I think it is important that we not ascribe criticism leveled at ourselves, or town leaders, or anyone else to some sort of bad faith, mean-spiritedness, or personal vendetta. I hope that those who comment here are genuinely interested in resolving the fiscal problems in Dartmouth. We may disagree with town leaders and each other, but it's not personal. We have differences, that's all. If we discuss them civilly and reasonably, all can come to a better understanding of the goals and objectives of the other side. Some may be persuaded and some may not. Even if the differences persist, we have all gained insight, sharpened our logical arguments, and perhaps, found common ground.
I don't think the town or school officials are bad people in any way. They just have different opinions than I do. Mainly they are sincere, thoughtful, hard working, and honest. When criticized about policy, philosophy or position, I hope everyone takes it for what it is, a difference of opinion, not a personal attack. As I see it, the proper response to criticism is a reasoned defense of the positions by each side. If that occurs, we all win. What do you think?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Take it for what it is
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12 comments:
Part of the problem Bill, is your "reasoned approach" is not uniquely yours, it is a regurgitation of the principles that our current town leaders have been working on for some time. It is interesting that you profess ideas that are almost taken verbatim out of the Department of Revenue Report and the current financial management objectives created and defined by the current selectboard, Executive Administer and the Budget Director. Perhaps you have more in common than you think with our current "well meaning" leaders?
Bill,
I agree 100%. To add to your point, it is also important that we don't hold grudges. I have been personally attacked several times and harbor no ill-will. That said this is the blogosphere and I hope as the blogmaster you will allow us to have some fun. Assuming you will, here is my post. Has anyone heard from Kali? Rumor has it that his true identity was revealed by a covert double agent working for the CIA. My sources tell me that Kali has fled the country to his native homeland, Pakistan. There is a red alert that he may surface again on this blog under a new alias. Let's all hope he is not packing a dirty bomb.
In local news, an understudy will be performing someone's part in the fundraiser play at the library. My source at the police dept. tells me they cannot release the name in the missing person report until 72 hours have elapsed. Stay tuned.
Anonymous, you are correct that the current Select Board and I share the common goal of restoring Dartmouth's fiscal health. That said, I have to disagree that they have taken a reasoned approach. The current Select Board chair was quoted in the Chronicle yesterday as stating, "We have a revenue problem." I don't think that is an accurate or reasoned statement. Every year, the town's revenue grows by at least 2-1/2% or more. If our problem was a temporary reduction in revenue, it would have already been solved by the spending reductions in every department, except schools, last year and by moving $1.8 million off the budget for the Solid Waste enterprise fund which allowed that money to be used in other departments.
However, we still have a shortfall this year, and will have one next year, and the year after. The problem is that spending is growing faster than revenue. I have not seen this problem explicitly addressed by the Select Board or town administrators. We have to reconcile spending growth with income growth, not whether the police or schools have enough funding and not whether this is the Dartmouth we all know and love. Until we bring expenditure growth in line with revenue growth, the pain will continue. I am working on a couple posts defining our fiscal problem in my view and what I think we need to do about it. Check back in a few days and see what you think.
Anonymous, Although town leaders may claim a "reasoned approach" I have yet to actually see it. The DOR recommendations are not just suggestions that you can stab at half heartedly. The public is not stupid. They understand that recommendation #7 is something our town leaders are refusing to address. It is insulting to be told we save money having personal contracts when research has proven otherwise. The DOR made this recommendation for a reason. Picking away at the edges of the DOR recommendations is not going to get it done. This task requires town leaders with the courage, willingness, competence and foresight to do what needs to be done. So far I haven't seen these qualities emerge from our current leadership. I'm hoping at some point I will. Taxpayers have to make the tough decisions everyday, especially with the current economy, as to what we can afford and what we can't. There should be compassion for those people as well as those who may lose their jobs due to downsizing of town government. Do we get the plasma TV with all the bells & whistles or do we pay the mortgage? A "reasoned approach" is to pay the mortgage. That is what it comes down to. Do we continue with excessive salaries/benefits/contracts or do we fully staff our police dept. and purchase textbooks and computers for the schools? Where are the priorities? I am not asking for these individuals to be given less than others with similar positions in surrounding communities, I am only asking to give them what is fair. We could reduce salaries and take away some of the compensation from these positions while gaining substantial savings and these individuals would still be ahead of the game in comparison with other communities in our area. This especially applies to all new hires. Our current "well meaning" leadership needs to do more than mean well. I understand that there are those who would find it difficult to sit face to face with someone and make these tough decisions especially when they have probably known each other for quite some time but the reality is it must be done. If there are those who are not capable of doing this then they need to step down. I'm quite sure if these individuals were running their own personal business it would be a "no brainer". I wonder if the two SB members who are lawyers would hire a paralegal at $73,894 with full benefits? The lawyer on the CFRG steering committee said he certainly wouldn't.
Can someone please tell me what is the process to implement change (salary, benefits, etc.) in an employee's contract?
The DOR report noted in recommendation #7 that we have 24 personal service contracts which is unusual and they felt a poor practice. They noted that contracts should be limited to 1 year, with 3 exceptions, with the amount of the contract to be appropriated by Town Meeting. The way to remedy this is simple. At the expiration of the current contracts, a single year contract should be offered. Once that is done, the town has control of the process on a yearly basis. If you are interested the DOR report is here. You can find the town's Personnel bylaws at the Southworth Library. Audrey, who works there, is the clerk of the Personnel Board. Ask for her. Unfortunately they are not available online. You can get a copy of the contracts themselves from the town clerk.
There is much more to this and I may post on it later. In the interest of brevity here, that's all I have for now.
anonymous, I would suggest that a salary schedule in which these administrators can be placed should be created before their contracts come due. When the contracts expire, all except the three mentioned in recommendation #7 should be eliminated. With proper planning we will know where in the schedule they fit (job level and step). The schedule and the corresponding positions should be to the taxpayers' advantage. At the end of their contract they are offered their job. Take it or leave it. This task will be made much harder by those job security clauses that were renegotiated into some of the contracts. One thing I do know is that I don't want to hear the phrase "the newly recharged personnel board" one more time without seeing any progress from them.
OOPS,
Links in the comments are no good!
Don't you hate the intertubes!
I can't figure out how to link to them.
here are the URLS
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?4172
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?4185
http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?4188
Type them in or copy and paste to nav bar
Finally, figured this out. Here and Here and Here are links to what the Oak Bluffs town attorney found about the personal contracts and what their Select Board did about it.
Hey these intertubes are cool after all ;-)
Thank you for the information about the process for town employee contracts can you tell me how it works on the school side?
Dartmouth parents,
I have spent a fair amount of time examining contracts on both the town and school sides. On the school side, the administrative contracts more uniform than on the town side. This is not to say that there aren't still problems with them. Perhaps Bill could post our CFRG report on the blog for you.
Anonymous, the school side has collective bargaining agreements with the teachers and mid level administrators(assistant principals and others). The principals, School Administrator, Asst School Administrator and Business Manager have personal contracts with the School Board. I believe that the School Board has sole authority in deciding the terms of the personal contracts paid out of the school budget. Is that information helpful or were you asking for something else?
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