February 28, 2009

Derek Czenczelewski running for council

Republican Derek Czenczelewski, 22, is running for City Council in the 3rd District. He's got 170 supporters lined up on Facebook already, which is an interesting twist.
Czenczelewski, who works for a contractor at ESPN, told the Republican Town Committee that he's running.
I'll try to get more on him soon.
The 3rd District is currently represented by two Democrats, Craig Minor and Frank Nicastro. Neither is seeking reelection.
There are no other announced candidates in the district, but Democrat Kate Matthews said she plans to declare in March her intention to run.
At least two other Democrats are eyeing the race, too: Terry Parker and Charles Cyr.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

GOP's Ken Johnson rips into "donut mayor"

Republican mayoral hopeful Ken Johnson recently lashed into the man who defeated him in the last mayoral contest over Democrat Art Ward’s handling of a proposal to shift excess pension cash to pay for municipal retirees’ health care.

Johnson said that if taxpayers understood the GASB 45 issue “they would have already run the mayor out on a rail.”

Johnson and other advocates of the idea argue that taxpayers could save up to $2 million annually by tapping surplus pension money to pay for health care for retired city workers.

Ward set up a committee to explore the option. It is expected to make a recommendation Tuesday. The City Council has the last word.

"The cold reality is that this committee is a charade," Johnson told the panel recently. "This GASB 45 Committee serves no purpose, has no authority to make any decisions at all, and is a fraud perpetrated on both taxpayers and city workers by our mayor."

"The mayor created this committee as a 'feel good' for city workers because he desperately wants you to like him. City workers, my message to each of you is this: the mayor is playing you for a stooge," Johnson said.

"Let's put this in context," Johnson said. "The economy is in the toilet. We are looking for ways to run the city without raising taxes. City and state workers across Connecticut are already being laid off."

"While our city struggles to make ends meet without implementing layoffs, the mayor puts out a memo to stop buying food for meetings. So while he polices the $5 box of Dunkin' Donuts, here's millions and millions in tax savings staring us in the eye."

"There's millions to be saved and it hurts no one," Johnson said.

He said that if the "donut mayor" would back it, the change could be made.

 Ward said that as he listened to Johnson's speech to the committee last week, he thought that Johnson was giving a political address in the wrong venue.

He didn't want to address the substance of Johnson's comments.

But Ward did say that without the advantage of sitting in the mayor's chair, Johnson's vision is "blurred" on the issues facing the city.

Johnson said, though, that the change in the pension money that he’s urging would produce “immediate tax savings” by simply shifting cash “from Column A to Column B” on a spreadsheet.

It’s more complicated than that, said Ronald Mulvihill, a benefits specialist for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers who is based in Washington, D.C.

The city “can’t just do it,” Mulvihill said, because there are many hoops to go through.

Johnson said that Ward --- “the captain of the ship” --  is trying to make people feel good “by personally monitoring donut consumption and fooling you into thinking you have a say on GASB 45, the $5 million tip of a $75 million iceberg” that is “directly in front of the ship.”

John Boi, a retired city worker and former head of the city’s Retirement Board, said he felt “quite disappointed” that Johnson decided to launch his mayoral campaign at at GASB 45 Committee meeting.

He said the panel’s chairman, T.J. Barnes, should have stopped Johnson from delivering the address.

Barnes, who heads the city’s GOP, did tell Johnson to wrap it up but didn’t prevent him from finishing.

In the speech, Johnson commended Barnes for having “the intestinal fortitude” to stick with the assignment he took on to chair the panel Ward created.

He also thanked Barnes for convincing the mayor to undo the first version of the committee – which Johnson called “a laughable mayoral flub” – that was stocked with city workers who opposed the idea from the start.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

February 27, 2009

Cancelled bond issues in Bristol go beyond Rockwell Park

In addition to the $4 million allocation for Rockwell Park's renovation that I suspected was on Gov. Jodi Rell's chopping block, it turns out there are three other projects in Bristol that are losing their funding:
1. $1.5 million for the renovation of the American Clock and Watch Museum,
2. $200,000 in infrastructure improvements at Indian Rock Nature Preserve; and
3. $83,000 for Bristol Community Organization to purchase a building for an expansion of Head Start.
Total loss to Bristol from this? Almost $5.8 million. 

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

GASB 45 pension grab up for vote on Tuesday

A proposal to snatch excess pension money and use it to fund the health care of retired city workers is heading for a key vote Tuesday.

The GASB 45 Committee that’s reviewing the plan that could save taxpayers as much as $2 million annually intends to make a recommendation Tuesday to city councilors who have the last word on whether to take the controversial step.

Though most insiders expect the committee to recommend the city do nothing, supporters are pushing the idea as one of the few ways the city could reduce its expenses or increase revenue without hurting taxpayers.

Ronald Mulvihill, a benefits specialist for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers who based in Washington, said the move wouldn’t be as simple as its backers said.

“You have many hoops to jump through,” Mulvihill told the committee.

