City officials including Mayor Joe Ganim are expected to update the City Council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee about the state of city finances Monday (tonight), 6 p.m. in Wheeler Room A of City Hall that fronts the council chambers. Ganim administration officials say they have inherited a budget deficit from former Mayor Bill Finch that is more than $10 million half way through the budget year that began July 1.
Office of Policy and Management Director Nestor Nkwo and Finance Director Ken Flatto are scheduled to present the budget picture to the council committee. Ganim will provide some introductory remarks. As the newly named budget director, Nkwo handles the spending side of the budget while Flatto, a certified public accountant and former first selectman of Fairfield, oversees the revenue side such as tax assessment and tax collections.
Monday night’s meeting is intended to inform councilors about the state of the budget while city officials examine options to close the gap in the election-year budget advanced by Finch. Ganim took office on December 1.
The Budget Committee is chaired by Scott Burns and Denese Taylor-Moye. Evette Brantley, AmyMarie Vizzo Paniccia, Aidee Nieves, Anthony Paoletto and Jose Casco are also members of the committee. City Council President Tom McCarthy is also scheduled to attend.
The Budget Committee is chaired by Scott Burns and Denese Taylor-Moye. Evette Brantley, AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, Aidee Nieves, Anthony Paoletto and Jose Casco are also members of the committee. Oh boy!!!
Is this like a ball team having fans who wait decades for a team to show up that can play? Or, what are their qualifications to be on the budget committee? Somebody here must know, I know I don’t.
Why wait until an election is over to ask questions about qualifications? The Democratic Town Committee does not publicly report or represent it has any qualifications for endorsement other than you are a current party member and can provide an address that can reasonably pass for your residence. Right? Remember Ayala?
And the voters do not seem to call for qualifications during the campaign. Look at the entries on OIB. Other than the 130 City Council fight (of which I am fully aware), were there battles over which candidate was better prepared to represent the interests of the voter? Or which candidates were less likely to find themselves with conflicts of interest if elected? Example: Members of family with City employment? Three, I think.
The above comments pertain to the election to the Council in general and I suggest there is no concern on the part of parties or others who support candidates for Council. So why does anyone look for expertise among the 20 who are elected if it is not sought? It will only be there as luck may have it.
When Coach McCarthy looked at his bench this year, how many were on the edge of their seats saying “Play me, Coach!” for the honor of serving on the B&A Committee, do you think? Might we expect different outcomes with a Finance Director who has worked as a municipal chief executive and who is a Certified Public Accountant? Aren’t those two statements a big advance over the eight years of Finchdom? Time will tell.
How sad!!!
*** AmyMarie is the only one with B&A experience who knows the process and has an idea of what areas need cutting or financial tweaking. The rest will be trying to learn the process or just won’t get it at all! Basically, the B&A will go through the motions and make nickel and dime cuts on silly things and in the end, go along with whatever the Ganim Admin. has put on the budget table. They’re over their heads when it comes to the city budget and really should spend some of their legislative line item budget and hire an experienced independent accounting firm that’s done town and city budgets before. With the B&A committee overseeing the entire process, voting on it, then presenting it to the entire city council for a final vote and turning it back over to the Mayor’s Office. Put the entire city budget into the hands of experts who know what they’re doing and take the politics out of the process, no? ***
You get elected to a position, then you’re off and running trying to figure out what to do with $580M (whatever the budget is now) and how a myriad of departments function in determining their needs, maybe without a single class on budgeting, accounting, business, something? It makes no sense.
Mojo, AmyMarie may have occupied a council seat for a long time, but that doesn’t mean she gained any understanding of the budget. I’m sure she’s a nice person, but think of how many experienced individuals residing in her district who have the knowledge and experience in navigating through a complex process. I don’t think, at this time, there will be anything but information flowing with the presentation, but what does the future hold? What’s even more frightening is the entire committee is under water, and our hard-earned tax dollars being siphoned through a document that is a mystery to them. Not their fault they don’t have the knowledge and experience, it’s the fault of the Town Committee districts that don’t vet the candidates they nominate and work to get elected.
Any member of the new B & A Committee who was a member last year should resign immediately.
They are partially responsible for the mess we are currently in based on their actions in approving a budget with this level of deficiency.
