The City Council budget process will certainly test the patience of Sue Brannelly, the Black Rock councilwoman with wafer-thin skin and generally quick draw of the tongue when something displeases her. She represents the most active and noisy neighborhood with constituents loathe for another tax increase. City Council President Tom McCarthy appointed her (with Councilman Angel DePara) as co-chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee that has begun reviewing Mayor Bill Finch’s $520 million spending plan that includes a tax increase representing roughly $400 to the average homeowner aided by reduced state support. It’s one thing to sit on the council; it’s another to serve as budget co-chair. It’s a lot of work. And yes, as a volunteer. Council members can avail themselves of a $9,000 stipend.
When it comes to the mayor, McCarthy is a team player who works at the pleasure of the mayor as deputy director of Labor Relations. McCarthy recently appointed Brannelly budget co-chair with confidence that she too will be a team player in shepherding the budget process. DePara, who represents the East Side, has shown an independent streak from the administration that requires a Finch supporter to make sure the budget process does not slip away from administration goals. Brannelly has been generally a strong supporter of the mayor in a neighborhood where the mayor is popularity challenged.
Brannelly comes from a family rich in Bridgeport political tradition. Her genial late father served as city clerk and she has other family members who have served the city and continue to do so faithfully. Sue herself is not a classic pol. The health-care professional is smart, works hard but diplomacy isn’t her strength. She has a tendency to lash out instead of taking a deep breath in the face of opposition. She’s generally liked by Black Rockers with a disclaimer; as some of her constituents observe, “Sue’s a bitch but she’s our bitch.”
Black Rock, a waterfront hamlet, has its share of “bitches” who know how to get things done, active in an assortment of issues including regulation of massage parlors, adult entertainment establishments as well as police presence and budget review. You say quality of life issues, think Black Rock.
Brannelly’s introduction as budget co-chair is baptism by fire. This will be a noisy budget process led by her own constituents. The good news is the mayor’s budget includes some padding that will allow some council members, led by Brannelly, to cut and save face in an election year. Translation: “If it weren’t for us your taxes would have been higher.” It’s called cover in an election year.
Like it or not, if you are elected to represent Black Rock, you are held accountable by Black Rock residents. Auden Grogins gets it. Sue is about to. Senator Musto is feeling some heat (no position on gun control or Hennessy’s bill on municipal employees serving on City Council) but he apparently doesn’t have the spine to take a position on anything. He will have to or he will face a serious challenge–and lose. Hope Sue is listening–this budget is unacceptable and if the Finch administration thinks floating 2.5 to get a 1.5 is going to fly–think again. Not going to happen. This city can’t afford any new taxes.
Well, life’s a bitch, ain’t it? 😉
*** Be smart, there’s “very little” the B&A committee will be able to do to come up with enough cuts to curtail the mil rate hike and other $ increases in general. Besides, T. Sherwood will allow only a “limited” amount of feel-good type of line item changes. So being an election year for the City Council and playing a political trump card seems to be the logical ticket out! Vote “no contest” and give the proposed budget right back to the Mayor followed by a later Council vote of “no” on the entire budget and mil rate hike for the year! Of course those who work for or drink the city government kool-aid would never vote “no” and the Mayor will still get what he wants but at least “YOU” (councilmember) did not vote in favor of it, no? *** POLITICAL FUN AND GAMES ***
Did I hear there are Bitches in Black Rock? I love me a bitch–they make good for OIBitchslapping. Talking about bitches Lennie, I keep hearing the mayor saying a tax increase depends on what the Connecticut Legislature does as far as the state budget cuts go.
Why are we talking about the less significant bitches in our City Council? Why isn’t Bill Finch leading the charge in putting pressure on the Bitchport Delegation in Hartford? The only two members of the delegation we are hearing from are only talking about bill 5724 and not a damn thing about the budget and the part they are playing to beat back the cuts from the state. The last thing I want to hear from any one of them is they stopped Malloy from eliminating the car tax and had they not done so, the taxes would had doubled. That would be total bullshit as Malloy didn’t intend to eliminate the car tax in the first place. The Bridgeport Delegation, Mayor Bill Finch and all 20 City Council members must publicly opposed the state cuts and make it clear to Dan Malloy under no circumstances will they accept more cuts from the state. If this doesn’t happen, accept that as an indication the mayor wants the state cuts to go through so he can use it as an excuse to raise the taxes to hire more of his peeps. Wanna be my bitch? Stand up to the big dogs in Hartford.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=rueScMSnRP4
Even though he’s rude and classless, JG is right, no one from the state delegation is being solicited or pressured to serve as proponents to ease the burden on the city from the state budget cuts!
