Here we go again....

[oldetowne]

standish said:

Amen to your comments, OldeTowne. But, if you're moved by what's wrong, stand up for what's right. Plenty of negative reinforcement. No reward but your conscience.

Thanks. And you know only too well that you and I are among the few who have actually stood up and taken a stand. My conscience is clear.

[hodiddly]

I certainly hope that I don't live near Morganika ("I couldn't care less about my neighbors") - In my neighborhood, we look out for one another.

[morganika]

Dear Ho:

Perhaps you live in that kind of neighborhood. I have lived in my home for 6 years and I do not know my neighbors. Besides, unless they are paying my bills why should I let them stop me from speaking out about what I believe in?

I hope you don't live near me either, you sound like a gigantic pain in the rump.

[morganika]

Dear Mr. Diddley:
I would like to add to my previous post, so that maybe next time you will realize you don't know everything, and you should keep your smart remarks to yourself.

I work full time. My elderly folks live near me, and one of them is terminally ill. Do you know what that means? It means I get to slowly watch someone I care about slip away, and I also get to see how it is affecting my other parent.

Do you get it Ho? I'm BUSY. In my spare time I have not made cookies for my neighbors. When I have spare time I spend it in my garden, preferably with an ice cold bottle of wine.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

OKAY,
here is the scoop - from the Town Clerk herself as of 09:00 this morning:

• there are will be NO sign-up at the clerk's office at any time by anyone.
• the only sign up, according to the Clerk will be in the auditorium of the WHS, "AT THE PODIUM" - presumably not at a table by the door or any other location
• supposedly, the doors will only be opened to the public at 6:00 PM EST at which point you can sign-up - IF the signup sheet is where it is supposed to be
• When asked if only an individual may sign up him/herself, the Clerk responded by saying that "we have no system" for preventing a person from sign-up someone else additionally
• thus there is no quarantee as of the moment that proxy sign-ups will not occur
• however, there is no rule against a member of the public standing near the podium, taking notes, to see if anyone is abusing this "hole" in the rules either
• bottom line: GET TO THE PODIUM A.S.A.P.

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I will revise this information if more is received from the Clerk's office. [/b]

[hodiddly]

Morganika, My remarks were not intended to be "smart". I meant what I said with all sincerity. About me: In recent years I have lost my father, a brother, my father in law and a sister in law, so I require no explanation in regards to seeing loved ones pass away. I never claimed to "know everything", I simply made a statement regarding what I perceive to be a very negative attitude on your part. I have lived in my home for only three years, and in that time I have gotten to know most of my neighbors quite well and enjoy their company. Last fall one of our neighbors had a new baby and it was nice to be able to help them celebrate their new bundle of joy. I help my elderly neighbors with snow blowing in the winter & lawn mowing in the summer,I help my mother-in-law with her heavy chores as well, and I enjoy every moment of doing these things. Life is to short to be so miserable, to be isolated and alone, drinking by yourself. If these things make me a "gigantic pain in the rump" then call me a hemorrhoid!

[morganika]

Ho:

I am not miserable, I am quite happy except for feeling resentful of frivolous taxes. I am surrounded by my family and do not need to drink alone. My garden is my sanctuary and after a hard day in it my husband and I like to sip wine and enjoy the fruits of our labors. I love my life. My neighbors just don't seem important to me.

When we bought our house I did think maybe we would have nice neighbors and be friendly. I never see them because I am at work all day. I wish them no harm, I just don't know them and don't really have time for them.

[hodiddly]

Mo, I will give you this, I believe that in our world, reality is 90% perception & 10% fact. I read all of the postings on this site, and my perception of you is that you are a cynical, negative person, because your postings make you come across as such. You had stated that "whenever Mayor Morin speaks, I assume it's an untruth" & "I couldn't care less about my neighbors" among other very negative sounding comments. You say that you are not miserable and that you love your life, but you do not convey that sentiment in your postings here. I would say this to you - If you believe that Russ does not have the best interest of our town at heart, then you have never really sat down and spoken to him about Wethersfield. I have, and I can say with confidence, that he really cares about our town. If you feel that you could do better, then you should make time and become more involved, rather than just complain about people who are active. I don't always agree with the politicians who run our town, but I give them credit for doing what they do. I have no vested interest in politics (I vote as a registered independent), and I tend to leave the politics to the politicians. Maybe you could get Syzygy to be your running mate in the fall!