He said the law is complicated and that unless the city works out an agreement with the relevant unions ahead of time, the issue is sure to land in court.

Mulvihill said he has no idea who would prevail in a court battle because the provisions of the statutes governing the issue are so unclear.

But, he said, the city comptroller’s office “had it right” when it laid out the issue for the panel’s consideration. [Here is the comptroller's presentation.]

Federal law allows the city to shift money within its pension trust fund into a new account for retiree health benefits as long as the pensions remain at least 120 percent overfunded. If it falls below that, the city would have to move the money back into the pension fund, officials said.

It would remain under the control of pension fund trustees so the change, if it’s ever made, would likely not change the way the funds are invested.

The city has about $400 million in its three pension funds – for general city employees, firefighters and police officers – and about $100 million above what actuaries say it will need. But only the police and fire funds are currently flush enough to consider tapping.

Bristol Police Local 754 issued a statement last week that offered to work with the city “to get through these tough times” in the economy, but opposing “draining pension funds.”

“While it is true the city needs to address the GASB 45 reporting requirements, it is not true that this must be done immediately and it is obvious to us that taking radical measures in a turbulent economic climate is short sighted and dangerous,” the statement said.

Other city unions are skeptical as well.

Generally, the unions worry that in snatching excess cash to pay for health care benefits, the city could put its pension fund in jeopardy and perhaps set up a scenario down the road where it might renege somehow on the contractual payouts it is on the hook for.

But Republican mayoral candidate Ken Johnson said that officials have to focus on this issue because it offers a chance to secure “millions and millions in tax savings staring us in the eye.”

Mulvihill said the city should be happy that is has made “fantastic investments” over the years and put its pension fund into an elite handful of municipalities in the whole country that could even consider using surplus money for something other than paying pensions.

Even so, he said, tapping into the cash would be akin to taking out a reverse mortgage. He said it would ultimately catch up with taxpayers.

The GASB 45 Committee is named after an obscure accounting standard that requires cities and towns to figure out their future post-retirement obligations to employees and provide some inkling of how they intend to pay the money when the time comes.

Bristol needs about $72 million to cover its future post-retirement obligations to employees, not counting pensions. It currently pays out about $3.6 million for the health care of retirees, who receive municipal health care for a decade after they retire.

What’s next?

The GASB 45 Committee meets at 5 p.m., Tuesday at City Hall. City councilors may act on its recommendation as soon as Tuesday, March 10.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

GOP lawmakers cost taxpayers extra, Wright charges

Are Republican state lawmakers are gouging the taxpayers?
The General Assembly staff serving the Republicans is disproportionately high, a Democratic legislator from Bristol charges.
Freshman state Rep. Chris Wright, who serves the 77th District, said GOP staff costs per legislator are significantly higher than they are for Democrats.
Wright said the Republican caucus in the state House spends about $70,000 for each of the lawmakers it serves.
The Democratic caucus costs about $43,000 per lawmaker, Wright said.
In the state Senate, the staff costs per Democrat total a little more than $100,000, he said, while Republican senators' staff cost come to about $140,000 per GOP senator.
"People have a right to know how much they're spending on their legislators," Wright said.
Most lawmakers have an aide who works for several other legislators as well, along with a portion of a press aide's time. More senior politicians have larger staffs.
The staffs get pretty big.
Wright said the House Republicans have more staff members than lawmakers. That's also true for state senators on both sides of the aisle, he said.
Only the House Democrats outnumber their staff, Wright said.
Wright said he finds it interesting that the GOP in the legislature is so keen to cut programs for the poor, the elderly and others who need help but "they won't want to cut their own staff."
Wright said the Republicans can prove so obstructive that one Democratic legislator couldn't even have an office until a month into the term because a GOP lawyer wouldn't move his desk to make room.
Instead of making the move, he said, the General Assembly had to construct a new office for the new Democrat.
There are 36 Republicans and 114 Democrats in the state House. The Democrats control 24 of 36 state Senate seats. The Democrats' advantage has grown over the past decade as support for the GOP has dwindled.
Wright is seeking legislation to limit the number of employees the General Assembly can hire.
He said that having staff numbers proportional to the number of members in each caucus is "only fair" and the current imbalance in favor of the Republicans should be changed.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rocky Mountain News closes


Here's a video -- which hits close enough to home to make me feel pretty sad --  that tells the tale:


You ought to read Mike Littwin's "Not just closing doors, but dying," too.

I feel especially bad because a number of Rocky Mountain News staffers expressed support for us during the darkest days of December, when it looked grim for The Bristol Press. We got lucky. They didn't.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Colapietro still wants to end gas zone pricing


Press release from state Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat whose 31st District also includes Plymouth, Plainville and a portion of Harwinton:

SENATOR COLAPIETRO AGAIN SUPPORTS THE END TO ZONE PRICING FOR GAS TO HELP CONSUMERS
 
Hartford – The co-chair of the General Assembly’s General Law Committee, Senator Thomas Colapietro is again supporting legislation that would ban gasoline zone pricing to help equalize gas prices in Connecticut and to provide more relief for consumers.  
 
