Is a Referendum a Poll?

In today's North Haven Citizen* article Mike Freda's words speak for themselves . . . or rather they don't.

“I support this budget if people want to retain their services,” Freda said. “But if the budget is voted down, then I have no problem going back to the drawing board.”

“I want the people to tell me what they want,” Freda added.

Is that leadership?

I said it before, and here you have specific evidence. Mr. Freda is not standing behind his budget. He has made it clear that he will expend zero political capital on its behalf.

As a matter of fact, he talks about it as though it were a dip-stick, a test of the waters. Should we treat the vote on the budget as a weather vane, just to see which way the wind is blowing?

Does anyone think this approach improves the odds that his budget will pass?

I am stuck with my original position (which I've explained here and at North Haven Way): I will vote "yes." But it is disturbing in the least to see Mr. Freda and his team put forth a budget they don't feel passionately about.

I am highly disappointed and more than a little irked.

* The original post incorrectly cited the source as the New Haven Register.

North Haven News is Great

I would just like to say that http://www.northhavennews.com/ is awesome.

Passing the Budget

Passing this budget next week (05/18/2010) will maintain our current level of services, not least of which being all day kindergarten, high school electives, middle school teams, leaf collection, bulk pick-up, the pool, the library, et al.

I see no other option. A reduction in the tax increase means a reduction in town services means a reduction in town value so far as I can figure it. Saying "no" probably feels justified and satisfying, but it does not resolve any of this town's issues, or the state's, or the country's.

I urge all parents of school age children and all residents who enjoy the quality of our community to turn out and vote "yes" on this upcoming referendum. Voting "no" will only lead to chaos in terms of writing a budget somewhere between bad and worse.

Ann Rocco (I apologize for having misspelled her name during my blogging last night) made an excellent point from the other side of this argument last night. She said that if the mill rate goes up, it is not likely to come back down. I don't disagree with her and I don't enjoy having to concede that point. However, I would interject likewise that lost services that this town has historically enjoyed will also never return if cut. It's one thing to add paramedics. It's quite another to return to leaf pick up if we lose that town service and somehow contract out for it. I am of the unpopular opinion that we will then have less, not more, control over the cost of providing such a service. I don't want to be guilty of adopting a "wait and see" attitude, like our First Selectman.

A Tragic Turn of Events

http://nhregister.com/articles/2010/05/11/news/doc4be8e2d54f120318899233.txt

Certainly all heartfelt condolences and sympathies go to the Vanacore family, their friends and neighbors in this circumstance. I do not know the family, but this is a loss that all of us can feel.

Blogging the Town Meeting

7:05 - Rough start. Right off the bat there is some awkwardness (Yarbrough - Town Clerk) with regard to the microphone and Robert's rules. Theresa Ranciato-Viele is chosen as the moderator.

7:08 - Looks like a nearly empty room again. Michael Freda is the first speaker. Another presentation.

7:12 - Is it responsible to set out "potential savings" on contracts out to bid as "cost savings"?

7:15 - 2.72 mills of the 3.0 mill increase is revenue shortfall. Ouch! Likewise, Mike is guessing that the CRRA revenue later this year will be 2 million dollars. Are we a little too comfortable guessing to the positive?

7:17 - A 3.42 mill increase, not 3.0. Mike seems to be having trouble with the microphone. Come on, NHTV!

7:20 - 73% of NH homes fall within values of 214K to 500K. Median home values seem to have dropped by 14K just this past year. Mike says the median increased monthly cost for the tax increase is less than $30 - less than a dollar a day. The average works out to be almost the same figure.

7:26 - Uh oh. Freda just said that we're at a crossroads. He is making my case now that we have a cost to maintain our services and quality of life in town. He's likewise encouraging turn-out. He must figure that high turn-out will mean a "yes." Freda concludes.

7:28 - Wow, the room really is empty! David Robinson is up first to the mic. He is arguing for town employees to cut pay by 1%. Mr. Robinson is informed that contract changes would need to go to arbitration and it would probably not go in the town's interest. Robinson is yelling saying that a tax increase is an additional 650 dollars for him. He must live in a really nice house. Robinson is arguing against facts. Nice.

7:30 - Thomas O'Connor is up next. He makes an argument about how the governor negotiates with unions for decreases in wages. He says town workers need to sacrifice and some people tell him that they are planning to move out of town given the taxes.

