September 14th, 2009
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1. Seminole County Scotched Its Storm Water Tax.
In New Smyrna Beach also have a storm water trust fund. Most of the time they use the account as a piggy bank and you cannot determine how much money is in it or is supposed to be in it. Great system.
2. THE SO-CALLED SOUTH
BEACH ASSOCIATION
Every once in a while someone sets up an organization, gives it a fancy name, and claims he represents the entire Community. The couple of people around Hill street who engineered the disastrous re-zoning of Beach side property now claim they represent all three miles of South Beach. Nonsense. It is at best a small Hill Street bunch which is anti-growth pushes Randy. But they will be in your face to support Randy. They also are making the City be in court with a case that Gummey apparently does not think he can win. In all likelihood the Court will throw out the bad zoning.
3. THE BATTLE CRY OF THE ANGLER’S CLUB
Cheap boat slips. We own the City. We are the white elite, ask us!
“Best Blogs 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
9/8/2009, 9:49 am
Oh, Henry Fredrick
Yes, Henry you did hijack the debates. All the candidates got softball questions and the public did not learn very much about the candidates. The problem is that if a candidate for city commissioner cannot handle tough questions, how he is going to handle tough decisions. So let’s get real Henry Fredrick. The reason you hijacked the debate was to protect your employer’s (Pete Mallory) candidate for Mayor Adam Barringer from tough questions about the Angler’s Club. I guess we can give you a George W. Bush mission accomplished slap on the back for that one. Also, your racist friends in the police department would not like any tough questions about their conduct coming from the Channel 9 reporter. You are like every other reporter in every a hick town in America. You are an embarrassment to your profession.
9/8/2009, 11:36 pm
NSBConcerned
The commission just does not get it. The only way to cut the budget is to cut salaries and overtime. But the unions have built-in overtime, some of which the city can avoid as the FSLA does not require it, especially for police between 80 and 86 hours, which they rack up every two weeks. Grasty and company have promised the unions they will take care of them and got their endorsement. That should be enough for most citizens.
The Commission tries to scare us with threats of cutting services, especially Sally and Grasty, but the reality is that pay cuts do not cut services as the workers remain and I do not think the police and fire officers will quit as there are many more waiting in line to take their jobs; look at what just happened in Miami-Dade. The City is in the driver's seat regarding employees but they lack the guts to address the issue. Most importantly it better positions us for the 2011 budget as our personnel cost shave been reduced. Jack can take his swan song litany about hoses and pumps and sing it to his fire buddies at the fire station over donuts.
The new City Manager is a very big disappointment with her attempt at diverting focus on the budget with her stabilization mumbo jumbo. She also talked down to the citizens this evening at the Commission meeting and frankly could care less for anything but her job, which she must protect as she is a temp employee. She doodled through much of the citizen input, apparently indicating that she could care less for their input; not a good start (several people saw and commented on this behavior) But remember she has not had a job in 1.5 years and her background, as published by the City, is filled with comments that she irritates citizens and looks down on them. So we got what we were willing to pay for in her fire sale offer. She is not the savior that we need here in NSB, nor that which Sally praises over and over. She is better than Hagood in the brains department, but she needs to learn who her employer is and that employer is the taxpayer. So wake up Pam and understand who you work for.
So we are at 3.74; it needs to go lower and can go lower with pay cuts. Lets start with all city employees above $35,000 base pay for openers. As to the unions just declare impasse and negate the contracts, or in the case of the take home cars execute the already written in exit for the city and declare a budget crisis, invalidating all of the car deals. Let’s get the cars back in NSB and not Titusville. But first let’s get Gummy for at least $20,000 by cutting his pay by 20%; we save the $20,00 plus about 22% in fringe.
Makes sense to me!!!!!!
