There goes productivity again...

"The Municipality" didn't waste time to waste time.

Introducing Andrew McCreery and Bonnie Cross

To: All Employees 

 I am very pleased to announce two key additions to the management team of the municipality. Both a new Director of Finance and a new Assistant to the Manager for Human Resources will begin work on Monday, September 9th. 

 Andrew McCreery will be the new Director of Finance. Andrew is a Mt. Lebanon resident. He is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently working as the Finance Officer and Acting Borough Manager for the Borough of Jefferson Hills. He previously worked for six years as Accounting Manager for the Township of Upper St. Clair. Andrew brings a great public accounting background to the position. As Chief Financial Officer, Andrew will be responsible for all fiscal activities including accounting, budgeting, cash management, expenditure control, and financial administration and analysis. 

 Bonnie Cross will become the new Assistant to the Manager and personnel officer. For the past ten years, Bonnie was a Benefit Manager for the State of Ohio, responsible for overseeing the State’s workers compensation and flexible spending programs. Prior to her State job, Bonnie worked for the City of Upper Arlington Ohio, a first ring suburb of Columbus, where she served as Assistant City Manager. In that capacity she participated in the collective bargaining process and administered the human resources function for the organization. Bonnie received a Masters of Public Administration from Kent State University and a B.A. from Seton Hill College. She holds a SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) designation. In Mt. Lebanon, she will be responsible for all human resources programs and activities. 

 Please join me in welcoming both Andrew and Bonnie to our organization. 

 Steve Feller

Here we go again with School District Assessment Appeals UPDATED

At the last Municipal Discussion Session, Dave Brumfield brought up school district assessment appeals. You may recall that Dave thought it would be a good idea to share the expense of appeals with the school district. This was when he was under the impression that the school district would be going after both underassessed and overassessed homes. Josephine Posti denied that she ever said anything about underassessed homes. Well, Josephine brought up appeals with Dave again. The most recent agenda shows that school district assessment appeals may be a topic for this Tuesday's Discussion Session. http://mtlebanon.org/archives/35/Discussion%20Session%2007-23-12.pdf  Dave had mentioned at the last meeting how he THOUGHT he understood the school district's plan to be going after underassessed homes next year, but now he is not so sure. Posti claims that they were never planning to go after underassessed homes. Interestingly enough, this letter went out to some of the commissioners today, which I was cc'ed, and ties in with the whole assessment topic.  Even though it was signed, he would rather not have his name published on Lebo Citizens. I am reprinting it with his permission. Here it is:

In today's Almanac in the deed transfers it shows Joe D's property recently transferred at $650,000. Though that conflicts with the sale price reported on the county site of the sale dated 6/18/2012 at $550,000. Don't misunderstand I'm not singling out Joe because I have a vendetta against him, today's paper only brought the assessment fiasco to mind and his property is a good example. It also appears to support James [Fraasch]and Tom Moertel's conclusions.

The 2013 assessed value on Joe's property is $345,000! Since the sale took place in 2012 and his 2012 assessed value is $187,000 the inequity of the system looks even worse. The difference being $463,000 (or $363,000 if the real sale was $550,000). Still the average home value is around $245,000!

So let's look at this another relative way. What does Joe's property have to do with me or any other homeowner. If the deed transfer is accurately reported in the almanac, if Joe's place were assessed at it's "fair market value" and isn't that what the reassessment is suppose to reflect, the $650,000 deed transfer IS the "fair market value." It is what a buyer is willing to pay and what the seller is willing to accept.

That means there is $305,000 of taxable value the school district and municipality is missing out on IN 2013 AND EVERY YEAR UNTIL NEW ASSESSMENTS. With a 27.13 SD millage rate that's approximately $8,300 in actual uncollected taxes each year from just ONE property. Looks like the muni misses out on approximately $1,600/yr due to underassessment. 53 homeowners wouldn't have to chip in $30/yr for Kelly's rec plan from just this one property if correctly assessed.

So, if you/they pursued that fair value they could essentially give say 15 senior citizen homeowners a $20,000 exclusion and still remain revenue neutral. They could give 30 homeowners a $10,000 exclusion. They could give 60 a $5,000 exclusion. Or 120 a $2,500 exclusion.

And how many high priced homes are paying less than their fair market value based on recent sale prices and reassessed values in Lebo?

I find it horrible that the school district will spend $150 arguing against a homeowner that may think his assessment is $20, 40 or $60,000 too high while there are properties that are underassessed by hundreds of thousands.

If the municipality undertook corrective action maybe we wouldn't have to charge stormwater fees, or borrow for street paving, or float bonds for pool upgrades.

