He noted that the Township has no debt.
"I can't remember a time when we had no debt," marveled Chairman John N. Diacogiannis.
Township Manager Jay Finnigan reported that the Community Center and the Municipal Police Building at 248 Brodhead Road were both paid off seven years early, and that the Municipal Building and firetruck were paid off five years early.
"It would be easy to pat myself on the back,said Finnigan, "but it's really the work of an excellent staff."
That would include Public Works Director Vince Milite, who recently had speed signs installed on some heavily traveled roads. If the car is going too fast, the speed and "Slow down!" begin to flash. If the car is going t the right speed, the sign flashes, "Thank you."
He illustrated his point with a picture of a car obviously ignoring the 35 mph speed limit.
Though this looks exactly like the Township Manager's car, Finnigan swears he's innocent.
Perhaps Bethlehem Township could hire the Hanover Township staff and get things in order. First order of business: Sell off the money pit of a community center, address the many rain runoff issues, repair Brodhead Rd the right way and dissolve the police department and merge with Colonial Regional.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as simple as that. The problem in BT is the fact that you have elected officials like Nolan that refuse to manage finances appropriately. Previous commissioners including Nolan built a Community Center that is a Taj Mahal as opposed to the functional (and debt free) one Hanover has. Joining the police force with the Colonial is a good idea and they should even consider joining with Palmer Township. Having lived in both Townships it is very apparent that the Supervisors and Staff in Hanover have a very clear vision and in Bethlehem Township the Commissioners all have their own agenda. Breslin is looking to run for a bigger office and may not even live in Bethlehem Township. Nolan is only out for himself and "blows his own horn" constantly. He is the largest "I" person in public office. They have a great manager but she'll either be the scapegoat or be smart and leave like Hammer and Kutzler because they could not manage because they were micro-managed by Nolan and crew.
ReplyDeleteBethlehem Township uses Bethlehem water Bethlehem sewer, Bethlehem School district and Bethlehem Public Library. Lets stop the redundancy of government services, save everybody tons of tax monies and have Bethlehem Township merge with Bethlehem city proper. This will make every taxpayer in the area very happy and safe because they will have a real police force and a real fire department that can respond and not rely on cronyism as in police force or volunteers for the fire department
ReplyDeleteI am all far combining municipalities. Fragmented government has led to inefficiencies, increased cost and taxes and has perpetuated little martinets like we have in Nazareth Borough and other small communities. Ideally, Bethlehem should include the City, Bethlehem Tp, Hanover, Lower Saucon, Hellertown and Freemansburg. I doubt any of those municipalities would favor consolidation. Easton should include Forks, Palmer, West Easton, Wilson, Williams and Glendon. There should be about five municipalities in the county, with a county-wide police department (Deputy Sheriffs who would have strategically located substations. One county school district.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Hanover township for a job well done, it shows that living within your means can be done. Sadly most government entities just love to spend money, other peoples money, the government and school debt in this country is simply outrageous. It is accepted by most politicians as the norm. Maybe it is just a reflection of society in general.
ReplyDeleteBernie
ReplyDeleteI am sure the residents of Hanover Township want nothing to do with the city of Bethlehem. The concept of a Northampton county school district boggles my mind.
The opportunity for corruption is boundless.
You bet my view differs from yours on this one.
Regionalism is an idea to transfer money from responsible rural areas to corrupt irresponsible cities. bigger is not better, it will not become more efficient, but they will be able to hide the graft and corruption more easily.
ReplyDeleteHow many times does the Bethlehem Twp sewer truck need to look at the shit in it's sewer lines?
ReplyDeleteHow many of these trucks, staffers, salaries & benefits does it need (and cost taxpayers) to keep an eye again, on the shit in their sewer lines?