9/7/2009, 10:13 am
Epole
Flash - a new rumor from the city water cooler. If you can believe scuttlebutt there is a special story afoot. This tale of rumor starts as Queen Silly, Duke dandy and other notables are consorting ways to promote the MDC wish of having the old high school as their lair. One building in the rear of the property is less damaged than the others. This would make a wonderful place to teach the non college bound kids repair cars, work on electronics, Etc, etc. Supposedly there was even a volunteer to teach. Orders were given that the usable tables, chairs and such be gathered and placed in the building in preparation for the classes. Although the building had no electric, running water or sewage the task began. City employees, in city vehicles, on city time completed stocking the building with equipment from other old high school buildings. These classes were to show how valuable a resource this could be. If true this was not thought through very well. No ventilation, no certificate for occupancy, no insurance, no way of this ever happening. Once again, if true, how many other ways is city tax money being spent? And by the way, all incumbents are pleased to tell you how low your city tax contribution is. Well guess what? YOU HAVE TO ADD THE CRA , HOSPITAL AND ALL OTHER FUNDS COMING INTO NSB FROM THE COUNTY AND STATE. THIS IS STILL TAX YOU PAY!
9/9/2009, 2:17 pm
Not Fair!
The median income for a household in the city was $35,372, and the median income for a family was $43,409. Males had a median income of $29,544 versus $25,706 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,547. About 7.3% of families and 10.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.
The median income for a city employee is 43,000. the median income for a firefighter is $60,000. The median income for a cop is $53,000. The city employees make more than the people who pay their salaries.
NOTES
1. The NSB Bond Rating—A is not very good
Sally is making a big deal the city recently had its bond rating moved from A to A+. You have to understand an A rated bond is really a C investment grade bond.
AAA = Highest Quality or an "A"
AA = High Quality or a "B"
A = Upper Medium or a "C"
BBB = medium or a "D"
All the mortgage backed securities were rated AAA. Because or the likelihood of default on municipal bonds due to unfunded pension liabilities and the ability of municipalities to go bankrupt, the collapse in municipal bond fund market is seen as a very real possibility.
2. RANDY’S SURFBOARD BUSINESS ? WE THINK DEAD AND BURRIED.
There is an article that was published in the Volusia County News Letter where Randy Richenberg spoke about his great surfboard business. We think that while he may have had a thriving business in the distant past, today it is mostly a mirage. Maybe someone works there occasionally, but as a business it looks like it is a total bust.
He has an occupational license as a wholesale distributor of surfboards at 424 W. Park Avenue ($40.52 annually). According to Edgewater, there is no authority at that location to manufacture or refurbish surfboards. Then there is the question of whether he ever employed anyone, since our information is that he had “independent contractors” to whom he rented space. That way the “employee” is given a IRS form 1099 and is responsible for all taxes such as Social Security, Medicare, etc, and there is no worker’s compensation paid by Randy.The Shadow thinks he essentially shut down most operations in Edgewater a long time ago, that he might sell a couple of surfboards these days through a shop in the Daytona area (see his cell phone calls), and that the interview was no more than an effort to make you think he was not living off his wife’s pension. So much for the successful businessman. We think that the article is a stretch. Have a laugh , see the LINK.
3. BOAT AND SKI
Look, Boat and Ski also has a good deal, but compared to the Angler’s Club they look like an ant next to an elephant. Moreover, they have made it plain that they have no objection to paying Market Rates for their City owned facility. Of course they had a good deal at the rest of the taxpayers expense for years , but they are big spenders when compared to the Angler’s Club and the leeches at the Chamber of Commerce. They are family oriented and have no abhorrent and obnoxious restrictions on membership. Keep in mind that today most jurisdictions in this Country would not rent to a ‘Club’ like the Angler’s Club, much less work out a sweetheart deal .
4. THE ORLANDO SENTINEL (PAGE THREE OF LOCAL,9/9/09) IS DEAD WRONG.
There is a 22% tax increase. What the City “gave up” was an additional 5% increase on top of the 22% increase. So the Sentinel quotes Sally as saying we are a ‘conservative City’ while she sticks a 22% tax increase on the tax payers. Their reporter technically is correct, because ‘roll back’ is a polite way of the elected officials to lie when property values decline. But the Sentinel should have had a headline that said it was a 22% increase in taxes over last year. Even the Hometown News got it right.
