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Thread: Budget Clock is Ticking!

  1. #1
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    Budget Clock is Ticking!

    Only 6 more days until the budget is due.
    What will the damage to us taxpayers be?
    Increase in taxes, decrease in services, or layoffs?
    Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock

  2. #2
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    Prediction

    I predict there will be a 10% reduction in the budget and a 15% reduction in real property taxes. I have this on the highest authority.
    dono

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dvoakley
    I predict there will be a 10% reduction in the budget and a 15% reduction in real property taxes. I have this on the highest authority.

    Yea....and Mohan will work for $1.00 a year.

  4. #4
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    I predict chaos and confusion. Mohan still hasn't even met with all the department heads.

  5. #5
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabres07
    Yea....and Mohan will work for $1.00 a year.
    That really urks me. I remember that being mentioned multiple times.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by left wing
    I predict chaos and confusion. Mohan still hasn't even met with all the department heads.
    That is a good thing for the dept heads since Mohan will just cut the budget anyway with no regard to what they say. Look at the assessor, cut the money for assessments and then blame someone else.
    It's going to get good.

    Either close to a double diget tax increase or layoffs!

    I want to see him spin this.

  7. #7
    Member Gandalf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by govtchecker
    That is a good thing for the dept heads since Mohan will just cut the budget anyway with no regard to what they say. Look at the assessor, cut the money for assessments and then blame someone else.
    It's going to get good.

    Either close to a double diget tax increase or layoffs!

    I want to see him spin this.
    Keep in mind that there are 2 sides to this story. Williams is playing the game too. Layoffs/downsizing are happening all over the country, both private & public sector. So before we start talking about tax increases, lets trim some fat! Deputy Dept. heads are a good place to start. How about the clothing allowance? Do secretaries in the private sector get clothing allowances?? The Town seems to have a plethora of secretaries anyway. Are they all needed???

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gandalf
    -snip-
    Do secretaries in the private sector get clothing allowances??
    -snip-
    In the words of Meat Loaf: "Stop right there! Before we go any further..."

    Are you saying that a "Secretary" employed by the Town Of Amherst gets money (presumably as an add-on to standard pay for performing their duties) periodically for clothes???

    No. This can't be. Can it? Please say I'm misunderstanding. Please.

  9. #9
    Townsfolk
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    I want to see a reduction in taxes. I want to see layoffs and close some of the libraries. We don't need 4. Cut funding to the Pepsi Center, Museum and Senior Center period. If people want these things, then charge higher user fees. Why should I fund things I don't use?

  10. #10
    Member Gandalf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Member 2358
    In the words of Meat Loaf: "Stop right there! Before we go any further..."

    Are you saying that a "Secretary" employed by the Town Of Amherst gets money (presumably as an add-on to standard pay for performing their duties) periodically for clothes???

    No. This can't be. Can it? Please say I'm misunderstanding. Please.
    NO!! You are understanding correctly, 2358. There is also an overabundance of these said secretaries!!! I understand the "clothing allowance" is part of the contract, but it's not like they need special equipment to perform their duties! As a taxpayer, I've had enough!!!

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    Satish Admits he was a mistake???

    "First, the citizens make wrong choices during elections, and secondly, these 2 percent groups are united or unionized. The remaining 98 percent of the citizens don't belong to any union. "
    This is part of Satish's editorial in the Bee today. Besides calling the voters wrongs in who they vote for he seems to admit they made a mistake in electing him.

    Whatever happened to let the voters decide. I guess that only applies if they do what he wants them to do.

  12. #12
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    Satish the Union Man

    Just one more thought ....

    The way I read it Satish is bashing the unions and it's members...yet isn't he a member of the biggest union in the state? I'll bet he's still getting all his union benifits.

    Nothing like a little double talk for hump day.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gandalf
    Keep in mind that there are 2 sides to this story. Williams is playing the game too. Layoffs/downsizing are happening all over the country, both private & public sector. So before we start talking about tax increases, lets trim some fat! Deputy Dept. heads are a good place to start. How about the clothing allowance? Do secretaries in the private sector get clothing allowances?? The Town seems to have a plethora of secretaries anyway. Are they all needed???
    I know that there are two sides. I was just making the point concerning Mohan not meeting with all Dept heads at this point. That he will do what he wants anyway.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Member 2358
    In the words of Meat Loaf: "Stop right there! Before we go any further..."

    Are you saying that a "Secretary" employed by the Town Of Amherst gets money (presumably as an add-on to standard pay for performing their duties) periodically for clothes???

    No. This can't be. Can it? Please say I'm misunderstanding. Please.

    These so called clothing allowances and other stipends that are in union contracts need to be explained. From the Town's perspective, they are a money saver during contract negotiations. This is so because these stipends are not included in an employees base pay, so any future raises that are a percentage of base pay end up being lower than they would be had the stipend been included in the base pay. And compounding over a 20 or 30 year career is where the financial strength is in making employees take "so-called" cash bonuses...A $50.00 clothing allowance from 1989 is not worth the same in 2007, yet it is paid now in today's dollars, which means it is a reducing benefit over time....the Town actually would prefer to give employees smaller percentage increases with higher stipends...however, Mohan has not presented this FACT to the public...instead he presents them as frivolous and undeserved....call them clothing allowances or call them a "thanks for being a nice guy" bonus...it is what it is, a cost saving measure for the town.

    Additionally, I'm pretty sure that a person's pension is not figured on the total of what a person earned in his last few years of service, it is figured on his BASE PAY (these allowances are not included)...so these adds ons are REALLY pension cost reducers....Mohan would never tell you that though.

    Do you think the town would have frivolously given out these items during union negotiations if there were no financial benefit for town in the end? C'mon people, dig a little deeper than the headlines.
    Last edited by sabres07; September 26th, 2007 at 06:24 PM.

  15. #15
    Member Gandalf's Avatar
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    The "clothing allowance" is $350-$400 per year!!! Not $50!! It is an unneccessary evil. If you multiply by the number of employees ( couple thousand?) that coupled with the "longevity pay" & inflated salaries, it becomes an outrageous waste of taxpayer money no matter how you look at it!

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