NOTES
1. We were wondering whether the various Cities will purchase, that is right folks, purchase, the so called “Certificate of Excellence,” sold by their Financial Officers Association. We reproduce the note published about this last year when we uncovered the scam and the high cost of putting that little squib in front of your financial report. The City and the Utilities Commission pay for these bogus certifications that seem to be issued to anyone who ponies up the fee. It seems by the way that all of the municipalities think throwing this money away makes sense, because most of them do. No problem, its only taxpayer money!
2. We thought you would like this quote from Randy Richenberg's web site:
"Our police and firefighters won´t be able to afford a house in New Smyrna," Richenberg said. (Daytona Beach News Journal, Oct 8, 2005). Cindy Richenberg, his wife who is the highest paid New Smyrna Beach fire department lieutenant, was only receiving a salary of about $84,000 (now $91,000) when he made this statement to the News Journal. We van only provide the information, you must draw pictures.
1. One of the notables in town who wants to tear down the perfectly sound but insignificantly discolored Pavilion at the Beach and Flagler thinks that anything short of wrecking it is nothing more than a band aid. Would someone tell the City Public Works Director that painting a structure needing only a coat of paint is useless? He was dumb enough to think it should be fixed. Never heard that a bucket of paint was a band-aid. Jack Benny was right: trade the car in if the ashtray is full. Tear it down if it needs painting.
2. The paper in Daytona that throws advertisements onto your doorway is at it again. How many of its readers realized that when Lynn Plaskett's job was abolished the hourly wage ($28) used to describe her salary translated into $57,000 a year and that with benefits, she cost the City of Edgewater taxpayers almost $80,000 a year for a non-job. By using an hourly wage figure, they totally obfuscated the fact that abolishing her position and the Assistant City Manager position, the City of Edgewater is saving almost $200,000 annually. This is the same as the dishonest juxtaposing pictures of convicted felons with employees who have been politically accused by possibly corrupt politicians with mis-management, as was done with former UC employees. How you post the story tells more about who you are than the news. Let us state it clearly; Lynn Plaskett will be removed from a job that cost Edgewater taxpayers $57,000 in salary, and $23,000 a year in benefits, effective May 31. Since they enjoy the subterfuge of trying to diminish the value of Ms Plaskett’s salary, perhaps they should suggest that kids at McDonald's be paid $28 dollars an hour. They probably have a greater need for the money than does she.
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May 21st, 2007
DEAR JOHN
We know of the limited resources available to John Hagood, the City Manager, and to his inability to get all of the important letters written that he would like to send. So we decided to help him and provide him drafts that will simplify his tasks and free him up for important.
[WE HAVE BEEN ALERTED THAT THE CITY MANAGER HAS NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO COPY, SIGN, AND MAIL THE HELPFUL LETTERS WE HAVE PROVIDED HIM OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS. FURTHERMORE, HE IS CURRENTLY TRYING TO PREPARE NEXT YEAR’S BUDGET, WITH THE HELP OF HIS DEPARTMENT HEADS, NONE OF WHOM WANT TO GIVE UP A DIME. SO TO RELIEVE SOME OF THE PRESSURE FROM HIM TO SEND OUT THESE LETTERS IN A TIMELY MANNER, WE HAVE DECIDED TO FORWARD COPIES TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT SO THAT THEY WILL BE ALERTED TO WHAT JOHN WILL EVENTUALLY SEND THEM OFFICIALLY.]
May 21, 2007
Robert Rodi, General Manager/CEO
Utilities Commission, City of New Smyrna Beach
200 Canal Street
P.O. Box 100, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170
Dear Bob,
It has come to my attention that you will be recommending generous pay increases for a number of your more critical job categories. I just wanted to let you know that the City tried that over the past few years when money was plentiful, and it continues to cause us problems with our constituents. I also understand that you have no reserves, and are considering another rate increase. I‘m sure you are aware there will be a money crunch next year for both of us, and I suggest a more conservative approach to spending would be in your best interest. Remember, two of your Commissioners are up for reappointment and my Commission must approve your budget. Of course, we don’t mean to interfere in your business since you are doing so well. Nevertheless, we must make appearances to our voters. Don’t forget the City’s 6% in your budget calculations.
