2010 Budget

[left wing]

Anybody else get the survey Mohan sent out to "randomly selected residents" asking about the 2010 budget? Talk about biased! And this man is a college professor? He has not met with any department heads and the budget is due in about 5 weeks. Guess he is gonna use the results of this survey to hide behind when he takes a hatchet to the departments.

[Scottish23]

Anybody else get the survey Mohan sent out to "randomly selected residents" asking about the 2010 budget? Talk about biased! And this man is a college professor? He has not met with any department heads and the budget is due in about 5 weeks. Guess he is gonna use the results of this survey to hide behind when he takes a hatchet to the departments.

I'm not on his fundraising list, so no, I didn't get the survey.

Sorry, but I spend some time dealing with statistics and questionnaires and such in my current job, and this kind of thing (not even about the topic, I'm saying, the methods) drives me crazy. Polling is very complicated, and almost always biased, even when run through an outside agency, because of the wording of the questions. But at the very least there is a method for obtaining a random sample that is truly random, and Dr. Mohan has obviously not done that. This is why within the business they say, "Numbers lie all the time."

[Dougles]

Any idea what this has cost the town? $10k? More?

[Add It Up]

Anyone really believe these were "randomly selected." At least we know his agenda from the questionnaire.

[interested]

Has anyone seen this survey? Can someone post it on this site? I am sure we would all be interested in seeing what questions are asked in it.

[Scottish23]

Has anyone seen this survey? Can someone post it on this site? I am sure we would all be interested in seeing what questions are asked in it.

There's an article in the Buffalo News:

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregio...ry/775204.html

The article talks about the questions, but make sure you read through where they quote some of them verbatim. The language is *incredibly* leading.

[interested]

Questions for Ms Carroll to Answer
By jimt


Questions for our Town Comptroller to answer.
From Amherst Times:

Where is the 2008 Financial Statement? The year ended 12/31/08 and it is normally out in June or July, but it is deep in August ‘09 and the statement is yet to be issued.

So did the Town of Amherst make money in 2008?

What is the fund balance? Is it over 10%?

Malecki talked to the Board about results in late June. By now we should have the report.

How can the Mohan & Comptroller put the 2010 Budget together if they can't tell the public where we ended LAST YEAR!!! What a disgrace to the Town Employees. This information should be available in February as seen in Corporate America.

[forreason]

As I have posted before, he has spent very little time on next year's budget. This type of action is so typical of him, by rehashing his belief's tied in with misinformation and how else would someone respond to a poll (or survey) if it was written like this as factual info. Two TB members have already spoke in disagreement with his usual tactics. There is nothing "mischief" about this? By using this word only identifies his true intentions. Why so negative? This individual has provided a great disservice to this community by his many actions during his tenure. I leave you with one last thought, why did he never acknowledge the findings of the Citizen's Review Commission in regard to their extensive review of all town departments?

[Scottish23]

As I have posted before, he has spent very little time on next year's budget. This type of action is so typical of him, by rehashing his belief's tied in with misinformation and how else would someone respond to a poll (or survey) if it was written like this as factual info. Two TB members have already spoke in disagreement with his usual tactics. There is nothing "mischief" about this? By using this word only identifies his true intentions. Why so negative? This individual has provided a great disservice to this community by his many actions during his tenure. I leave you with one last thought, why did he never acknowledge the findings of the Citizen's Review Commission in regard to their extensive review of all town departments?

What were they? Sorry to display ignorance but I'm not up on the details of that review.

[forreason]

Since the CRC findings were not publicly announced, only bits and pieces have filtered out to the community. From some of the issues I have heard, after meeting with department heads, union/employees, finance people, etc. They did not find overstaffing or overspending in the depts. They found in some instances such as the IT Dept. that they were understaffed and the system used by the majority of the town was antiquated to a point that it made many depts less efficient. Merging of depts was discussed but required much more of an in depth study that is ongoing by another group. The museum was analyzed to see if it being established as a not for profit organization was discussed, but there again much more info and discussion must be established to render any type of decision. I think what the TS was worried about mostly was the findings on staffing and even benefits given to employees, that found they were not a liberal, but in fact less than many surrounding and higher level of government packages (remember when the TS came in office & stated for the record the misinformation on benefits).

[Scottish23]

Since the CRC findings were not publicly announced, only bits and pieces have filtered out to the community. From some of the issues I have heard, after meeting with department heads, union/employees, finance people, etc. They did not find overstaffing or overspending in the depts. They found in some instances such as the IT Dept. that they were understaffed and the system used by the majority of the town was antiquated to a point that it made many depts less efficient. Merging of depts was discussed but required much more of an in depth study that is ongoing by another group. The museum was analyzed to see if it being established as a not for profit organization was discussed, but there again much more info and discussion must be established to render any type of decision. I think what the TS was worried about mostly was the findings on staffing and even benefits given to employees, that found they were not a liberal, but in fact less than many surrounding and higher level of government packages (remember when the TS came in office & stated for the record the misinformation on benefits).

Yes, I've heard him say that and talk about comparisons to other towns, which always strikes me as like talking apples and oranges as they're never comparable in terms of commerce, activity, etc. One thing that always surprises me is how little some take UB into account -- Dr. Mohan works there but never acknowledges that the thousands of people that use, live on, work on the UB North Campus are considered transient residents and not counted in Amherst's population.

That's very interesting. What a shame about the IT department -- almost embarrassing, really. In this day and age, Amherst should be embracing technology and moving forward, not using outdated models.

[Gandalf]

Perhaps the TS should consider ending the Carpetbaggers reign. The Carpetbagger is breaking all the rules. Why isn't his residency being questioned while 3 others with the same residency issues were terminated? How was the carpetbagger paid when off for health issues with limited PTO available? And now that he's feeling better he takes time off for golf!!! Does the guy EVER work???

[Smiley]

Perhaps the TS should consider ending the Carpetbaggers reign. The Carpetbagger is breaking all the rules. Why isn't his residency being questioned while 3 others with the same residency issues were terminated? How was the carpetbagger paid when off for health issues with limited PTO available? And now that he's feeling better he takes time off for golf!!! Does the guy EVER work???

You can't rush these things!

[govtchecker]

Questions for Ms Carroll to Answer
By jimt


Questions for our Town Comptroller to answer.
From Amherst Times:

Where is the 2008 Financial Statement? The year ended 12/31/08 and it is normally out in June or July, but it is deep in August ‘09 and the statement is yet to be issued.

So did the Town of Amherst make money in 2008?

What is the fund balance? Is it over 10%?

Malecki talked to the Board about results in late June. By now we should have the report.

How can the Mohan & Comptroller put the 2010 Budget together if they can't tell the public where we ended LAST YEAR!!! What a disgrace to the Town Employees. This information should be available in February as seen in Corporate America.

Financial statements can't be released in any industry, corporate, private, or govt until the annual financial audit is completed. Any idea what the status of the audit is?

[interested]

Maybe the accounting records are still a mess and it has lengthened the time to complete the audit. Why would it ever take so long to get a report out? Isn't there a deadline imposed by NYS Comtroller's Office for Municipals to file? I would ask the head of finance what the issue is with this. It will be difficult for the board members to determine how much fund balance is available to use without audited financials. I don't think they will rely on Moahn's say as to the numbers!!! In Corporate America people don't get vacation time until the work is done!!!