Rude and classless. Just because I’m not not from Monroe or belong to the Corrections Officer’s Class you belong to? Rude? You were a lot worse when it came to treatment of inmates. Classless like those who live out of town and vote in Bridgeport. You must be looking at yourself on one of those mirrors you took from an inmate.
Brannelly will do what she is told to … and yes, the “bitches” know how to get an increased police presence … in Black Rock … and as far as the massage parlors considering the crime problem in the rest of the city that should not have been a priority … not when kids are getting shot in the streets.
Sue will do what she’s told to do. Her family’s jobs depend on it. Her sister is director of the BOE Nutrition Center and her brother in law was just hired in Labor Relations. His last name is Austin and he’s married to Sue’s sister. It’s through nepotism Finch and the machine keep things under control.
I would think nearly 100 years after women’s suffrage we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Ya wanna play with the boys, the girls are going to have to be tough. The budget is a bitch. Sue is a tough woman. I certainly hear gals call guys worse when they disagree with them. No foul.
Sue Brannelly has a bitch of a job and I am sure she will try to do it honorably.
Some of you guys might do better looking at your community’s problems rather than body-slamming anybody who gets into public service.
I don’t blame anybody eager to forget the country has gone through a lousy stretch. But you’d better remember Bridgeport has a lousy tax base to begin with. This community could be perfectly run and be in trouble. And the economy only makes it worse.
Inefficiency in government spending stands out even more here. People who point that out deserve credit even if the Finch administration is uncomfortable with it. The town can’t afford it.
Whatever dipsy-doodles the Finch administration has been doing with the budget seem to be reflective of the reality they do not have a tax base to support services they believe the city wants–even in a lousy economy. I’m not endorsing their “reality,” I’m just sayin’.
The city administration has done a marvelous job of keeping their City Council quiet. That quiet obviously goes out the window when tax increases are involved. The administration is pretty contented shuffling budget lines hither and yon to match the crisis of the moment and hoping the books balance at the end of the year–more or less. That doesn’t make them much different than administrations of the past.
It is going to take a tough-minded person to get to the bottom of the city’s budget. That “more or less” part of the city’s budget always gets Bridgeport in trouble. Eventually it turns up less.
Bingo! An honest to goodness insightful (not inciteful) analysis and commentary in just over 300 words. Kudos to Callahan.
Sue has a plum of a job. A “bitch” is trying to come up with the rent, mortgage and the money for all the other bills one has to pay on a monthly basis.
Lennie, I tend to agree with your analysis of Sue’s politics, but to call her and other assertive women in Black Rock “bitches” is chauvinistic and derogatory in this context.
Bepo, how would you describe Sue’s personality? There are times she can be flat-out rude and disrespectful to people and then draws back in amazement when she’s called on it. Sue only focuses on her negative perceptions rather than focusing on a lot of complimentary coverage from OIB through the years. This tells me she feels entitled to only positive coverage.
My comment was not about Sue and the other Black Rock women you called bitches. It is about the loaded word “bitch.” When and where you use certain words can imply different meanings. People speak differently in certain settings. I use the word bitch in certain contexts too. The word can be funny, cruel and anywhere in between, and when a man uses it he needs to be clear about the message he is giving. People, especially writers, need to think before they use a sexually demeaning word and not use the easy word and think they are just being amusing and clever when in a certain context they are really being chauvinistic, ugly and derogatory.
–Madeline Dennis
Sue should bring the budget in somewhere around $483 Million. I did the numbers last night with my SunSystem.
Jim, can you make it $483 million and add the salary for this “Austin?”
“Sue will do what she’s told to do. Her family’s jobs depend on it. Her sister is director of the BOE Nutrition Center and her brother in law was just hired in Labor Relations. His last name is Austin and he’s married to Sue’s sister …”
Lennie, there is only one way to explain where Mayor Bill Finch got his numbers from. The $215 figure the mayor mentioned is the total tax increase, after the City Council cuts the proposed 2.5 mil increase to about 1.2 mil increase. When it is all said and done, the figures thrown out by Finch will be pretty close to accurate. The fix is in!