Why would Ganim want such incompetency? Unless he believes if they were so gullible they believed anything the Finch and Sherwood fed them, they will do the same with anything Flatto and Nkwo have to say.
Terrible, terrible mess.
Lisa, it is their fault if they don’t have the experience and take the position. Perhaps it is their fault for running for council to begin with. As for Amy, I saw her at the polls and got the impression nobody but the endorsed team should have even been running. No election needed, just hand it over. That’s not the general impression of Bridgeport government?
Park City too, yes it is.
Mojo, in the five years I attended B & A meetings, AMPV showed none of the knowledge you mention. AmyMarie was an astronaut, she took up space. This whole council is full of incompetents.
MOJO, I don’t know Amy’s credentials, but I was informed years ago she reported my information about the MCC and how I used the work, “I.” I was taken aback, as I liked her and took her at face value. This completely took me by surprise, as I thought she was genuine. So moving forward, others have stood by me because of this pretense.
Lisa Miro, I am not certain what your issue is with AmyMarie, she most definitely is a genuine person. What we will all focus on is Ganim’s ability to navigate us through the process without using Finch, good, bad or otherwise to be a scapegoat to higher taxes. Council members most definitely need education. John Marshall Lee has always offered assistance. Now would be the time!
I will be present tonight to observe the new dynamics. Certainly a new committee with five new to this committee as well as both co-chairs new to that role as well.
And new City staffing to address them? Will it be Ken Flatto who will be laying out expectations and offering ideas for this committee to comprehend and embrace? Or will Nestor Nkwo also be present on this occasion to provide info from his part of the fiscal management action? Perhaps Tom McCarthy will have already explained his philosophy of “fiscal minimalism” and “trust authority” so the new watchdogs may feel comfortable in putting their heads on their paws. There is so much a seven-member group of elected representatives can be doing in an organized fashion other than accept a gift-wrapped package of “Blame Bill Finch and Friends.” Had the previous B&A members for the past eight years not been so willing to “bow-wow” down to the Office of the Mayor and the “hide and seek” game played by Tom Sherwood and others, Finch could not have performed the range of fiscal excesses likely to show up. I was present last Monday with familiar refrains to OIB readers that Lennie has not yet posted. I will be there tonight God willing. Will we see anything else that is new? Time will tell.
2008 Revaluation on most people’s property taxes were jacked up by the Finch administration. Except for Finch’s friends who received a substantial tax break for eight years.
Check and see who had access to the Tax Department’s database.
This has cost the City millions of dollars in taxes over the last eight years, how can an entire street receive a tax break?
Finch is a built-in excuse. Unless you are living under a rock, you know what he did over eight years and what he did during his last week’s reign of terror.
When Ganim came into office in 1991, the budget and appropriations committee was led by a practicing attorney with a degree in accounting and a bank officer with an MBA. The city’s finances were controlled by the State of Connecticut through the Financial Review Board. Comments on this posting have kindly expressed legitimate concern about the ability of the people assigned to oversee the city’s budget. The city council has always been a political body, but the education and relevant work experience of those elected has become a concern. Hopefully, the Ganim administration will engage others in the community with financial and management background for guidance.
You forgot to mention that by the time Ganim had left office most of the good work done by the financial review board had been undone by Ganim.
Joe even used the rainy day fund to mitigate the financial impact of instituting reval. Maybe he can do that again.
Oops, that’s right there is no rainy day fund.
Joe will quickly find that when it rains, it pours.
I read most of the posts here and have to say I agree with them based on my two years’ experience on the Council.
I would like to bring up two points. First is the comment Mojo made I agree with when he wrote, “They’re over their heads when it comes to the city budget and really should spend some of their legislative line item budget and hire an experienced independent accounting firm that’s done town and city budgets before.” We are talking about a budget over half a billion dollars and there is no expert to assist the council on what they are doing. This is a no-brainer, the council needs to fund the position and find someone who has no connection with the Democrat Party on any level and who is totally independent of politics.
Second, the position Tom White held with the city council should be re-established to assist the council members with dealing with issues. These are low-cost items that would have a big payoff.
