Budget Passes Again

No surprise there -- the whole thing was basically to just correct an oversight made the first time. And again, Mayor Ken Merrifield tried to veto the measure, which again was overridden. His stance being that the City Council really didn't have the authority to override the cap under the circumstances.

Just remember to vote out the members up for re-election this year, and keep the motivation for the TEA Party alive and well in Franklin.

Budget Committee meetings are coming up starting this month. Like I said last time, there's talk of the council overriding the cap again, so make sure you go to the meetings to see what's going on.

Budget Is Getting Voted On AGAIN

City Council had voted in this budget last summer, but they have to vote on it again because they didn't advertise the budget amounts as required by law, so they have to do it again.

March 22nd, 6:30PM. Public input is encouraged.

I'm planning on being there. Make sure you are, too.

City Approves New Waste Truck

Maybe I'm not understanding something, but where is this money coming from? Especially since the city just bonded $850,000 for a recycling plant that we don't need right now.

Although it delayed the vote to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance until December, the City Council will spend an additional $98,000 on a truck to haul its own construction debris to the incinerator.

The 68000 GVW cab-and-chassis truck will replace a 2000 27000 GVW truck and will also allow the city to pick up its own snow from Central Street.

...Municipal Services Director Brian Sullivan made the recommendation after he learned that the state will not allow new construction debris to be burned in the Wheelabrator incinerators after 2011, meaning the city would have to pay an outside contractor to haul new debris as well as demolition debris.

"The [new truck] is consistent with previous City Council action to control solid-waste disposal costs and to seek out long-term solutions," Sullivan said in his written recommendation.

He said over the past 12 months, the city paid $21,500 to an outside contractor to haul demolition debris and, with the new truck and two additional 30-yard containers, the city could do it for $17,136. In two years, when the city will have to haul clean construction debris as well, he said the cost savings will be even greater.

As part of its projected switch to single-stream recycling by April 2010, the city council also needs to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance.

Petition Brought to City Council

Sorry I didn't get this in sooner -- busy week for school! Plus I have an assignment that I have to get done by tonight, so I wanted to make sure this got posted now.

There was a city council meeting this week. And the Citizen was there.

Petition calls for review of Franklin budget

Because of school I completely flaked on going to the meeting myself. But read the article to get an idea of what happened.

Letter To The Editor Roundup

These were some of the letters that were published over the past week.

I'll start off with mine, which was in The Citizen:

So, the Franklin City Council did it. They broke the will of the people and decided to go above the tax cap, despite the objections of the residents that showed up. We, the residents of Franklin, no longer have a voice in what happens in our own city. The city council proved that last night. After listening to various stories of hardship, common sense and anger, they still voted in the current budget. They weren't listening to us.

Also from The Citizen, Jeff Whitney of Franklin puts in his two cents:

Last night, I witnessed unadulterated politics without regard to the thoughts and opinions of the electorate. Make no mistake, I fully understand that this decision was not based on the needs of the city, but rather a move to break, what some see as the shackles of the tax cap. Not a single councilor gave one compelling argument for the over ride. It was a purely principled argument with a thinly veiled attempt to convince the voters, it was in the best interest of Franklin, and Councilors Rabinowitz and Andreozzi led the charge. Unfortunately the other councilors that voted for the override did not have the fortitude to fight for the right decision.

Lastly, although I am disappointed in the vote, I am particularly concerned with the contempt that Councilor Andreozzi showed to the public. She was not only condescending and haughty, but she insulted the intelligence of her constituency. Perhaps she should run for national office. I think she might fit in well. At least Councilor Rabinowitz had the decency to say nothing ... and was Councilor LeBlanc even there?

Next, from the Concord Monitor:

Where is the accountability? The Franklin City Council overrode the tax cap Monday night, after the mayor vetoed it. Councilor Glen Feener was the only member to actually listen to those who were speaking. Councilors Doug Boyd and Annette Andreozzi talked a big game, but never came through. In fact, Andreozzi decided to make sarcastic jokes during a time when there were mothers crying at the podium over being able to feed their children.

The councilors killed the American Dream in Franklin. As one resident put it, they are no better than those in Washington. Too bad they have to live with us though. The citizens appreciated the diligence and work of Feener and Mayor Ken Merrifield, the only two members of the council who have a heart and a set of ears.

DANIELLE BARKER

Franklin

And finally, so that we have another side to this debate, responses from Ward 3 councilors Gerald LeBlanc and Annette Andreozzi.

The main reason stems from an error made last year that left just under $450,000 in taxes that we were not allowed to collect. When the error was realized, a decision was made not to send out supplemental tax bills, but to cover the lost revenue from fund balance surplus.

