Looking at the front page of this morning's Daily Times the average Salisbury taxpayer might believe that the Salisbury City Council, even Mayor Barrie Tilghman's RUBBER STAMP majority of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields, is looking out for the average citizen. This would be a mistake.
Spooning out a few cups from Tilghman's bureaucratic swamp while the voters are drowning amounts to little more than political posturing for the RUBBER STAMP. In any case, their specific cuts are meaningless.
Thanks to the determination of Smith, Comegys and Shields to make the city council as irrelevant as possible, cutting funds for a specific item have no force in law. Their "Program budget" allows Tilghman to spend appropriated funds however she wishes, as long as she stays within the very broad guidelines of the RUBBER STAMP's parody of a budget ordinance.
Possibly the most distressing point to come from these budget discussions is the cavalier attitude taken by the Tilghman administration and her RUBBER STAMP when dealing with taxpayers' money. When the suggestion was made to put the city's liability and P&C insurance out to competitive bid the response was positively Swiftian. Despite the possibility of saving $100,000+ of the taxpayers' money, the RUBBER STAMP and city Finance Director Pam Oland decided that there was no point to research a savings since the price had only risen by $5,000!
I have a question for Pam and Barrie's RUBBER STAMP. How much does the increase have to be before you decide to save the taxpayers some money?
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Spooning out a few cups from Tilghman's bureaucratic swamp while the voters are drowning amounts to little more than political posturing for the RUBBER STAMP. In any case, their specific cuts are meaningless.
Thanks to the determination of Smith, Comegys and Shields to make the city council as irrelevant as possible, cutting funds for a specific item have no force in law. Their "Program budget" allows Tilghman to spend appropriated funds however she wishes, as long as she stays within the very broad guidelines of the RUBBER STAMP's parody of a budget ordinance.
Possibly the most distressing point to come from these budget discussions is the cavalier attitude taken by the Tilghman administration and her RUBBER STAMP when dealing with taxpayers' money. When the suggestion was made to put the city's liability and P&C insurance out to competitive bid the response was positively Swiftian. Despite the possibility of saving $100,000+ of the taxpayers' money, the RUBBER STAMP and city Finance Director Pam Oland decided that there was no point to research a savings since the price had only risen by $5,000!
I have a question for Pam and Barrie's RUBBER STAMP. How much does the increase have to be before you decide to save the taxpayers some money?
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
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The 3 C's
ReplyDeleteCavalier
Condescending
Clueless
Nalagirl
"I don't necessarily agree with this cut, but I will support it," said Council Vice President Gary Comegys. Remember:
ReplyDeleteGary = Barrie
Barrie = Gary
Darn good question GA. And your whole post is right on target again! This city administration has no clue about trying to save tax dollars and that is exactly why they fight the "Line Item Budget" so strongly. It would hold the mayor to budget items unless she can get the bobble heads to pass a revision of a certain "line Item". What a joke they all are!
ReplyDeleteA. Goetz
Is the city's insurance with Hanna, Kremer, TILGHMAN ???? Need I say more?
ReplyDeleteWhy doe any opinion of Pam Olands matter? She has screwed up so many times she should have been fired. Where was Pick last week, is Lore Barries new "right hand man"?
ReplyDeletePick knows it's over for him, everytime I see him he looks like he can't wait to get out of there. You can tell when someone has had just enough from a job.
ReplyDeleteHow did the Larson's manage approval from the historic society for their home improvements?(rhetorical ?)
ReplyDeleteSometimes any improvement will be an improvement. The society needs to lighten up on their approval criteria.