If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Your fervent supporter,
John Hagood, City Manager
City of New Smyrna Beach
Administrative Office Building
120 North Causeway
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168-9985
POLICE ZONES, DARE, AND PAL
Police patrols are normally set up with zones, which are defined territories in an area where a patrolman or police car are assigned. In a high crime area, the zone would be small, whereas in a low crime area or rural area, the zone would range from large to huge. The need for zone coverage in many cases changes due to the time of day, the frequency of crimes in the area, and the overall needs of a community. One would expect to have more of a police presence between 10 PM Saturday night and 2 AM Sunday morning than between 10 AM Sunday morning and 8 PM Sunday evening. Thus on Saturday night you might have four cars covering each of four zones while on Sunday afternoon, two vehicles might cover two zones each.
Today, many cities adjust zones so that instead of having five patrol cars on the street Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon, you would have only two Sunday afternoon zones. Here in New Smyrna Beach on a Sunday afternoon each of the two units would patrol two and half zones, thus reducing your 24 hour shifts costs from 10 patrols to 7 patrols (on 12 hour days the adjustment means that you need three less patrolman per 24 hour cycle). Now your contingency plan is that during the two patrol zone set up Sunday afternoon, you have “backup” alternatives utilizing supervisors, citizen patrols, reserve officers, or on-call officers. Now look at what happens during the week, other than the example already given. If the statistics show that, there are almost no police calls on say Wednesdays between 9 AM and 5 PM, you can reduce by one or two zones, and eliminate the need for two patrol cars to be on the street. Of course, there are other reasons for police presence on the street, such as speed control on the South Causeway, and other sundry police oriented duties. However, the point is that by expanding and contracting the zones to match the ebb and flow of demand for police presence, very large savings can be achieved with no loss of public safety. Someone suggested on the bulletin board that there were in fact seven zones, but we think only five are covered.
The Volusia County Sheriff's office does not vary the number and size of zones and uses 12 hour shifts. This is because each officer covers a large physical territory, and expanding or contracting zones inordinately affects response time. However, this is not the case in a compact urban setting where the response time is still measured in just a few minutes wherever the patrol car is needed.
Turning to the practice of using highly trained and expensive policeman for non traditional law enforcement activities, we consider DARE and PAL. Providing positive male role models for the schools could be achieved with any number of other employees at a fraction of the cost. A trained, sworn police officer is not needed to teach boxing, a manly sport. While this traditionally has been a specialty of the police department, there is no question it is a frill, and there is no a valid reason for the City to provide this service in a School Board operated facility. Since there is a need for Deputy Sheriffs in the schools, let them provide that service. The additional expense of having the City’s highly trained law enforcement personnel involved in ineffective programs is unwarranted.
As far as DARE is concerned, you do not need a police officer to tell middle and high school kids that drugs are bad. The real issue is how to shut down the drug trade, and merely telling kids not to use drugs is like telling them not to have sex. They do not seem to listen, and paying a trained policeman to carry the message does not seem to be working either. Just like busting the casual user and cluttering up the jails with this type of offender does not appear productive, neither is DARE. You can not fault the concept, because there is no way to quantify how many kids would have used drugs but for DARE but recent studies on sexual promiscuity seem to indicate that preaching to the kids and having them promise to remain celebrate does not change the statistics nor their proclivity for having sex. Nor does it appear that it works for drugs
Parental involvement and supervision seems to be one of the best answers to these problems, and using expensive police resources do not produce the desired results. In fact, it does not even seem to be incrementally helpful.
Just for the record, no one suggested that trained police dogs ride in the front seat of a Honda, although many dogs do ride in the front seat of small cars. It was suggested that the back seat of any number of cars, including the Honda Prius, the picture the Shadow posted a week or two ago, would be perfectly acceptable. And again, just for the record, police dogs only attack on command, in German, and that is why when a sleeping homeless man was attacked in Ft Lauderdale by a K9 dog the homeless man was paid big money and we think that a few of the K9 personnel left town.