Ray, the facts contradict you. Many if not most of the smaller communities do a terrible job of delivering municipal services. Quite a few have no police presence and count on taxpayers from elsewhere in the state to subsidize PSP coverage, resulting in long wait times and endangering public safety. Newspapers lack the resources to keep an eye on them, and as a result, some municipal officials in one small community were using taxpayer $ to buy life insurance policies (I'll have a story on that soon). In Nazareth, it is money for a private social club busted seven times for gambling. If nothing else, regionalism reduces the likelihood of corruption and ensures a more efficient delivery of services. Pa is one of the most fragmented states in the nation, and it shows in the tax bill. I would say NC should have only four cities - Easton, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Bangor. All outlying communities should be merged into those four cities and should be afforded representation so that everyone is represented equally. I am a student of local government, go to numerous meetings and know this is the right way to go. I know it will not happen in my lifetime, but people need to start talking about it. West Easton and Glendon are two examples of local governments who should no longer exist. I can recite numerous others.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that corruption has been exposed in small communities, it is good that it has been exposed, and often the corruption is small. Bigger communities have big corruption, more money to pass around and you soon have a Detroit. Newspapers no longer do any investigative reporting, they publish press releases and report what has been uncovered by others, Often local newspapers like the money they receive from ads by the municipalities themselves. I don't think small communities want to be regulated and ruled by politicians in a bigger government. Our local township has a .8 mill tax and not many services. The people who live here don't want more services. As far as police protection, the police do not provide protection, they provide making a report after the fact. The School districts are the biggest cost to all communities, the property tax should be done away with. all school districts should receive payment based on enrollment from the state. Then the administration and board should be made to make do with what they have. They need to be stripped of their taxing power.
ReplyDeleteSchool Districts are of the same spending incompetence marathon but with a regional approach, less top heavy and perhaps more fiscally minded!
ReplyDeleteLife insurance for their municipal employees or something else? That one is puzzling.
ReplyDeleteThe life insurance was for a select few members of council, and family members were beneficiaries. I will be writing about this soon. This is what happens in small government when no one pays attention.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine if Allentown, the majority in a regional government, had access to the wealth in the outlaying communities.
ReplyDeleteRay, You are about as wrong as you can be. I attend 4-6 meetings per week all over the Lehigh Valley and know local government. There is simply no way for a larger government like Allentown, Bethlehem or Easton to get away with things the way it happens in smaller government. Also, the people who "serve" in smaller government often have a private agenda like a volunteer fire company or a social club. The opportunities for outright theft are endless. As newspapers provide less coverage, the opportunities grow even greater.
ReplyDeleteIn larger government, it is easier to keep an eye on things and stop political corrruption, like exactly what is happening in Allentown.
The best way tyo give everyone the biggest bang for their tax dollar is by regionalizing services to the largest extent possible. The best way to accomplish that is by merging communities. It results in increased transparency, a smaller tax bill and better services.
You go ahead and worry about Allentown. The reality is that the citizens and in other urban centers there pay more for everything than the rest of us. I do not favor a NIZ as the great equalizer, but believe that communities like Lower mac, where my friend Ron Beitler is a Supervisor, should start paying for police protections. I think it is an outrage that some fellow in a row home in downtown Allentown has to pay for Lower Mac's state police coverage.
We already have regionalization. We have water and sewer authorities coming out the ass. It is time to consolidate and regionalize.
I favor regional government, too. There is no reason why a community of 1,800 should have 7 paid Council members and a paid Mayor. It is ridiculous, and most people recognize this problem.
Attend a few meetings and see for yourself.
I really appreciate your dedication, for attending all those meetings and keeping an eye on local politicians, I really do have a lot of respect for you. I am always suspicious of bigger is better, you are correct that the real problem is a lack of citizen involvement. I do believe with more citizen involvement a small government is much more easily controlled, I fear that a large regional government would become larger and larger, more expensive and more dictatorial. Washington is a perfect example.
ReplyDeleteRay, I thank you for your well-considered views,even though I think you are completely wrong. We will have to disagree on this point, but I appreciate your argument. Government still needs to be responsive to the little guy, and smaller governments can do that better when they are working. So maybe there is a solution that we both like.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to ask why speed limits are NOT being set to the 85th percentile free-flowing traffic speed. If they were, there would be no "speeders" and the roads would be safer.
ReplyDeleteIf this makes sense, check out the National Motorists Association for good info.