Ron, Tom White should be brought back. I believe there’s pending litigation because his position was terminated under suspicious circumstances. Not only is he extremely qualified, he served on the City Council so he understands the dynamics the members face. It’s an effort in futility to have a City Employee employed by the Mayor and for the Mayor, to share loyalties. If something isn’t done to address the budget issue, we’re dead in the water.
Lisa, I agree Tom White would do what’s right for the council and the City. I’m trying to stay away from a name first until the position is created. I hope the fact Tom is a Republican has nothing to do with him in getting that position if it’s created because I believe he’s a fair person.
*** Well, it seems when it comes to nickel & dime cuts, the B&A seems to only go after areas of the budget that sometimes actually work and are worth having. And as far as AMVP is concerned, she like others who have been on the council for a while is one of the few who understands the budget process somewhat, not that she’s an expert on financial matters mind you. But regardless of whom OIB bloggers feel is knowledgeable or not on the city council, it stands to reason the B&A committee is out of their comfort zone and should get an outside independent accounting firm to assist them in the city budget process and keep the politics out and the transparency in, as well as doing things on a professional level. *** FOOD FOR THOUGHT ***
*** Almost forgot an important part of the city budget, EDUCATION. After being on the city council for six years, and all the problems with the BOE and public schools in general, I strongly believe the BOE/Education Dept. should have their own state separate financial budget away from the Bpt city-side budget with the city’s help only on outside services like snow removal, some landscaping, and some of the other services the city offers now, etc. ***
Lennie, when was the last time a new Mayor took office and didn’t complain about the fiscal mess they had inherited? I can’t remember a single one.
Phil, some have complained right away, others have waited several months to complain, which can be tricky because it could be perceived as having created the problem. Better to meow strategically about an election-year budget right out of the box.
Am I the only one who remembers a City Council member who had run up delinquent taxes to the tune of a half a million dollars under the guise of a number of LLC’s?
The council, for the most part, said and did nothing. Finch claimed there was a problem with collecting Personal Property arrearages and the city was looking into it.
I said at the time if one person owed more that $500K then this has to be a multimillion dollar problem.
Mojo,
Funny you should suggest something that is ongoing. The BOE has its own budget, its own Finance Committee, and its own chief financial officer. Take a look at the BOE web site. They post their budget, update it regularly, include employee numbers relative to departments, and include grants information. I have complimented them for several years on the Accountable and Transparent display on this separate site.
Re the City monthly financial report: The City included 20 pages in their old monthly reports, each month, that the Council never looked at, and did not need to. But it was part of a dump of info, too much to make their way through, so no one bothered and merely awaited one chair or another who would limit their field of inquiry.
Recently a scaled-down “executive style” summary report has been offered. Let’s see how it can be improved, worked on by B&A, and put on internet for any public so interested. Time will tell.
BOE has people robbing the system blind on overtime, making $130,000+ with no one watching the store.
Workers working seven days a week, but what are they doing?
Who is in charge of these workers?
Public Facilities or the BOE or is it nobody?
The CT Post used to publish the salaries but do they anymore?
*** So John, are you telling me the city budget does not have to fork over millions of dollars anymore to the city public schools educations dept? How about the amount of money concerning in-kind services, etc. *** Bring me up to speed, Bro! ***
Mojo,
Call 203-259-9642 for a $$$ session and coffee! WHOOPS? Kind of fun, isn’t it? Time will tell.
The 1993 charter revision included an option for the city council to establish a ‘non-partisan office of legislative services’ to provide non-legal advice. It also included the requirement for monthly financial reports to be reviewed by the city council.
Lisa and Ron, I tried to do the right thing but it did not sit well with McCarthy. I was illegally terminated under the guise of a layoff. Civil Service opted not to conduct a hearing so my only option was court action. It should be resolved soon. The only media outlet that has asked for updates is Lennie and I will share the disgraceful details with him.
Tom, McCarthy has no authority to hire or fire anyone. I can’t believe the misconceptions surrounding his run as Council President. He’s a Council member who happens to hold the title of Council President because the Charter requires it. He has no more power or influence than the other nineteen members. Who the heck started glorifying him? I know what I’m talking about, remember guys and gals I held that position for fourteen years, and I probably lasted that long because I never felt any different from my colleagues nor did I try to be. Kill the misplaced legend!!!