The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (Mass Budget) has published a fact sheet on the effects in Massachusetts of the proposal from US House Republicans that slashes federal spending. Here is the link.
Here's what Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has to say.
What do you think?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Mass Budget look at Republican budget
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24 comments:
Well, it's a start anyway. Can't expect change overnight.
To Bill Trimble.
This is a political blog from Dartmouth, I encourage debate of the issues facing our town on this blog.
Signed: Mr. Bill Trimble.
As it relates to issues facing our town, and encouraging debate, I have noticed less town related issues and more state and federal related issues. In keeping with the intent of your blog, I understand the need to encourage debate on state/federal issues, but can you also offer some town related issues. I understand as most of your reads have, that all politics are local and every town issue is some how connected to the our state. I'm certain that your exposure of state related issues is town related.
But if you could insert a few Dartmouth related issues, this would encourage debate, as it relates to Dartmouth. The concern of less town monies being discussed, as it relates to the proposed wind turbines. The outstanding performance of our police chief, as it relates to the arrest of a U.M. D. Law student. Why is the school department attempting to raid the C.I.P.? How can Dartmouth fix it's roads? Why is Barry Walker talking about enterprise system, as it relates to a 53 million dollar town short fall? This is just a couple of town issues. I'm certain there are many.
Thanks:
March 13 @ 10: PM
Something is wrong with the message or the messenger, what is it you don't understand about the town of Dartmouth health care provided to town employee's, that you don't understand? Once more, so you and others can understand. The town unions have nothing to do with health insurance, or how much is paid into health insurance, or the percentage costs for the town/employee.
This is a result of a town meeting action taken long ago, so as to provide an incentive for people to accept a position with the town. Government workers did not always have excellent salaries. The Dartmouth town meeting members accept an article that provided the health insurance. This insurance can not be negotiated by the selectmen, or the town unions. It can be changed by the Dartmouth town meeting members, in the form of an article presented by the select board. Once the article is voted and accepted it shall move forward, the issue of health insurance shall be put on the town election ballot, to be voted by the town voters. This is the same process needed to remove, or amend the retirement system.
One more time...repeat after me....town provided insurance is not a union issue that can be negotiated by the town selectmen, or the town employee unions. Town health insurance and town employee retirement is a benefit authorized by Dartmouth town meeting members.
As it relates to the earth quake in Japan, have you noticed what has not happen????
This is for the blurry eyed liberals, who live in America.
Questions:
Was it the earth quake that surprised me? No
Was it the tsunami that surprised me? No
Was it the hydrogen explosion that surprised me? No
Was it the 10,000 thousand people who died that surprised me? No
Was it the possible exposure to radiation that surprised me? No
Answer:
It's the fact that no looting took place.
Can you imagine what it would look like if this was California or any other U.S. State. The news reporters are doing a great job reporting the catastrophe, but notice the obvious. I look to see what is and say what a great nation these Japanese people own. Americans should be so lucky.
Benefits are negotiated between the Select Board (actually our representative, the Executive Administrator) and the town's collective bargaining units. The town and several unions recently agreed to increase the town's portion of health insurance from 50% to 52% in return for the union allowing the most expensive health insurance plan to be dropped and not offered any more. The funding for this expenditure, as well as every other expenditure, must be voted by Town Meeting. The state courts have held that once the first year of a collective bargaining contract has been approved, the remaining years of the contract must be be funded.
Bill Trimble
I am not convinced that the select board can negotiate an (increase) in town insurance payment, unless it goes before town meeting, and the town voters. As it relates to negotiating town insurance, or a less expensive insurance, I agree.
I strongly advise the selectmen have town counsel review the action taken to increase the towns portion of town insurance percentage payments. I shall try and provide you with the chapter and section, as it relates to town insurance percentage payments.
Many years ago, the selectmen agreed to increase the town percentage, as it relates to town insurance percentage payments, but informed that this issue shall go before the town meeting, and if voted, before the town voters.
Bill
Can you offer any information concerning the proposed wind turbines to be erected on town property along Chase Road. It's been mentioned that certain changes have caused the town to have second thoughts. It appears the town will not receive the generated money that were once expected.
Since my last post under Post Retirement Benefit Obligations has people both asking me to run for Select board and people using innuendo to imply that I have suggested raiding enterprise funds, I will post again.
I have already explained what I was suggesting regarding enterprise funds and post retirement benefit obligations. I have simply asked the finance director to break out these liabilities into the different departments and enterprises that accrue them. No other FinCom, Select Board, or School Committee member has publicly objected to this. I would hope that everyone would want to know how much of these expenses their entity is responsible for.
I have no interest in running for Mike Watson's seat on the Select Board. Mike has a good understanding of town issues and I enjoy working with him. Besides, collectively, Town Meeting has the most authority in town government and I prefer to represent them during the process.
My previous post was not meant to "call out" Bill Trimble and Mike Watson. It was meant to get the discussion going about how we are going to pay for these huge liabilities. It is my opinion that if we act now and figure out a way to put $2-3million per year into the trust fund, we could avoid a lot of bitter fighting later on.
