In Hocus Pocus, author Kurt Vonnegut notes one of our flaws - "everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance." And so it goes with Northampton County Council. Nearly a year ago, they were screaming about Stoffa's refusal to just build something already. They also demanded action on replacing those old courthouse windows, a $2 million proposition."We have an administration that can't build a birdhouse," snarled Council member Charles Dertinger.
Here's the thing. Building something requires your money. Stoffa is stingy when it comes to that. In December, Council approved a $13 million bond - $5 million more than Stoffa had requested -for various building projects, including $2 million to replace the old courthouse windows. At the time, Stoffa warned Council that "I don't like to borrow money. For every dollar you borrow, you pay back two."
Good things come to those who wait. Stoffa and Director of Administration John Conklin have figured out a way to shave $2 million off that $13 million bond. That windows project now qualifies for a $2.1 million grant from the Department of Energy.
The Stoffa administration may do poorly at building birdhouses, but does a pretty good job when it comes to saving taxpayers' money.
The stimulus package allows you to recoup on existing construction so the County would have qualified anyway.
ReplyDeleteEvery entity is doing it. You are really reaching if you think this stumble into money already available was something great.
Amazing.
So they get kudos for not putting the county in as much debt as they otherwise will. All while taxpayers are losing jobs and trying to make ends meet. They are like heroin addicts. I've had to postpone building projects at my home because my wife lost her job of 20 years. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary sacrifices. Stoffa and council are not willing to make a single courageous sacrifice - except with my money. The good news is that their relationship is so poisonous and dysfunctional, taxpayers are likely to be spared by more gridlock. They are all heads of the same ass.
ReplyDeleteNow lets do the same thing at Gracedale.
ReplyDeleteThe Bond is not going to pass, so the tax payers are going to be saved 21 million dollars.
ReplyDelete"I've had to postpone building projects at my home because my wife lost her job of 20 years. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary sacrifices."
ReplyDeleteSorry about your wife.
Stoffa has done a pretty good job of avoiding expenses except those that are absolutely necessary. If there are ways to chip it down even more, they will be found. But some things can't be put off too much longer.
"The Bond is not going to pass, so the tax payers are going to be saved 21 million dollars."Yeah, the same council members who were screaming that Stoffa must do something will not oppose the bond. They realize it's an election year and suddenly want to pretend they're thrifty.
ReplyDeletethey couldn't have foreseen the stimulus. they are just benifactors. we all are.
ReplyDelete....saving taxpayers' money....a $2.1 million grant from the Department of Energy....
ReplyDeletewhere do you think that comes from? Crapped out by unicorns?
"they are just benifactors. we all are."I think you mean to say beneficiaries. True, we are all beneficiaries of the stimulus package. But we would NOT have been beneficiaries of that "shovel ready" grant had we started on that project a year ago, as Dertinger demanded. We would instead be the benefactors of some courthouse window project in Nebraska. Once again, Stoffa proves the wisdom in waiting until we are entirely sure and have exhausted all possible options.
ReplyDeleteOn tax day I am glad to know my federal taxes are being used to replace windows which were set to be replaced anyway, In a community I do not live in. How is that stimulus? What jobs are created? Why don't people realize money from the federal government IS TAXPAYER MONEY. Tea anyone?
ReplyDeleteReplacing the windows is not done by waving a wand. These are windows initially installed in 1861. The windows must be custom made and the people who replace them don't do it for free. This may or may not create jobs, but it keeps people wortking, and right here in the LV. If we don't take that stimulus money, then our tax $ will go to replacing windows somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI prefer coffee and solutions, not tea and belly aching.
ReplyDeleteA little while ago "stingy" Stoffa wanted $186,000 parking spaces at exactly the time we were heading for the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression (Obama's and Rendell's words, not mine). Now, he's a fiscal conservative for falling into $2M in federal tax money to offset part of the larger debt he proposes? Uh, OK.
ReplyDeleteThe political silly season has come early. Just because he seems smarter than county council doesn't impress me. We should aim for a higher standard. He's just the least clowny in the circus. But clowny, nonetheless.
I hear the birdhouses are for sale for $186,000 each.
ReplyDeleteStoffa is like the broken clock, he's right twice a day. O'Hare BS aside, the only reason we haven't spent more money is because Stoffa can't make his mind up and he is unable to work with Council. He promised in 2001 he could work with County Council yet he has been the biggest failure in that department.
ReplyDeleteHe is putting off absolutely needed construction like the new Prison construction phase so if he loses, the next Executive will have no choice and O'Hare will scream how terrible they are.
We have a massive defict in Human Services even before the cuts come. No one on the County Council understands Human Services so Stoffa and comapany can hide it by shifting dollars.
All in all this is a game of smoke and mirrors that will end up costing us even more than Stoffas famous $186,000 parking spaces. Hopefully we get a change but it appears no one is running a campaign but Stoffa.
"All in all this is a game of smoke and mirrors that will end up costing us even more than Stoffas famous $186,000 parking spaces."Actually, those $186k parking spaces ended up costing us nothing bc Stoffa decided against them. You now criticize him for expenditures he decided against. That's a little goofy.
ReplyDeleteAll of Stoffa's major spending plans have been thwarted by County Council, which is why you can crow about ten million dollars. He would waste ten million dollars on one Human Resources Building. He proposed building at thirty seven million dollar parking garage and Council told him to hit the road. He has proposed moving County government to Gracedale at a price tag of 100 million. Council told him to get lost. Thank God this sensible Council is there.
ReplyDeleteNorthampton County Council is widely recognized as the most dysfunctyional legislative body in the Lehigh Valley. Now you're entitled to your opinion, but you base it on a pack of lies.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to a story that Sarah Cassi wrote about a year ago about a county council that was screaming at Stoffa to start spending money.
http://blog.pennlive.com/northamptoncounty/2008/05/county_council_build_something.html
They'd like to see their names engraved in some cornerstone somehwere, but Stoffa has been unwilling to waste taxpayer money to placate their political ambitions.
Is this the same Sarah Cassi that is in the bag for Stoffa.
ReplyDeleteStoffa is so fuckin' smart he has signs in Lehigh County. Oh yeah, that is where he belongs.
ReplyDelete"Is this the same Sarah Cassi that is in the bag for Stoffa."There was a nearly identical account in The Moring Call, too.
ReplyDelete"Stoffa is so fuckin' smart he has signs in Lehigh County. Oh yeah, that is where he belongs."Yeah, what a maroon. This frail (doesn't he look terrible?) man is out pounding in signs every night and idiotically decided to put some near the LV Mall, where thousands of Northampton County shoppers visit every day. How stupid!
ReplyDeleteHe has help I saw one of his croonies tying up traffic putting in one of his signs.
ReplyDeleteWas that you trying to run me off the road?
ReplyDelete" Stoffa wanted $186,000 parking spaces "
ReplyDeleterepeat a lie often enough and it becomes fact.
read the parking report. the cost per space was around 20K, which is just about smack dab in the middle of acceptable industry ranges.
Actually,
ReplyDelete"Stoffa wanted $186,000 parking spaces"