Update August 10, 2012 3:45 PM The latest Commission Discussion Agenda is showing "School District Assessment Appeals" has been moved back to the August 27, 2012 meeting.

Wouldn't this be a cheaper way to go for everyone? UPDATED

At the May 29, 2012 commission meeting, a motion was tabled to pay the Schood District 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services.

Consideration to financially participate in the Mt. Lebanon School District’s involvement in property assessment appeal hearings.

Diversified Municipal Services, Inc. (DMS) represents Mt. Lebanon School District at first-level Allegheny County property assessment appeals. DMS develops evidence in support of sustaining current values on owner-filed appeals and appears at hearings to present the evidence. DMS charges the school district $150 for attending a hearing at which the owner is present and $100 for appearing for a hearing at which the owner does not attend.

It is proposed that the municipality participate in funding this effort.

Recommended Action: Move to direct the Municipal Manager to reimburse the Mt. Lebanon School District for 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services in representing the taxing body at residential reassessment appeal hearings for the 2012 appeal year.Move to direct the Municipal Manager to reimburse the Mt. Lebanon School District for 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services in representing the taxing body at residential reassessment appeal hearings for the 2012 appeal year.

Diversified Municipal Services is owned by Dominick Gambino. Doing a Google search, I found this PG article about Mr. Gambino. Get ready: Assessments are coming next week

Mr. Gambino strongly differs, saying reassessment will lift an existing unfair tax burden on residents of poorer communities. Elected leaders, not a county judge, should have launched and directed the project on their own, he said. Mr. Gambino, who worked for the county for 25 years, now runs a consulting firm called Diversified Municipal Services Inc.

As Tom Moertel and Commissioner Fraasch demonstrated, there is an unfair tax burden on certain wards in this community. To counter this "unfair tax burden," Diversified Municipal Services provides this service to assist individual property owners, businesses and governments in analyzing property data in Allegheny County. http://countypropertyanalyzer.com/about.php

The County Property Analyzer is another service provided by Diversified Municipal Services, Inc. It can be a useful tool for individual property owners, businesses and governments in analyzing property data in Allegheny County.
Diversified has represented clients in literally thousands of property assessment appeal hearings. The County Property Analyzer unleashes the power for anyone to create sales comparison evidence for submission in property assessment hearings.

On their home page, Diversified Municipal Services reads:

Welcome to the County Property Analyzer

The product you are about to preview is an amazing tool for anyone in search of property information in Allegheny County. It will invite you through the door to explore the property data for over 550,000 properties.

But more remarkably, this tool allows you to analyze the data even further by exporting and saving the results of your search - over twenty-five different bits of information including property and mailing addresses, sales validation information, assessed values and numerous land and building characteristics - onto an excel spreadsheet.

The countypropertyanalyzer will also be a valuable resource in calculating property values by easily and efficiently helping you acquire comparable sales and granting you the ability to create and prepare sales comparison reports in a pdf format.

This is a product that has a wide variety of functions and uses. It was developed by the former Manager of the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments specifically to allow the analysis of property data. Sales ratios studies, Comparable Sales Reports and mail merge capabilities are just a few of the possibilities.

Countypropertyanalyzer is a "must-have" for any real estate professional or property owner.

The best part about the product is the cost. Sign up for a "free week trial period" by clicking on "SIGNUP". After the trial period, you can continue having access to this fantastic tool for only $75 per month!

So my questions are:

1. Couldn't a homeowner use this service for free during the trial period for their reassessment hearing? 
2. Why is the District willing to pay $150 per assessment hearing when they could use this service for $75 a month?
3. More importantly, why is the Municipality are Commissioners Brumfield and Linfante willing to fork over 17% towards this charge?

Update June 2, 2012 6:15 PM With James Fraasch's permission, I am sharing a link to a letter he sent to the Honorable Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick, Jr on May 30, 2012 concerning the reassessment. It just might blow your mind! It did for me. I hope our elected officials (at all levels) read it VERY carefully.

Before they go away...

Before I delete the three polls regarding the Joint Maintenance Agreement I had on this blog, I thought I would record the final results in a post.

Based on the documentation provided on this blog, do you feel that the Municipality has been a responsible partner in the Joint Maintenance Agreement?
No 24 (51%)
Yes 23 (48%)

Based on the documentation provided on this blog, do you feel that the Shool District has been a responsible partner in the Joint Maintenance Agreement?
No 33 (70%)
Yes 14 (29%)

Based on the documentation provided on this blog, do you feel that the Youth Sports Alliance (YSA) has been a responsible partner in the Joint Maintenance Agreement?
No 39 (61%)
Yes 24 (38%)

Thanks to all who voted.