And Bill, Just think, if we do this and ten years from now you get your single payer health care, we'll have $20-30million for Mike to spend on our roads.
Town employee's at work
My street light went out, so I called the police department who told me to call 508910880. A week later no light. I called again, two weeks later no street light. I made another call and explained that the street light was not working and gave the pole location. Another two weeks and still no street light. One early morning, I noticed several police cars outside my house. A police captain told me that they apprehended three males in a pick up truck, who were out breaking windows. The stone throwers, all males, have been doing this for several weeks. I asked if they had been breaking street lights, but the police told me that they had not received any calls concerning street lights. I told them about my street light and they told me to call 5089101880. I explained that I have been calling but the light is never fixed.
I called NSTAR electric and they told me to call 508 9101880. Every night, I began to watch to see if my street light had been fixed, no light. I made a pole sign that read this street light is not working and stapled the sign to the pole. Another week went by, no street light.
I went to the town transfer station to dump some garbage bags and found a manikin. This manikin looked so real that when I saw it under some bags, I quickly jumped back thinking it was a dead person. I took a second look, dragged it out of the bin and put it in the back of my truck.
During the night I threw a rope over and around the street light, attaching the end around the manikins neck and raised it six feet into the air. I attached a note on the dummies chest indicated that I was attempting to fix the street light and got tangled in the rope, so please call 5089101880 because they would know me. Yes, my street light has been fixed.
Some times, no matter how screwed up things appear to be, you need to laugh or go crazy.
My street light went out, so I called the police department who told me to call 508910880.
Why did you call the police? did you think a cop was going to shimmy up the pole and fix your street light. The reason the lights are out all over town is because the town owes the company who replaces the lights big money. Do not blame the cops blame the guy who took Micheals' job, he has not a clue.
@ light out said.
You attempt to show town employees in a bad light, but the fact is the police captured 3 hooligans who were creating thousands of dollars worth of property damage. Instead of saying job well done you harp about your street light not working and how many people you spoke with to get it fixed.
Several times you were given the number of the SUBCONTRACTOR who handles street lights for town and they let you down, the right thing to do is call the Selectman's office if you do not receive satisfaction.
Stealing a mannequin from the transfer station is illegal, but that didn't stop you. Hanging it from a pole, possibly causing a distraction to drivers, is DANGEROUS and childish.
You have a problem with a subcontractor and portray it as lazy or inept town employees, that simply isn't the case. The dreaded private sector let you down, not town employees.
Barry Walker and enterprise funds.
I have already explained what I was suggesting regarding enterprise funds and post retirement benefit obligations. I have simply asked the finance director to break out these liabilities into the different departments and enterprises that accrue them. No other FinCom, Select Board, or School Committee member has publicly objected to this. I would hope that everyone would want to know how much of these expenses their entity is responsible for.
I'm of the understanding that an enterprise system funding is monies generated from users, as it relates to water and sewer, and pay as you throw. These monies can not be used for any other purpose other than capital projects, or infrastructure. Enterprise system programs are not a representation of all town property owners. As you may know, some property home owners are not water or sewer users and do not pay into the water/sewer enterprise funding. This also applies to home owners who have a private trash hauler.
Money used to fund a town wide service cost, such as post retirement benefit obligations, should be a town wide tax cost burden, and not an enterprise system cost that reflects a user vs none user fee. Enterprise system funding is based on the user......fee.
A few years ago, the select board voted to use enterprise money to to cover a town wide service budgetary shortfall. According the the A.G's. office this action was not legal.
Salaries for water and sewer department employees are charged to the applicable enterprise fund, as well as pre-retirement benefits. Why can't post retirement amounts be charged too. I think they can and should be.
March 17 @ 7:02 AM
You wreak with wrath. Don't get so uptight and take a deep breath, but slowly allow it to escape the lungs, or get back on your med's. You sound like a town employee with an ax to grind. I'm of the opinion that police are in charge of public safety. I am a tax payer with a street light that is not working during the dark hours of the night. If I have shed a bad light on a town employee, so be it. I pay into your handsome salary, and expect a service. I don't expect you to climb a pole, you may fall.
The transfer station has a large bin, where the town tax payers discharge items that they no longer value or want. Taking a manikin.......you mis-spelled the word in your post......is not a crime. If this is a crime, several town employee's at the transfer station are violators. I truly hope that while the police patrol our town at night that they contact the correct service, when they notice a street light is not working.
Nice work on apprehending those kids that were breaking windows. Nice job. Thanks for the excellent job. You people do a great town service. Lights out to all the bad guys/gals.
Bill,
If you look at the percentage breakdown from the Bristol County Retirement Fund, you will see that most other communities in the system already break out and charge back their water enterprises for their share of pension costs. This is not illegal and differs from what the anonymous political haymaker is trying to imply that I am trying to do.
I won't be explaining this anymore on the blog beyond this. Dartmouth already charges back at least some of the pension costs to the school department for those employees in the BCRS. There has been a long discussion with the Finance Director about this and I can assure you that he is on the case. I have also requested that this be put on the Fincom's next agenda. Perhaps the anonymous poster will show up and voice his concerns on thursday, but I somehow doubt it.
