Bridgeport needs something like this: www .link.nyc
but Only Mayor Ganim has official authority.
All I see are city-owned buildings overlooking I-95, a sparkling-new communications network, a reduction in crime, a new rep based on technology and a new revenue source for Bridgeport–strong enough to reduce taxes. Are you with me so far?
At the moment there is movement I sense in the direction of OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT, and HONEST. However, the mailing of assessments City wide without providing the public with the total of the (new though not certified) Net Taxable Grand List is less OPEN and TRANSPARENT than necessary.
If the individual assessments have been printed out for review, one by one in the Assessor’s Office as I am told, why wasn’t the spreadsheet function to total them used? Simple. Even elegant. Especially in the face of the Finch administration that purposely misled the public in CAFR 2014 regarding the amount and trending of the Taxable Grand List.
So simple to provide a total. And add a footnote, all values are subject to change before certification at February date. More info, assuming it is accurate and available to the entire public, will benefit taxpayers. Getting better at each opportunity? Time will tell.
Too soon to tell. You should do this survey at least six months into the term. Of course, those who voted for Joe are going to say he’s doing great, others will say not. The only way to get a fair assessment of a poll like this is to wait.
*** JOE’S HIT THE PAVEMENT “RUNNING” AFTER THE ELECTION; HOWEVER DUE TO ALL THE POTHOLES, HE MUST SLOW DOWN A BIT TO SMELL THE COFFEE, NO? THERE IS LOTS TO OBSERVE AND STUDY, HIGH AND LOW AND DECISIONS TO MAKE. MOVING SLOW AND EASY DURING HIS FIRST “2016” WINTER UNTIL HE GETS HIS BEARINGS AND PEOPLE IN PLACE AS HE PREPARES FOR HIS NEW SPRING BUDGET. SO FAR, SO GOOD JOE! *** KEEP ON TRUCKING! ***
Mayor Ganim has been engaged in standard, plain-vanilla transitional and procedural tactics since the election. He hasn’t hit the ground running, he’s meandering while taking a victory lap. What’s to learn and observe if you occupied that office for twelve years?
JML raises the issue of honesty, but the claim of $20M deficit is far from honest (or accurate). Ganim needed to establish he’s different than he was in the past and this piece of political BS just reinforces the view he’s not particularly trustworthy and is going to play the same games all over again. Bringing Chapman back to run roughshod over PD Chief Gaudett is just the first indication Ganim will spend whatever amount necessary to make sure his crew gets what it wants. He’s made it clear to observers he’ll bring his “good ole boys” back into city government through ad hoc positions with authority over statutory employees, greasing palms just as he did in the past.
Far from being honest, Ganim has already communicated to those watching Bridgeport he still can’t be trusted. The one thing Bridgeport needs most in order to stabilize taxes and find money for critical services is to redevelop its commercial tax base. Ganim effectively killed commercial development during his prior administrations through his “pay for play” routines and his “old boy” networks. So far in this go-’round, he established he still isn’t trustworthy and will play many of the same old games in running the city. In one month, he’s communicated he still can’t be trusted and Bridgeport’s back to being run in the same old way.
You can bet businesses have seen what’s happened this past month and already are thinking Bridgeport’s not the best place in which to invest. Too bad because that opinion really was starting to change in spite of any other problems the Finch administration may have had.
DWOrr,
You introduce your entry with a comment the $20 Million deficit is far from honest (or accurate). Will you share your reason or facts for doubting this budget assessment? To be fair, I have a copy of the November 2015 Monthly Financial Report dated 12-31-15 that was provided to the City Clerk’s office on Monday January 4 after 3:00 PM. It reports projected REVENUES of $526,425,603 and projected expenses of $547,156,662 for a Net DEFICIT (projected) of $20,731,059. There are more than four pages of narrative content about revenue variances that are almost $6 Million short of budget, some of which were over reaches by the former OPM director or complete errors in the form of State revenues that were not available in the previous year either. But all were accepted by a City Council that had no resident fiscal talent in the Budget and Appropriations Committee and also no fiscally talented assistance available to them in their responsibility.
Two pages of EXPENSE variance narratives amounting to $14,792,441 are also shown. Fringe benefit excesses, perhaps pension payments to the State amount to $10,900,000 and these were the types of expenses Tom Sherwood was very proud to declare “under control” and included in “his model of reporting.” What happened for this year’s budget? Another negative variance in public safety of net overtime expense of over $5 Million shows up in projections. The savings in regular budgeted salaries does not make up for these excesses though the Finch administration used to indicate that such overtime excesses would be met by salary savings by year end. NOT!!!
Ask your City Council members to have this report posted on the Finance Department website each month for electronic retrieval. City Council members can receive this report in that manner. Why shouldn’t taxpayers? Time will tell.
Still not buying the $20 million deficit. No doubt there’s a deficit, it’s just the amount that’s questionable. 10% of the cityside budget? No way! There’s a lot of estimated revenues and projected expenses that are subject to one’s “viewpoint.” =Keep your eyes on the following items to watch how that changes in the following months: projected personnel savings in PD, FD, PW and EOD that are part of the reason for higher OT; reductions in the projected OT in these departments; inter-governmental transfers; transfers to/from the capital budget; reductions in retroactive raises and payouts.
*** “Opinions” without real facts on anything the new Mayor is or is not doing is merely that; “an opinion,” no? *** FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. ***
Bridgeport needs something like this:
www .link.nyc
but Only Mayor Ganim has official authority.