Editorial: A Scarlett Letter
The idea that there is a voice in town that does not hide the issues or facts appears to bother many in the old boy network, and particularly the fire and police unions. They do not want you to listen to that voice, your eyes might be opened to reality, and that is not in their best interest. They want you to rely upon the local newspapers that have yet to show they care about controversial issues facing the community, and, worse, aid and abet those who wish to hide illegal, immoral, and unethical activities carried out under the guise of City and County government, and shielded from public view. If they can convince you that the Shadow has nothing to say, and you return to the state of being uninformed, they can go back to business and spending as usual. They do not want you to examine the facts and issues. Therefore, their only recourse is to try to kill the messenger in the hope that you will not obtain and examine the facts or force them to address those issues. The latest attempt is an anonymous scurrilous letter. So what? No one cares if they make scurrilous attacks that are baseless. We know that the elected officials can not undo all of the unfortunate consequences of past bad decisions, but they can try to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. What seems to bug the union hierarchy is that citizens do care that there are people trying to stop the dissemination of facts. The publisher having spent 25 years trying to solve big problems affecting the body politic, found it frustrating to see how these issues were ignored in Volusia County. Ergo the Shadow. Our objective is better government for everyone. Scurrilous attacks and baseless and untrue allegations against the publisher or his wife will not achieve their purpose. As they say in the trade, scurrilous attacks by experts are not any more important than scurrilous attacks by morons!
REGISTER TO VOTE, VOTE, VOTE
THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE CANNOT MAKE A DECISION ABOUT HOW TO COLLECT AND SPEND YOUR TAX MONEY. YOU CAN MAKE THAT DECISION BY VOTING FOR REFERENDA AND YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT VOTE IF YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED. REGISTER TODAY. IT IS EASY. CALL ANN MCFALL,THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS IN NSB AT 423-3311, OR GO TO HER WEB SITE http://volusia.org/elections/reginfo.htm#voter TO FIND OUT HOW. THE SHADOW KNOWS! HE, HE, HE
VOTERS LAMENT
The following comments were made at a recent City Commission meeting. No, this was not New Smyrna Beach, this was DeLand.
Here we go again; the first thing all politicians do is threaten us with loss of police and closure of our recreation areas.
So its ok for the city budget to jump almost $50 million in a couple of years but they cant figure out how to trim $2 million. Give me a break. Stop trying to scare people
A cutback in Downtown Festivals??!! Please NO, Please NO. My life can't go on without these festivals. Raise taxes, do anything, but put these festivals back on the agenda. How will DeLand go on?
All I can say is: "...The city budget jumped from $41.6 million in 2004-05 to almost $90 million this year."
Does anybody else see something wrong with this?
Here we go again, cities and counties running out of money. They throw more money away than they do good with. All of their retirements and benefits cost the taxpayers and workers millions of dollars each and every year.
They never seem to care how it affects the citizen when they take most of their money!
Give me a break. Will anyone fall for this?
Hey Florida, wake up. You cannot keep overtaxing the population and then worry that you have to cut ballroom dancing when the tax becomes unbearable.
The sky is falling, The sky is falling. Run for your lives county and city commissioners. The taxpayers and our Legislators are about to put you on a diet.
Yes, it is time to control run away costs. All must reduce costs. Property taxes are out of control and, if not corrected, the State will have it's economy greatly impacted.
It would be possible to suggest that the same complaints could be made all over the County. If you care, please telephone (424-2100) and ask for the New Smyrna Beach elected official of your choice and tell them you have a view. Or show up at a Commission meeting and tell them in person in your thee minutes of allotted time. Say nothing, do nothing, and do not register to vote and you are agreeing that business as usual is what you want. Your choice!
“Best Blog of the Week”
(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
A POTPOURRI OF CITIZEN COMMENTS IS
AGAIN PROVIDED THIS WEEK IN ORDER
FOR YOU TO GET IN TUNE WITH THE
MOOD OF OUR READERS
Tuesday, 5/15/07, 7:39 AM
The reason the FBI did a two-year undercover sting operation at the Pagano's old police department is they knew what was going on and could not get them any other way. That means that the officers on the inside would not rat out the corruption. It probably took the Justice Department two years to set up the sting. That means at the same time the city was hiring Pagano the Department of Justice was planning its raid on Pagano's police department. Pagano was a big wig in the Hollywood Police Department. What did Pagano know about the corruption? Has he been helping the FBI? He is New Smyrna Beach top cop. Trading Pagano for Ben Johnson looks like it might be more than a smart business deal.