So far, YSA leads in votes for both Yes and No - Updated

As of Tuesday, May 22 at 11:07 a.m.

BASED ON THE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED ON THIS BLOG, DO YOU FEEL THAT THE MUNICIPALITY HAS BEEN A RESPONSIBLE PARTNER IN THE JOINT MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT?

No 13 (59%)

Yes 9 (40%)

BASED ON THE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED ON THIS BLOG, DO YOU FEEL THAT THE School District HAS BEEN A RESPONSIBLE PARTNER IN THE JOINT MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT?

No 19 (82%)

Yes 4 (17%)

BASED ON THE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED ON THIS BLOG, DO YOU FEEL THAT THE YOUTH SPORTS ALLIANCE (YSA) HAS BEEN A RESPONSIBLE PARTNER IN THE JOINT MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT?

No 28 (63%)

Yes 16 (36%)

Granted, the YSA poll has been up 24 hours longer than the other two polls, but YSA is leading as the most responsible partner and the most irresponsible partner of the Joint Maintenance Agreement. 

It would be helpful to the JMA partners crafting the upcoming extension to find out why people are voting the way they are voting.  

How can the Municipality improve?  What about the School District?  Where have they fallen short? Besides YSA catching up in contributions, what else should be done? 

In addition to voting, now is the time to share your opinion.  Do we forget the JMA altogether? How can it be improved, so that all parties are responsible partners in the Joint Maintenance Agreement?

Update May 22 2012 6:36 p.m. Through a Right To Know, Marcia Taylor provided the following information regarding District payments for the Joint Maintenance Agreement.

"These documents are printouts or copies for General Fund Account No. 01-2845-37102. This account is used for Ballfield Maintenance. These documents mainly show yearly totals, and are marked accordingly. Beginning with the 2010 year, we are able to show monthly data as well, and have produced that."

District payments for Joint Maintenance Agreement

What's in it for the Municipality?

Continuing the Joint Maintenance Agreement (JMA) thread, I started a new poll here on Lebo Citizens.  I have been questioning the Municipality's involvement in the JMA. What IS in it for the Municipality? Why should the Municipality be concerned with School District fields? The agreement has not changed since 1999.  The District fee has been $83,300 since Day 1. The YSA claims to have an increase in participants.  Why are they being charged $30,000 each year if field use has increased? They are wearing out the fields, based on their own reports. As it stands, the School District has been bank rolling the YSA during their "lean years." Recently, the District has been looking at various sports and clubs as possible cuts in the budget. Scott Goldman and Dan Remely voted for eliminating hockey and crew from their budget, while others have compromised with a $3000 reduction in the budget.

The District would be able to control costs, in my opinion, if they did their own maintenance. Perhaps each school would be responsible for their own fields. I had suggested for different sports groups to adopt their own field, but that idea didn't seem to fly with some folks.

I have been trying to come up with a list of pros and cons for the Municipality's involvement in the JMA partnership.  I haven't been able to come up with any positive points. If anything, it muddies the waters. If the Municipality got out of the District landscaping business, that would create a clear division when it comes to signage revenue.  The District is in an agreement with UPMC which permits UPMC to advertise for free within certain conditions. By not renewing the agreement, the Municipality would be free and clear of any sports agreements with UPMC.  They could have their own contract with UPMC and generate income for the Municipality.

I am leaving it up to you, the readers, to come up with any reasons why the Municipality should be in such an agreement. 

Feedback on the feedback

I couldn't bare bear (I was thinking about my wallet) to watch tonight's meeting, so I stayed home. Here is what I heard so far.

It was crowded.
We need two turfed fields.
We need an indoor sports facility.
Someone GUARANTEED that the sports groups would raise money for the indoor facility and turf. (Ha!)
The same person admitted that USC is having trouble getting people to subscribe to their facility. But then said that we're smarter and can make it work.

Anyone else care to share some highlights of the meeting? I am afraid to ask.

Town Hall Meeting planned (Updated)

It was announced at tonight's (well, technically last night's) commission meeting that the commission will be sponsoring a town hall meeting next Thursday, April 19 to discuss the wants and needs of the community in regard to parks and recreation. More information will be posted on the municipal website.

Update April 11, 2012 10:40 am Space is limited, so please leave the kids at home. Also, at last night's meeting, the commission discussed developing the area around Public Works for a new field which could easily be done. It is my understanding that the youth sports groups will be represented at theTown Hall meeting, but this is meeting is to discuss our parks and recreation, in general. It could be that people think that too much is being spent on fields and not enough on tennis, the library, the parks, the pool...you get the idea.

Update April 11, 2012 11:54 pm

This is an important notice from LeboALERT.

