 |
| Hayden Phillips is NorCo Council's conservative conscience |
Brown's New Budget Reduces Fund balance to Just $1 Million
The storm clouds began gathering the day before, when Fiscal Director Jim Hunter told Council's Finance Committee that the County will end 2014 with a fund balance of just $21 million. This news comes at a time when Executive John Brown has submitted a new Amended Budget. It removes a $20 million line of credit that Council Solicitor Phil Lauer advised might be illegal. It makes up for that missing line of credit by spending down the reserve..
Since Executive John Brown is projecting to use $20 million of that fund to balance the 2015 Budget, that means the County will start off the new year with a reserve of just $1 million. That's risky business in a County that spends an average of $8-10 million per month.
It's also contrary to advice from the County's independent auditor. In June, she recommended that there should be at least six months of expenses in the till at all times, which is approximately $60 million. Other accounting firms are a little more lenient, suggesting that one or two months are sufficient. Even others suggest 10% of the total budget.
Council's Most Conservative Members Urge Tax Hike
This new budget, along with Hunter's recent disclosures, resulted in a sleepless night for Council member Hayden Phillips. Phillips, a member of the Lehigh Vally Tea Party, ran his entire campaign based on the principles of limited government, individual rights and fiscal responsibility. He is without question Council's most conservative member. Yet it is this conservative who called for a tax hike.
"I do my business and make decisions in my life based on how well I sleep," confessed Phillips. "yesterday, when we were told that we're going to eat into the reserves and go into a new budget with $1 million of reserve, I didn't sleep well. I didn't sleep well at all. I think if we do that, we are really fiscally irresponsible. And how can we cut $20 million? I don't see how we can ct $20 million. I'll go on record, I'm thinking we need a tax hike."
Phillips' remarks were echoed by Mat Benol, arguably Council's second most conservative member.
"We're in a mess," he admitted. "If a tax increase is needed, it's unfortunate, but we can't be dipping into our fund balances the way that it's proposed."
Ron Angle Challenges Council to be Leaders
Phillips and Benol may have been inspired by comments made by Ron Angle, a fellow conservative and former member of Council, earlier in the meeting.
"A leader is a person who makes the tough decisions that need to be made," he told Council. "Sometimes, it's a tax increase."
Angle was also highly critical of Brown's budget leaving just $1 million in the budgetary reserve, calling it "insane". He implored Lamont McClure and other Democrats to stop trying to make Brown look bad. "He's doing a pretty good job of it on his own," he observed. "You need to spend your time coming up with other ways to make things happen that are good here,"
Brown declined to respond to Angle's scathing assessment or provide any report at all.
Open Space Funding Pitched
Aside from $1 million in funding that has been promised for municipal parks, Brown's budget contains no finding for farmland preservation or purchases of environmentally sensitive land. Brown has told Council that open space activists are willing to wait. But that's not the case for Bill Mineo, a member of the Open Space Advisory Board, and Don Moore, a member of Plainfield Township's Environmental Advisory Council. Angle also urged Council to restore funding for farmland preservation, noting it is the number one industry in Pennsylvania. "When that land is gone, it's gone forever."
Though Council has no power to make revenue estimates, it does have the power to adopt a higher millage rate than the one proposed by the Executive. That matter and Budget amendments will be considered again when Council meets on December 4. If Council fails to adopt or amend the executive's Amended Budget by December 16, his Budget will be deemed adopted.
39 comments:
Republicans ran as no tax conservatives, so if they deicide to tax and spend like liberal Democrats they will be gone after next elections. Angle says whatever he thinks plays well and no one takes him seriously but these guys are the pones who ran on principles.
They are gone anyway. If you dont want taxes raised then you have to shut down services. There is no fat to trim. For that matter their will soon be no employees to provide services.
Buh bye Hayden. We hardly knew ye.
this is all the previous councils and administrations fault. Raise taxes, cut jobs, raise what the employees have to pay for benefits, decrease certain benefits, privatize gracedale and any other service you can.
slate belt says,
Hunter won't last long. you keep deleting. I would id but don't trust bo. Poor talent, sorry. I dont hate people, I hate hypocrisy.
I love these tea baggers that get slapped in the face with reality. Drive it into the ground, Phillips. Thats what you wall wanted all along. "Don't Tread On Me, Bro!"
