From Mayor Finch:
Mayor Finch Plans Public Budget Overview Sessions
Mayor Bill Finch today announced a series of public budget presentations to be held in locations around the City beginning April 3 in City Hall Council Chambers.
“We want to increase the transparency of our budget process so that every citizen who is interested in the process can learn more about how our City budget is put together,” said Mayor Finch. “In these tough fiscal times, it’s ever more important to give citizens an opportunity to learn how their dollars are being allocated.”
For the fourth year in a row, the City has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association of United States and Canada. The GFOA award recognizes how well the City’s budget serves in the following categories: as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. The City received a ‘proficient’ rating in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award.
“This award reflects our commitment to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting,” said Mayor Finch. “I am very proud of the work we’ve done to make our budget easier to understand and more user-friendly.”
The Mayor will deliver his proposed budget to the City Council on Monday, April 2. The City Council’s Budget and Appropriations Committee will hold a series of review sessions during April and early May. The full City Council must vote on the budget by May 8.
The schedule for the general budget overview sessions is as follows:
Tuesday, April 3 – 6 to 8 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace
Monday, April 9 – 6 to 8 p.m., Black Rock Library, 2705 Fairfield Avenue
Thursday, April 19 – 6 to 8 p.m., North End Library, 3455 Madison Avenue
Tuesday, April 24 – 6 to 8 p.m., Location TBD
Monday, April 30 – 6 to 8 p.m., Location TBD
Finch is so Transparent you can see right through him.
What’s going on with the Black Rock Bank & Trust or is it MisTrust?
Another land scam! Paging Sue and Marty?
Marty returned my call.
Anyone know why Finance Director Dawn Norton had an armed police officer guarding her office all day today? What’s that about? The Tax Office takes in thousands every day and they don’t get a cop. The City Hall Greeter deals with irate people all day long and she doesn’t get a cop. The employees of social services on East Main Street, one of the roughest areas of the city, lost their security guard and they don’t get a cop. Why does Dawn Norton get a cop assigned to her for the entire day? He wasn’t patrolling the halls, he was sitting outside Dawn’s office on guard. Will he be back on Monday? Why?
Mayor Finch said, “We want to increase the transparency of our budget process so that every citizen who is interested in the process can learn more about how our City budget is put together.” We want, we want, that means right now there is no transparency of our budget process. Now we are supposed to trust Mayor Finch, why?
The Feds are closing in and people are getting nervous. Seen this before in Bpt Politics! Remember?
I heard the same thing. Apparently there are some whistleblowers who spilled the beans about misuse of grant money. Brought the feds in as well as state and federal auditors. Major intimidation towards employees in the Comptrollers Office. But that doesn’t justify wasting a police officer’s time for an entire day. There is definitely more to this story than meets the eye.
The Mayor will be addressing the City budget presumably which does not account for the total revenues and spending that flow into and out of our City each year. Have you thought about those implications before? Grants come from Federal or State sources, based on competitive writing or on entitlements because of our City demographics. They are titled “Special Revenues” in our City process and therefore are not presented in “the Budget” the Mayor presents. Likewise “capital project funds” do not show up in the “budget” the Mayor will present. Neither of these facts should be disturbing by themselves. However, when coupled with the minor role executed by the City Council as a watchdog at “budget time” regarding these items, and the even lesser role as monitor, observer, and overseer of all funds throughout the year, as well as the size of grants and capital spending, the public is not being well served with checks and balance in the governance process.
To grasp the differences involved consider that Exhibit IV, page 21 of the recently issued Comprehensive Annual Financial Review from the external auditor shows the City spent about $656 Million dollars in the 2010-11 fiscal year, although the so-called “City budget” amounted to a little less than $500 Million!!! We are not seeing, and the watchdogs are not reviewing on any open and accountable basis the extra $156 Million indicated. And they are not doing a professional job of handling the half billion either. Look at the B & A minutes. If you are discouraged, go to the Charter Revision Committee at one of their open sessions and let them know your serious displeasure. Time will tell.
JML, thank you for asking the right questions, because no one else is!