7:33 - Michael Mele is up next. He has a question for Mr. Freda: "Do you support the budget?" Mr. Freda says, "Yes, if . . . " He is going with whatever the people say. Rather wishy-washy. Mele is asking for debate without hostility and says that he thinks the budget lacks credibility. Mr. Mele says that the tax increase will in fact be 12%. By some other measure he says it's 5%. I don't pretend to understand. Some difference between the budgeting of the last administration and this one. He's questioning what numbers Freda is considering as lost - CRRA and fund balance. He's arguing that that the unappropriated surplus is still too high. Mr. Mele calls the referendum framing of tax increase or services cut is "hogwash."

7:48 - Here comes Veronica Kivela! She is interested in bulk pick-up. She wants to know if we can reduce bulk pick-up to once per month. How much of a cost savings would this represent? Last time she wanted to know about the expense of teacher salary increases which are close to nil in this budget. She also wants to take a good hard look at union negotiations. Mr. Freda responds with regard to negotiation costs. She came back to bulk pick-up and is trying really, really hard to come across as sensitive, compassionate, and reasonable.

7:54 - Mr. Freda says he has no problem going back to the drawing board and changing the budget if the referendum fails. Um, isn't that your job and obligation?

7:55 - John Opramolla. Compares NH budget to the state budget. And then to his home budget. His argument seems to be that you have to pay for what you want and need. He says he sees no waste in this budget. Supports the education side. Supports keeping the town services as they are. "Pony up and pay the freight." Defending the town unions, especially the teachers. Mr. Opramolla supports a YES vote.

8:02 - Bill Nadle (sp?). 3 questions. 28% health insurance increase - can we get insurance from out of state? Answer: no. Can town workers be switched to 401ks? That would have to be negotiated. Marlin Firearms - are we doing anything to keep them? Freda says Marlin was adamant that staying proves prohibitive. Marlin will not seem to say - we will lose their $246K in taxes each year. Finally he wants to address overlap of retired benefits for town workers and the salaries and benefits of their replacements. Tax increase scare tactics about health care and cap and trade.

8:09 - Name inaudible. Discusses fixed incomes in this environment. Vote no, he says.

8:10 - Sherman Katz. Asks about teacher pay increase. Answer 1%. Prepared remarks. Does not support the budget. Directs his remarks pretty exclusively at teachers as town union members. Wants to know what items will be reduced first if the budget goes down. Hard to transcribe some of the wandering remarks, but his main beef is with the education side. Asks about property taxes, not including real estate. Mr. Freda comes up to answer what if any controls or tallies have been kept on line item increases: Using new software to keep up with these increases in expenditures in a more immediate manner.

8:15 - just lost audio.

8:16 - Some guy got up and made a quick comment. No audio.

8:16 - Alan Sturtz is up now. Expensive status quo with no growth OR vote no and get worse - conflict and disagreements in town and in town government. Just lost picture. Mr. Sturtz defends the very hard work of town employees at current rates. At BOS, BOF, and town meetings - Sturtz says it is never said what we will do to increase revenue, i.e. new businesses. Cites Quinnipiac opening - how can we cater to those students coming in? Says pass the budget because otherwise "it's not going to be pretty." Bring in business.

8:23 - Dorothy Hoyt. Speaking on behalf of Creative Learning Program. Says the budget is responsible. Cites that we are in the lower half for money spent on students and teachers. Reductions will drastically affect education. Vote yes, she says.

8:24 - Gerry Feinberg. Questions credibility of numbers in budget and ability to pay for it. Says the increase is too much - not in our interest to maintain the town in the future to pass this budget. I'm not sure how that argument works. Questions the validity of just about everything, including insurance costs and union contracts. "Cost certainty." I have to ask if there is ever such a thing? Implement savings immediately on non-union employees, says Feinberg. re: folks earning six figures. Says it's not a good idea this year. Asks for reduction of salary increases for those people. Says the brunt of the tax increase will be felt by business interests which may push people out of NH. He says he will vote no.

8:32 - Peter Vorio (sp?). The guy who compared educating our kids to wanting to go to Aruba at the last meeting. Huzzah. Talks about projected future costs (cap and trade) "crushing" state and local economies in the near future. Spit-balling on this and that. Says his union is good but our town unions are bad. "To the needs of the business." Back to crushing costs on all levels. Says no tax increase. "You can't spend what you don't have." He's back to the DESIRE FOR A VACATION as though that is synonymous with contracted salary increases. Ramble, ramble.

8:37 - Ann Ruocco. April 15 was tax day. May 18 will be NH tax day. Be sure to vote; confident it will be no on referendum. Once it goes up, it will never come down, she says.

8:39 - Donna Spose. Cites cost of referendum. If you vote a budget down, it will cost the town at least another $10,000 for the next one. Says to pass this budget.

8:40 - John Harron (sp?). Takes exception to argument against the cost of referendum.

