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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
 Posted - 10/18/2007 : 11:39:55 AM
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There is an interesting editorial in today's Leader-Herald about the city's current free cash situation. It mirrors a lot of the discussions that we have been having here. It is recommended reading for all. In my opinion, the Leader-Herald's editorial page has really been stepping it up lately.
On the other hand, the main free cash article in yesterday's Independent was, at least to say, confusing. The article stated that all three of the mayor's transfer requests were approved; anyone who watched last week's aldermen's meeting knows that this is not true. Only the $4 million transfer to the taxy levy was approved. The other two transfers (pension, stabilization) were sent to the finance committee and will have to come back before both the BOA and CC for approval.
Then, there was the amount of the transfer to the stabilization fund. In the article, it was reported to be $1.5 million; on the editorial page, it was $500,000. To be fair, this discrepancy has popped up before. The Globe reported it as $500,000; when the item was read at the BOA meeting, it was read as $1.5 million. I spoke out in support of the $500,000 because it restored what had been cut from the FY08 budget the week before. But, $1.5 million? I'm not sure I agree. Let's see what it is when it comes out of committee.
The biggest attention grabber in the article for me though was the following. I've been waiting to post this to see if the Independent would post the article on-line but they haven't. Since I don't have any type of scanner, I'm going have to transcribe it. I will try to be as accurate as I can but I apologize in advance for any transcription errors.
Hanlon said that the biggest reason behind the jump in free cash figures was his decision to pay down several deficit accounts that were carried over from previous administrations. "The biggest chunk of that [additional free cash] is that we took care of 29 deficit accounts in the city." Hanlon said. "Every year, you have a deficit account they [the state] take that off your free cash."
When Hanlon took office in January 2006, he said the city had deficits totalling $4.4 million, whereas now that figure is down to $949,121.
- Everett Independent, Wednesday October 17, 2007
In no way am I trying to dispute what the mayor says here; however, it is different from Mr. DeCoste described. To be fair, what Mr.DeCoste described, admittedly so, was only one valid way to get a deficit account, i.e., a deficit on a grant where all the money had been expended but the final grant payments had not be received by June 30th. I understood the information that Mr DeCoste gave us; the mayor's explanation only raised more questions. Where did the $3.5 million that would be needed to pay down that much come from? Isn't it tax year to tax year, not from the beginning of his administration?
I don't believe that I took anything out of context or omitted other parts of the article that may have explained this any better. Please get ahold of the actual article if you have any doubts about that.
Some of us have been calling for more details of where all this free cash came from; I would still like to see this. It should be in enough detail so that anyone with any affinity for numbers could understand it. I will also make a plea to whoever our next mayor will be. There is a portion of the population who really want to see some of the nuts and bolts of what goes on in the city; we need to have more communication of this type, i.e., put the budget book online. Also, the next mayor needs to have a firm grasp at all times on the financial situation of the city. Do whatever you need to do get that.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 10:11:20 AM
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And the Advocate doesn't help! Here is a link to a story that I guess appeared in The Advocate this Friday. Since I rarely see a copy of the Advocate, this link is my only insight as to what appears in that paper.
You must be logged in to see this link.
As best as I can recall, there are no factual errors in the article, except for when the meeting took place (D'Oh!) but seeing it all in black and white just makes it all the more confusing. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 1:11:54 PM
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| Speaking of the Advocate, did anyone see that picture of the Hanlon Headquarters on page 8? |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 3:18:02 PM
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| Hanlon Headquarters? Havent been that way for a while. Is that still up? |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 3:20:50 PM
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| No, the Halon banner is now down, but before it was taken down, someone put a sign in the window saying, "Gone out of Business." There's a picture in this weeks Advocate. |
Edited by - massdee on 10/20/2007 3:22:37 PM |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 7:28:48 PM
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| LOL |
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Court4Fred
Advanced Member
1201 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 3:07:27 PM
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My take on the "deficit" accounts mirrors Mr. DeCoste's explanation; the mayor's response to
"what happened" should have been about consolidating grant accounts...not trying to make himself look like a hero. We're talking about some housekeeping - nothing else. This kind of consolidation should occur at the end of the term of the grant...instead of letting them stagnate. And leave it to Resnek to try and make Hanlon look good instead of castigating him for overtaxing Everett citizens by $11 million bucks. The Leader Herald was dead on in their editorial. "Free cash" isn't free....the Everett taxpayers were overcharged last year, which created an $11 million dollar cash resevoir for the financially unconscious to swim in. Count Resnek among the financially unconscious. |
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mustbehappen
Member
6 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 5:57:43 PM
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| I only believe decoste's |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2007 : 11:56:58 PM
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Not that anyone will really be interested in this tonight but let's get this out there anyways:
One small piece of the free cash puzzle was uncovered at tonight's school committee meeting. The school committee is looking for a transfer of $319,000 from free cash. They are requesting this transfer because they were unable to spend the balance of their final Medicaid reimbursement payment that they received in late June before the end of the fiscal year. At the end of fiscal year, they had to turn all unexpended monies back over to the city where it became part of the certified free cash amount. They are now looking to get this money back.
There were also a couple of other financial items of interest at tonight's meeting. The school committee would like to transfer any money left in the high school building fund to a fund for improvements at the Parlin. While the Parlin probably does need some upgrades to bring it closer to the newer school buildings, I would hope that it could be done in a planned and fiscally responsible manner. We certainly don't need a repeat of the asbestos issue of a few weeks ago either.
The final financial item from the meeting was a request from Mr. Ela to ask the city to revisit the method used for splitting the Medicaid reimbursement between the city and the school department. His request was for the school department to receive the entire Medicaid amount rather than the city keeping the first $590,000. The basis of this request was that the city might be able to afford to change this agreement based on the free cash amount.
While I would not mind this issue coming up again so that perhaps we can get a better understanding of it, we all know that this year's free cash "windfall" is not likely to repeat itself going forward. The really interesting part of this discussion was some actual, albeit mild, dissent between school committee members. Mr. Parker was willing to support the item but also stated he was content with the agreement the way it was. |
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justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2007 : 05:23:28 AM
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They want the money they couldn't spend last year back so they can spend it now? That's crazy! Maybe I'm missing something, but doesn't this defeat the point of having a budget in the first place?
Has something changed that they need more money or is this just Freddie being his greedy self? |
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Free Cash