Tuesday, 5/15/07, 8:16 AM
I brought this up many months ago, but it obviously didn't get through to the self-serving. Development on the beach needs to be stopped and when possible, reversed. Last year we were lucky to not have a hurricane situation, but REMEMBER when there was no beach... It's sad, and it will be too late, but I guess the only way that some will see the light is for us to have 2, 3 or 4 years in a row where the beach is washed away. The lack of this draw will cause tourism to fall dramatically, and some will never return. Without the tourist dollars, many small businesses will fail and have to close. People won't be as interested in living here without the beach, so building will slow to a crawl. The city economy depends on the beach. The city CANNOT survive on the condo owners dollars alone. Richenberg has a vision for the FUTURE of the city, while the developers just want to line their pockets. They have no concern or care about the future of our city. They'll be off to a another city, new dollars, while we (the permanent residents) are left with the destruction. Too bad, we don't have more people who can see the greater good.
Wednesday, 5/16/07, 7:31 AM
Interesting reading on the UC's upcoming meeting with the city commission on its next year budget. Rodi says big raises needed to keep employees? How can that be we are in a building bust? I wonder if the City Commission is going to put the heat on the UC for losing millions of dollars by not selling the land west of town during the building boom. That land is currently worth nothing. The news urinal reporter is pathetic with her coverage
Wednesday, 5/16/07, 6:17 AM
Pension Plans are costing the taxpayers a fortune-and the idea that this is OK because a portion of that comes from the "State" doesn't make it any better at all.......Where in hell does C Thomas think the "State" got that money? FROM THE TAXPAYERS! Now as far as the City's Pensions-look at the numbers! If the City is going to be forced to roll back to 2001-2003 or 2004, why aren't they looking at cutting the pension plans, or increasing the employees share of the cost of these plans? The FD personnel only contribute one half of one percent of their salary to their own pensions! Of course that means the taxpayers are paying for it! ONE OTHER NOTE; Did anybody ever wonder how FD was able to get a 6.5 % raise, and have their pension plan contributions reduced from 8 percent to one half of one percent-all at the same time? That is effectively a 14 percent raise! When inflation is running 3 percent. THIS IS FLEECING THE TAXPAYERS!
Tuesday, 5/15/07, 6:48 PM
In 2001, the taxpayers of NSB spent $104,000 for our Police Officers Pension Plan, while the State "gave" us $98,000. Of course, the money the State "gave" us came from a surcharge on OUR insurance policies............In 2005, the taxpayers of NSB spent $394,000 for our Police Officers Pension Plan, and while the State "gave" us $147,000..............The Fire Department is even worse! In 2001, the taxpayers of NSB spent $200,000 for our Firefighter's Pension Plan, while the State "gave" us $104,000. But, in 2005, the taxpayers of NSB spent $695,000 for our Firefighter's Pension Plan, while the State "gave" us $169,000. PS. THE STATE NEVER GAVE "US" ANYTHING! They have simply redirected OUR money back to our City's Police and Firefighter's Pension Plans! Think about it! Every time you see your Property Tax Insurance Bill; part of that total bill goes to the State; and then they sent it back to the City's pension plans! SO WHO DO YOU THINK IS PAYING FOR THIS? WE ARE!
Tuesday, 5/15/07, 6:07 PM
If they are going to cut the budget, they need to start at the top. So of the folks that are making 45,000 or higher, they need to take a cut to save the worker in the public works Dept, the park and rec Dept, Those Workers only make around 26,000 a year, Those are the folks that work, so if they are going to cut the budget and put a hiring freeze. Than they need to come out of their A/C offices and grab a shovel or a rake, a weed eater and a mower and come out and help them catch up on the work. I see these folks working all over town, and they need some one to help them catch up.
MORGAN'S BAD SOLUTION ON TAXES
Morgan Gilreath is the elected County Property Appraiser for Volusia County. We have a large number of issues with him, not limited to his refusal to properly assess the Angler's Club property in New Smyrna Beach and his inflated appraisals for property in 2006 predicated on May of 2005 sales prices. Nevertheless, the problem we are addressing today is his suggestion that locks in place the spending spree of County and municipal governments over the last several years and provides yet another stream of revenue for increased and unbridled spending.