With strong support from Senator Colapietro, the Senate passed legislation in 2006 and 2007 to prohibit zone pricing to deal with the wide range of gas prices in Connecticut, but the measures were not approved in the House of Representatives.  This year, the General Law Committee is considering another bill that is co-sponsored by Senator Colapietro.
 
S.B. 6518 An Act Concerning the Fair price of Gasoline is designed to ban the practice of gasoline zone price and to discourage gasoline price gouging.  It will prohibit geographic zone pricing of gasoline and indicates that no person shall discriminate in the price of gas charged to a retail seller of gas except to recover actual transportation costs and to offer discounts or rebates.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Planners say no to proposed expansion of Matthews Street school site


In an unexpected move, the city's Planning Commission unanimously rejected a proposal this week for the city to buy one of two Matthews Street houses adjoining the parcel where it plans to put a new 900-student school.

School officials are seeking to buy the house at 735 Matthews St. and knock it down as part of the proposed $130 million plan to construct two new kindergarten to eighth grade schools by 2015.

Since the school on Matthews Street wouldn't necessarily use the slightly less than an acre lot in its design -- leaving most or all of it as meadow or perhaps someday ball fields -- the planners said it made more sense to leave it in private hands.

On the other hand, the board agreed 3-2 to support the purchase of the Starlite Market beside Greene-Hills School for inclusion in the Forestville school project.

They said the $350,000 price tag was worth it to beautify the new school site and provide more room for buses and cars.

The planning rejection of the idea of buying the house on Matthews Street -- buying about 27 acres beside it already has its approval as well as the City Council's -- doesn't necessarily derail the idea. Councilors can overrule it as long as they can muster five votes for the purchase.

But planners said they didn't see the rationale for spending city tax dollars to create a meadow where a house now stands, particularly in such tough economic times.

City Planner Alan Weiner said Friday that because the lot wouldn’t qualify for state reimbursement of almost 74 percent of the cost, the city would wind up paying for the house and its demolition in order to create a little extra buffer for the school.

He said planners believed that buying the house simply wasn’t worth it.

Officials had also eyed the purchase of another house, at 747 Matthews St., but have agreed to let it remain in private hands. Planners didn’t weigh in on that one.

It's likely the issue will be taken up by councilors at their next regular meeting, on Tuesday, March 10.
The Board of Education plans to build two new schools and to close four aging ones: Memorial Boulevard Middle School and three primary schools – O’Connell, Bingham and Greene-Hills.

The other proposed site is next door to Greene-Hills School on Pine Street.

The Starlite Market purchase would be reimbursed by the state as part of the project there.

Note: This updates an earlier blog post, since removed, that erred about the property rejected by planners. I'm sorry for the previous mistake.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

February 26, 2009

Planning Commission decision on Matthews Street school site land

I pulled a piece posted earlier because I'm no longer sure what happened at the Planning Commission. I'll check it on Friday and repost it with solid information.
For now, let's just say that planners did something last night but I'm not quite sure what. I'm sorry for the confusion.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Moylan and Ward to have lunch

Hoping to stifle a growing tenseness on the Board of Finance, Mayor Art Ward and Janet Moylan, a finance board member who's clashed with him, plan to sit down for lunch next week to try to work things out.
Comptroller Glenn Klocko said that his office hopes they succeed because less tension would make it easier for everyone to focus on the budget itself.
Moylan apparently called Ward this morning to begin to calm the waters.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City faces $8 million budget gap

The city faces a $7.9 million budget gap between its expected revenues and its proposed spending.
“For everybody to survive, something has to budge,” Mayor Art Ward said.
To close the fiscal hole, the city is likely to cut deeper into next year’s spending plan, tap rainy day funds and perhaps thrash the $3.7 million request that the Board of Education is seeking merely to keep on doing what it is now.
“We have a problem,” city Comptroller Glenn Klocko said.
Both the mayor and city Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said they are angling to keep this year’s property tax bills from rising, which would mean that additional property taxes wouldn’t be available to help.
“Our goal is to have a zero increase,” Miecznikowski said.
“Absolutely,” responded Ward. “There’s not a lot of flexibility there.”
At this point, it’s hard to know how officials will cope with the looming deficit for the budget that begins July 1. Doing nothing would hike taxes by 1.8 mills.
Klocko said that officials may bump up “overly pessimistic” revenue estimates. He said that might bring in another $600,000.
Paring city department budgets – mostly by leaving out money for unfilled positions – might reduce the hole by another $1.7 million or so, Klocko said.
But because Ward has already insisted city supervisors deliver budgets that rise no more than 2 percent – forcing most to leave out every request for new equipment – there’s not much to pare.
Klocko said that rising health care costs for employees is responsible for most of the increase in City Hall’s proposed budget.
On the education side, Superintendent Philip Streifer said he needs a $3.7 million hike in his $101 million budget to maintain existing programs and teachers.
It appears the state’s aid may remain level next year, which would prevent the direst scenarios, but without mandate relief or more money from the city, there’s no easy option for getting the money.
The Board of Education is already eyeing layoffs to make up the gap, a move that would increase class sizes, take a slice out of music instruction and other potentially explosive steps.
At City Hall, too, there is a chance that layoffs may prove a necessity in order to hold the line on taxes, officials admit.
Since there are no projects or equipment to cut, further reductions would be “all about people,” Klocko said.
“We’re going to make it work,” Miecznikowski said, adding that he doesn’t want to see layoffs..

