Here we go again....

[ThinkingMama]

I think more people would participate in budget hearings if the actual budget documents were available online. West Hartford, for example, publishes its entire budget document, all 243 plus pages, on its website. I thought improved website communication regarding the budget was stated as a goal of the manager and council at last year's public hearing. Why was it not published online? It would be so efficient and economical.

Some towns also hold citizen education sessions about how to read and analyze a budget document. I believe Windsor does this. Perhaps that would also help.

The Board of Ed does somewhat better with communications, publishing a summary of budget highlights online. Dr. Proctor also visits all the school PTOs and the Wethersfield School Parents Council to inform his constituency of what he is proposing. Thus, there is usually a turnout of education advocates. Nevertheless, despite being asked, the Board also does not publish online the entire budget, line by line, with year to year comparisons. Why not?

I think it is too much to ask people to stop into the manager's office during working hours to get a hard copy of the budgets. Plus, it is a waste of paper and administrative time. These documents should be available online early enough to allow people to analyze them at their leisure at home.

[cruzrt]

If a citizen was to "stop in the Manager's office....", he would have to take time off from work. He would also quickly learn that the Manager's office has only a VERY small number of full budget documents and., in the past, has said they would NOT give them out to the general public. Of course the Town Website is the place to publish the full document. Town leaders have been repeatedly told by citizens that this should be done. But, the results speak for themselves.

[standish]

Unfortunately, politicians gauge the pain of taxes by the number of groans. Council will read this lack of complaint as an indication that the electorate is bearing up well under the hugely increased tax burden over the last several years. I suspect that your last scenario is the more accurate reflection of reality: people have simply given up or fear being labeled miscreants. However, to the degree that people fail to express their pain, they increase it.

[oldetowne]

I agree with Leigh. The apparent apathy at the budget hearing is consistent with the dramatic decline in voter participation in town elections over the past four years. If nothing is going to change the preordained outcome of any Council decision, and taking an unpopular stand will lead to nothing but abusive personal attacks, it's much easier to stay home and let the freight train roll along.

[ThinkingMama]

I'm curious about voter participation being on the decline. I thought Wethersfield recently won an award for the highest voter turnout for a town of its size?

[oldetowne]

We did win that in the 2004 presidential election. Aside from the fact that turnout is usually highest in a presidential year, the fact that we have 10 voting places within about 8 square miles of populated area makes it hard not to find a convenient poll. Also, the turnout percentage was based on the number of people who actually voted, including the walk-ins and presidential only voters who were not registered voters, as a percentage of the number of registered voters. In other words, we threw some oranges in with the apples to figure out what percentage of our apples voted.

I don't know the exact turnout percentages for the local elections, but it is something like this: 2001-50%; 2003-42%; 2005-36%. As an example, Russ Morin came in 7th in 2001 with 3,420 votes. In 2005, he was first with 3,686.

[morganika]

stvman said:

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?

Personally I declined to go after being attacked here. I believe it is a waste of time. We are considering North Carolina for our next move..

Buh Bye

[stvman]

Word on the street is that new high salaried staff is going to be added to the town government soon, and those additions are not listed anyplace in the Town side or the Board side of the proposed budgets. These developments bear very close watching. If true, how can Therrien & Proctor pull this off?

[oldetowne]

Might be the proposed "chief information officer", coming in somewhere around 100K. The position may be split between the board and the council. Apparently, job description and especially the chain of command have been hotly contested issues between those two bodies (does he/she report to council, manager, board, superintendent, etc). Saddest part of the whole thing is that we would have to go outside to fill the spot.

Meanwhile, the volunteer firemen are going hat in hand trying to get a stipend which is roughly the equivalent of $0.50 per hour for all of the time they spend protecting us, training, etc. If we have to go to a professional department, we'll all be joining Morganika in North Carolina.

[Dr.Ken Sokolowski]

oldetowne said:

Might be the proposed "chief information officer", coming in somewhere around 100K. The position may be split between the board and the council. Apparently, job description and especially the chain of command have been hotly contested issues between those two bodies (does he/she report to council, manager, board, superintendent, etc). Saddest part of the whole thing is that we would have to go outside to fill the spot.

