From reading Kelly's blog, it appears that the Commission never discussed this. Dave Brumfield said that it was his idea. Kristen Linfante made the motion, so it looks like the school board liaison is all for it too.
Make sure you see the link Kelly provided to Tom Moertel's map on Blog-Lebo which illustrates the large concentration of over assessments in Ward 5 as well as Ward 1.
Update May 31, 2012 11:18 pm To be fair, here is a link to Kristen Linfante's blog, Why I voted "no" (anyone hear "Dueling Banjos" playing in the background?) She writes:
The commission met this past Tuesday night and had a lively discussion about a variety of issues. One such issue was a propsal [sic] that Kelly Fraasch and Matt Kluck jointly proposed with regards to spending money out of our undesignated fund.She goes on to say:
It is my hope that we will come to a consensus that a bond is not only necessary, but the right thing to do.As well as:
A bond, (and I'm not talking a huge bond, but a bond) along with a portion of our undesignated fund could address these concerns.Her previous post was about Field Signs/New Revenue
...it is the responsibility of the commission to find new revenue sources for the municiaplity [sic].I am confused. Is a bond, not a huge bond, but a bond a way to find new revenue sources?
31 comments:
Way to go Kelly!
Look at a situation with eyes open, examine the evidence and vote with an interest in your constituents welfare rather looking at them as a bottomless piggy bank.
Same thing on the parks/fields, thank you.
Gffn Gd
Kelly,
Thank you for logical thinking and compassionate leadership.
It's time to stop the madness and irresponsible spending around here. Next time around, let's be sure to vote those out who continuously attempt to pick our residents' pockets without taking responsibility and doing the proper homework.
Just let me say that the $800,000.00 in uncollected parking fines makes me want to vomit, I feel like a doofus for having paid every one of mine.
-Charlotte Stephenson
Sister Agnes Patricia was the most influential teacher I ever knew. What I will always remember about her is her statement that there is no such thing as teaching — only learning. She believed that no teacher could ever teach anyone anything. Her task as a teacher was to create an environment in which the student can learn. Knowledge, she told us, standing very straight in her long black habit, her face framed by her white wimple, pointed at the top like the spire of a cathedral, needs to be pulled into the brain by the student, not pushed into it by the teacher. Knowledge is not to be forced on anyone. The brain has to be receptive, malleable, and most important, hungry for that knowledge.
Two commissioners are good learners. Thank you Kelly and Matthew.
Reid Lyons
One more time as reported in the Trib.
"That was sort of a shock to us," said Mt. Lebanon Commission President David Brumfield, a former board member of the parking authority. "Why these things (occurred) -- hasn't been our focus. After we've dealt with the fines, we may try to go back and figure out why this happened."
"We MAY (the key word) try to go back. The school district NEXT year will go after under assessed properties.
Brumfield and Linfante add perfect background vocals on the SD's version of the song Money.
"Money doesn't buy everything that's true,
But what it doesn't buy I can't use,
Now gimme money, whole lotta money
-- that's what I want!"
Gffn Gd
is $800,000 in unpaid parking fines backing up a municipal or parking authority bond issue?
batman
Perhaps rather than joining the SD's effort to fight appeals, the commissioners should join this effort:
An independent analysis of Allegheny County's $11 million reassessment has found that numbers for Pittsburgh and two other school districts do not meet international property valuation standards.
Assessment expert Robert C. Denne reached that conclusion in a report he prepared for one of the lawyers who sued the county to force real estate revaluation.
Attorney Don Driscoll, one of the attorneys who filed the case that led to reassessments, said problems the consultant identified in Pittsburgh, Clairton and Duquesne indicate there should be adjustments across the county. Today he asked the judge overseeing reassessment to order the county to correct the problems by adjusting assessed values downward for as many as two-thirds of residential property owners."
Gffn Gd
The best-run communities raise revenues from all sources, not just by picking the pockets of the same taxpayers over and over.
I urge the commissioners to determine how this pile of money was not collected and take the appropriate action(s) to see that it doesn't happen again.
As elected officials, they owe their constituents an explanation.
Don't keep piling on new taxes and fees when you don't bother to collect the ones already on the books.
Maddie Miller
The uncollected fines go back fifteen years, and Commissioner Brumfield was on the Parking Authority Board for which years?
Typical responsibilities of a board member:
Typical duties of boards of directors include:[4][5]
governing the organization by establishing broad policies and objectives;
selecting, appointing, supporting and reviewing the performance of the chief executive;
ensuring the availability of adequate financial resources;
approving annual budgets;
accounting to the stakeholders for the organization's performance;
setting the salaries and compensation of company management."
