February 28, 2010

City budget hearings start Monday

The budget hearing schedule follows:
March 1 – City Clerk, Building, Code Enforcement, Tax, Assessor, Board of Assessment Appeals, Treasurer, Probate, Aging and the Bristol Development Authority.
March 4 – The Bristol Down Development Corp., West Cemetery, St. Vincent DePaul Society, School Readiness, Personnel, ROV, Corporation Counsel, MIS, Purchasing, Youth and Pine Lake Challenge Course.
March 16 – Library and Parks.
March 25 – Police, Animal Control, Fire.
March 29 – Education.
March 30 – Water, Water Pollution Control, Public Works.
April 7 – Five-Year Capital Improvement, Social Services, Veterans, Mayor, Comptroller, Debt, All Others.
April 12 – Workshop.
April 20 – Workshop.
April 27 – Board of Finance budget adoption.
May 17 – Joint Session of City Council and Board of Finance for budget approval.
Budget hearing dates are subject to change. Before planning to attend, check the city’s website or call the city clerk’s office to make sure the times or dates haven’t been shifted.

All of the public hearings are slated to occur at 6 p.m. and take place in the City Council chambers on the first floor of City Hall. They are open to the public.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here comes the bs blizzard to dig out of!

Anonymous said...

Cant wait to see the excuses fly why we cant make cuts.New election coming soon and all around new faces will take over. WHEN YOUR HANDS ARE IN OUR POCKETS TIME FOR ALL OF YOU TO GO.

Anonymous said...

of waste of meetings we all know that property taxes will increase

blissful bouquet of ignorance said...

so gratfying to see such wholesale ignorance on public display on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Axe the emergency managers job - he isn't here anyway, so why should the taxpayers pay him?

Anonymous said...

Start cutting public works bottomline.

Anonymous said...

Plenty of ways to cut if we had political figures that werent afraid of the union. Both parties have no balls. This needs cuts like private buisness had two years ago. Screw the union work for tax payers for once.

Anonymous said...

the dept heads are running city hall so any cost-cutting measures that would be meaningful will be ignored. there are a dozen middle managers that can be eliminated but then the diretors would have to work so there goes that idea

Anonymous said...

Stop funding projects like the Main Street Streetscape.

Anonymous said...

LAY OFFS LAY OFFS GASB 45 GASB 45 LAY OFFS LAY OFFS GASB 45 STOP SPENDING STOP SPENDING FIX POT HOLES FIX POT HOLES ABOLISH BDA ABOLISH BDA CUT BDDC FUNDING CUT BDDC FUNDING SCREW THE UNIONS SCREW THE UNIONS

Anonymous said...

What about our roads Mr. Mayor??
Thay are deplorable!
Your artificial savings of last year are going to cost us more in the future.

Anonymous said...

6:38 AM, HELLO...We live in NEW ENGLAND. I hate to break it to you, but POTHOLES HAPPEN EVERY YEAR. Yup, it's true. Some years worse than others, but EVERY year, sure as sherbert, look out...POTHOLES. Unless you've seen Ward running around with a pick-ax in the middle of the night gouging out the streets, it's definitely NOT his fault. It's not even spring yet so please try to find something else to whine about (I'm sure that won't be a problem for you...you're a pro!).

Anonymous said...

10:03

Potholes usually do not happen on streets that are properly maintained.
Since Ward, when on the Public Works Board, and as mayor, supported the reduction of funding for road maintenance, he is the reason why we have more potholes than usual.

Anbd, because of the potholes, road foundation accelerates, therby causing additional expense to repair.

Thanks Mayor Ward for being so shortsigted and for your willingness to mis-manage the city!

Anonymous said...

POTHOLES HAPPEN. They've been happening for as long as I have been driving (long before Ward), and they're pretty much the same all over the state...so get over it already!

Anonymous said...

11:57

This is the WORST I have ever experienced!!

Unfortunately, we can't get over them as long as we drive in Bristol!

Anonymous said...

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before".

