The Board of Finance isn’t too happy with Board of Education member Tom O’Brien.
Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said Tuesday he takes “deep umbrage with Mr. O’Brien’s negative comments” about the fiscal oversight panel and its staff.
Miecznikowski said it is “inappropriate to suggest” that the finance board “does not understand the budgeting process” in terms of education spending.
During a school committee meeting Monday, O’Brien said the finance board is filled with newcomers and doesn’t understand that the school budget is different from spending plans submitted by other city departments.
"They're very confused," said O'Brien. "They don't truly understand how it works."
“Currently, all but one Board of Finance member has experienced at least one completebudget cycle of the city,” Miecznikowski said.
He pointed out that the other panel members “have many years of combined experience with the budget process” and some have helped shape school budgets directly because of positions they held at the Board of Education.
O’Brien was plotting strategy for winning finance panel approval for a $103 million school budget for the coming year, a push that might crimp efforts to hold down property taxes.
O’Brien said, too, that educators “have to address the impressions that certain members of the Board of Finance have been fed by the controller” and called for school officials “to be very clear and challenge” finance commissioners.
Mayor Art Ward defended the finance board’s role and called for school leaders to try to keep spending in check.
"The scrutiny of the budgetary process applies to all departments,” the mayor said. “Under the economic circumstances of the entire city, the Board of Education should look within its budget to control current and future costs and eliminate any non-essentialitems.”
Miecznikowski said that everyone needs to understand “that city revenues and other city resources that support the budget are stagnant at best in this recession prone economy.”
“With that said, it should be further understood that under these circumstances, all departments have to do with less. Costs to taxpayers are rising on many fronts and to compound the fact of increased costs this year is the implementation of a state mandated city-wide revaluation,” he said.
The finance chief said that his board “has provided for fully funded or near fully funded educational budgets at the request level for the past 3 years. To the best of myknowledge, that funding level has never been done for any other city department.”
Miecznikowski said that O’Brien is wrong about City Comptroller Glenn Klocko.
“The comptroller's office understands his role in his work with the Board of Finance and I feel confident that the comptroller also understands that the final budgetary decisions rest with the Board of Finance.”
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
25 comments:
What is O'Brien looking for here? Perhaps he wants out of the funeral business and wants Jodi to appoint him to something (like she did to his imcompetant wife)? Does he want to be appointed to the state BOE?
Re; 9:34 Post
Your ignorance of the facts and comments are appalling. I just can't think of anything else to say and as my mother used to tell me, if you can't say ......
Go get 'em Mize!
O'Brien has a cocky-better then you attitude. Guess hanging around Zoppo all these years is really coming through!!
February 26, 2008 9:42 PM;
Apologies for the "incompetent" comment. She is very smart and very cute too. Everyone needs a little re-training sometimes (that is the "appalling" fact).
As far as O'Brien's agenda; go figure. He sure seems to be grandstanding. And what's with this aggressive push for extravagant spending?
Will spending millions more on new schools and more administrators help or hinder Bristol? Who benefits? The welfare class doesn't pay high taxes so it is not hurting them, only helping them. They love the best for nothing. The upper income professionals don't mind. They'd spend big bucks to live in other towns if it wasn't in their best interest to live here.
Whom it hurts most is the working people, the middle and lower-middle income people who work in machine shops and small businesses in Bristol and surrounding areas. Keep raising their taxes, they have no where else to go anyway. They sure aren't going to Farmington or Burlington.
So why is this fellow on the BOE pushing and bashing? Who knows? Does he have personal motivations? Is he an pro-education groupie or zealot? Does he feel it is in the best interest of Bristol citizens to pay higher taxes for new buildings? You tell us Mr. O'Brien. We elected you.
maybe his kid wants to be a teacher in Bristol?
Mize may be blustering but he has been over his head for years. He is led around by his nose by Klocko who is another fan favorite. Mize loves the attention and power he gets from his seat but is not doing anything close to proper oversight. And Art ward is going to let him get away with it for another year. Go O'Brien, for calling a spade a spade.
Tom is right, right on the money!
I know him: he wants nothing but a better Bristol.
His kids are living out of town and have not indicarted any interest in teaching.
The BOF has to get more involved. When was the last time any BOF member gave a report on the department they are liasion to?
There are some good people on teh BOF, but their input is restricted as Meize and Klocko orchestrate everything.
I hope that at least, OBriens comments get some people thinking!
Tom O'Brien shouldn't be the leader here, because he is such an arrogant jerk that it's easy to forget why improving the schools is so important.
The schools must be improved to help the children, but also to preserve property values (and hopefully increase them) and to make our community and society better in the future through lifting people up via education.
It's annoying that all this includes the likes of Tom O'Brien, Barbara Doyle and pompous administrators, but that's life. I don't believe Tom wants a better Bristol. He just likes to feel smug.