Where does the gap come from?
$3.7 million increase sought by schools
$2.5 million increase sought by City Hall
$1.7 million drop in expected revenues

Note: The figures in this story have been updated to reflect the best information the comptroller's office had as of this afternoon.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City hands out pay hikes to its 'outside' workers

The city’s public works and water employees snagged a two-year contract this week that provides them a 4.7 percent pay hike over the course of the deal.

The pact, which is retroactive to last July, provides a 2.8 percent pay hike in the first year and 1.8 in th second year, applies to  about 100 workers in Local 1338 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers’ Council 4.

For the first time, the employees will have to pay a portion of their health insurance premium as part of the agreement. They’re on the hook for 5 percent of the tab now.

City councilors unanimously endorsed the deal. The union itself split 2-1 in favor of signing the pact, officials said.

Mayor Art Ward said the pay hikes were already negotiated before the Wall Street collapse in the fall. Otherwise, he said, they may have been lower.

He credited the union with understanding the difficulties facing city budget makers trying to cope with sinking revenues and rising costs during a recession.

“They recognize the economic times,” Ward said.

City Councilor Ken Cockayne, who has voted against union deals in the past that he thought were too generous, endorsed this one despite some misgivings about the health care cost-sharing percentage.

He said Local 1338 “stepped up to the plate” in its dealings with the city.

The most recent contract before this was a three-year contract between the Board of Education and teachers that offers teachers a 1.9 percent salary hike in the first year following by 2.5 percent annual increases in the remaining two years of the pact.

Local 1464 members also agreed to pay more of the tab for their health insurance, rising to 14 percent of the overall cost in 2011.

But just before that, in December, city councilors approved a new two-year contract for the union that represents most City Hall workers that provided 3 percent annual raises and also introduced employee cost-sharing on health insurance for the first time.

The pact, which was retroactive to July 2007, required workers to pay 4 percent of their health insurance premiums until this summer, when they’ll be required to cover 5 percent of the tab.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Hamzy would have liked more cuts, but backs deficit reduction plan

Press release from state Rep. Bill Hamzy:

Rep. Hamzy Votes for ‘No Tax Increase’ Deficit Mitigation Plan
Measure should not Aggravate Recession in CT

The deficit mitigation plan approved by the state House of Representatives Wednesday will eliminate a projected $1.2 billion deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30th without raising taxes and should not aggravate the recession in Connecticut that is eroding family incomes, state Representative William A. Hamzy said today
“Although the plan that passed tonight does not go as far as we would have liked, it does not increase taxes and it does not cut state aid to cities and towns,” said Representative Hamzy, R-78th District. “I would have preferred a bill that incorporated more of the proposals we have been making for several months to streamline state government and reform or eliminate failed or underperforming state programs. If more of those kinds of proposals had been included in the package, they would have resulted in meaningful spending reductions that would help eliminate the $8 billion deficit that has been projected for the next two fiscal years..”
“However, it did include $168 million in savings that we proposed in the alternative deficit mitigation plan we developed. We also succeeded in convincing the majority Democrats to remove cuts in special education aid and funding for local bridge repairs that had been included in an earlier version of the package. If those cuts had been allowed to stand, they would have made it even more difficult for hard-pressed municipalities like Bristol and Plymouth to balance their budgets and could have led to local property tax hikes,” Representative Hamzy said.
“On balance, the budget adjustments that will enable us to close this year’s deficit without tax increases, and other positive features such as a change in prescription drug coverage that will save about 30,000 Connecticut seniors an average of $1,200 a year on prescription drug costs, while saving the state money, outweighed some of the less desirable features that were left in this bill,” Representative Hamzy said.
“Under the circumstances, this package was the best we could do. While it is far from perfect, it at least offers some hope that the bipartisanship that enabled us to reach agreement on this compromise measure will continue when we have to make the tougher choices that will be necessary to close the $8 billion deficit projected for the next two years. That is why I ended up voting for it,” Representative Hamzy said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Wright joins unanimous House vote for deficit reduction plan

Press release from state Rep. Chris Wright:

REP. WRIGHT VOTED FOR MITIGATION PLAN 
THAT CLOSES BUDGET GAP
Package relies on cuts and no tax increases to maintain 2009 budget
 
State Representative Christopher Wright (D-Bristol) voted on Wednesday in favor of the $1.2 billion Democrat deficit mitigation package that nearly eliminates the projected deficit for the current fiscal year through a series of cuts and other adjustments without any tax or fee increases.
 