All I see are city-owned buildings overlooking I-95, a sparkling-new communications network, a reduction in crime, a new rep based on technology and a new revenue source for Bridgeport–strong enough to reduce taxes. Are you with me so far?
At the moment there is movement I sense in the direction of OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT, and HONEST. However, the mailing of assessments City wide without providing the public with the total of the (new though not certified) Net Taxable Grand List is less OPEN and TRANSPARENT than necessary.
If the individual assessments have been printed out for review, one by one in the Assessor’s Office as I am told, why wasn’t the spreadsheet function to total them used? Simple. Even elegant. Especially in the face of the Finch administration that purposely misled the public in CAFR 2014 regarding the amount and trending of the Taxable Grand List.
So simple to provide a total. And add a footnote, all values are subject to change before certification at February date. More info, assuming it is accurate and available to the entire public, will benefit taxpayers. Getting better at each opportunity? Time will tell.
Too soon to tell. You should do this survey at least six months into the term. Of course, those who voted for Joe are going to say he’s doing great, others will say not. The only way to get a fair assessment of a poll like this is to wait.
*** JOE’S HIT THE PAVEMENT “RUNNING” AFTER THE ELECTION; HOWEVER DUE TO ALL THE POTHOLES, HE MUST SLOW DOWN A BIT TO SMELL THE COFFEE, NO? THERE IS LOTS TO OBSERVE AND STUDY, HIGH AND LOW AND DECISIONS TO MAKE. MOVING SLOW AND EASY DURING HIS FIRST “2016” WINTER UNTIL HE GETS HIS BEARINGS AND PEOPLE IN PLACE AS HE PREPARES FOR HIS NEW SPRING BUDGET. SO FAR, SO GOOD JOE! *** KEEP ON TRUCKING! ***
Mayor Ganim has been engaged in standard, plain-vanilla transitional and procedural tactics since the election. He hasn’t hit the ground running, he’s meandering while taking a victory lap. What’s to learn and observe if you occupied that office for twelve years?
Sorry, but Ganim’s already blown it big time!
JML raises the issue of honesty, but the claim of $20M deficit is far from honest (or accurate). Ganim needed to establish he’s different than he was in the past and this piece of political BS just reinforces the view he’s not particularly trustworthy and is going to play the same games all over again. Bringing Chapman back to run roughshod over PD Chief Gaudett is just the first indication Ganim will spend whatever amount necessary to make sure his crew gets what it wants. He’s made it clear to observers he’ll bring his “good ole boys” back into city government through ad hoc positions with authority over statutory employees, greasing palms just as he did in the past.
Far from being honest, Ganim has already communicated to those watching Bridgeport he still can’t be trusted. The one thing Bridgeport needs most in order to stabilize taxes and find money for critical services is to redevelop its commercial tax base. Ganim effectively killed commercial development during his prior administrations through his “pay for play” routines and his “old boy” networks. So far in this go-’round, he established he still isn’t trustworthy and will play many of the same old games in running the city. In one month, he’s communicated he still can’t be trusted and Bridgeport’s back to being run in the same old way.
You can bet businesses have seen what’s happened this past month and already are thinking Bridgeport’s not the best place in which to invest. Too bad because that opinion really was starting to change in spite of any other problems the Finch administration may have had.
DWOrr,
You introduce your entry with a comment the $20 Million deficit is far from honest (or accurate). Will you share your reason or facts for doubting this budget assessment? To be fair, I have a copy of the November 2015 Monthly Financial Report dated 12-31-15 that was provided to the City Clerk’s office on Monday January 4 after 3:00 PM. It reports projected REVENUES of $526,425,603 and projected expenses of $547,156,662 for a Net DEFICIT (projected) of $20,731,059. There are more than four pages of narrative content about revenue variances that are almost $6 Million short of budget, some of which were over reaches by the former OPM director or complete errors in the form of State revenues that were not available in the previous year either. But all were accepted by a City Council that had no resident fiscal talent in the Budget and Appropriations Committee and also no fiscally talented assistance available to them in their responsibility.
Two pages of EXPENSE variance narratives amounting to $14,792,441 are also shown. Fringe benefit excesses, perhaps pension payments to the State amount to $10,900,000 and these were the types of expenses Tom Sherwood was very proud to declare “under control” and included in “his model of reporting.” What happened for this year’s budget? Another negative variance in public safety of net overtime expense of over $5 Million shows up in projections. The savings in regular budgeted salaries does not make up for these excesses though the Finch administration used to indicate that such overtime excesses would be met by salary savings by year end. NOT!!!
Ask your City Council members to have this report posted on the Finance Department website each month for electronic retrieval. City Council members can receive this report in that manner. Why shouldn’t taxpayers? Time will tell.
Still not buying the $20 million deficit. No doubt there’s a deficit, it’s just the amount that’s questionable. 10% of the cityside budget? No way! There’s a lot of estimated revenues and projected expenses that are subject to one’s “viewpoint.” =Keep your eyes on the following items to watch how that changes in the following months: projected personnel savings in PD, FD, PW and EOD that are part of the reason for higher OT; reductions in the projected OT in these departments; inter-governmental transfers; transfers to/from the capital budget; reductions in retroactive raises and payouts.
*** “Opinions” without real facts on anything the new Mayor is or is not doing is merely that; “an opinion,” no? *** FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. ***