From the Bridgeport Public Library:
Bridgeport – City Budgets and Balance Sheets: 101 (a view from the “cheap seats” as a taxpayer …) Thursday, Jan. 12, 6 p.m. North End Branch, 3455 Madison Avenue)
Civic leaders often use words like “open, accountable, transparent” (O.A.T.) to characterize their activities and processes. However, when you follow the money processes (according to the Charter, City ordinances, or best practices in ‘top-rated’ communities) that are frequently hidden from view, you may question whether O.A.T. is an accurate description in Bridgeport.
This is a one-hour primer for curious taxpayers and voters who believe in fiscal “checks and balance,” timely and informed oversight and competent watchdogs over City fiscal processes and purchases. Presenters attended the 2011 City Budget and Appropriation hearings and believe that added public knowledge of and participation in the money process (aside from paying property taxes) can reduce waste and inefficiency, focus dollars on priorities, and develop a healthy community dialogue.
Time for Q & A.
John Marshall Lee and Andrew Fardy will be the presenters.
Yes my friends, we are the “muzzled electorate of Bridgeport” currently. But knowledge and curiosity and regular information and thought and discussion may lead to positive results. So come to the session on Thursday. Your comments and reflections are welcome. The need for an educated voter taxpayer has never been more obvious. Time will tell.
Where’s the Mayor? Shouldn’t Bill Finch, the Greenest man in Sherwood’s Forest, explain how all of this fits into his “City Four Year Plan?” Gift cards, City purchases monitored through Construction Management rather than as all other City purchases, objective research backing recent compensation Ordinance, etc. etc.
When public access to information is at a very low level, as I suggest it is here in the City, those who rule City processes feel very strong, because they are not challenged by accusations. Whatever intended and unused structural checks and balances within City government that are present, fold in the face of the reward structure of the DTC and current administration. Fear and cowardice predominate among elected and appointed. The citizenry is frustrated. They are not listened to. Their messages are ignored.
Check and balance mechanisms are important in governance structure because they reinforce the goal of common good rather than let one brute-strength entity dominate to their personal interest. So charter review can be an opportunity unless the deck is stacked with Mayoral appointees and a ready-made process and timeline enforced from the outset. Multiple public hearings to indicate where work is necessary (for instance, where Mayoral appointments practices have become totally manipulative through allowing people with expired terms to serve years beyond their terms without re-appointment or removal might be one area to consider). And contrary to current public meetings and expectations in Bridgeport, will each Charter Review session allow the public to not only be present but also have an opportunity at each session to contribute to the subject being discussed, to get the widest and most informed range of alternatives for serious discussion previous to one, single public hearing after the “committee work” is complete??? Let the Committee and the public come away from the work with a clear understanding of what changes (aside from relationship between Mayor and educational goals for City youth) are embodied. And let’s authorize our Charter review to look to other communities for best practices using current technology tools to inform the public easily.
How many people have recently looked at a monthly budget report from the City that is the material available for the Budget and Appropriations committee to review? Where would you put your hands on this report? The City administration has published this report almost monthly in the current 2012 budget year, although signs of B & A study of such matter at their meetings is not apparent from the minutes. A public copy is placed in the City Clerk’s office, 56 pages worth for November. The minutes of the B&A meeting are online. The financial numbers are not. If you wanted a copy you must go to the City Clerk’s office, ask them to locate a specific dated report, and wait for them to copy it, and then spend about $14 for the pleasure of your own copy.
You can perform an online download from your IT equipment of the notice of the meeting, the minutes of the meeting, but NOT the financial report that is now a standing agenda item. Why NOT? Curious, isn’t it? Finance department could send a pdf file to the City Clerk’s office each month and ONE print copy of the report to be date stamped. For all the attention the current City Council gives to these reports currently, 1,200 sheets worth of paper can be saved using the 21st Century practice of pdf or other type file for those who wish to be informed. And 15,000 sheets of paper in this one area can be saved. But wouldn’t that high-tech and low-touch solution provide the public more access??? Is that desirable in Sherwood’s Forest???
And if more people began to study and review the month-to-month expenditures, more Council persons will be asked serious questions as our check and balance or watchdog functionaries. And what will they say?
We all need to dig a little deeper on these issues. Do you see how they are all connected in our very weak governance system, with responsibilities ignored in many cases, with lax enforcement of Charter and Ordinance responsibilities, and with a “don’t know, don’t care” attitude by too many? Is this healthy for the City, for your tax expenditures, for your quality of life? Time will tell.
CAN YOU ANSWER ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS?
* How much financial or budget oversight did the Budget and Appropriations Committee perform in its monthly meetings in the past 18 months??? What were the subjects covered? (HINT: See Sue Brannelly’s recommendation for a standing agenda item!)
* How much of the budgeted and authorized $180,000 for 20 Council stipends in June 30, 2011 was spent by the City? Who received funds from that line item according to City records? What does the City receive as a result of this unusual expense from the Council person? (HINT: Where would such expenses be recorded where the public can monitor?)
* What have been the year-end trend of balances for City obligations, responsibilities and debt during the past four years of the Finch Administration? What has been trend of funding pension obligations relative to actuarial recommendations? What is happening with year-end balances of the Internal Service Fund? (Hint: Look at CAFR info annually!)
Does anyone on your block know what is happening with City money handling and reporting? Anybody in your neighborhood? Anybody in your voting District? Can they answer the above questions? Your tax payments have risen, if only marginally, yet they could have been reduced during the past several years if the people we elected and re-elected had enough info, training, direction, and required discussion along with the same info made public to the taxpayer.
Start your journey of information. Come to the session. Learn. Time will tell.