The bill was passed unanimously in the House 140-0 and in the Senate by a 23-12 vote.
 
The approved package saves $200 million more than the amount proposed under the governor’s mitigation plan, particularly in the area of off-budget accounts.  Lawmakers said the identification of this additional savings will allow the state to continue to help protect seniors, the disabled and working-class families from onerous cuts that were proposed under the governor’s plan.
 
“It is vital to maintain services for the very Bristol families who need it the most during these increasingly difficult financial times,” Rep. Wright said. “We cannot allow additional pain and sacrifice to be imposed on the working families in our state – not at a time like this.”
 
The governor’s cuts would have discontinued payments for non-formulary drugs under Medicare Part D.  Her proposal also limited emergency visits for low-income adults for dental care under Medicare Part D.  Both programs were saved by majority Democrats.
 
One provision also creates a new benefit that will save about 35,000 ConnPACE clients at least $1,200 per year, ensure they are eligible for prescription and health benefits, while also saving the state $4 million per year.
 
The deficit mitigation package includes $373.3 million from the federal stimulus package, $281.7 million from the state’s rainy day fund, and combines proposals from both Democrats and Republicans.
 
“We still have a very long way to go,” Rep. Wright said. “However, the passage of the mitigation package is a major step forward.  
 
Rep. Wright is serving his first term in the General Assembly representing Bristol’s 77th District.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

New Tattoo issue covers Kabul to Karneval, with a little A-Rod thrown in


From left to right: Nabi, Hamid and Shoaib

Edrees Kakar/Youth Journalism International

Three boys in Kabul, Afghanistan head out after school -- even in the middle of Afghanistan's harsh winter -- to sell Lay's potato chips to those passing by in a park. It's what it takes for their families to get by.
Senior reporter Edrees Kakar, who lives in Kabul, tells their story in ReadTheTattoo.com. It's one you won't forget.
In the same Tattoo issue, three other young writers for Youth Journalism International take a look at the steroid controversy swirling around New York Yankees' baseball great Alex Rodriguez. They don't like what they see.
Be sure to catch what New Yorker Luke Pearson and Connecticut teens Clare Hern and Rocco DiTaranto have to say about A-Rod.
In addition, senior reporter Katie Grosser in Germany gives a peek at how Karneval is celebrated in her country, complete with compelling pictures.
And last, but not least, junior reporter Janani Ramachandran has a piece about bringing books to poor students in her native Bangalore, India.
The Tattoo and Youth Journalism International are both run by my wife, Jackie Majerus, and I as volunteers. These kids, who live all the over world, do an incredible job. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward says Johnson's vision "blurred"

Mayor Art Ward said that as he listened to Republican mayoral contender Ken Johnson's speech to the GASB 45 Committee on Tuesday, he thought that Johnson was in the wrong place.
He didn't want to address the substance of Johnson's comments.
But Ward did say that without the advantage of sitting in the mayor's chair, Johnson's vision is "blurred" on the issues facing the city.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

February 25, 2009

Rift developing between mayor and finance commissioners

A showdown is brewing between the city’s Board of Finance and Mayor Art Ward.

Janet Moylan, a finance board member, said she is getting the feeling that an adversarial relationship is beginning to flare up.

The powerful nine-member panel  that oversees city spending asked last month for Bristol’s department heads to detail what they’d do if ordered to slice spending by 5 or 10 percent.

But Ward told the supervisors to hold off on the scenarios because he wanted to “avoid a chaotic and panic situation” within city government if it isn’t necessary.

That didn’t sit well with at least some finance commissioners.

“It’s our budget process,” said Ron Messier, a veteran finance board member.

“The mayor doesn’t own the budget process. The Board of Finance owns the budget process,” Messier said.

But Ward produced a memorandum Wednesday from Richard Lacey, a city lawyer, that said finance commissioners have “have a duty to make detailed inquiries” about expenditures and budget proposals, but cannot “direct a department head to make a presentation to the board within present budgetary guidelines.”

Lacey said the mayor can require supervisors to take action, but not the finance board.

Ward said he’s not ready to do that. He’s already asked them to keep their proposed increases close to zero, he said, and he doesn’t want to cause problems for department chiefs who are already straining to cope with tough times.

“I gather you’re not really interested in having our support,” Moylan told the mayor during a budget hearing Wednesday at the library.

Moylan said the finance board needs “to look at the city as a whole” as it works out this year’s city spending plan instead of simply issuing an edict that everyone has to freeze spending, including the Board of Education.

“We need to look at some of the other departments as well as education,” Moylan said, because it may make more sense to slice purchases or programs elsewhere rather than hammering the schools to save money.

Holding the line on school spending would likely mean layoffs of some untenured teachers and staff and perhaps pare programs such as music, officials have said.

