As a commission examines changes to the city charter for action by voters, transforming the elected Board of Education to an appointed body has taken center stage. Charter revision requires educating electors about why they should vote for change. Mayor Bill Finch wants an appointed body. Opponents say don’t let the politicians choose ed board members. Will the charter revision vote be a referendum on the mayor’s appointment ability or on the need to reform the education system?
When the four-year term for mayor was placed on the ballot in 1998 as a result of a charter revision question (the term for mayor was two years), the foundation for passage became a referendum on the popularity of then-Mayor Joe Ganim. Yes, the central arguments were stressed: a four-year term creates governmental stability, lessens the intrusion of politics into government, invites private sector investment and alleviates Wall Street bond rating concerns. Irrespective of all of that it was Ganim who became the face of passage. The four-year term for mayor had failed before.
The four-year term question appeared on the ballot during a gubernatorial cycle, certainly not the voter interest that exists for presidential cycles, but as Bridgeport elections go the next best thing for voter interest. The four-year term was approved by voters to begin with the winner of the 1999 municipal election won overwhelmingly by Ganim. Joe never filled out his term, derailed by corruption charges. City Council President John Fabrizi served out Ganim’s term and then completed a four-year tern of his own following election in November of 2003. Fabs did not seek another four-year term after his own dubious decisions led the city’s political establishment into the arms of State Senator Bill Finch who was elected in 2007. Finch is now the first mayor in city history to be elected twice to a four-year term.
And now it appears Finch is gearing up to place his prestige on the line with voters to approve a mayoral-appointed school board, assuming the charter commission sends the question to the City Council for ballot placement in November. Voter confidence of a mayoral-appointed school board could come down to voter embrace of the kinds of appointments Finch has made throughout his mayoralty.
The mayor will want to keep the emphasis on school reform: the old way of doing things is broke and doesn’t work. But an organized opposition, if it comes into play, may keep the focus on the mayor’s appointment ability: do you really want to give politicians more power than they already have?
Ironically, the question could be decided by tens of thousands of voters in a presidential cycle who don’t participate in municipal elections.
(Follow-up to Monday’s related post on the mayor’s briefing of business leaders concerning charter revision: some charter commission members say they believe the mayor will be much more open-minded to other charter questions than what was represented in the column.)
Just Vote No!
The question really comes down to do you TRUST Mayor Bill Finch to do what is best for our children by selecting the Board of Education members. The answer; NO, you cannot TRUST Mayor Bill Finch.
*** It’s about political power first, benjamin$ second, with school reform coming in third. Everything else concerning other city charter revision improvements will have to take a back seat! ***
It’s all about political power.
Power corrupts–absolute power corrupts absolutely!
Why do we want to “completely reorganize the schools and embrace school choice” (Vallas quote) when we already have a model that’s working–CommPACT schools. CommPACT is a program under the guidance of UConn’s Neag School of Education that looks at research and data and aims to make improvements to the school’s delivery of instruction. Teachers, parents and administrators all have equal say in school direction and decision-making. It’s successful and fully supported by the BEA and the CEA.
www .ctpost.com/schools/article/State-school-reform-model-boosts-attitudes-577384.php
CommPACT should not to be confused with ConnCAN, a pro-charter school organization run by non-educators and funded by people desiring a financial piece of the urban school pie.
Charter schools have NEVER been proven more effective than public education–and ConnCAN’s research pushing their ‘success model’ has been discredited:
greatlakescenter.org/docs/Think_Twice/TT_Bifulco_ConnCan.htm
This is Bridgeport. Of course it’s about political power. Everything’s about political power. What a stupid question.
If you ask people if they knew then what they know now, would they have voted for a four-year term, and I bet the answer would be an overwhelming NO. Be careful of charter change, very careful, because there are no do-overs.
St. Valentines’s Day Massacre
Public outrage over The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre marked the beginning of the end to DTC and BOE influence in Bridgeport. Although Mario suffered a heavy blow, he still managed to keep control of his DTC until the early 2013, when control passed to Bridgeport’s Mayor Bill Finch who had taken control of the BOE and the DTC organization after Testa’s conviction for income tax evasion. The massacre also brought the belated attention of the federal government to bear on Testa and his criminal activities.