On the face of it, $100K sounds as if it is too much, though I am sure someone, here or elsewhere, might say it is reasonable. The I.T. world is awash in talent; we should be able to drive a really good deal - unless the unions intervene. (If however, the $100 K includes the current and deferred benefits plus the salary, then I might be persuaded.)

The title worries me. Just how administrative is this proposed position? What "lower level" personnel will be under this person's control, on both sides of the budget? How dirty will this CIO have to get his/her hands if there is inadequate staff to gather information and execute policies? Or, if there is inadequate staff, will this not be another excuse to hire more I.T. specialists; ouch!

Yeah, I can see the point that both sides may be worried about controling an important sounding "chief information officer." What teeth will this pro' have in guiding the operation and development of the IT cybersphere in Wethersfield, Town and WPS. Or, will politics, personalities and turf (no not THAT turf!) be what they are in town forcing the nominal CIO to become a figurehead or cuckold, before leaving with at least a silver parachute; Ciao!. Then the TM and the SOS can go about business as usual.

Can you, oldetowne, or someone else - preferrably from the Town's I.T. Advisory Committee, lay out for us the points of conflict which might exist or develop between the two sides (Manager/Town and SOS*/WPS?

*Superintendent of Schools

[/right]

[cruzrt]

The January 28, 06 joint Council/BOE meeting included a presentation by the chairperson of that I.T. Advisory Committee. The points he made are very clear. I do not see anything of substance on the C.I.O. position in any Council or BOE minutes since then.

[SyZyGy]

"JANUARY 28, 2006
SPECIAL MEETING

The Wethersfield Town Council held a special meeting on January 28, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. in the Lower Level of the Board of Education Building, 127 Hartford Avenue.

Present: Councilors Adil, Cascio, Drake, Kirsche, Kotkin, Walsh, Deputy Mayor Fortunato and Chairperson Morin. Absent: Councilor Forrest.

Board of Education Present: Matthias J. DeAngelo (10:15), Michael F. McKenna, Janis K. Malec, Julie L. Montinieri, Raul A. Rodriguez, Penny Stanziale, Vice-Chairperson Gerri Roberts, and Chairperson Stacey Hodges.

Also present: Bonnie Therrien, Town Manager; Dolores G. Sassano, Town Clerk; Patrick Proctor, Superintendent of Schools; Lisa Hanthingy, Director of Finance; ' Moe' McCarthy, Supervisor of Maintenance & Operations; Representative Paul Doyle; Senator John Senator Fonfara; and Brian Clement, Chairman, and other members of the Information and Technology Committee......

Report from the Information Services Technology Committee - Chief Information Officer

Chairperson Morin introduced Brian Clement, Chairman of the Information and Technology Committee, to provide a Committee update.

Mr. Clement introduced members of the Committee and staff liaisons who were in attendance, and recognized Deputy Mayor Fortunato as the Town Council liaison. Mr. Clement reviewed the mission statement, vision statement, and provided a status update on the Committee's activities since the last Fireside Chat. He said that the status update includes the proposed hiring of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position to handle technology management town-wide, and he reviewed the issues and concerns, the benefits, and the responsibilities of the position. Mr. Clement said that ten of Connecticut's 169 towns have shared IT services and he shared the information he received from research conducted by speaking with these ten towns. [**]A copy of Mr. Clement's presentation can be obtained from the Town Manager's Office.

Ms. Montinieri asked Mr. Clement to summarize some of the difficulties and benefits that have occurred in other towns as a result of hiring a Technology CIO. Mr. Clement said that some of the difficulties have been the struggle to make sure that both sides feel that they are being treated fairly, the changing political environment, the consolidation of staff members, multiple unions, customer understanding of responsibilities, prioritization of Board vs. City/Town, navigating dual operational process and procedures, and the decrease in funding. He said that some of the benefits include the consolidation of similar resources, economies of scale from both a resource and purchasing perspective, common platforms, jointly sponsored saving and funding, increased services, and cohesive integrated support for enterprise services. [**]Mr. Clement said that he can provide a written compilation of responses to the Town Manager for distribution.

