilor Coyle did not Zero line those increase but instead compromised instead.. This was a fair way to handle it.
However, I tried to take out the legal line which had $200 in it. My questions was what kind of legal advise can one get for $200. Besides, The library if need be could use town's legal council if need be..I doubt that it would get used.. My motion failed though, so $200 stays in for legal. I then made a motion to cut $12,000 for a security camera. I thought it could wait until next year. That item was flagged for now meaning we will bring that back up a little bit later.
The Taylor Library also had their salary increases knock down to 1%. They wanted 3.5% over last year. We also took out $20,000 which was to be used in a capital fund for Taylor Library Expansion.. Looks like that will need to wait until better times.
Yesterday we had the Saturday Marathon day and we took out more that $4 million out of what was in the budget. A bond to build a rec facility was motioned out by me because in this economy, the town must keep its spending in line.
I'll post more about the budgets in upcoming posts. Lets hear some of your thoughts about the budget and what should be done for this year.
The opinions expressed are of my own individualy and are not to be interpreted as official of any governing body. Comments from readers are also of their own opinions and will be edited only if the content is harmful or non constructive to any individual. It is important to share information and thoughts on political process so that we may discuss issues that effect us all.
31 comments:
I am wondering how you can justify not freezing salaries this year, when so many people are having pay cuts or are being laid off?
BC - Having witnessed the budget process (live and on TV) I have sent you and the other councilors comments and recommendations regarding improving the process. Others can see these recommendations on ADT's site http://derrytax.ning.com/
I commend your budget cutting efforts in general, however the process encourages spending too much time on $200 library legal items and not enough on the $600,000+ library labor budget. Also lacking any comparative data from other towns you had to accept Ms Ives comments about competitive salaries without question. I don't know if she is right or wrong but more importantly you don't either.
Regards,
Doug Newell
Come on BC, its common practice to put a small figure in a budget, such as the $200 legal figure. Its a token to save the line. The you brag out here about how you tried to save us $200. Wakeup! You should be looking at the real numbers, in the hundreds of thousands, that need to be trimmed. Your soapbox gesture saves us nothing.
BC - You are selling yourself short. On Saturday, in Public Works alone I saw $800,000+ get cut out of the proposed budget. This doesn't account for the flagged items such as electricity, which we now know will decrease. A few in the Parks and Recreation Dept that will affect my family directly, namely, the concerts in MacGregor, and the pavillion at Humphrey. Of course, these would not have mattered at all if Mr. Coyle's vote to keep the $4 million recreation facility went through. You are in a thankless job Brian, but it is appreciated!
And to anon 8:16AM, When the cycle repeats, will you go back and increase their salaries appropriately, or just 'thaw' them?
As you look for cuts, I think all councilors should take a long hard look at the budget line for the July 4th fireworks.
The RFP on the Town's website states the budget for the show is $17,000.
The typical Derry show is maybe 15-20 minutes long and there are many gaps without any fireworks.
As sad as it may seem, if the council truly beleives there is a bad economy this year, then they should think long and hard about spending $17,000 for a mediocre display.
Save the money and let the citizens watch the fireworks in Manchester, or at the beach every Wednesday night.
10:37 Did you get a law degree? Too stupid or too lazy or just a socialist? Check out how much Derry pays its legal staff. $80k is chump change for lawyers. Coyle's giving them a bargain. Grow up.
No, 5:02 we shouldn't cut out the fireworks. And even though things are very tight in my family's finances we won't cancel Christmas this year. There is millions of dollars of fat in the budget. You want us to stop celebrating America so that our employees can have gold plated benefits packages (better than we have)? No way.
Anon
20/4/09 10:37 PM
We may take you a little more seriously if you did not mispell every other word.
5:46 the bottom line is that the town's employees get higher compensation than if they were in the private sector. I pay $1300 a month for health coverage. How many town employees pay that much? Zero.
Brian, I removed my blog for some renovations. I know that you refused to list it and this post will also never make it on. When my new blog is ready I will put it back online. When it is back up I will be happy to list your blog on it if you post. I thought you would be nicer to a citizen and not be afraid of competition.