In 2013, Mario Testa was convicted of income-tax evasion and was sentenced to ten years in a Federal institution, plus one year in the North End Jail for attempted Ballot tampering. The massacre ultimately affected both Finch and Testa and left the war they had with each other at a stalemate. It was a blow from which the North Side Gang never fully recovered. But the most serious blows to both gangs, as well as most others around the City, was the Charter Vote on the BOE, which heralded the Great City Depression, and the repeal of the four-year term for Mayor, which had given rise to most of the lawlessness in the first place.
Though Finch and Wood would beat the massacre charges, the two most widely accepted theories blame either Testa or Finch while McCarthy had become a public-relations liability to the City.
Jim “Sonny” Fox’s Simon Says crystal ball.
*** Opinions are one thing but just plain hating can be stressful, no? *** CHILL PILL ***
What’s in your drinking water?
If Finch and company are so worried about the BOE and school funding, why don’t they RELEASE the $2.1 million in ECS(ESC) funding they received from the state and did not turn over to the BOE? Where was the B & A committee?
Beacon and I attended the B & A committee meeting last night; you just can’t make up the crap they come up with.
Last night they voted on $110 million in Tax Anticipation Notes. This transaction will be handled by John Stafstrom’s law firm. Before a vote was taken there were a total of 4 questions asked, can you imagine that? There was no paperwork handed out, there was no report on how much in taxes has been collected to date. Do we really need this $100 million?
Angel DePara asked for a document and the queen of mean Dawn Norton said she would get that for him at a later date. Surprise, BEACON2 had the document and offered it to DePara thinking it would help his voting knowledge. Beacon was rebuffed.
It’s amazing to me the budget committee will vote for $110 million in Tax Anticipation Notes with no related paperwork.
The expert from the law firm left the meeting and Beacon followed him out to ask a question which the lawyer was willing to answer, well Norton jumped out of her chair like she was jabbed in the ass with a hot poker and said to the vendor you can’t talk to the public. Gee, I thought our taxes paid his fee. Looks like another bullshit time from the B & A aka Sherwood’s puppets.
Can anyone tell me why we need $110 Million Tax Anticipation notes in the first place?
Because all the taxes that are currently being collected are needed to pay for last year’s TAN.
Jim and Joel,
When you read my 12:01 posting below, you will see I suggest it is a timing issue with City tax payments flowing in at two major times of the year (January and July), and other major cashflows like State educational cost sharing (ECS) and payments in lieu of taxes (pilots) coming at times inopportune. However, it would really be fun to see that demonstrated at a Budget & Finance meeting, but that question was not asked last night.
Evidently the City seeks authorization for $110 Million this year and last, an increase from two years ago, perhaps. And then it is ready when needed to go to the moneymarkets for 60-90 days in one instance and longer in the other. The “market” is interested, according to bond counsel, the City will have the funds available from tax revenues to make the payment at the date due for the notes.
What has troubled me is the Annual Audit has shown a rate for our TANs that seems much higher than towns in our region. It may be because the audit is reporting a coupon rate that is not the effective rate when issued because of bond buyers paying a premium for the higher return. But effective rate relative to those rates in neighboring communities would provide some sense of how well we are considered in the markets and ultimately how low a cost of money we pay when borrowing for TANs or bonds. Research ongoing. Recommended to bond counsel last evening (outside the meeting) that putting both the coupon and effective rates in the CAFR footnotes annually and he said he thought it was a good idea, meaning reasonable. Let’s see what happens to that idea next year. Time will tell.
Thanks, B2.
Thanks Joel,
How can he run a City like that? Would he be happy if the people Bridgeport start a Tax Strike?
Paging BEACON2.
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Bridgeport-s-finances-remain-tight-audit-shows-3312615.php
City Hall Smoker pretty much framed the issue I’d expect to cover as a reporter if a charter change for Board of Education is on the ballot: Power. The mayor can’t duck it.
All the odd machinations that went into the declaration the elected board was dysfunctional will have to be justified. Then, voters have to be convinced of the advantages of a new system.
This is a biggie. It involves an upfront transfer of more power to the mayor. A mayor typically exercises more authority than given to him under the charter. The mayor may or may not get away with it depending on how cranky or observant the City Council is. This flat-out gives the mayor more authority.
This is going to be tricky for the charter commission and tricky for the mayor and supporters of change.
I am glad to read the Administration has recognized the charter revision recommendations should not be a one-trick pony. Open and transparent!
Happy Valentine’s Day, Joel and OIB readers!!!