Deputy Mayor Fortunato commended the members of the Information and Technology Committee for responding to the information she had shared with them. She said that the responsibilities of the proposed CIO position are actually what the Town is currently taking responsibility for in terms of project management and security. Deputy Mayor Fortunato verified that the phasing-in of the position means that the CIO would initially focus on the needs and issues of the Town, and she asked if at that time there would be a mechanism in place for interaction with the school system and library. She also asked Mr. Clement what the time line for the phasing in will be. [**]Mr. Clement said that the Committee is considering three different approaches to this which are to hire now, hire with a phase in, or leave the situation as it currently is; and if a vote were taken at this time, all Committee members would vote to hire someone full-time right now with municipal experience to immediately handle all three areas of the town.

Councilor Adil said that he supports the position and suggested that a wireless system be examined. Mr. Clement said that if the Town can decide on a platform where 95% of the hardware is consistent, they will receive better pricing for hardware, desktop software, outsourcing, and maintenance contracts. Councilor Adil said that some municipalities distribute paperless Council packets, and it would be nice to see Wethersfield move toward this.

Ms. Hodges commented that she appreciates the hard work done by the Information and Technology Committee and expressed her concern that the Board side is adequately serviced. She also said that the Board currently employees a part-time technology staff member and wonders what the phase in of a Technology CIO will mean to this position and the Board's structure. [**]Mr. Clement said that organizational diagrams have been created by the Committee to incorporate the staff currently in place.

Chairperson Morin said that he expects the Superintendent and Town Manager to work together in coordination with the Information and Technology Committee as well as the Shared Services Committee.

Councilor Kotkin said that he would be interested to know how many people are employed on both sides in the technology area, their salaries, and how much money is spent to acquire equipment and licensing agreements. Chairperson Morin said that the information would need to distinguish between equipment used by staff as opposed to that utilized by students.

Councilor Kirsche asked if there are any preliminary savings projections anticipated by centralizing the technology, and asked for any feedback on the opinions of the Committee regarding combining the Town and Board of Education through the MUNIS system. [**]Mr. Clement said that he does not believe there will be any measurable savings associated with hiring a Technology CIO as there will be an additional cost to the salaries and benefits amounts, but the members of the Committee believe that the Town will save money in the long run by doing this by providing more consistent technology to Wethersfield.

Councilor Walsh asked if in their support of hiring a CIO at this time, the Committee considered where the Town is in the MUNIS integration and the benefits of a CIO coming on now as opposed to later. Mr. Clement said that the Committee is aware of this and supports the MUNIS integration, and feels that it is in the financial, security, and staffing best interests of the Town. [**]He said that the MUNIS integration does not impact one way or the other the immediate or prolonged hiring of a Technology CIO.

Councilor Drake said that he is excited about this and supports the hiring of a Technology CIO, as some of the problems it would eliminate are ones that he experienced in the renovation of the Silas Deane Middle School.

Chairperson Morin said that he would like to see this item continue to be discussed between the Town Manager, Dr. Proctor, and the Shared Services Committee."

[**] Find and post each of these items. Several months of minutes for the I.T. Committee are not on town's web site though.

[stvman]

All those remarks from the chairman of the I.T. Committee sound very professional and important to me. That presentation happened in January. How is it that there does not seem to be any response from the Council or Board of Education since then? If oldtowne is right, and the rumored new $100K position is the CIO, we citizens deserve to hear our elected officials discuss this In a public on-the-record setting). On further review, we citizens deserve to hear the Council & BOE discuss this publicly whether or not they are going to take the recommendation of the highly qualified professional citizens committee. Time to light a proverbial fire under our very shy elected officials.