What a bunch of hypocritical weasels.
What a great reality show NH county has become. The ratings just keep soaring out of site. Blame is easy..solutions are not. Stay on task and work the problems councilpersons! Do your job and make the tough decisions JB has no intention of making. Lead..follow..or get out of the way!
slate belt says,
Hunter won't last long. you keep deleting. I would id but don't trust bo. Poor talent, sorry. I dont hate people, I hate hypocrisy.
Spoken with the coherence and intellect of a typical slate belter.
jb wants clean hands... he wants someone else to take the blame for having to raise taxes.
Yeah because NorCo has been milking the taxpayers for years! Havent had a tax increase in 7 years, services cost money! Tax increase is long overdue.
7:45 same party has been in charge since the Republican sweep back in 2010. you can try to blame Stoffa all you want, he had a Republican run Council (led by Angel) and he was told to not raise taxes every year. You just can't keep kicking the can down the road and spending the reserves. so i am thinking a 3 mil tax increase should be proposed by Peg Ferraro and Glen G.
You can go back to 2008 since the Democrats last had a majority on county council. In 2009, Joe Cap was appointed as a Democrat but he voted with his buddy Ron Angle most of the time. So don't blame the Dems for this mess, It has Repo written all over it!
Bingo! He can say he didn't raise taxes.
Phillips is an odd duck, but he is calling it like it is. There is no choice but to raise the county property tax. It would be irresponsible to nearly zero out the county's fund balance next year. The voters wanted to keep Gracedale. If it had been sold there would have been no need to raise taxes for the next decade. They spoke, now they must pay. Simple as that. You want a county run nursing home, then pay for it.
Sure, Gracedale costs money and the people, I believe, would support paying for it so log as it does not get ridiculous. That's not the real drain on the budget. It was the swaption, as Angle correctly noted in his remarks.
If you knew the true story behind the swaption you would have to stumble over your apologies. But when were you ever interested in the truth.
The bungling of the swaption by the Angle/Stoffa Admisntration caused the problem. Also the bungling of the Gracedale sale by the Angle/Stoffa Admisntration. Both are big reasons for your problems today.
If Angle didn't stand up and apologize, it was just another grandstand on his part. He makes littl Stevie Blunder look like a piker.
Do the math Bernie. If Gracedale had been sold for $35 M and the county would have saved millions on personnel and operating costs per year, even with paying unemployment and pensions to the furloughed Gracedale staff (those not hired by the new owner, which would probably be 90% pf the workforce), the county would have pocketed at least $50 M in overall savings. More than enough to cover county reserves for years to come. So it is time for those ignorant taxpayers who bought into the Gracedale Goons propaganda to pony up with higher taxes!!!
So says Ron Angle!
3;04, Angle voted against the swaption in the first place and did advocate pulling the trigger. That did not happen until he was out of office. Creating false versions of what happened is something people see through.
"So says Ron Angle" - are you nutz?? This is not Ron Angle it is someone who knows the facts. Fact is that not selling Gracedale has created a financial burden that Norco taxpayers must bear. So suck it up suckers!!
2:42, want to talk about truth? Tell us who you are so we can see your agenda.
This is the Gracedale tax increase you were told was coming. It has gotten ridiculous Bernie. At about $8 million this year, the county contribution for Gracedale is over 1 mill of property tax.
To his credit Angle did urge Stoffa to get out of the swaption, but Mazziotti and Stoffa procrastinated until it was too late.
You also need to point a finger at the state legislature who changed the reimbursement formula disadvantaging county nursing homes ($8 million Norco contribution), failed to enact pension reform ($14 million), and hasn't updated 911 wireless fees ($3.8 million) to pay for that service. But hey we get "constituent services" and a hockey area in Allentown.
Exactly. And with that stop punishing the very people who provide services to NC residents.