Sound Familiar?
www .nytimes.com/2012/03/10/us/south-carolina-lt-governor-resigns.html
The BIG difference here is the Lt Gov admitted guilt and apologized. Unlike our delusional mayor who still believes he did nothing wrong.
*** Could this be a “post” Finch election good news gesture towards better city tax dollar transparency? Or is it an act of too little, too late, so let’s shoot ourselves in the foot anyway? Could this upcoming budget message lead to “possible” taxpayer madness? Anything is possible during pre-, during and post-budget season in “Zombieland,” no? *** To be continued … ***
Congrats to Beacon and tc for shining the light on the Finch budget sham. Your persistence has shamed the city into opening up the process.
However, I think it is too little too late. This is the prelude to the tax increase Lennie has been talking about.
The CT Post editorial praises the new path Paul Vallas has taken the Bridgeport School System on. The first step he took was to get more money from the state and the city. What a load of crap that is!
John Ramos had been screaming about more money for the past 4 years and did not get an additional dime from Finch. But the new super is super because Finch has promised him millions.
10 years ago I was told by the assistant City Treasurer the City of Bridgeport was in the red. They were taking in $400 Million and spending $450Million. They were then and they are now borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. The only difference is this time the amounts in question are higher. Finch has been scrambling to cover the deficit to the point of using grant monies and that’s why the Feds are interested in the paper trail. Some of that money is being sequestered by the Finch administration, but if they use it … bye bye Adam Wood and the rest of the flies and leeches who run this city. The best thing that could happen is for the State of Connecticut to step in and take over a la Waterbury.
Bob~
Can Finch and the crew use grant monies to cover these deficits, or is that a no-no? And what do you mean by monies are being sequestered, and how does spending those “sequestered” funds spell doom for Wood and why?
Zena Lu,
You are not supposed to use grant money to cover deficits. Grant money is awarded for specific projects. I am not sure what is meant by sequestered monies but I do know the last Finch budget covered a lot of “Ghost employees.” The salaries and benefits for these unfilled positions equals $4.5 million. Then there is the $2.5 million in ECS school funds that were not turned over to the BOE. Then you have the $1 Million plus that was never turned over to the library board. There is much more.
Thanks tc and The Fixer.
tc~
I gather you feel the “Ghost Employees” are a ruse to get more money into the budget so the PTB (Powers That Be) have more money to play with? Reading this particular post gives one the sense we are players in a poorly written episode of the Sopranos that will end up in a video game. Sublimely Ludicrous.
Zena Lu: When asked by one B & A member about the amount of funded but unfilled positions the response from Tom Sherwood was we funded these positions in case the economy improves.
This $4.5 million is in the budget and can be transferred anywhere the administration wants it.
Until we make the administration answer for this kind of BS and until we hold their feet to the fire they will continue to do this and the council will go along with it.
Questions for the day:
1) When Mayor Finch (or a member of his cabinet) presents “the budget for 2012-13” to the public at one of the four sessions, will there be a scheduled opportunity for the public to ask questions at that meeting about the presentation and receive an answer (or a promise to deliver one) from the Office of the Mayor?
2) Will “the budget for 2012-13” be posted on the City web site previous to the public presentation so the public may have a copy available for review and to reference at the Mayor’s presentation? Will the City Council have the document available to them before the Mayor’s presentation to the Council?
3) Is the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award a triumph of Form over Substance??? In the past four years did the group making the award understand that references to Internal Controls in the budget narrative were misstatements as there are no Department employees identified with the tasks and tasks assigned by City ordinance to the Internal Auditor have not been completed for years?
4) Does the public understand “the budget” refers to only a portion of the money the City receives and spends each year and last year under our elected representatives an additional $150 Million of “taxpayer” funds were spent here in Bridgeport without local watchdog oversight and meaningful public reporting?
