Supporting Data

I'm taking the weekend off. I hope everyone does. These are tough times, but we're Americans and have survived tough times before. So let's remember this Memorial Day weekend those that gave the full measure in keeping us safe and free.

But here's some light reading to give you something to think about regarding our fair city. This was data the city required us to file a FOIA to get.

I'll have more to say about this next week, but please note the last time the city had general fund revenue that roughly equals the worst case projections...2005!

Friends of TPL Meeting Tonight

Sorry for the late post, but I've been working on the new (eye-popping) numbers we were forced by the city administration to get a FOIA filing to get. More on that later.

Anyway, there's an important meeting this evening at the library and a central focus is regarding the potential library-only millage request the Friends of the Troy Public Library are organizing to launch. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM. See you there.

For those who have read the Alternative Solutions to the Troy Budget Crisis, this meeting will probably engender mixed emotions. I know it does for me.

It's clear we need a dedicated funding source for the library. And it's clear the library is one of Troy's most cherished institutions and provides innumerable benefits to our community. But what's equally clear to me, and I hear constantly from residents, is that they feel the city has manipulated this outcome and they resent it. It's a fair assessment to my mind. And I would argue it could be put to rest by adoption of Option 3 or 3A in our Alternative Solutions report and the associated demonstration of good faith.

I think the voters will respond favorably to that once they see a) the city is finally operating transparently, and b) the city is taking strong medicine. I honestly believe the voters would not seek to punish city workers once the demonstration of shared sacrifice is apparent would reward them, moderately, with additional funding. But I fear this effort will take the pressure off the city to do the right thing with the budget. What do you think?

Play nice

I have mentioned in my comments that I reserve the right to delete comments that are inappropriate or unhelpful. I would like to be clear that while I'm trying to facilitate solutions through dialog, I don't consider lists of past sins, particularly very old past sins, accusations of malfeasance, irrelevant issues, personal attacks or otherwise angry rants to be dialog. Even if there is some truth in them, and I am not suggesting there is (or isn't), they miss the point of this blog - getting to a community consensus on how to resolve this budget crisis as opposed to further dividing an already divided community. Yes we have to be honest about how we got here, but keep that in the context of how we move forward.

I have, therefore, deleted some comments I feel are not conducive to bringing about a good outcome. I said I would be public about it if I took this step and so I am.

I would ask that anyone commenting use clear language, avoid any kind of negativity or derogatory personal comments or accusation, and please make your comments thoughtful. This is not about agreeing or disagreeing with any of my posts or any of the comments. I'm not trying to have a site where we all agree on all the issues because that means half the community has tuned out. The point, the hope, of this blog was to offer a place where we could begin to bridge those differences and understand that what this budget issue has done is exposed a division within our community that is unhealthy. It is my belief we can see this crisis as an opportunity to resolve this division through dialog and problem-solving as a community.

I have, at this time, blocked no one or turned the moderate function on. I encourage you all to comment, but again, make it clear, make it positive -- even in disagreement -- and please don't comment and re-comment on the same post. And I would really appreciate it if you would go to the Alternative Plan and comment on that.

Fair and equitable - in Royal Oak!?

Royal Oak gets it. Fair, equitable, and just - with all parties playing ball. And, in Royal Oak at least, if you refuse to play nice, then you also say goodbye to reasonable adjustments, and you get treated like this.

How about in Troy? Well, if you're lucky to be in the Troy Police Officers Association, you get to hold tight to your contract and claim to be virtuously upholding your end of the agreement while an entire community is under siege and many hardworking, good folks are losing their jobs. I know, I know. Binding arbitration. And while some folks are getting fitted for permanent blinders, the library is getting measured for chains and boarded up windows.

Royal Oak has actually said no to their police union. Why? Because at some point citizens have to. Troy's negotiators couldn't muster the courage to tell the union no last time (2008), even though Troy had already been running a deficit in the general fund for seven consecutive years at that point. Who negotiates a sweetheart deal like that under such circumstances?

And what happens if our leaders say yes to police union demands the next time? The implications of this are truly terrifying to ponder. The TPD is slated to grow from a healthy 41% of current general fund expenditures to an outlandish 55% of expenditures in the next two years under Mr. Szerlag's Option 1. You read that right.

Why? Because it's apparently easier to play hardball with librarians then police officers. But isn't that why we expect our leaders to do the right thing and, you know, lead.

I want to be clear. This is not a call to attack our men and women in blue. They ride through our community 24/7, in all kinds of weather, sometimes facing danger most of us can't imagine. Knowing they're out there patrolling our streets while we're sleeping allows everyone to sleep better. But come on guys, get in the game. You know you can't sit this one out. One way or another you will end up paying. And 5% isn't going to cut it. That ship sailed and we all have to pay. Fair is fair.

Incidentally, that goes for everyone else on the city payroll who thinks their job and their full salary is safe. All hands on deck! Let's figure this out together.

"Fair and equitable"

Just heard Councilwoman Kerwin claim during the broadcast of tonight's council meeting while lecturing that the people said, "Streamline." No one argues with that. But then she said, "We have to be fair and equitable with all our employees." I almost swallowed the lime in my gin & tonic. Really? So how can you support Option 1, the most unfair and inequitable approach to the current fiscal crisis?