See the next to the last one... accounting to the stakeholders for the organizations performance!
No wonder Brumfield doesn't want to look back.
Sorry Dave, based on what we know now about the Parking A's performance I don't trust you looking forward with our municipality!
Dave Roberts
"Brumfield said Sahar never brought up a sizable backlog of unpaid parking tickets, and he assumed the audits would have shown the amounts due."
This is why it is prudent to change audit firms periodically, a point that has been raised about the school district numerous times.
There should be no more suggestions of any bond issues by any Commissioners for any new projects until every last cent of outstanding parking violation revenue is collected!
-Charlotte Stephenson
Why is my previous post pertinent? Just look at the following numbers and then consider all those small businesses on Washington and Beverly struggling to survive while incompetent public employees just move to new jobs in the local government. Overseen by one of the board members.
Elaine's right... we are mindless sheep!
"U.S. small businesses added 40,000 new jobs in May, according to a report by payroll processing firm Intuit.
That number, however, is a third lower than the number of workers hired in April (60,000), with firms also trimming hours for those on their payrolls. This could be a precursor to less-than-cheery news on Friday, when the government releases its own employment report. (But so far, the government report is expected to show that payrolls rose 150,000 in May, an increase from April’s poor showing of 115,000 jobs, according to Reuters. The unemployment rate remains steady at 8.1 percent.)"
Dave Roberts
I wish my commissioner was as responsible as Commissioner Fraasch is on this issue.
Dave,
The global markets are in for a rough ride to boot. Greece and Spain are in financial doo-doo and if Spain collapses we are going to feel it.
-Charlotte Stephenson
Unfortunately Charlotte two of our forward thinking commissioners are hellbent on spending the municipal surplus on fake grass and energy sucking lights for Mellon Field.
Gffn Gd
Gif,
"Municipal Surplus" - that's a good one. I wish Sam Kinison was still alive, I would pay him to provide public comments for our "forward thinking commissioners" at the next Commissioners meeting!
-Charlotte Stephenson
Maybe I missed it but I have yet to see anyone asking Brumfield to resign. Why is that? Why is it acceptable that when he was in charge of the parking authority he basically lost 800 grand and yet as a commissioner, he'll have acess to the entire municpal budget and people say nothing? If I misplaced 800k and told my boss I was "surprised" by it, I'm pretty sure he'd have a little surprise for me--a security escort right out of the office.
Lebo tolerate mediocrity and unprofessional, substandard work but then collectively whines about those same people. I say put up or shut up. Commissioner Brumfield, you obviously don't belong in a municapl government role. Please resign your seat immediately. Thank you.
Steve- sorry to step on your point, but Mr. B wasn't in charge on the authority. He was a board member yes whose duty it was to oversee the authorities operations. But, he's basically told us in the media that he doesn't give a hoot about the operations, he just wants the money.
Same as he wants the money from the signs.
And what does he want the money for... to turf and light Mellon Field. How else do you explain his and linfante's reluctance to investigate the Kluck/Fraasch field&park maintenance proposal.
So while I don't agree with everything you wrote, I wouldn't mind him leaving the commission one bit.
Just to clarify, Anon 4:06, Mr. B. has never said that he wants the money from the signs. It was always something like, 'Well, we haven't gotten that far yet." I could never pin him down. Me thinks it was for his buddy's organization, YSA. Well wait until all the sports people hear that two commissioners wanted to fix some fields and Mr. B said it wasn't worth it. No to Bird. No to Brafferton. No to developing Cedar. That is all we ever heard at meetings. "We need more fields" and "We need fields to be fixed." It came down to Dave and Kristen who stopped it.
Elaine
You're right Elaine he never said "he" wanted the sign money... like you I suspect he wanted it for the YSA.
And yes what happened to the call for more fields. I guess it really boiled down to "A" field with artificial turf and lights.
Once again, the discussion goes awry.S heesh. This is why nothing ever gets done. Have a nice weekend.
Steve, how so? I think there are those who feel the same as you. Send an email to the commissioners and formally ask him. commission@mtlebanon.org
Elaine
Why don't we spend the $800,000 in unpaid parking tickets and the $1,000,000 it will take to turf and light Mellon Field and spend it on sidewalks on Sleepy Hollow Rd.?
Come on, Dave Brumfield, Sleepy Hollow Road is in your ward and sidewalks really are for the kids.