DEAR PAM
As we have stated in the past, we realize that the City Manager is limited in the resources available to her for pursuing cost reduction projects, so we have decided to help her out and provide draft letters for her review. As we have said, this will free her up for important things, like dealing with all the serious problems of the police and fire department pensions.
Dear Sally,
We do not have the slightest idea of our future obligations under the current arrangement where all of our fire and police employees are promoted to management , are given a lot of overtime, and retire with huge pensions after just a limited number of years of service. You know, the Cindy Richenberg poster model of what is wrong with the system. Can I ask an accounting firm to do the study now, or should I wait until after the election?
Pam
CANDIDATES WHO WILL VOTE UNION
Sally Mackay
Randy Richenberg
Jack Grasty
Steve Sather
Solidarity for the union masses; $60,000 salaries; $64,000
pensions; New Lazy Boys?
THE POSITION OF THE CANDIDATES
These texting size squibs last week of how we frame the current positions of the incumbents and why the Shadow believes the incumbents should not be retained . The current incumbents have created a track record whereas we have extrapolated the positions of the other six from their websites and public statements. We are also repeating the squibs for the incumbents published last week.
MAYOR
Mayor Mackay
I will do better than my last two disastrous years. I cannot run a meeting and do not have a college degree( “Well, they do not give diplomas in England”—latest statement?). Despite my application to the Zoning and Planning Board, I do not have a Master’s Degree either. I have made deals with the employee unions and the Angler’s Club that sell out the City taxpayers. I will not reduce City expenditures and will not cut City employment. I am anti-growth and believe in subsidies for all sorts of favored groups. My website, the new one that says what I have accomplished, is a creative writing exercise. My explanations of my education change weekly.
Marilee Walters
I am running to protect the taxpayers. I am not Sally Mackay who is owned by the City employee Unions. I am not Adam Barringer who is running solely to protect the rip-off of the taxpayers by the Angler’s Club. I will work diligently for the taxpayers and cut expenses and not raise taxes. I am for rationale growth and development. Voting for me is voting to change the system and live within our means.
Adam Barringer
I am running to get a better lease for my club. I belong to the Angler’s Club and they are supporting me as their candidate. But, I am presentable and personable, hope I can learn on the job about the issues confronting the City, and am dedicated to reasonable growth. I do not lie and I am better than Sally.
DISTRICT 1
Randy Richenberg
I have enjoyed spending your money. “The worst vote I made last year was not voting to raise taxes”. More taxes should have been raised so I could spend more of your money. I will raises taxes this year by 22%. Paying my wife’s $64,000 pension, giving money to preferred friends, anti-growth, buying unneeded property at inflated prices, and protecting the pay pensions, and benefits of all the union employees is more important than taxpayers. I originally voted for a 27% tax increase.
Judy Reiker
I am the right candidate because I am a part of the City business community. I am supported by the Angler’s Club, The Chamber of Commerce, and the Real Estate industry. I have both an undergraduate and master’s degree. Regardless of the fact that I am a part of the system, I am not Randy Richenberg. I understand the City’s problems and will fix them.
Frank Dalton
I am a candidate dedicated to protect the taxpayers and restore a reasonable growth attitude. I will not raise property taxes, will reduce public expenditures, get market rates for leased City property and return reasonable growth as a necessary element of City policy. Voting for me is voting to change the system and live within our means.
DISTRICT 2
Jack Grasty
I want to remain one of the flacks for the City Unions and the Angler’s Club. I am in the pocket of the special interests in the City and proud of it. The Angler’s Club should be left alone and no effort should be made to reign in the pay, pensions or benefits of City employees. I voted for the 27% tax increase. I also voted for every pay increase for City employees, every property purchase at inflated prices, and every payment to the Marine Discovery Center such as buying kayaks. I am not running on my good looks or intelligence, but on my being a good ‘ole boy.