Let’s all of us take a step back from today, this week, or this month’s City Financial report, and even from the recently posted Comprehensive Annual Financial Report-2011 from Blum Shapiro to the City. Let’s consider Bob Curwen’s statements to Keila Torres from her February 13, 2012 article, and compare that to what Bill Finch told neighborhood groups in the first year of his first term in spring 2008.
“BRIDGEPORT HAD $55 Million in its unrestricted, undesignated City fund balance” in one or more of the Ganim years. The fund balance, the rainy day fund, emergency fund, call it what you will has melted rapidly to where it stands today, and whether it is technically $10 Million or $15 Million, it does not represent the specified desirable level of 8% of City budget as called for in City rules.
So we bear additional interest costs for TANs each year to pay our bills when tax receipts or State ECS funding are inadequate or ill-timed to cover one or two month’s bills until the next tax payment. And the internal service fund balances increase each year, and internal service funding was not used much until Fabrizi. While the Finch administration has talked about beefing up the “unrestricted fund balance” as they might have done last year when they ran a surplus, what happened in that regard? Where is accountability?
The Mayor lamented the trend in 2008. Curwen notes the same trend in 2012 and he should. He has served on Budget and Appropriations for more than 12 years. He has the most experience, but is it 12 years of experience or one year of experience repeated 12 times? Rather than take primary responsibility as a co-chair of the City’s only fiscal watchdog, (the seven member Budget and Appropriations Committee of the City Council), he says “There has been a combination of events that have left no option but to go out for short-term borrowing.”
Bob, events come and events go, but fiscal management has to be a stern discipline to be effective. Are you and your colleagues managing the process accordingly? Are you using any funds in the legislative budget to call in independent consulting on what the City may do differently than now? Does the B&A ever contribute alternatives to the administration representatives? Is this committee merely a rubber stamp? Did you hold a public or private session to listen to the auditors discuss issues from their management letter this year, or any year? Would that be helpful information for all and a healthy step for getting the public behind your activity on their behalf?
Can you account for the dollars authorized by B&A and the Council for ghost positions that remain unfilled, year by year, dollars that might have been spent for salaries and benefits, but rather are spent elsewhere? How can you find information on this subject from the reports you are getting monthly this year? And are you reviewing the reports in any meaningful detail or merely asking Tom Sherwood if everything is OK? You have the right to ask the City Finance department to give you any information you request, so what is holding you back?
Bob, I address you because you have longest tenure, but each member of your committee should consider honestly answering the same questions. What are the answers you would provide an interested taxpayer to these questions? Are you part of an inadequate and broken fiscal structure in the State’s largest City? Do you need help and are asking for it or are you doing just fine by your own goals? What are your specific goals for the time your Committee spends? Rapid increase in “unrestricted City fund balance” annually with as much speed as they were depleted? Increasing the amount of information and evidence of competent administrative review in recommended actions that comes before your committee? Willingness to regularly encourage, accept and use information from whatever source to improve City finances? What are your goals and how do you measure your progress towards them? Responses encouraged. Time will tell.
“Let’s all of us take a step back from today, this week, or this month’s City Financial report, and even from the recently posted Comprehensive Annual Financial Report-2011 from Blum Shapiro to the City.”
Can someone check to see if the local Blum Shapiro Managing Partner Mike Niedermeir is still a member of the Board of Directors of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council?
Niedermeir is listed as first vice president on their T of O.
yahooy,
Call the BRBC and ask. Why not? I am not a member and assuming you are not, you can still ask or check their web site. This is not rocket science.
But what is your point? What is the connection in your mind from the BRBC and Mike to what is probably by now one of the largest independent CPA firms in the region of New England and Mike and the BRBC. The 2011 record of City expenditures indicates around $300,000 was spent on services from Blum Shapiro. At least one person who has more experience in these matters than I do has informed me this is a fair charge for a City with as many State, Federal, and other fiscal anomalies.
When I called them some three years ago, and knew and understood far less than I do today, I got the distinct impression I could get everything I wanted from the City. That was true of the CAFR itself and the State and Federal audit reports but has not extended to meaningful response from City Finance on the accompanying management letters.
Has anyone else had any experience with Dawn Norton raising an issue about talking to City vendors being in some sort of protected classification? I would think Vendors doing business with the City should be in favor of OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT behavior and process in order to be able to continue doing such business in the future. Time will tell.
I merely asked if Niedermeir is a member of the BRBC Board. I have no point nor agenda but it appears you do.