One more thing. I firmly believe that with discipline, sacrifice and leadership, this town can get our unfunded liabilities under control without ending up in bankruptcy mode. It is ironic that I want to do this now so we can keep our promises to the employees in the future, yet I somehow end up as the bad guy.
There have been many complaints about corporate America as well as pro-union comments on this blog. What I don't see is anyone taking responsibilty for our state of affairs. Corporations exist because we allow them to. How many union members or those supporting them buy only products made in the USA? Americans wanted "cheap" abundant products and the corporations were more than willing to supply them. Corporations that continued to manufacture in this country and paid union wages were not able to compete with imports because the American consumer chose "cheap" over pride. We have only ourselves to blame yet we demonize the corporations. How many of you own your own business? If you were on the other side of the fence, I wonder what kind of wages you would be paying? What kind of benefits would you offer? As with anything in life, there are bad apples. There are evil corporations but this is what we as a nation have created. It's very easy to throw stones but until you have invested your life savings or heart and soul into a business, you have no right to tell someone else how to run theirs.
I pay into your handsome salary, and expect a service?
It is a global economy, we all pay each others salaries. What makes you assume I am a town employee? Is it because I dare to disagree with you?
Taking a manikin.......you mis-spelled the word in your post......is not a crime?
First of all it is correctly spelled both ways. You can look it up, thanks for the attempted spelling lesson. I hope that made you feel better about belittling me.
Second, taking anything from the transfer station is LARCENY. Perhaps you would like to inform the police officer that didn't fix your light, who's salary you pay, that you stole from the town. Maybe his response will be what police officers get paid to do.
March 21 @ 11:26 PM
If Mr. Trimble allows this post to go through, it shall enlighten you and the select board that larceny is taking place at the transfer station on a scale much greater than retrieving a manikin. While at the transfer station, I noticed a former selectman driving his pick up truck onto the transfer station scale. The truck was loaded with construction materials. I pretended to be searching for additional manikins while at the same time watching the transfer station workers shaking hands and high fiving the former selectman. He drove off the scale, unloaded his truck, with the help of one town worker, drove back onto the scale. Several seconds later and the former selectman drove away. I didn't see any indication that a transfer fee was paid. It is the opinion of this observer, that the former selectman is not the only one who uses this transfer station at no cost. Is this action considered larceny?
In case you didn't know, they don't call it the Magic Kingdom for nothing. Certain members of the community are allowed to dump at the transfer station at no cost. They are either current/former town officials or friends of employees. You don't even have to be a friend if you bring the occasional six pack. This kind of corruption happens everywhere in every type of business. Unfortunately it is the taxpayers who are on the hook for the loss of revenue in this instance.
If you look at the composition of the SB 8-10 years ago, you find what was undoubtedly the lowest point in the history of government in this town. It should surprise no one that the taxpayer was always viewed as a target by the people in leadership during this period. Whatever advocacy for the taxpayer that may have occurred was by accident, not by intent. These people were at least bums, and arguably criminals. Anyone they appointed, or reappointed, should be on a review list to consider removal of whenever justified. Some of this group has been flushed out already, as we all know. There are definitely more that need to go. Defrauding the town of Transfer Station collections is just a small reminder to me of how bad it got. Thankfully, the major player in the assault of the taxpayer during this time appears to have crawled back under his rock. Hopefully, he stays there.
I wonder if the poster who has been attacking manikin is a town worker who knows about the greater offense of taking a six pack or two, for a free dump. Free dump...get it! The town administrator should inquire about the cost of having a video camera placed at the magic kingdom weight scale. This will allow the town transfer station to clean up it's act of selective dumping.
It's amazing what this town has become when we are crying about somebody not paying for dumping there trash, man what cry babys, This town was so better-off 5-10 years ago when idiots like you weren't around. I say that because I never heard such things 5 -10 years ago, where were you then what's amatter, like now you have no guts because your hiding behind the word anonymous. give me a break "go tell your mother she's calling you, piss-off cry babys. ha bill print this if you have any guts, its not disagreeable its the truth.
Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, April 5. 2011 for selectman Bill Trimble. He has performed a great service to our town and we should take the time to vote, even if he is running unopposed. Never in all my days did I ever believe that we would have four town selectmen who care more about a town, than a vote. You may have noticed that I mention four, it's because I'm not trusting Mike Watson. I get the feeling that he is controlled by a certain few, who still have a finger, or thumb in the Dartmouth political pie. I will also mention that Lara Stone should be our next chairman.
Re: March 31, 2011 12:03 PM
I trust, Mr. Trimble that you chose to let this post show in your blog as a reminder of what government in Dartmouth was 10 years ago.
If I had to choose between ignorance or arrogance to most describe Dartmouth politics, I am not sure which one would exceed the other. But they would certainly be the top two approaches used to govern the town.
If these "people" still called the shots here, we would be looking at multiple override requests all the while these "people" would be laughing at the taxpayers behind their backs. Déjà vu all over again.
Instead, we now have a professional SB that serves the town better than any I can recall.
The taxpayers in Dartmouth should recognize this and conduct themselves in a respectful manner towards those who have chosen to help lead us through these very difficult times.
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