Palmer Wilson
I want to reform the City government and protect the taxpayers. We must reform the City police and Fire departments while assuring decent first response, reduce expenses, limit property and other taxes, return to a reasonable growth posture, and get market rate returns on any City owned rental properties. I am not a union buster and seek to make the organization and employees more efficient. Voting for me is voting to change the system and live within our means.
Steve Sather
In a recent Blog to the Shadow he chided the Shadow for stating that he had specific positions on various issues confronting the City and stated that:
“The first responsibility a commissioner has to the taxpayer is budget.
I have never taken a position for or against the unions.
My position is that the city must always spend only within its means. How to balance the budget without reducing services or sacrificing public safety is the most important issue.”
Steve Sather has served on many City Boards and has been an active participant in City politics.
WEBSITES OF CANDIDATES
New and Corrected
FOR MAYOR
Sally Mackay -----sallymackayformayor.com
Marilee Walters-- marileeformayor.com
Adam Barringer---adambarringerformayor.com
FOR COMMISSIONER ZONE TWO
Jack Grasty -------
Palmer Wilson --- www.palmerwilsonfornsbcommissioner.com
Steve Sather ----- www.stevesather.com
FOR COMMISIONER ZONE ONE
Randy Richenberg-
Judy Reichert ------- voteforjudynsb.com
Frank Dalton--------- frankdaltonforcommissioner.com
These will be updated as new information is received.
The Unions’ “win-win” strategy. The math is simple. If either Adam Barringer or Sally Mackay wins, the Unions have the three votes to protect their bloated pay, pension and benefits package. Adam Barringer or Sally Mackay voting with Lynn Plasket and Jim Hathaway make the magic “three”. The disaster for them is if Marilee Walter, Palmer Wilson or Judy Reiker or Frank Dalton all win. An added insult to them would be their pet dog Randy Richenberg losing.
So looking at the math, the Unions win if either of their candidates wins as Mayor. It also wins if neither of their candidates for Mayor wins but one of the Union lap dogs, Richenberg or Grasty, holds onto their seats. Jim Hathaway talks a good case, but he is not a reliable vote for reform.
Moreover, the fireman and police Unions have figure out how to help Sally get reelected: support Barringer. What a joke. Sally has delivered in the tough times, but they know that open support by them this year could be the kiss of death. They will publically state they support Barringer and privately give money and vote for good old Sally. But the way they do the math, the only one that would hurt them in the Mayoral race is Marilee Walter. See if this year there is a $500 contribution to Sally from a flat over a Boston fire station. As to Randy and Jack, look for the Union members holding out signs on U.S. Route 1. Or maybe they will help those two out by not showing up this year with signs.
VOTE THE PRIMARY ELECTION IS SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 VOTE
VOTE THE BUMS OUT!!!
THE CRY OF TAXPAYERS WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN MISLED AND OVER TAXED
THEY VOTED A 22% PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
FLASH ON SALLY: New Information on that phony Master’s of Education claim. The following exchange between an esteemed reader and the Anglican Diocese in Somerset England (Bath) says it all (Sally’s claimed education is in the graphic below):
“I have been in touch with a colleague at the University of Nottingham, UK. I asked him to investigate the College of Bath and Wells. He says it does not exist. I expect to hear from the communications officer, Karen Bowers, at the Diocese of Bath and Wells, Somerset, UK, to whom I've addressed the matter:
Is there or has there ever been a College of Bath and Wells? (She was out of the office until tomorrow.)”
This is from the Diocese of Bath and Wells, Somerset, UK.
[Note my question: Is there and has there ever been a College of Bath and Wells?]
Original Reply Message
From: Karen Bowers <karen.bowers@bathwells.anglican.org>
“No, there was a Wells Theological College which served the Diocese of Bath & Wells as well as the wider church.”
Why Sally should not be reelected
Her lack of education, her efforts to dissemble about it, and her changing statements about her lack of education are sufficient to not reelect her. It is her integrity that is missing.
As the layers of misinformation about her education have surfaced, all from her own statements, she has changed her story many times.