“I don’t think that we can cut the Board of Education’s budget that much,” Moylan said.

Ward said the schools are a separate entity and responsible for preparing their own budget. He said, though, that Superintendent Philip Streifer is working closely with him and the finance board.

Moylan called it “mind-boggling” that the school budget can lay out the consequences of major budget cuts, but there’s no way to do the same on the city side without the mayor giving the order.

Cheryl Thibault, another finance board member, said that the impact statements about cuts in other departments would allow decision-makers to know their options.

Without them, she said, “We don’t have the tools in front of us” to make choices.

“We need to do away with the word ‘chaos,’” Messier said. “There might be trauma,” but not chaos.

But given the hard times facing most taxpayers, he said, there’s no reason city employees should be spared the worry that everyone else shares.

Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said the fiscal overseers can push the issue with the mayor.

“Obviously, you people are in favor of this. We can do this,” Miecznikowki told the board Tuesday.

Wednesday, Miecznikowski said the key to resolving the impasse is to avoid bickering and for finance commissioners to ask nicely for whatever they want.

“The mayor will work with us,” he said.

But it’s not clear that Ward will require the impact statements sought by the finance panel.

“At this point in time, I don’t feel the department heads should be made to resubmit their budgets,” Ward said.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Courant's publisher is a liar

I can understand that cutting jobs may be a necessity at The Hartford Courant, if only because someone at the Tribune Co. gave the order.
But that's no reason for the paper's publisher, Stephen Carver, to lie about the consequences of losing 100 people, including 30 in the newsroom.
"We're going to perform at the level we've been performing," Carver said in a statement published on the daily's website.
How offensive.
And what a preposterous lie.
It's an insult to the fine reporters who are losing their jobs and a slap in the face to scores of loyal employees who have stuck by the paper through increasingly hard times.
Using Carver's logic, I suppose if the paper fired every journalist on its payroll, it would just keep on "performing at the level we've been performing."
At least the man should have had the decency to express remorse and to state the obvious: the news will suffer.
"I wanted to get us into an environment where we could focus on our readers and advertisers going forward, and focus on growing the business," Carver explained as his reason for the pink slips.
Oh, yeah? Really?
I suspect the atmosphere at the paper's office is more like a morgue than "an environment where we could focus on our readers and advertisers."
In fact, I'm sure of it.
This is bad business, but let us at least tell it like it is. We owe readers the truth, not a smiley face stuck on a bleeding and badly wounded paper that's gasping for air.
Carver better understand that he runs a newspaper, not a fantasy land.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Many reporters laid off at Courant

I'm sick after reading this.
I just don't know what's going to be left of journalism in Connecticut unless something changes quickly.
For more, here's The Laurel's coverage and here's Denis Horgan's The Mardi Gras Massacre.
And here is The Associated Press story on it.
Leonard Honeyman's Len's Lens has a more personal reaction.
Oh, and here is the Courant's official version.
On a personal note, I worked with a couple of these folks before they moved on to the Courant -- Matt Eagan and Loretta Waldman -- and I feel for them. Matt, in particular, has become a terrific, all-round journalist. I just can't believe they let him go.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Police say hands off city pension funds

Press release from the city's police union:

BRISTOL POLICE UNION

Local #754

P.O. Box 2014

Bristol, CT  06011-2014

Email: BristolPoliceUnion@gmail.com

Website: www.BristolPoliceUnion.org

860.940.7707

 

BRISTOL POLICE LOCAL 754 OF COUNCIL 15 AFSCME

PRESS RELEASE

REGARDING CITY OF BRISTOL’S GASB 45 ISSUES

February 24, 2009

 Bristol Police Local 754, acknowledges the difficult economic times facing the nation.  The Union will work with the City to find solutions to get through these tough times but cannot support draining pension funds anymore than we would support depleting a child’s education fund. 

 While it is true the City needs to address the GASB 45 reporting requirements it is not true that this must be done immediately and it is obvious to us that taking radical measures in a turbulent economic climate is short sighted and dangerous.  Reducing the funds in this volatile economy with a market that is fluctuating wildly on any given day makes trying to hit a particular funding level a fast moving target. 

 If this plan were 100 % fully funded the City would be responsible for making payments in the millions of dollars. There is no truth to anyone’s theory that the money is just sitting there and doing nothing. As a matter of fact, the current funding levels are actually paying for the City’s costs, which is approximately 6 million dollars this year alone.

 Moving money from the pension plan to pay current medical costs will result in nothing more than passing along the costs to future tax payers.  There are certainly many other ideas that the City can consider that do not result in our children assuming this burden. 

 If the City set up a retiree health care trust fund, with money that has already been set aside, and manage and invest it with the same vigor and expertise in which it has managed the pension fund, then the issue of retiree health care would evaporate.

 Bristol needs to only look to its neighbors in Waterbury to see the disastrous effects that tampering with pension funds create.