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

I rec eived this from the Town Clerk a short while ago:

Under the Town Council Rules of Procedure A180-4

A. Budget hearing. There shall be a public hearing at 7:00 p.m. on the third Monday in April at a place to be determined by the Council, at least five (5) days’ notice of which shall be given by publication in at least one (1) newspaper which has a general circulation in the town and by posting on the Town Clerk’s Board. At such hearing any citizen or property owner who desires it shall be entitled to be heard by the Council on the town and school budgets, and the hearing shall be recessed from day to day until all such persons have been heard (Charter, Sec. 705), provided that a notice of recess shall be conspicuously posted on the door of the meeting place, stating the date, time and place of the recessed meeting; provided, further, that any person who desires to speak at the subject budget hearings shall initially be heard for no longer than ten (10) minutes. After all persons who desire to speak have spoken at any one (1) budget hearing, those persons wishing to speak for a second time shall be allowed to do so but shall not exceed ten (10) minutes. After all persons have had a second opportunity to speak, any person may thereafter speak.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

An interesting note:

• re: "§ A180-4. Public meetings and hearings"
• there is NO mention nor delineation of having to sign-up (in order to speak at the budget hearing in the Town Charter/Code)
• Ostensibly the Chair could ignore whatever sign-up list may have been created under the procedures laid out by the Clerk; there is nothing (except public outrage) to prevent the Chair from ignoring the list (or even cancelling it prior to Monday evening, 4/17/2006) and then just recognizing citizens on the floor as is already done in Town Council meetings / public comments

I suggest an elaborative amendment of §A180-4.

Where there is ambiguity there is (the opportunity for) mischief. Where there is clarity there is (a better chance for) orderliness.

Perhaps the Councilwill make this change well before then next budget hearing, 2007.

[morganika]

Dr. Ken:

I emailed the council, because I was afraid of not being heard at the meeting. I used your website and clicked on the place that said email the whole council.

So far I have heard back from two of them. I do hope everyone who wants to gets heard at the meeting, but I think there is good power in the written word! It's an alternative!

[SyZyGy]

Last week, I heard this lament:

"Long after your kids have left home, and are trying to make ends meet with a family of their own,

long after your kids' teachers and administrators have done their jobs and left,

you and your kids will be paying, and paying, and paying to support the lifelong, cushy benefits those teachers, their unions, and education bureacracy have wrung from you.

WPS 06-07 Budget, Salaries & Benefits = 80% for them; that is $470 out of each and every $1000 of taxes you will pay.

While you are eating cat food from a can some day, they will be enjoying caviar.

And, they said it was "for the children."

Yeah!"

I reminded her that the public hearing on the Budget is tonight at WHS and, as the footman said, be there and sign up at 6PM sharp

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

Syzygy,

The person you quote was a tad hyperbolic, don't you think.

I am not conversant about the details, but the voters or members of the public do not have much say in the negotiations and contracts for salaries and benefits awarded teachers and the administrators in the public school system and thus what appears in that part of the WPS budget. All of this becomes lumped with "fixed costs" or some phrase like that. I am not sure the Town Council has much control except to control the bottom line of the WPS budget; the BOE would then be left with the decisions about how to administer the funds they are allocated by the Town. Maybe someone could explain how teachers get the salaries and benefits they do.

[Jubashero]

I’ve been doing a little homework, and though I’m the last to want a tax increase, the budget is not too far out of line. Having said this, I want to point out that the budget is difficult to evaluate due to the projections, errors and changes in formats over the years. For example, during the last three years, the budget document is minus the section on historical (5-year, 10-year) tax increases. The projections on population (total and school-age children) differ between the Town and BOE, and the 2006 budget and town’s profile on the internet. Finally, the BOE total budget request listed as on the Town’s summary is $100,000 less than the BOE’s summary. But what is $100K among friends? 0.05 mills.

The total budget increase in recent years normalized to the 1996 budget is as follows:

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
BOE 31% 39% 58% 70% 81%
Town 13% 17% 31% 45% 60%
Total 23% 29% 45% 58% 71%

The cost of living increase for the same period
16% 18.7% 21.5% 25% 26.7%

The Grand List
1996 $1,752M
2006 $1,992M
An increase of 13.7% and if 70% of the total value, 20% increase in property values.

Population source:web page unless otherwise noted
1980 26,008
1990 25,651
1998 24,984
2000 26,271 *2002/3, 2005/6 budget
2003 24,633

Total # of Students
1996 3,151
2006 3,742 or 3,824
An increase of 18.8 to 21.4%

Compared to neighboring towns
Town: Wethersfield Newington Rocky Hill
Population: 25,000 29,300 19,000
Students: 3,800 4,300 2,500
Budget $75.0M $79.1M $52.8M
Annual Increase 7.8% 7.7% 8.8%
per capita $3,000 $2,699 $2,778
per student $19,737 $18,395 $21,120

Given the increase in number of students, the BOE increases may be warranted. On the Town’s side, there does not appear to be any concern of a decreasing population or other disturbing trends: approximately 12% of the requests for this year could not be included in the budget but were delayed, the indebtedness doubled since 1996, the income from investments dropped $145,000 since 2002 and the fund balance is maintained at half the level prior 2002 (i.e., $500,000 was spent which is made up in tax increases).

I’m not a CPA and encourage others not to take the numbers at face values. I had time and thought I’d pass this along.

[stvman]

The Public Hearing on the budget this week was very poorly attended, and there were almost no critical comments about the 7.75% propsed increase. Does that mean that we all approve of this? Does this mean that we all have lost interest? Does this mean that we all believe it's a waste of time to speak up? I'm afraid it's the last of those 3 choices. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?