Then add her putrid performance in handling the problems of New Smyrna Beach. She has refused to follow through in demanding or imposing rational cuts in pay, pensions, and benefits of City employees.
Her position of anti-growth, as seen as recently as two weeks ago, where she tried to get the County to extend her anti-growth philosophy to Port Orange shows her real stripe. But then look at her web site where she says she is for “enterprise zones” and for incentives for new business. It is a joke. Think of how she killed Wal-Mart, Lowes, and Ruby Tuesday, just to name the latest victims of her real agenda. Now she steals her opponents positions and claims she is pro-growth.
Her new pitch is that she has vision and will fix the City’s problems. Click on the City W-2s below. They are 2008 wages. They got an across the board raise in 2009.
She voted for a 22% increase in taxes.
Her Mantra is ‘Tax and Spend.’
Why Randy should not be reelected
A blogger said it as well or better than we could. We printed it as a BLOG last week and repeat it here as a statement that he has been a disaster for the City.
8/26/2009, 11:05 pm
We're watching Randy Richenberg
Randy Richenberg, for the record:
FACT: Randy voted to spend [an extra] $2.5 million for Esther Street property that sits there.
FACT: Randy voted to spend top market dollar for Dunn Lumber, knowing full well the property is polluted and had no other buyers.
FACT: Randy voted to fire City Manager John Hagood, setting in motion a $290,000 payout, plus tens of thousands for candidate search, including interviews, travel, background checks.
FACT: Randy tried to fire City Attorney Frank Gummey, which would have set in motion a $450,000 payout.
FACT: Randy voted to cut the current fiscal budget by $1.3 million and then months later whined in public that he was "bullied" into the vote and that he was "ashamed."
FACT: Randy failed to get federal stimulus money for high school project either through the county or the federal gov't through Kosmas.
FACT: Randy has no formal education; never even graduated from high school.
FACT: Randy has consistently voted for union increases to curry favor with union membership because his wife is a retired firefighter who has a $60K [+]pension.
FACT: Randy brags that the union vote is in his pocket, and he's promised them bigger raises next year, if elected to make up for freezes this year, which he was against.
FACT: Randy has voted to sell out NSB on neighboring issues like the multi-million-dollar Restoration in Edgewater after consulting high-priced attorney Clay Henderson on his city-issued cell phone.
FACT: Randy says he wants the rollback rate for the budget but he voted against reducing it last month.
FACT: Randy Richenberg is incompetent, lacks leadership, has no formal education and even though he professes to care about NSB, runs a surfing shop out of neighboring Edgewater instead of here in NSB.
FACT: Randy has free health insurance for himself, his rich wife and his kid because he's a city commissioner.
Vote for Judy Reiker or Frank Dalton Jr. in the September 22 primary, and send Randy Richenberg home for good.
No surprise, the fireman and police unions are endorsing him. another good reason to vote him out.
He first voted for a 27% tax increase, and now has agreed to a 22% increase.
Why Jack should not be reelected
He is one of the primary flacks for the City Unions and the Angler’s Club. He is in the pocket of the special interests in the City and proud of it.
His original pitch was that the Angler’s Club should be left alone.
He has made no effort to reign in the pay, pensions or benefits of City employees.
He voted for the 27% tax increase, and now supports a 22% increase.
He also voted for every pay increase for City employees, every property purchase at inflated prices, and every payment to the Marine Discovery Center such as buying kayaks. His mantra is Tax and Spend.
He is not running on his good looks or intelligence, but on his being a good ‘ole boy.
No surprise, the fireman and police unions are endorsing him. Another good reason to vote him out.
Any of the challengers to the current incumbents is better than the incumbents. It is always an uphill battle to throw out the losers, particularly when they buy votes and have elections in off years where there are low turnouts. Most of the people from whom they are taking money live elsewhere and do not vote here. There is a reason why these losers have kept off-year elections. It is a big advantage to them because they can motivate the grifters they pay off to vote to keep the gravy train . Nevertheless, it is always worth the effort to throw out those who are fleecing the taxpayers for the benefit of themselves and their friends.