There is no one person responsible for this error. There were mistakes, misunderstandings and lack of oversight from the NH DRA (Dept of Revenue Admin), Franklin's Finance Director (that happened to leave Franklin during this process), Franklin's Interim City Manager, our current and newly hired City Manager, City Councilors and the Mayor. -- Ward 3 Councilor Gerald LeBlanc

On a personal note about the person who is libeling me, he must not have been hearing what was said, because I made no comments to the public. Despite the hyperbole, exaggeration and misrepresentation to the contrary, I believe that the Franklin City Council took the proper approach to a difficult situation and made the correct decision to keep a good city, made up of good people, moving forward in hard times. Franklin will have a brighter future because of the hard work, dedication to task, and courage in the face of adversity displayed by my fellow officials.

It was unfortunate that the proceedings were ultimately marred with insults and profanity and volunteer city officials being subjected to taunts and jeers when they are doing the job they were elected to perform, which is make difficult decisions based on what is best for the whole city, not what is best for personal images. -- Ward 3 Councilor Annette Andreozzi

To address the bolded quotes above in their letters:

1) LeBlanc sounds like he's trying to spread the blame around.

2) Andreozzi makes it sound like people were verbally abusing them all night. I didn't hear any real boos from the audience. (although I heard one person call her an "idiot" after she proposed that the city cut the funding for snow removal and de-icing the roads, although I don't know if Andreozzi was being sarcastic about it). Heard some clapping when people agreed with a point. There was one guy that went up who went by the name John Q. Public who might have let out an expletive during his time at the podium, I don't remember. Any real shouting came from the audience members after the vote was cast, and again it was just one guy who was basically telling the city council members that voted for this that they can expect to get voted out in the next election.

So Who Voted For This, Anyway?

Come election time, remember these names and faces (except for Councilor Audet, who doesn't have a picture on the site). They are the ones who voted for this year's budget.

Ward 1

Councilor Ted Starkweather Ward 1 Term of Office January 2011 Contact Number 603-934-4693

Councilor Jerry Audet Ward 1 Term of Office January 2012 Contact Number 603-934-4100

Ward 2

Councilor Doug Boyd Ward 2 Term of Office January 2011 Contact Number 934-5520

Councilor Jay Bowers Ward 2 Term of Office January 2012 Contact Number 934-5433 Email: djb39@metrocast.net

Ward 3

Councilor Gerald LeBlanc Ward 3 Term of Office January 2011 Contact Number 934-4428

Councilor Jeffrey Rabinowitz Ward 3 Term of Office January 2010 Contact Number 934-5465

Councilor Annette Andreozzi Ward 3 Term of Office January 2012 Contact Number 934-8222

Welcome

Welcome to the second offshoot from ConChrist!

As most of you know, I'm from Franklin, NH. It's a nice enough city, albeit a little barren these days. One of the benefits of living in Franklin is that the city has a tax cap. For those of you who don't know what that is, a tax cap means that the city can not raise taxes above the cost of living. It's been in place for the past 20 years. Until this year.

Last Monday, the city councilors voted to ignore the tax cap in order to correct a revenue mistake -- the projected amount of money wasn't coming in. So in order to correct the mistake, instead of cutting the budget to make up for the shortfall, they decided to break the cap for the first time in 20 years.

At this point this rests fully on the shoulders of the city councilmen who voted for this -- the only ones on the panel that night that voted against it were Ward 2 councilor Glen Feener (my councilor), and Mayor Ken Merrifield, who vetoed the budget twice, and even tried to offer solutions to avoid the cap being broken.

One of the items they decided to cut: money to the Community Action Program, which runs most of the assistance programs in the city, which is where my husband and I go for WIC, food pantry, and fuel assistance. (considering that Franklin currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the city right now, wouldn't it be a good idea to fund THAT program?) Another program they cut funds to: Franklin Business Industrial and Development Corporation, which is in charge of bringing businesses in to Franklin.

What they didn't cut: 10 computer workstations, totaling $23,000. The first payment on a mandatory $850,000 recycling center for the city over 7 years. Four vacant positions for $316,000. An office cleaning contract for $80,000.

And I don't even know currently what's in the school budget, but judging from this it's scary.

Anyway, the point of this separate blog is to dissect issues within Franklin. Right now it's how it pertains to the budget, but also other matters as they come up that are of importance to the city. Because a TEA Party isn't all about taxes. It's about smart budgeting, and knowing where to spend the money where it's needed and hold off on things that aren't.

Believe me, I will be keeping a closer eye on this.