John Ewing
Don't miss the update on this post. Commissioner Linfante updated her blog to explain why she voted no to Commissioner Fraasch's and Commissioner Kluck's proposal to fix our fields and increase field space. Is it because neither of them would second Linfante's motion to help fund the over assessment appeals? She didn't seem too happy when neither of them would second it. In any event, Dave and Kristen are going to try it again for the next meeting.
Elaine
I can't honestly say I'm totally on board with the Fraasch/Kluck plan, what I do like however that it doesn't spend money it doesn't have.
After reading Linfante's blog 4 times on why she said no, I'm still trying to find any substance in it.
She writes: "My concern about Kelly and Matt's proposal the other night was that it seemed premature. I would like to know exactly how much money we really have at our disposal to spend before we commit to anything."
But in the next breath she ready to float a bond, a small bond- to fix everything!
She has no clue or at least doesn't offer one as to what everything is that needs fixing and what the cost is.
I'm not going to go into how absurd her post is, but here is a response I hope Mrs. Linfante sees.
Mrs. Linfante, this constituent has no interest in your plan to spend money you don't have. I don't want you maxing out the Lebo credit card.
Come up with a list of the projects that you believe need fixing and a realistic cost projection.
Then we'll see what the priorities are and how much we can afford.
I'd like to see my kids and their kids be able to afford returning to this community if they wish.
Gffn Gd
Silly Giffen. Don't you know borrowing on top of borrowing with no means to pay it back is the California way? Linfante came here with an agenda to morph our town into something more "progressive" and yank us ignorant yinzers into a more civilized way of life. You know, just like they have in California. That's worked out well. I mean, the state is only 50 billion in the hole. Hey, maybe Moonbeam Brown can partner up with Jo the RTK Cowgirl Posti and they can devise a capital campaign to raise private funds for public projects. Linfante can act as the operations manager since she's so obviously qualified. She serves as a reminder that political embarassment isn't confined to one party.
Read this article from the PG on the Dick's/Graham Park facility in Cranberry and it becomes obvious why it works and our McNeilly Park is a bust.
Dick's pays Cranberry $2.2 million for sign in Graham Park
January 27, 2008 12:00 am
By Karen Kane / Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Cranberry Supervisor Bruce Mazzoni was impressed with the DVD that was put together by township staff as a marketing tool to persuade local businesses to contribute financial support for the new Graham Park that's being built along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
See once the McNeilly property was purchased any commitment by the YSA vaporized and their sole solution was for taxpayers to borrow more in a bond.
They promise to raise money but as we've seen in the documents on the Joint Maintenance Agreement they're not very good at following through.
Interesting, maybe we don't have to reinvent the wheel Commissioner Linfante.
Please read page 19, item f on field lighting in the Master Plan for Dormont Park at the site below:
http://www.boro.dormont.pa.us/vertical/sites/%7B14ACE961-E8A0-477D-9CC5-33FADC320FCE%7D/uploads/master_park_site_plans_7-13-99.pdf.
Why not ask Attorney Franklin draw up a binding contract for the YSA to cover the installation and annual cost of the lights for any field the YSA wants lighted.
Gffn Gd
The Master Plan for Dormont Park is very interesting! Besides reading page 19, check out Funding pages 26-28. They talk about grants for trails. Maybe we can fix the trails at McNeilly Park at little or no cost to us. Then we can start using that white elephant even though we have not paid anything towards it. They also recommend soccer, softball, and baseball associations to fund the operating and maintenance costs for lighting.
Do you see what we have become? Now we are trying to keep up with Dormont.
Elaine
Elaine, our elected representatives need to get out of the bubble.
You see unlike even a 4 year old, they never learned that the problem with bubbles... Is eventually they burst!
Gffn Gd
Where's your Master Plan, Commissioner Linfante? Seriously, before you, Brumfield and Bendel start thinking about committing to a bond- even a small bond- your constituents want to see THE PLAN. You do have one, don't you? Mr. Roberts
I postedjthis comment months ago: "Was it Commissioner Linfante that said on her blog Reallebo that she left San Francisco because it was "wickedly expensive"?
Should be interesting to see how she holds the line on taxes. Wonder if she is advising SB President Posti on the affects of run away spending and outlandish local taxes?"
Guess we now know how Linfante will hold the line on taxes... by maxing out the municipalities credit card (bonds)! What are the lyrics to that old song?...
"California here I come..."
Giffen Good
Why don't we get PK to do a feasability study on moving Posti to California?
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