5) Do you know at this moment, the City Council and its Budget and Appropriations Committee has no idea what was spent in each line item from the 2010-11 budget they voted on two years ago and was covered by the CAFR 2011? And will they know the full run of current year expenses inasmuch as the 2011-12 monthly reports will only contain 8 months or so of data? If these are the people charged with stewardship of public funds in their initial “review sessions” and throughout the year, what is it Mayor Finch is talking about when he references our documents as “more user friendly?” Don’t documents need to provide accurate and comprehensive info to be really “user friendly?”
Five more questions for you to consider as readers and taxpayers. Three or more questions answered NO or DON’T KNOW and you need to talk to your Council persons. City finances are shrouded from TRANSPARENCY despite the Mayor’s claim. City financial documents and deliberations are not OPEN to public participation in a 21st Century relevant manner. This administration has not been and is currently not ACCOUNTABLE for the taxpayer dollars spent for jobs, for stuff purchased, and for disclosing how revenues are used to meet payments due in a timely fashion. Time will tell.
Let me enlighten you and perhaps BEACON2 can ask the probing questions at the budget meetings. It is true that various whistleblowers have contacted state and federal agencies regarding alleged fraudulent charges to grants. One such complaint involves a federal grant where Tom Sherwood is over-billing the grant for salary and medical benefits. The feds are on to him and some adversarial conversations have taken place between Sherwood and the feds. Sherwood, you see, is not afraid of the feds. But make no mistake, it is illegal to charge a federal grant for fake expenses.
Tom Sherwood has, in addition, transferred fiscal responsibilities from the Comptrollers Office to the people running the various programs. Fiscal responsibilities are by charter in the Comp Office for a reason, because the people who work there have accounting degrees (Dawn Norton excluded) and are trained to recognize fraudulent activities. By moving the fiscal responsibilities to untrained non-accountants, Tom Sherwood can easily control the grant spending and hide any possible fraudulent activities.
True. He also establishes deniability if there’s trouble. It is a decision that will come back to haunt the City.
Fixer,
How is it Dawn Norton, acting or interim Finance Director, does not have an accounting degree? What education or training does she have? Are there any other Finance Directors of Connecticut towns and cities who do not have an accounting background? Do you know? Help us.
For All:
Tables of Organization for the City of Bridgeport are numerous and in disarray at this moment it seems.
The T.O.O. handed out by Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Nunn to the Charter Revision Commission on February 28, 2012 indicated two Tax Assessors. (Most people consider one tax assessor adequate!) Departing he said that was a “typo” and probably meant Tax Collector for one of those boxes.
More disturbing to me is the absence of a label for INTERNAL AUDIT staff since the T.O.O. used in the just-released January 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report-2011 has an INTERNAL AUDIT box directly under another box for FINANCE DEPARTMENT which along with POLICE, FIRE, CITY ATTORNEY, etc. and OFFICE OF POLICY & MANAGEMENT all presumably report to Andrew Nunn as CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER. Does that mean Tom Sherwood as director of OPM is not directing the FINANCE DEPARTMENT, but Nunn is? The budget documents for 2011-12 last year showed a narrative on the internal controls and internal audit staff. But now in March, Tom McCarthy tells the Charter Revision Group we have not had an Internal Auditor for many years. Curious, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you think the folks who want more power over the education process in the City would have their own stuff more together? I wish there were more evidence of competence showing at this time.
Finally, Nunn’s 2012 handout does not show CONSTRUCTION SERVICES under PUBLIC FACILITIES as does the CAFR-2012. Construction services handles the tracking of purchases for City projects among other tasks. Some years ago it had a number of employees. By fall 2011 reports are Art Harris was the only employee taking care of the tasks. Art Harris is no longer an active City employee because of some confusion about participation or support of a self-serving minority business according to the CT Post.
So who is keeping track of the tens of millions spent on construction in the City? And where is it reported or available to the public? And where is the City Council or one of its committees doing their due diligence and watchdog function on this subject? Are they up to the task? Trained for the large job of fiscal watchdog? Do they have the stomach for it? Time will tell.
A$hes, a$hes, they all fall down.
Was that a BOE grant?
What? No answer? Eh, gadflies, the bunch a ya.
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Gadflies-keep-officials-buzzing-3397097.php