In his letter of January 6, 2007, that we believe was delivered as a paper to a convention of County property appraisers, he advocated a tax scheme that would permit a continuation of the tax and spend mentality that has brought us the current debacle. The paper is certainly worth reading since it very clearly sets out the issues that must be addressed. A link to his paper is provided (link). We recommend that you read, it, analyze it, and draw your own conclusions. However, several of Mr. Gilreath’s suggestions are highly questionable, like not using “best use” evaluations for marine properties, and his overly generous spending limitation proposal that, in our opinion, will not achieve its purpose. Mr. Gilreath states:
“Proposal #3: Create a spending cap on local government ad valorem revenues from one year to the next. My (Gilreath) recommendation is that “annual increases in each taxing authority budget be limited to the roll-back millage rate plus the current year’s January 1st Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3%.” Provisions need to be added to allow for how a jurisdiction adds additional revenues (i.e. a referendum, a super-majority vote, etc.). Provisions for particular Capital Expense items are an additional area for discussion. If this spending limitation had been in place on Volusia County’s 40+ taxing authorities for the past five years, our average millage rate would be 16 mills instead of 20 mills!
[See Senate Bill (SB) 220, Senator Evelyn Lynn, which places the cap at rollback, plus CPI plus 3% or the taxing authority forfeits sales tax revenues from the state. This methodology would allow the cap to be immediately in effect without a constitutional amendment.]”
This formula builds on what has already occurred and means that you are stuck with the transgressions of the past. Those excesses over the last few years have become the current tax base. The increases he chooses to permit in the future use this bloated base as their foundation, and are very significant. Last year there was a 4.1% inflation factor and he is proposing a 3% increase over this 4.1% ---in other words a 7.1% increase. There is no reason why we should give additional tax revenue to Counties and Cities in excess of the CPI. The objective should be for them to disgorge the government personnel that were needlessly added, and the pay raises and pensions that were improvidently granted. In New Smyrna Beach, the process has started with the departure of several high level administrative officials. They need to curb the excessive employee compensation and benefits packages, particularly the grade creep and management bloat at both the fire and police department. These were put in place and funded through property tax increases that far exceeded the cost of inflation or the need for services stimulated by population growth. The Gilreath plan to give them a 3% additional kicker is simply inconsiderate of the taxpayer. Over a four year period using a 4.1% CPI, the total tax burden would be almost 30%. Project your pay for the next four years and determine for your self if you are likely to realize a pay increase that is adjusted for inflation +3%.
We think the Gilreath proposal on this issue is a bummer.
SOCIALLY USEFUL UNAUTHORIZED SPENDING
We were thinking about all of the money that Bert Fish collects from taxpayers and then gives to the City of New Smyrna Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. The County then ponies up matching funds. We think that in the near future, these funds will be allocated to build a new parking garage for Bert Fish Hospital by claiming that the property just east of the hospital structure is “blighted,” and that CRA money should be used to build the parking garage. We have a better idea. If there is to be an inappropriate expenditure of funds, we would rather it be used to screen Medicaid recipients for colorectal and breast cancer.
Here is what we have in mind. There are proposed testing standards for these diseases, and the earlier it is discovered that a person has cancer the easier the treatment and the better survival rate. Routine screening is the key, and as we understand the situation today, routine screening is not done for a significant a number of the lower income element of our population. We think that the inappropriate use of funds for a socially useful purpose is better than for a socially useless project. If you consider what is best for the population as a whole, it is irrefutable that socially useful is better than just throwing money at inappropriate projects that are not in a blighted area and can not be justified as expenses for fixing up blighted areas. Now take the Captain’s Quarters dredging. That area is not blighted and the dredging, if it ever should occur, would not help the Island Town Center. Whoops, wrong Canal and that was Ponce Inlet Money. However, the point is that we could use the money to save lives.
UTILITIES COMMISSION SPIN
There is a green card in the envelope that delivered your Utilities Commission bill this month. It is public relations special and can only be described as consummate “spin.” It reiterates that what the Shadow stated a week or two ago was correct, fuel adjustment charges are an automatic pass through for both increases and decreases, and making it appear that the Utility Commission is giving the ratepayer a reduction when the reduction operates as a matter of law, is a fraud. OK, the spin master, who we assume is the “reporter” that the Utilities Commission hired from the New Journal, states that we could have kept the money because the “account” was still short and “we did not have to let the adjustment take place automatically.”
Now this is an interesting concept, because if the account is properly handled, it can be neither lean nor fat. It is adjusted quarterly and must be accurate within the three month period where the adjustment applies. We are wondering whether these funds were depleted by improperly “borrowing” from that account and then claiming that it is short. Nonsense! It is never supposed to be either heavy or light, and if the UC claims that they are not collecting money that should be collected, they are violating their tariff. We think the State regulatory officials should investigate. By their own admission, they are improperly manipulating.
However, we are pleases to know that someone at the Utility Commission reads the Shadow.