8:41 - Mr. Mele is back up in spite of promising NOT to come back up to the mic. Says there are more than two options, yes or no. Still arguing about the fund balance being too high. Calls it confiscated money. $3.5 million dollars that does not need to be there in unappropriated surplus. Says town is being taken advantage of. Says spend it. Says that BOE budget is the best it's been in years. Cites 14.4% increase in insurance on ed side. 42% increase on town side. Says last administration did better negotiation on these costs - how that serves us now I do not know. Cites praise for Sara Querfeld for her good work. Says that not getting other bids is in contravention of the town charter. Cites severe credibility problem again. No competitive bids. Money wasted and certain individuals are rewarded. GBA. Ovation. Charter Oak. I'm not familiar with any of this. Mele says reject the budget.

8:50 - Mr. Freda cites four rejection letters and claims history to combat Mr. Mele. Cites GBA as experts and effective. Welcomes everyone to his office. Come on down.

8:51 - Rambling Mr. Vorio is back. Question for Mr. Freda about pay out from Anthem. Against the budget. "Numbers are everything." Says it's good that Anthem paid out more than it took in in premiums. Finds it funny and is not surprised that other carriers are uninterested in covering NH. Says town employees need to take up slack on health care increases. Asks what it is. Co-pays differ based on union. They are trying to shoo him from the mic.

8:55 - David Robinson again. Wants to post employee wages on town website. Wants to decide if people are individuals are overpaid. Is told that those numbers are in the budget. Wants info on each employee. Yelling. Equates taxes with a cut in pay again. Wow. Angry. Not charming.

8:58 - Clerk reads second item. Starts by applauds the efforts and questions. Says 115 people are in the room. Wants neighbors to be encouraged to vote. Specific to schedule of payments. Motor vehicles, etc. July 1 and January 1. Question called. Motion passes. Other motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 9:00.

Town Meeting, the Next Installment

Tonight is the next installment of our awesome town meetings, and alas, I cannot make it, though I will certainly be watching.

My first sincere hope is that a proper amount of professionalism and decorum can be kept. The last meeting saw no attempt to stick to the stated agenda - ensuring that both sides of the budget would get its proper time to be debated. One of the meetings last year featured the red hooded intimidation crew - definitely in bad taste.

I will be voting yes. I believe that every investment necessary to maintain our town is worthwhile, no matter how painful. Others will disagree. I certainly hope that plenty of yes votes make it out and speak carefully and profoundly on this view. At the meeting last month very few people came out and only a couple of people bothered to counter some of the rambling negativism.

So, Mr. Freda, people will be watching. Please keep it sharp and focused tonight - the way meetings have been run in the not too distant past.

Here I Am, Chris....

As I mentioned only briefly, I was forced to step away from this blog by an all-encompassing personal responsibility which has recently come to a close. That's all that need be said.

Having said that, I set out to write without anything to say. I, personally, was pleased that the healthcare passed, but I am one of the people who felt that it did not go far enough. I'd very much have liked to believe that a public option would have created vigorous competition for the private insurance companies who have enjoyed monopoly for too long. I would not have opposed allowing private insurance to sell across state lines in addition to that, but not in exclusion.

I agree with some mostly conservative voices I've heard around and about town that have questioned the air quality issue at the high school. If there were an objective problem, would not more people be affected?

I am hoping that the budget passes and I am less than cautiously optimistic about that.

I, like many of you (my meager or non-existent audience), want North Haven to remain a great place to live, not merely an affordable one.

An Open Letter to CBIA.com

The following is a letter that I wrote recently to CBIA.com over their new commercial ad-buy:

CBIA.com:

That's a cute commercial you folks are running, and a nice attempt to propagate collective amnesia, misdirected distrust, and general panic.

See, we citizens of Connecticut recognize that it was unchecked, unremitting, unbalanced "pro-business" government that got us to the sticky place we are in currently.

We are tired of scare tactics and top-down solutions.  For all your lobbying and tax cuts of the last decade, the average worker hasn't profited much.  But businesses and business owners have made a heap.  

So you and your folks broke the system and laid people off, and then you tell us that we need YOU as the fix . . . ?!  Please.

Your "scaaary" ad and its jobs figures won't make a dent.  We know who the culprits are: the private and public companies with selfish tunnel-vision, their lobbyists, and the politicians who ask how high when told to jump.

You need to recognize that the times have changed.  The same old tactics won't work.  Have some healthy shame and decency.  Save your money.  Stop running this sorry excuse for an ad and use the money to hire somebody or a bunch of somebodies.

All your commercial is going to do is draw attention to which side you are on . . . the wrong side.