When it comes to the city budget, financial watchdog John Marshall Lee is like a dog gnawing on a bone. Once he starts it’s hard to get him to stop, and that’s not good news for some city officials who wish he’d grind down his teeth to nothing. Lee’s latest commentary on the budget centers on the Harbor Master.
ONLY IN BRIDGEPORT–The whole truth and nothing but the truth …
It seems reasonable to me that a city called Bridgeport should have a Harbor Master. Personally I don’t understand the scope of responsibilities or duties for such a position, but having at least one go-to person working full time year ’round seems reasonable for the significant waterfront we enjoy. The General Fund Budget book provides revenue, appropriation, personnel, goals and goal status for the current year (6 month status for 2012-13) and for the year ahead (2013-14) for all City Departments. Harbor Master data runs from 257 – 261.
The first goal for fiscal year 2012-13: “We will continue to market the underutilized mooring field in Johnson Creek, which I feel will be very attractive to the yacht club members currently on a slip waiting list at the East End Yacht Club and Miamogue Yacht Club. Of course this field will also be available to the general public who can access their vessels from public access sites and possibly by the water taxi. 6 MONTH STATUS: After doing a study of the depth of the water in this area we found that there is not enough water during a normal low tide for boats to be moored there. The boats would be sitting on the bottom.”
Ahhh! Mark Twain!! You mean there was a reason for the poor marketing results of the past? The ‘mooring field’ was underutilized because the public knew about low tide, when Johnson Creek really isn’t a ‘mooring field.’ Rather it’s a ‘vessel sitting on the bottom’ field. But the water taxi may possibly provide an answer? (Three of the other four goals are being reviewed by City Attorney’s office. And the position proposes $86,000 in salary and benefits as well as almost $77,000 in contracted salaries. I guess that is where the “We” comes from.) Can you make this stuff up? And how seriously does the City Council look at how taxpayer funds are spent and what results? Time will tell.
Harbor This Dog!
Sullivan testified Ganim said he wanted a policy for himself, but wanted the city to buy similar policies in lesser amounts for four city department heads. Ganim believed the additional policies would provide him cover if the insurance buys were detected, Sullivan said.
“He said he wouldn’t be able to get it for himself unless the other people got the policies also,” Sullivan said. “Both he and Pinto told me to keep it very quiet, that they didn’t want it spread around city hall.”
A deferred compensation policy provides a death benefit to the owner’s beneficiary. But there is a potentially bigger benefit for the policy owner while he is alive. The policy provides the owner with a large chunk of income spread among tax-deferred mutual and stock funds. Although tax on fund income is deferred, tax law allows the policy owner to borrow against equity in the policy at any time, Sullivan and others familiar with the policies said Monday.
In Ganim’s case, Sullivan said, the mayor arranged to have the city-paid premiums on his policy front-loaded, guaranteeing the mayor access to the highest amount of equity early in the life of the policy.
“They wanted to make sure that all the premiums got paid first,” Sullivan said of Ganim and Pinto. “It was decided to pre-pay up front over five years.”
In purchasing the policy from The Hartford Insurance Group, Sullivan said, Ganim obligated the city to pay $42,300.13 in premiums annually for five years. Of that premium amount, Sullivan said, more than $31,000 was allocated among various funds, principally stock funds. He said $149.24 a month, to be paid monthly over five years, was to finance the death benefit. A small portion of the money went to fees and commissions.
Although the city paid the premiums, Ganim owned the policy, Sullivan said. The federal racketeering indictment against Ganim charges that the insurance coverage was purchased with money allocated to the city harbormaster’s budget.
Fluck,
Thank you for your note. I have always been interested in the specific details of this “hidden transaction” even after it was discovered and reversed (I believe).
In those days the Harbor keepers were different from today, but $900,000 of premium coming through their budget for one year should have caught their attention, right? But it did not initially.
I have worked in that field for almost 50 years so I was surprised at what came out. During Mayor Fabrizi’s term I pursued the subject asking whether 1099 forms had been issued to the several “executives.” Never could get anyone to research the matter. You see, if the policies were owned by the individuals, yet paid by the City, then a 1099 for the premiums would have been called for. If there was a genuine deferred compensation plan, the City would have been the owner, more people would have been in the know, the values would have been owned by the City and in a reserve to be paid out at some time in the future subject to the terms of an agreement, assuming the terms had been met.
Obviously it fell apart quickly. To me it was a signal example of how self-centered yet ignorant those with public office can become when they are involved with “other people’s money,” that is, taxpayer money. Do we have any examples of this going on today in any departments? Time will tell.
*** DONE SHERWOOD DEAL! ***