For those that may have forgotten February 23, the people also said, overwhelmingly, "NO!" to Keep Troy Safe. Keep Troy Safe, the argument to avoid cuts in our fine police department, and it is a fine police department, staffed by fine people, lost. Badly. That means all departments should be on the table. All departments should share in the pain. Why are they in such deep denial about this?

Options 3 or Option 3A solve these dilemmas. It does in fact treat all employees fairly and equitably.

What next?

I'm very pleased to see people are discovering the site and commenting on the plan. Our goal has been from the start to insure a fair approach. The existing "plan" is not fair. Anyone not entranced by Mr. Svengali can see that. My seven year-old nephew sees it.

I'll have more to add within the next couple of days, but please know that we have been quietly meeting with City Council members and trying to expose for them what we keep hearing the city administration will not share. We are still trying to reach out to them and remind them that the truth shall set you free. This site is our public face and we've only just started. But we've not given up on good old-fashioned button-holing.

I'm just one guy, trying to get the word out through this site. And Clint and I are just two regular residents trying to get the plan a fair hearing (and Clint's done by far most of the work on that score). We have no political agenda. We are just trying to stop this trainwreck.

As for me, I think once real cuts are made, fair and equitable cuts, and the residents see the result and need to improve services and understand that the information is now credible and free from manipulation, they will support a modest increase in mill rate to keep us from falling off the cliff. I know some of you will disagree, arguing that no increase under any circumstances will do. I respect that view and simply ask that if its your view, make the argument. Clint believes that the original mill rate request was appropriate and keeps us as we were - a damn nice place to live. I have no real quarrel with that view, but I still think the perception that it was excessive is legitimate and must be respected. How do you see it? Please comment on this.

I'll be out of town the next couple of days, but look for new documents soon, including the City Manager's contract, the Mayor's contributions to the "Keep Troy Safe" campaign that she now represents as an endorsement of keeping the Police Department free from cuts (the advertised cuts are not real, my friend, stay tuned for more damning information there too), and more details. I'm also looking at alternative posting options so the documents can be downloaded.

So please stay tuned and don't let a couple days of silence make you think no one is listening. Listening, engaging, is what this is all about. Now my real life, the one where my job is threatened, my city is in crisis, the truth is in short supply, is calling.

See you all on Monday.

FY 2010/11

Last night the Troy City Council did the unthinkable. It ignored the will of the people who voted overwhelmingly on February 23 to say NO to the "Keep Troy Safe" campaign, a campaign designed specifically to make the protection of the Troy Police Department and its unions its primary focus. Instead, the City Council, by a closer than expected 4-3 vote, passed a budget that not only keeps the police department from facing cuts next year (while the library and other departments face layoffs and outright closing), but actually increases its budget by $1.8 million. This in spite of the fact the city administration and some council members continued to deny this fact right up until last night.

Council members Howarylak, Beltramini and Fleming voted for the principle of fair, equitable and shared cuts and voted no. Council members Kerwin, McGinnis and Slater, along with Mayor Schilling voted to support leaving the largest single department (at 41% of the entire general fund) untouched.

The closeness of this vote along with a questionable legal ruling by the staff counsel leaves the door to modification slightly ajar. Stay tuned. No fat ladies singing just yet. Let the Council know what you think. Read The Plan for details the city won't share with you.

The Plan

To understand why the alternative plans work and make sense, you first have to understand the problem. The Introduction of the plan explains the truth the city will not, for reasons that remain murky, address. Lest you think we're crazy and not credible, the Assistant City Manager, the financial manager, has admitted to us that our numbers are, "Essentially correct."

So read The Plan here.

Today is the first day

Today we begin telling the truth, sharing it with all City of Troy residents, the way the city administration and City Council should have been doing all along. Today we begin the process to take back our community from the self-promoters whose campaign promises of fairness and openness we believed when they ran for office.

A real financial crisis exists in Troy. But you wouldn't know it from the pathetic efforts to avoid sharing the truth with the residents. Frustrated by the seemingly distorted and manipulated arguments from both sides, two regular residents, with no political agenda, simply decided to dig deeper. This is what we found.

1. The City of Troy five-year deficit is not $22.6 million - it's $82 million!
2. The City of Troy has been in an operating deficit for the past four years, taking money from capital projects to stave off the truth.
3. The City of Troy is claiming cuts to the Police Department while hiding millions in salary increases, negotiated during the deficit status environment listed in #2.
4. The residents of Troy said NO, almost 2:1 to the Keep Troy Safe campaign.
5. The Mayor will decide what that vote meant and you just keep quiet.

We will not be silent. We are done trying to engage the unengaged. We are done working within the system to help save face for those that are so ego-driven that they can't imagine why they would need to save face. We're going public, very public, to bring the force of the voters who state clearly on February 23rd that they expect the city to start treating them and everyone else fairly. We are concerned residents tired of the doublespeak and logical fallacies. We cannot accept that the library is not considered a core service, but merely a "quality of life" service. But of course, why else would we live in Troy if not for quality of life?

Join us. Follow this blog. Speak out. Do not let them steal your vote and tell you it means something other than what you damn well know it means. Stop them. Save our city.

Please refer to the post "The Plan" to see the report, City of Troy Budget Alternatives, and make up your own mind. And then, please post your opinions here. All opinions are welcome. All discourse is good and we will do our utmost to encourage it.