THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014
Selectmen Corruption? You decide
It seems our current BOS is not happy taking second place in the corruption sweepstakes to the Board of Consentino/Childs/Sapia, they evidently wish to make a serious run at FIRST PLACE.
For those who watch the Budget Committee meetings they have been great entertainment, as the selectmen have tried to pad the budget, and the budget committee has asked the questions that for the last 6 years they have shied away from asking.
For example, Mr. Innis was caught flat footed when presenting the selectmen’s attempt to add $25,000 for a repair to the deck at the Community Center. The Budget committee did something that they have not done since the tenure of Acciard, Cole, and Boyle. They did their DUE DILIGENCE! Member Harold Morse and Bill Smith went to the ACC and looked at the deck. These men, with construction experience determined that the repair would cost no more than $500. They confronted innis with this, and he did a wonderful job of stammering, but could offer no expanation. Harold Morse’s response was Beautiful, he said; These instances are causing me to lose confidence in you and your board”.
And now we come to the latest DISHONESTY from the Board of Selectmen. They have asked the Elderly Affairs director to create a presentation about “why they need to put back the $20,000 that the budget committee removed from the Elderly Affairs budget”. The problem is that the Budget committee ONLY CUT $8,000 from the Selectmen’s $19,000 INCREASE!
Ok, a little background, first it is highly likely that the selectmen’s office did the Ea budget for the new EA director. Second they asked for a $19,000 increase, almost 50% WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO GIVE ANY JUSTIFICATION! According to Bill Innis last year 59 people used the program at a cost of $48,667. This is $824.69/person! When asked how many people are projected to use it this year he dissembles to the census which says there are 1,700 people over 55 in town(the Elderly), So, Bill, we presume you are advocating a $1,402,269.00 Ea budget?, because otherwise the census number has no relevance and it’s presentation is a dishonest attempt to muddy the waters.
THE FACT is that the budget committee has INCREASED the Ea budget this year by $15,342.00 or more than 34%. The BOS wants you to believe that they CUT the budget. The selectmen have asked for an additional $19,000 but can not say why they need it. They have increased payroll by 50%, increased gas by 50%.
Historically this is how the selectmen get the extra money they wish to spend elsewhere but do not want to ask for. DRA will allow the selectmen to overspend any line item providing they do not overspend the bottom line of the budget. This means that if, say, they want to spend $1,000,000 on town hall improvements they could as long as they do not overspend the budget as a whole. So, and this technique was pioneered by Phil Consentino in the Police budget, but perfected town wide by Russ MacAllister, every line they can inflate gives them more money to move around without creating the controversy of asking for that purpose.
Hey Selectmen, if you REALLY NEED the $19,000 for the 59 elderly affairs users, why are you attempting to add $30,000 to the legal line, haven’t you guys created enough lawsuits that have cost the town thousands? Why are you trying to add $40,000 to create the towns first full time police chief position WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL? By the way, where are all those “alleged” legal opinions that say this illegal act can be committed by you?
WHY CAN’T ATKINSON’S BOARD OF SELECTMEN EVER BE HONEST?