But think of where we are today. The Mayor has now made another idiotic statement about her lack of a college degree. “They do not give degrees in England like they do in the States.” Another lie. Similar the Shadow thinks of saying that the sun does not rise in the East in England. That is on top of that “She lost the diploma and the school is out of business and she can not get a replacement.” But that followed that “She had the diploma but did not want to give the Shadow the satisfaction of seeing it.” By the way, now that we have discovered that she also claimed a non-existent Master’s Degree, we are no longer astonished by the brazenness of her lies. By the way, Corlins University in England will provide you with a “Universal Degree” in less than 24 hours! LINK also Google , “England Diploma”. They do give diplomas in England.
But do not despair. Whatever happens, you now know a lot in this election what you did not know last time. To name a few items:
1. The bloated salaries, pensions and benefits of the City employees, as well as the bloated and outrageous salaries of the employees at the Utilities Commission (click on W-2s below);
2. There is an all white male club in town that has no lease, pays $25 a year to the City, and gives slips worth $700 a month to its members for $50 a month ;
3. The Chamber of Commerce, which has rented its facility for $1 and not maintained its leased property, now wants more than a half a million in handouts from the County and City to fix the building that they let fall apart;
4. Purchase of more and more properties that are bought at inflated prices for no real benefit to the City;
5. A million small cuts epitomized by buying kayaks, subsidizing a water taxi, increasing the subsidy to the municipal golf course and, the crowning insult (or, like rubbing the wound “in salt”), is the purchase of a $9,000 plastic Christmas tree.
EDITORIAL: SPEND THE RESERVES AND CRA MONEY
Another esteemed reader has favored the Shadow with an editorial essay that the Shadow believes should be shared.
It is slightly edited.
The city claims it has a ten million dollar ($10,000,000) reserves. It does not need that much money. It could easily operate with $3,000,000 of working capital. The $10,000,000 belongs to current taxpayers. The taxpayers need their money back. If the city runs short, it can borrow using revenue anticipation certificates. The problem with this big reserve is if you move or die, it is not like selling your stock in the company. The city keeps the money it overcharged before you died or moved.
In the 1980’s the city had no big reserve. The City waited for money to come in to pay the City bills. Now they wait for the tax receipts in October and put money back in accounts they were not supposed to drain.
If the city gave back $7,000,000 this year in lower taxes that money would go into the local economy. That money would be spent 7-8 times and boost the local economy by $49,000,000 to $56,000,000. It is called the “multiplier effect” and is recognized as a given by most economists.
The city says it needs the money if we have a Hurricane. First, we are having an economic hurricane. So what if we have a Hurricane, we will just do like every other community that has no money and borrow it. And the Feds will kick in anyway and pay most of it with FEMA money. They got the last of the 2004 hurricane FEMA money this year. What did we do wrong that we had to wait five years to get our money?
The Community Redevelopment Agency has $8,000,000. The CRA should be ordered to spend every dime of it on local street and infrastructure improvements and ordered not to spend a dime on buying any more property. There are plenty of streets that need paving and drainage that needs to be fixed. That pumps another $56,000,000 to $64,000,000 into the local economy.
There is an opportunity here to pump $100,000,000+ into the local economy. All the city has to do is give the people back their hard earn money and make the CRA spend its money on shovel ready infrastructure rather than stupid stuff.
It is much harder to run the city with limited cash reserves. It is easy to hide your mistakes when you have a lot of money in the bank. Maybe the city manager would be less concerned about unnecessary over time if she could make payroll. The excess cash is what is producing the lack of discipline in spending.
Much of your medical expense cost come from the fact that it takes too long for the ambulance to get to the medical emergency. The city ‘solved” this ‘problem’ by greatly expanding its fire department to give the average unreachable ‘4 minute’ response time if you had a certain type of not often encountered heart attack. It would have been infinitely less expensive to contract with the county to add an additional ambulance crew covering the city.
The city in the middle 1980’s sent a truck like this one to medical emergencies. LINK