Special meeting to get input on parks/rec maintenance, improvements,Thurs, April 19, 7:30 pm, commission chamber. http://lebomag.com/category/muniupdates/

Update April 13, 2012 12:50 pm  Hearings to decide on Mt. Lebanon spending surplus

"I think we ought to be considerate and not look at the $1.3 million as something we have to spend," said Commissioner John Bendel, who recommended that $300,000 be put toward the reserve and another $500,000 be paid toward the municipality's pension fund.
Projects that may be considered for funding included new radios for the public works department, replacing floors in the municipal ice rink, upgrading the government's phone system, fixing drainage at the Bird Park athletic field, installing about 850 feet of new sidewalks and replacing equipment at the municipal fueling station.

Or we could put in another field.

I did a no-no on my website

When updating my website lebocitizens.com last week, I had replaced the two photos representing the municipality and the school district with one photo of the new centennial logo incorporating the municipality and the district. I got this very respectful letter from Steve Feller today.

Hi Elaine:
I noticed that you have the centennial logo posted at the top of your Lebo Citizens website. We have copyrighted the municipal logos, primarily because a competing private company was using the municipal symbols and information on their publications to make them look “official.” I have been consistently telling one of these private magazines that they cannot use the copyrighted information, and it would be very helpful to me if you could voluntarily take down the logo on your site. I hope that you understand our situation. Please call if you have any questions. Thanks.
Steve

I voluntarily took down the copyrighted logo and exchanged it for a photo that I had taken. Not a problem.  But what about Dancing With The Stars?  Aren't they using our logo? Who is going to tell Len Goodman?

Reassessments 101

Marty Griffin talked about it on his show.  The PG had articles about it.  And the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy sent out A Guide to Helping Taxpayers Understand the Effects of the Reassessment.

The property reassessments are starting to hit.  We knew they were coming.  The Concerned Citizens of Mt. Lebanon circulated a petition to control the spending on the high school project. We were mocked. We were belittled. We were called fear mongers, but our school board moved forward with their plans.

Even the Judge who ordered property reassessment saw a $134,000 increase. I hope things even out with some of our elected officials. Speaking of elected officials, Joe DeIuliis was quoted in the Almanac yesterday on the municipal tax increase.

Commissioner Joseph DeIuliis, the lone commissioner who voted against the current tax hike, defended the previous tax cuts. "It was a tough time and to me, it was the prudent thing to do," he said. "People could have moved out of the area, and we wanted to keep them in Mt. Lebanon." http://www.thealmanac.net/alm/story11/12-28-2011-ML-tax-hike

Yeah, that tax cut of $16.28 kept me from moving out of Mt. Lebanon.  Go to the 43 minute mark of the 12/20/2011 Commission meeting during the citizens' comments portion of the final public hearing for the 2012 Budget. As I said in the podcast, the problem is not with the Municipality.

Former MTL Commissioner wishes she lived in USC.

How's that for an attention grabber?  In today's Trib, Matt Santoni ran this article, Mt. Lebanon Board rethinks deer culling program.  Of all quotes to use, Carolyn Byham's was singled out - one of the few, if not the only, proculling comment made at the Budget Hearing.  I had given Matt contact information of four members of the coalition for neighborhood safety and of a commissioner elect who has a nonlethal plan to address the deer population, but none were quoted.

Thank you, Municipality for Volunteer Screening Policy

There have been some changes in the Municipality concerning background checks and volunteers who work in programs or activities involving children. I stumbled upon this September 2011 Volunteer Screening Policy.

On a Rec Center Basketball Program sheet for 2nd-8th grade boys and girls, this appears about half way down the sheet:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: New and Improved background clearance procedures!

Volunteer coaches are needed. Please check the "Contact me for volunteering" box on the REGISTRATION FORM.  Background checks are mandatory for coaches prior to the start of the season.  Applicants must sign a consent form and the cost of the clearance will be paid for by the Recreation Department. Turnaround time is typically 2-3 days.  For information, go to www.mtlebanon.org, click on Volunteer Opportunities.

I plan to go to the Coffee with the Manager tomorrow since the Rec Department staff will be special guests. I am so glad that the Rec Center sees how important this is.  Thank you!!!

What happened to us?

I just got my latest issue of mtl Magazine.  Who paid for the high school renovation insert?  Did I read somewhere that mtl is required to print so many School District inserts per year?  Either way, it was our tax dollars "at work."  After looking at the renderings, does anyone believe that the project is over the top? Does anyone believe that it will bankrupt the community?  Did the Municipality cave in to the pressure from the small group supporting the renovation?  Mt. Lebanon, after all, is rewriting the Zoning Ordinance to permit the SOS signs to stay up indefinitely.