[morganika]

From courant.com
--------------------
Town Spending Criticized
--------------------

Residents Voice Frustration Over Anticipated Tax Increase

By MARYELLEN FILLO
Courant Staff Writer

April 25, 2006

WETHERSFIELD -- Nancy Lord doesn't think the council understands her concerns about the budget and the 40 percent increase in taxes she has had over the past three years.

Neither does Edward Tevald, another longtime resident, who says the increased taxes in the proposed 2006-07 budget will exceed his annual $350 senior tax credit.

But town officials insist they are hearing concerns about town spending as they plod through a proposed $75 million town budget that would necessitate another hike in the tax rate.

"We do hear people who are upset with tax increases, but I don't know what we can do," said Mayor Russ Morin, who, along with the rest of the council, is in the midst of a series of budget workshops to review each department's request.

"We're hoping for some more state money, but we don't know if that is going to happen," Morin said, noting that the proposal includes a $175,000 cut in revenue that would occur if the proposed elimination of motor vehicle taxes is passed by the General Assembly. "We have not had an easy budget in several years," he added. "We are continuously making up for revenue shortfalls."

Town Manager Bonnie Therrien's proposed budget calls for a hike in the tax rate from 30.19 mills to 32.86 mills, an increase that would cost the average homeowner an additional $442 a year in taxes.

Town taxpayers have had tax increases in each of the last 10 years.

Lord, who said she expects to postpone her retirement because of rising taxes, said she had never spoken out against the town budget before attending a recent public hearing on the package, but feels the significant increases in the last three years have been just "too much."

"I think the council needs to take a look at the good of the whole community," Lord said. She criticized school board requests, including a second full-time nurse at the high school at a cost of about $43,000, and an estimated $242,000 plan to promote some teachers to department leadership positions, reduce their classroom load, pay them a stipend, and hire additional teachers to cover the open classes.

"The rationale that this is being done to further the careers of the teachers is too much," Lord said. "It is not the taxpayers' responsibility to further teachers' careers."

The proposed school board budget is currently $42.8 million, reflecting a 6.9 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

Tevald, who also spoke at a public hearing last week, said he does not feel the council has made a sincere effort to cut the budget or to control costs.

"There should be a moratorium on salary increases, and they should be looking at ways to increase revenue," said Tevald, who also questioned some of the additional spending the school board is requesting.

Therrien reiterated previous comments that her proposal is a "maintenance" budget that preserves services, provides for fixed costs including contractual obligations and utility and fuel increases.

"Tell us where to cut," she said, noting that Wethersfield gives residents many services that cost money, but services that no one wants to lose. "We are not the only town going through this."

Morin said the one thing he is sure of is that the budget proposal will not be increased. Morin said a request by the volunteer fire department to give stipends to its members will not happen unless the estimated $200,000 that is needed is cut from somewhere else.

"If there are additions to this budget, there will be subtractions elsewhere," Morin said. "I am not adding on to the bottom line."
C

[oldetowne]

Russ sez...

"We do hear people who are upset with tax increases, but I don't know what we can do," said Mayor Russ Morin, ... "We have not had an easy budget in several years," he added. "We are continuously making up for revenue shortfalls."

What is he talking about?

First, the $175K in lost revenue from the car tax proposal is dead. That money will be on the revenue side when all is said and done.

Second, didn't the board have a $500K surplus last year? What kind of revenue shortfall caused that?

Third, the Manager talks constantly about our tremendous collection rate on taxes and the stellar job that our town attorney does beating down tax appeals. Those aren't revenue shortfalls.

Fourth, our taxes will have gone up about 40-50% over the past three years when the dust settles this year. What do we have to show for it?

Finally, I hope that the first sentence of his quote ("I don't know what we can do") is a misquote or is taken out of context. To say that you have no ideas on how to keep property taxes from continuing to skyrocket, that you have no ideas on how to manage the town or the board's expenditures, that you have no faith in the ability of our four Democratic legislators to get us a share of the surplus pie, and that you have no ideas about asking the manager or the superintendent to make do with less, suggests that you have no business being on the Council, much less being Mayor.