But to screw with the schools to get at Tom O'Brien would be short sighted and stupid, cutting off the nose to spite the face. So hold your nose, board of finance people, and look at something other than O'Brien to save your stomachs.
Then do what's right for the community long term and fund education. All the kids deserve it, and if you're bigoted enough to only want it for your own kids or your own color kids, think of it as in their interest to invest in their peer group. We all have to live and work together, and I'd rather live and work with people who've had the benefit of a decent education and not left to rot.
Steve, that 2/27 10:17 calling a spade a spade comment is racist. I think you ought to delete it.
Re "calling a spade a spade" --
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115
O'Brien needs to get off his high horse.
Tom O'Brien can be arrogant. However, arrogance does not equate with being wrong. In my opinion, he's spot on.
First of all, he was elected to again serve on the BOE, and he received the most votes. In this country, majority rules. So live with it and him until the next election. If he decides to run, he'll win again. I suspect this was his last race.
Tom O'Brien, arrogance and all has one agenda, improve our schools. He also knows that if schools do not become better, then less people will pay more of the taxes. Good schools are the primary reason why people move into a particular town.
Bristol's population has remained virtually the same for the past 15 years. Could it be because of the quality of the education offered? Could it be the antiquated buildings? Could it be inadequate school libraries, play areas, lack of new technologies and computers?
If I were looking for a place to raise a young family and send my children to school, I must sadly report that Bristol would not be on my list.
I pay taxes like most people and I am willing to pay more taxes for better schools. Then, and only then will we see a population growth of families to help offset future taxes.
February 27, 2008 11:41 AM:
I appreciate your opinion. Unlike you, I personally like the O'Brien's. I just don't understand Tom O'Brien's overly pro-active behavior.
I also think the school budget needs to be scrutinized by the BOF and it always has been.
It is still unclear to me and many others where the need is for these enormous new school buildings and these new (generously compensated) administrators.
"Bristol's population has remained virtually the same for the past 15 years. Could it be because of the quality of the education offered? Could it be the antiquated buildings? Could it be inadequate school libraries, play areas, lack of new technologies and computers?"
-NO, it's because the greedy public employee unions have driven business out of the state because of high btaxes and liberal spending.
Tom is becoming counter-productive to the BOE.
Again, in his eyes there is no one smarter or more intelligant in Bristol than him, but at some point his arrogance is going to get the BOE screwed.
The other members of the BOW have to stand up and for the taxpayers in this community and stop him dead in his tracks.
Barbara Doyle is no help because she is afarid of him and quite frankly worthless as the BOE Chairman.
But than again,w e taxpayers deserve this attitute because we overwhelmingly relected this group, so enjoy the tax increase because you deserve it.
Does the BOF (and Klocko)understand the process??
Do they understand the BDA??
Just read todays press and then tell me how active or proactive they are?
Re: 12:31 post
If you drive by Bingham and CTO with their blacktop playgrounds, inadequate entrance and egress for busses and parents, inadequate libraries, lack of proper wiring for computers and being energy inefficient, then you will see why we need new schools.
I would also argue that they are not mega schools. Each new school will be separate and distinct from the two levels it will serve, K-5 and 6-8.
Would you buy a home in the CTO and Bingham school districts? I would not, and I know that sound education is being attempted under the worst conditions, which is a credit to our teachers and administrators.
Yes, they are handsomely paid, but their contracts are negotiated by the individuals that were elected to the BOE.
2:03
And approved by the city council
February 27, 2008 2:03 PM:
I would not buy a home on Park Street no matter what the school looked like.
Have you been by Avon Old Farms lately? Those classrooms are pretty old . The only technology they have in the Quad area classrooms there are 120watt light bulbs.
Sounds to me that you, like O'Brien and the rest of the education-groupie crowd have been brainwashed.
2-27 1:21
The BOF apparently copped out on the handling of the BDA expenditures, and it looks like they have for some time.
What else have they hid in the shadows (of the controller) on?
Yes, they are handsomely paid, but their contracts are negotiated by the *individuals* that were elected to the BOE.
February 27, 2008 2:03 PM
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Strike out indiviiduals and insert teachers .
Now maybe you can understand why the public is getting butt-slammed by the teachers .
Until teachers are prohibited from having voting priveleges on the board of education , the taxpayers will continue to get the stinky end of the stick .
There are no Bristol teachers on the Bristol Board of Education.
March 2, 2008 3:21 PM:
No just a hack/lackey for the teachers union, former teacher and former teacher-union president Barbara Doyle.
We could have had one on the city council, but luckily the voters said NO (this past fall).
Lets see if Richard M has the chutzpah to cut city departments too, especially salaries.
That would clearly put the politicians on the spot.
No, I don't see that happening, since the politicians control Richards appointment.
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