Statement by White House Chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel in 2008

Why is Ward not taking advantage of this situation to put some pressure on his Union buddies to reduce some of our costs??

Anonymous said...

Amazing how Potholes gets everybody upset!

Anonymous said...

1:08, If this is the "WORST" you've ever experienced...you really must not get around much. Sounds more like a personal problem.

Anonymous said...

our mayor is the the biggest pothole we have

Anonymous said...

This town is very top heavy start the cuts with mangrs you could save about 1 million dollars in top brass.

Anonymous said...

5:59

Oh, but I do. That is why I am criticizing what Ward and Bristol are doing (not).

Anonymous said...

6:15 PM, and you sound like a totally different type of hole! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Art, fix the roads, or hit the road!

Anonymous said...

11:57

Ever hear of efforts at prevention?

Or at least minimalization?

Apparently Ward hasn't!

Anonymous said...

7:05 AM: Minimalization of potholes??? There's never been a mayor in the history of Bristol (or any other town that I'm aware of) who was capable of preventing or minimalizing potholes.

With problems like unemployment and the recession, I kinda think the mayor has a little more on his plate to worry about than "pothole minimalization." You really need to get a life.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the council should look at firing all dept heads and middle managers ane promote within with salary caps . Then watch how good our city will run.

Anonymous said...

7;28

Those mayors, and most did, properly fund road resufacing on a schedule that provides for them being done so a s to keep them in good shape. It is a cost of running a city, and is not something that a citizen can do for themself.
Nicastro shorted that program for a number of years, and Ward is following suit.
Yes, one looks good in the short term, but it becomes more expensive as time goes by, and the city suffers.

Mayors can do very little regarding unemployment, but Ward, with the help of his finacial guru should have taken steps starting with the 2008-2009 budget. He/they didn't and now it has an even bigger problem.

Just what has Ward done to cut costs, not just defer them?

Frankly, he is lost in this job, and his close advisors, Kloko and Krawiecki have their own agendas.

Anonymous said...

11:22/AKA Mr. Stortz:

I've been driving for over 30 years and there have been potholes EVERY single year. It's the age of the road, traffic patterns, freezing/thawing, melting snow run-off, etc. that causes them, even on the "well-maintained" roads. No mayor has EVER stopped or minimized them...not even YOU. Please...enough about the potholes already!

Anonymous said...

Scew the pot holes fix the over paid city managers with apink slip

Anonymous said...

7:28

Ward is concerned about unemployment, HIS OWN!

Anonymous said...

1:32

In my 30 years, potholes have never been this bad.

Are you saying that paving does not eliminate most of the potholes?

Get real.

Maybe Stortz is not happy with the pot holes, but I hear many comments every day as to how bad teh roads are, and I haven't talked with Stortz

Anonymous said...

Lets work on the real problem over paid workes in city hall and onthe school board payrole.

Anonymous said...

6:01

Thats Wards job now: he asked for it.

But then, where are the Republicans on this issue?

snort - snort said...

5:30 - maybe you should refrain from being a pot-head and things will become real again.

Anonymous said...

7:17

Where are the Republicans on ANY issue?

Did Mad Dog retire, or get married?

Anonymous said...

They sure did a nice repairing Stevens Street, where the mayor lives, but didn't touch the ones on Woodland street, or my street either.

all ducks waddle daffy said...

11:11 - go down/up stevens street everyday and there are as many pot holes there as anywhere else, except maybe your street? where do you live bonehead? or do you even know?
mommie drive you to work or hold your hand so that you don't get splashed when you jump in the big puddle?

Anonymous said...

It will get worse before it gets better.

As will other things in the Ward administration!

Anonymous said...

10:08

Ah, but stevens street looks so much nicer!

hole-in-one, 2 or 3 said...

2:04 - suck it up.

Anonymous said...

4:09

You mean like Ward is sucking up our tax dollars?

Anonymous said...

Do they really patch holes on Saturday and Sunday?

Anonymous said...

Ruttsville!