800-pound gorilla that is city government eating our banana tax dollars

Last Tuesday night was another act in the long running Kabuki theater at the City Commission meeting. According to the reports, Commissioner Jim Hathaway, supported by Mayor Adam Barringer and Commissioner Judy Reiker, voted to return the millage rate to last year's rate, thus negating the proposed rollback rate from the last meeting.

Hathaway was quoted as saying "We can't keep going back to the taxpayer and asking them to make up the difference."

Well, Mr. Hathaway, while I salute you for standing up to and highlighting the non-performance of our City Manager Pam Brangaccio and her focus on protecting the benefits of our city workers at all costs, you should have thought of that last November when you and the rest of your fellow commissioners started off the current fiscal year by knowingly giving away $130,000 we did not have, to help out the folks at the Marine Discovery Center.

When you look at the reduction in street maintenance or the request of fellow Commissioner Lynne Plaskett to fund two street cops one can readily see that you and the rest of the cast put the needs of a few members of the MDC over the needs of public safety and infrastructure maintenance.

And what for? A program that lacks any demonstrable economic impact on our city for the money shelled out and has the potential to bankrupt the city in the out years with demands for more and more money.

And you should have thought about that last spring when you went along with the overly generous buyout program for workers who would have retired anyway, especially if you had forced the City Manager to reduce salaries by 5 or 10 percent.

A buyout program that in the end has and will have little overall impact on the personnel costs of the city budget. Those are the same personnel costs I called the "800-pound gorilla" last year and given the lack of any resolve to reduce these costs, the gorilla continues to add on weight by eating my "tax bananas" at an even greater rate than before.

You should have thought about that and asked why there was no measureable effort to reduce the city salary scales or the ever growing pension costs and unfunded liability. But then I forgot, you did resign from the Fire Pension Board.

You should have thought about that taxpayer this summer when your Citizen's Budget Committee was hard at work trying to ind ways for you save money, while your City Manager and staff apparently frustrated them with: You will have to wait till next meeting to get the information you requested.

Simple information such as a list of the city leased properties that fellow Commissioner Plaskett asked for over two years ago and which has repeatedly been the subject of update requests. The same property list that Commissioner Reiker is so quick to suggest maybe we could sell some property from.

I believe at one point last year you asked what the city staff was doing about getting rid of the old Administrative Offices; yes the property the city taxpayers told you to sell two years ago. Result, it finally shows up as an RFP in Tuesday's meeting agenda, two years after the citizens told you to sell it.

One would think as a city we would have an updated list of what we owned and that City Staff would accomplish what the taxpayers and the Commission told them to do? But I guess not here and apparently not with our current City Manager.

And finally, you should have thought about that taxpayer while you sat through less than well thought out department presentations during the July budget meetings, especially the one made by the Police Department.

You should read closely the incredibly poor responses and excuses to the suggestions of the Citizens Budget Committee suggestions that was part of their last meeting. While there were some bright spots in those responses from some who apparently took the suggestions as sincere, most were just nonsense and seem to indicate an apparent total lack of any effort by the City Manager to demand either quality or thoughtful responses.

So here we are, down to the wire on Tuesday night, and the Commission finally claims to be hearing the taxpayers. I suggest to you and the rest of your fellow Kabuki cast that its way too late in the show.