To whom it may concern,I wish we didnt get cut so bad in parks, as you know we have done upgrades to two of our parks. we split it up into sections and years so not to ask for to much money and hurt taxes.I think its a shame to stop us when were one step away from being done.#1 hood park has been washing away for the 26 years i've been there and it needed to be fixed.some of 30k would of put pipe in to save the beach. 'btw 'parks guys did all the work and saved lots of $$.#2 don ball park I use to paint it it cost about 6000 in paint alone and would not last to years :( we tryed,It was not 50k for the pavilion,you would need ground work,a concrete pad 30'x 50' would be about 9000 and we would of fixed wash outs,and built in house. so you would have got some bang for your buck.all the new stuff up there was built by parks guys (we try)well anyway 5 years is to long its like doing your kitchen and haveing it 1/2 done for 5 year. hope not to afend anyone
As far as the bond for the Rec Center and any other Capital Projects - just wondering if this is not a good time to be borrowing money for Capital projects. We can probably get great rates on borrowing - and with the economy in the toilet I bet the bids for the project would be very competitive versus when times are better and the builders are busy!!!
Are we being Penny wise, but pound foolish?
Yes 5:02, as the council gives away the store to the labor unions, you focus on $17,000 in fireworks. Sounds like BC may not be running again. If you're in his district there's a seat (already empty) waiting for you.
BC,
Why dosn't our highly paid town manager step up to the plate on this tax collector issue and say ; look you Gomaz , your the tax assessor right,you hire an out side firm every year right.Well guess what , you are now going to be the tax collector while your walking around here doing what ever you do.
STARTING MAY FIRST GET IT!!! Now that would show some leadership taxpayers could see , and it wouldn't cost anymore money.
I see in today's Nutfield News, Dimock is at it again. He wastes the police departments time with BS allegations that Wetherbee threatened him. Just watch the public forum at each council meeting to see who does the threatening.
11:57 You might want to check with witnesses before you open your mouth. Unfortunately the parking lot security system "failed" so we can't put it on YouTube. That's the second time that system has "failed" when Al has been accosted. Really bad luck on his part don't you think?
AD and that other guy who "sticks up for little people" are jokes. They seek recognition, but make donkeys out of themselves while doing so. I love watching people try to make a name for themselves, especially in Derry.
Dimock, the hat lady, Burtis and a select group of spouting kettles cannot be taken seriously. Why can't there be a free bingo game in town on Tuesday Nights with cupcakes? Grizzle will lumber off towards the cupcakes and forget all about the Town Meeting and the taxpaaaayas!
Hey Anon 7:45 PM,
I was there. I commend Wetherbee for keeping his calm while Dimock read him the riot act. Wetherbee then gave Al some language back, but there was no need for a police investigation. Please do not believe the cams were turned off to pick on Al. We had Burtis' conspiracy theory with TV17 and do not need another.
BC - this is a real question. I am not being a wise guy.
Are you tired of running this blog? You do not seem to update it as often as you used to. Perhaps its tiresome....?
5:38 The council took the "spouting kettles" seriously enough to start silencing them. A surprising number of people watch the council meetings. The majority on the council don't like light being shed on misappropriation of town land (via fencing), union contracts giving benefits the taxpayers couldn't dream of, DEDC bailouts having nothing to do with economic development and everything to do with giving town money to buddies.
Now there will be only half the criticism. Perhaps. But then again, maybe not...stay tuned.
8:23 As a perceptive viewer of the town council meetings, it seems odd that you don't even know the name of "that other guy who "sticks up for little people"". You also seem a little short on facts. Calling someone a "joke" or a "donkey" sounds abit hollow without facts. You're not one of "The Hollow Men" are you?
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar..."
T.S. Eliot
For those of you that feel that Al Dimock, Burtis, the hat lady and others are assisting on shedding light on the secret deals of Derry Government ,lets look at facts: Misappropriation of Channel 17 time, assaults in parking lots with cameras turned off, fences 2 feet over property lines and God knows what other diabolical deeds. Result ZERO>
This is the problem with the in-bred mentality of people with too little to do and too much desire for 2 minutes of fame (every week).
Like the children’s game where a whisper down the line changes away from the original message, these coffee klatch protagonists ruminate in “pods” where they hear their own conspiracy theories recited down the line until benign conversation becomes full scale war. Us and Them, Rich and Poor, Old and Young, Townies vs. imports, District 1 vs. District, 3 5 to 2, 2 to 5, it’s all the same.
Derry cannot progress with factions so diametrically opposed. This is why new blood does not come into the political arena and we will forever be rehashing Paul Hopfgarten countered by Craig Bulkley. Why would I or anyone with a brain want to lock horns with Janet Fairbanks at the transfer station or have Dimock lumbering after me in the parking lot on Tuesday night?