EXECUTIVE BOARD LOCAL 754

AFSCME COUNCIL 15, AFL-CIO

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ken Johnson comes out swinging

I'll have more on this sometime this week, but I figure any Bristol Blog reader would want to know that Republican mayoral hopeful Ken Johnson came out swinging at Tuesday's GASB 45 Committee meeting.
"The cold reality is that this committee is a charade," Johnson told the panel. "This GASB 45 Committee serves no purpose, has no authority to make any decisions at all, and is a fraud perpetrated on both taxpayers and city workers by our mayor."
"The mayor created this committee as a 'feel good' for city workers because he desperately wants you to like him. City workers, my message to each of you is this: the mayor is playing you for a stooge," Johnson said.
Johnson urged the city to take the step of using surplus pension money to fund health care benefits for retired workers -- which advocates say may save millions for taxpayers.
"Let's put this in context," Johnson said. "The economy is in the toilet. We are looking for ways to run the city without raising taxes. City and state workers across Connecticut are already being laid off."
"While our city struggles to make ends meet without implementing layoffs, the mayor puts out a memo to stop buying food for meetings. So while he polices the $5 box of Dunkin' Donuts, here's millions and millions in tax savings staring us in the eye."
"There's millions to be saved and it hurts no one," Johnson said.
He said that if the "donut mayor" would back it, the change could be made.
Mayor Art Ward was there, but I haven't yet had a chance to ask him what he thought. I will.
And I'll have more on the GASB 45 issue, too, as soon as I can.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Showdown looms between mayor and finance board

A showdown is shaping up between the city’s Board of Finance and Mayor Art Ward.

The powerful nine-member panel  that oversees city spending asked last month for Bristol’s department heads to detail what they’d do if ordered to slice spending by 5 or 10 percent.

But Ward told the supervisors to hold off on the scenarios because he wanted to “avoid a chaotic and panic situation” within city government if it isn’t necessary.

That didn’t sit well with at least some finance commissioners.

“It’s our budget process,” said Ron Messier, a veteran finance board member.

“The mayor doesn’t own the budget process. The Board of Finance owns the budget process,” Messier said.

Janet Moylan, another finance commissioner, said the finance board needs “to look at the city as a whole” as it works out this year’s city spending plan instead of simply issuing an edict that everyone has to freeze spending, including the Board of Education.

“We need to look at some of the other departments as well as education,” Moylan said, because it may make more sense to slice purchases or programs elsewhere rather than hammering the schools to save money.

Holding the line on school spending would likely mean layoffs of some untenured teachers and staff and perhaps pare programs such as music, officials have said.

“I don’t think that we can cut the Board of Education’s budget that much,” Moylan said.

Cheryl Thibault, another finance board member, said that the impact statements about cuts in other departments would allow decision-makers to know their options.

Without them, she said, “We don’t have the tools in front of us” to make choices.

“We need to do away with the word ‘chaos,’” Messier said. “There might be trauma,” but not chaos.

But given the hard times facing most taxpayers, he said, there’s no reason city employees should be spared the worry that everyone else shares.

Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said the fiscal overseers can push the issue with the mayor.

“Obviously, you people are in favor of this. We can do this,” Miecznikowki told the board Tuesday night.

Ward is said to be ready to defend his position, but the finance board is increasingly angry that its edict was simply tossed aside by the mayor.

A budget hearing at 6 p.m. at the library tonight will be the first chance for a showdown to take place.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Larson hails Obama's address

Statement issued by U.S. Rep. John Larson, the East Hartford Democrat whose 1st District includes Bristol:

CONGRESSMAN LARSON RESPONDS TO OBAMA SPEECH

Washington, DC – Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, issued the following remarks after President Barack Obama’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress.

“Tonight, President Obama personified the calm and determined assurance that resides in every American during these difficult times.  He described the rough road ahead as we begin our steep and steady climb out of this recession.  President Bush left this nation in a deep and cavernous hole.  President Obama and this Democratic Congress have mapped out a clear and comprehensive strategy to get us back out.

“The economic problems our nation faces are complex and it will take a lot of work on many fronts to resolve them.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress passed and President Obama signed into law is a key part of that work.  It will put millions of Americans back to work and give a tax cut to 95% of working Americans.  Combined with our efforts to stabilize the financial and housing markets, the Recovery Act will help us begin to rebuild and renew our economy. 

“We as a Congress and our new President are tasked with a much bigger responsibility than stimulating the current economy.  This country has failed for years to make the tough choices necessary to stay strong and robust in the global economy.  Now, we must make those choices. We have and will invest in alternative energy sources, education for our children, science and innovation, and health care reform - the areas that will be the foundation of our future economic success.  President Obama reiterated tonight the need for major regulatory reform to make sure the financial crisis we are experiencing today does not happen again.

“The Presidents message was realistic yet optimistic.  I share his faith that our people and our country will rebuild and recover and America will emerge stronger.”

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

February 24, 2009

So what'd you think of Obama's speech to Congress?