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Oops-city-finds-next-year-s-tax-estimates-too-low-4411200.php
Evidently all city council members say oh no, here come the Black Rock Bitches when I and the group of Goodwives come before the council to speak. I always think I am being reasonable, respectful and representing the community view point; now I must rethink my approach going forward. If I am called something I am clearly not being, I must meet the challenge and become that which I have been called to be. I am home in Indiana for a family funeral with a long drive ahead of me. Some reflective time to really get in touch with the bitch within and get ready to let her rip.
Hey! I want to be a Black Rock Bitch too! Can I be Grandbitched in?
Make sure you don’t let anyone say “bitch” like it’s a bad thing! LOL!
Oh, on the contrary Godiva! I am all about letting the inner bitch out out when it serves the people and of course, moi.
It is a complicated word, Jen. Strong women can say it and own it, but men should avoid it. E.g. Kanye West who has banned it from all his songs. LOL.
Sue Brannelly, I have never called you a bitch and have no intention of doing so today.
You seem to think you are the last word on City finances when you refuse to enter a discussion on any one of a number of subjects I’ve addressed regularly for the past several years. And you are my representative and provide no reason for ignoring my many questions and suggestions. But you take everything said by the City as gospel truth.
So please do a little “truth” verification on Saturday morning when the Council meets again to review the budget.
** Last night John Olson asked about the City contribution this year to the BOE. He asked if it was $5 Million (of cash, not in-kind or any other form). Tom Sherwood said yes to $5 Million and then Olson asked if it had been funded. Sherwood said YES. Trust but verify doesn’t think so! Looks more like $3.9 Million this year. Will you check on this item, please? Mayor Finch did say $5 Million. It is possible the sum is MBR compliant, but it is not the $5 Million Mayor “Accountability” Finch crowed about, sadly.
** Please take a look again at page 7 in the Budget Summary that was reviewed last night. The chart shows the Mayor is proposing to flat-fund the BOE at $219,813,895 for 2014, the identical amount in the 2013 budget. Checking into the State of CT “minimum budget requirement” I discover $3,281,793 must be added to last year’s total. That would create a variance in that account, not a 0.
Why does Sherwood seemingly ignore the additional $3,281,793? If the MBR is ignored now in the budget plan, will there be an emergency later in the year?
** BOE Food Services is a food service program to youth in the schools and receives Federal funds for this purpose. It is my understanding the Feds fund the total expense of the program, so the revenue and expense should presumably balance. Why is the City forecasting a $257,586 variance the City taxpayer should fund? If the expenses are matched by revenues in past years, what makes this year different?
** The Mayor was quoted in the CT Post on April 2, 2013: “I never made, and will not make, a no-layoff promise. It takes away the most important tool an elected official has.” However, four years ago (January 2009) the City released news of an agreement with AFSCME that indicated “there will be no layoffs of AFSCME personnel through June 30, 2010.” The contact person is Elaine Ficarra. Should be easy to check on this disparity between 2009 inclusion of “no-layoff” and 2013 “I never made, and will not make, a no-layoff promise.” Perhaps Bill forgot.
Trust but verify is a reasonable practice at budget time. Time will tell.
JML, Tom Sherwood is a liar. If Sue Brannelly really wants to see what’s going on, she should request a copy of the actual budget as it is TODAY and compare it to what was approved last spring. She will be shocked to find Sherwood has made many changes without Council approval. That is if he provides her with the actual budget, which he won’t. Instead he’ll propose pages of changes to the B & A in June which they won’t question or understand and he’ll legally “fix” all the game playing. Case in point: Josh Thompson. Finch said he was being paid through the Lighthouse budget. Seriously? I see a director’s salary at over $98,000 but no Josh. So where is he being paid from? Oh, that will be “fixed” in June.
Sue Brannelly needs to ask the right questions. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sherwood has been misleading you all for years. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice ,thrice, etc, shame on me.
If Ms. Brannelly is a little quick to snarl that’s not an inherently bad thing. It’s an effective method for dealing with stupid people and/or stupid people who think everyone else is as stupid as they are. Either way it’s all good. All members of the City Council know who they represent and know the business of the people of the city of Bridgeport is the most important item on the agenda. Unfortunately most of them serve another master. They know better and continue to do the bidding of the interests of the few at the expense of the many. And that means they are STUPID.