Breaking this cycle of the lowest common denominators of Derry engaging in Tuesday political theater after a weeks practice driving out people with refreshing solutions is a prerequisite to advancement in Derry. Our problems and issues are too big for part time councilors. We need a form of government that is not effected by the continual bloviations of Burtis, AL or the rest of the old guard conspiracy theorists and the new guard Machiavelli’s ( Coyle are you listening?) who stir the pot We have outgrown a the approach to doing government on a part time basis.
Having Dimock's musings 30 times a meeting or just once, will change nothing in Derry. He is a human blackfly. We endure and move on. We have to get on with the business of Derry and Derry only with the entirety of Derry not just government of the few and for the few.
Anon 8:51, funny thing is, I actually was there during the parking lot incident between Wetherbee and Dimmock. As a matter of fact, both men were within four feet of me. Wrong place at the wrong time.
Nearly one week passed. I had just returned home Easter Sunday to find two reporters had left messages requesting comments waiting on my answering machine.
Out of concern, for all concerned, I phoned the police that same evening looking for some guidance as to what to do now that it was apparently somehow in the public domain. I decided to limit my discussion of what occurred to the local authorities for the time being.
I can only say that I am disappointed that the whole incident occurred between these guy's. I also regret that at a minimum some of the recent quotes I have seen in the papers were materially understaded, revealing and cynical by one party in particular.
Whoever you are anon 8:51, with all due respect, you too are not presenting things as they actually happened. If this keeps up, I may be compelled to discuss things in greater detail to prevent one of these gentlemens reputations from being further sullied in public should the other gentlemen continue to attempt to minimize his absolutely inexcusable behavior that evening.
One of these guy's owes the other an apology for publically, literally "losing control." Should by chance this same guy read this post he knows exactly who it is that I am referring to.
You know while I'm thinking about it, an apology from you for putting me in the position your actions did would have been appreciated. For the record the other gentlemen did apologize for his part......despite it being the smaller less serious part.
CVA
Not knowing the facts of the supposed Dimock Wetherbee parking lot confrontation, its tough to konow the truth. Its become a 'he said, he said' debate with people deciding on which version to believe based on their political conviction and loyalties.
I do not personally know either of them. I only know what I see on the council meetings on TV17. My personal opinion is that Dimock gets too much camera time in the public forum segment. He may mean well but he is confrontational, disrespectful,and often misinformed. Wetherbee also seems capable of overreaction. Does that mean it required police involvement? I think not.
"I or anyone with a brain"... boy do you have that right 2:09.
"Full of sound and fury signifying nothing."
Hey 5:56. Picking this up out of the State but, sound and fury (so glad you dropped the second "r") your cerebral contribution has been.......?
Protect and support your fossilized friends ole sound and furry and maybe Derry can revert to the lazy jerkwater it had been in the Hey Days of May Casten.
Condex for everybody!
8:25 Out of state? Perhaps you can't afford our taxes. I paid less than half what I do now under May. She wasn't polished but she did care about taxpayers. The current majority only worries about the care and feeding of the town's unions and fellow good old boys.
By the way, you are right to belittle 5:56's spelling error. I, like you, am without fault.
Just so that I might share your wisdom, could you define a "lazy jerkwater" for me? Much obliged.
I do hope that the state you are writing from is Mass. I’ve always been in wonder at their sophistication and keen skills in self government.
No 10:20 Out of state sometimes means something other than MA.
Guess what else? Lindy made it!
I have a JOB that often takes me away past Exit 4 and into the real world.
A suggestion for all of you cave dwellers: Want to see a town that suffered many of the same problems Derry has but GREW their way out of it?
http://www.burrridgevillagecenter.com/.
Just think they have all this and they are 1200 miles from the beach without a mountian in sight.
Burr Ridge is what towns do that are considered progressive. You can ask Burtis to look up that word for you for meaning.
Sure, we could all sit back and think about the good old days of May Casten approving the apartments and cheap condexs that flooded Derry causing massive tax inflation, because it is certainly logical to base Derrys Progress on your tax rate in 1980.
We can have Burtis and Dimock continue to quibble over the cost of services in town and save our $60 this year only to give $120 next year. By the way the savings all seen to come from the famous disappearing development Czar. BTW do we the little people not get to know where our money went with her? Will she be getting out of rehab soon?
Where will we get future savings? No toilet paper in the Muni Center?
Not allowing Burtis to have town employees be his secretaries or legal opinions of Dimocks acqusations? All three could be worth a few bucks. Then again all three involve.... Oh never mind.
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