The president talked. Did you listen? Did you watch? What'd you think of it?

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Democrats eye Rell's ouster from governor's office

Democrats are looking to take down Republican Gov. Jodi Rell next year.

After two decades without a Democratic governor, despite a lopsided advantage in voter registration in Connecticut, the party is eager to capture the state’s top political post.

Nancy DiNardo, who’s in her third term as the state Democratic chairwoman, told Bristol Democrats this week that the party has “a deep bench” heading into the gubernatorial race and stands a good chance of knocking off Rell.

But not everyone sees it that way.

Jim Hopkins, a party activist, said that Rell “will win easily” if the Democratic contenders spend the next year and a half ripping into each other instead of targeting the Republicans.

He said that with Rell’s popularity, she may not only win re-election, she might help the GOP capture the U.S. Senate seat held by Chris Dodd, who’s struggling in the polls in the wake of unproven accusations that he got favors from mortgage brokers.

If Rell runs again, Hopkins said, “she threatens out senatorial seat” because Dodd’s own poll ratings are low.

The Republican National Committee’s “going to put a ton of money in here” to boost Rell and try to take down Dodd, warned Hopkins.

DiNardo said that she generally agrees with Hopkins’ take on the political situation that party faces, adding that it’s been a topic of discussion lately.

DiNardo said that Democrats need to take aim at Rell as much as possible.

“It is unfortunate that we have a governor who lacks any vision,” said DiNardo, a Trumbull resident.

She said that Rell, who hasn’t said whether she intends to run again in 2010, offered “a disingenuous budget” to the General Assembly that neglected to address more than $2 billion of anticipated revenue shortfall.

Fortunately, DiNardo said, the Democratic-controlled legislature is “holding her feet to the fire” in a bid to make her offer a plan to close the gap.

“She values the millionaires more than ordinary, working people,” said Terry Parker a potential City Council candidate in the 3rd District.

DiNardo said that Rell has proven over the years that her image as a nice person isn’t quite the true picture.

“She does these little political games,” DiNardo said, and can be vindictive toward those who don’t fall in line, which her efforts to eliminate the state’s insurance advocate prove.

DiNardo said that Rell got a free pass for a long time because “the press loved her” and didn’t tie her to the scandals of her predecessor, former Gov. John Rowland, who tapped Rell as his lieutenant governor.

She said Rell has never been a leader, just someone who reacts to headlines.

Democrats have an opportunity to send Rell packing, DiNardo said, if they can keep the heat on and expose Rell’s record.

DiNardo said that Bristol is lucky to have someone like Art Ward as its mayor.

She said he is humble and has demonstrated “foresight and vision” in running the city for the past 15 months.

Noting the recent Standard & Poor’s bond rating upgrade that Bristol achieved in the midst of a recession, DiNardo called the achievement “phenomenal.”


Democrats eyeing the governor’s office next year

Former state House Speaker James Amann

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz

Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Land purchase draws near for Matthews Street school site

The city will likely complete the purchase of a 17-acre proposed school site on Matthews Street soon.

There is “a good chance” the deal will be finished by late March, said Steven DeVaux, the assistant school superintendent for business.

The city is also moving forward quickly to buy a neighboring 12-acre parcel, for which DeVaux said “there is no impediment” blocking negotiations.

While officials aren’t talking about the price tag, records submitted to the City Council last fall showed preliminary estimates of the two sites together costing about $1.7 million. The state would pick up 74 percent of the tab as long as the project isn’t derailed.

The Board of Education plans to construct two new 900-student schools, one on Matthews Street and the other beside the existing Greene-Hills School on Pine Street. They would serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

It is unclear where negotiations stand for the Pine Street site – the former Crowley car dealership – but officials are still pursuing it.

Another element that could still pose a problem is that the state is required to begin construction by June 2010 or lose the state reimbursement that makes the project possible.

Officials are trying to get a year’s delay so they don’t have to rush architects who haven’t yet been hired and potentially wind up with buildings that could have been better if there had been more time to fine-tune designs.

The West Bristol School Building Committee is preparing to interview six construction management firms in order to recommend hiring one to oversee the Matthews Street project.

The city plans to hire construction managers for both sites, hoping that experts on site can ensure the work is done as cheaply and as well as possible.

Michael Audette, chairman of the West Bristol school committee, said that reading through the 15 proposals submitted by construction management firms was enlightening for him.

Since it’s a different field from education, “I learned a lot” said Audette, the principal of O’Connell School, one of four older schools slated to close when the new ones open.

The project is slated for completion in 2015. It isn’t yet known whether the year’s delay in starting construction, if granted, would push back the opening of the new schools.

When the land purchases are finished, committee members said, they’ll feel relief.

“I’ll be real happy when we have that done,” Audette said.


Next West Bristol school panel meeting

Monday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 36 at the Board of Education.

Next Forestville school panel meeting

Thursday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.ml. in Room 36 at the Board of Education.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com