I don't want to praise too much, as there are things I disagree with him on. However, this is not the first time I've found myself saying I am impressed with Phillips. There was a time when I voted straight GOP, but he was the only one I voted for last year to ensure balance. The fact that he accepts reality, even if he may philosophically disagree on the past decisions of how we got here, shows real civic leadership in my eyes. The poster at 10:22 hit the nail on the head, as I was thinking the same thing this morning when I read this. Brown isn't showing leadership at all...he is showing a willingness to play a disastrous game of chicken with the budget so that the real leaders (R and D) are forced to raise the tax for him.... well Brown, we are not all stupid and we don't all have short memories. Your PR person is doing a bang up job, as I've talked to people who don't even follow NorCo politics who have caught enough from local papers/news to perceive you as a poor Executive. Likewise, if you were a good Exec, the public wouldn't need a PR person to see it. The only thing you successfully accomplished thus far was transforming McClure and Barron to look reasonable.
Interesting, it probably will take a conservative like Philipps to call for a responsible tax hike, rather than a Dem, much like it took a Nixon (who couldn't be called "soft on Communism") to begin detente with the Russians and Chinese. Hopefully, the Ds and Rs on Council can put partisanship aside and work together on this budget.
7:28's comment just shows how easily some people can be conditioned like Pavlov's dog. "Tax" instead of a bell.
Ovem, I confess that I completely misjudged Phillips. He is very conservative, but I had expected a Ronnie del Bacco it Tom Campione, both of whom are rigid, unthinking partisans. Phillips does have a conscience, stands by his convictions, but understands government has to function. Next time there's an election, I want you to share your picks if you can.
Right Bernie, See civilians including you Bernie , were surprised that I would support Mr Phillips. Well,its because I understand that he was vetted by several agencies of this Federation, he would not have been able to proceed in his Military occupation if there were flaws in his integrity.He will tell it as it is.
The only real conservative Republican with any credibility is John Brown. The screaming employees fill the room whining and an Express editorial and the new "conservative" county council folds like a cheap tent.
I wonder if Hayden knows who Dean Browning was. Hayden hasn't fallen on his sword. He's just shot himself in the head. So long Hayden. You're gone. You can swing a dead cat anywhere in NorCo and you'll hit 20 Ds who want to spend more and raise taxes. It's what they do. You might as well be one of them. And that's why you're leaving.
The Brown administration is getting exactly what they hoped for..someone else proposing the necessary tax increase.
"I wonder if Hayden knows who Dean Browning was. Hayden hasn't fallen on his sword. He's just shot himself in the head. So long Hayden"
It's sad when some anonymous cretin, who obviously has no moral compass, attacks elected officials for displaying a conscience.
4:12, aka Tricia Mezzacrazy, The ET editorial was published on 11/21, the day after both Phillips and Benol discussed the need for a tax hike. Unlike you, they are sane and recognize there is no rational way to cut $20 million and create a fund balanc. Nor does Phillips support the ridiculous notion of borrowing money to pay for operating expenses.There simply is no other way. How sad to see an Executive who lacks the political courage to do the right thing. And people like you, who lack the intestinal fortitude to identify yourself, encourage cowards like you.
I'm meeting with a major daily Philadelphia newspaper in early December so lots more people will be learning about DA Jim Martin, WAEB, Craig Stevens, Dick Sprague, The Morning Call "newspaper," 69 'News," and The "Express"-Times hopefully in time for Christmas and like a bucket of coal but these'll be hot coals.
Looks like WAEb is on the poop list, care to comment BOh?
anon 1:28, Crazy much?
Yeah, he's insane. WAEB, which gave him 11 shows in which he defamed people, is now on his shit list bc they did not give him 12.
Thoughts on Jim Martin/ Sprague & Sprague's lawsuit being a SLAPP type deal? Muzzling free speech is un-merican
Free speech does not apply to a private business, which makes decisions based on what will bring them revenue. They do not exist to cater to a kook brigade.
The Blog Mentor did engage in defamatory remarks in several broadcasts, i.e. outright lies that he knew to be lies, designed to destroy the reputations of good people. Hopefully, WAEB and the Blog mentor will be held responsible for a campaign of deceit, as they should be. The Blog Mentor shows his true colors by turning on yet another who was willing to listen to him, as he did to so many others. He is a bully.
Now, although you'd like to be the center of attention about everything, this blog thread is about Northampton County finances. Go back to roolling on the floor and foaming at the mouth. Additional comments will be deleted.
Fear not Hayden as leadership does not go unnoticed. Your stand on this issue is commendable and the right thing to do. Your fellow councilpersons need to get in line behind you and follow. Will they/ JB refuses to lead so somebody needs to step up and be counted. Thank you for being that person.
Post a Comment