Attorney Bill Wellman was appointed to the BOE tonight by a 4-1-3 Council. Mary Jane Lundgren cast the only negative vote.
Monday, January 14, 2008
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Attorney Bill Wellman was appointed to the BOE tonight by a 4-1-3 Council. Mary Jane Lundgren cast the only negative vote.
58 comments:
Ray O'Brien, John Lillis and Peter Mullen all abstained.....Why is it that our Town Council members can't make a decision? We don't elect them to abstain, unless they absolutely have to.
Maybe they have a conflict of interest, as Mr. Wellman is an attorney and they might be his clients. When Dr. Mullen is lumped in with Lillis & O'Brien, that is unusual...
Maybe Messrs. O'Brien, Lillis and Mullen abstained because they admire Mr. Wellman too much to condemn him to 2-years on the BOE. That's a pretty harsh sentence!
No conflict of interest was stated as their excuse....
John Lillis and Bob Guendelsberger abstain to much. Maybe the public should have known before the election the voting history of these two and neither would have been elected. They are elected to make the necessary decisions for the town not abstain.
I believe that there should be rules defining when they can abstain. Then they'd be forced to give a specific reason for abstaining. It shouldn't just be because they're "uncomfortable" or "concerned" with something.
They abstained because they're "concerned" that Mr. Wellman is representing a client in a lawsuit against the town (nothing to do with the Board of Education).
Some might argue that this is a legitimate concern, but that's the reason these people are elected. They are there to make a decision. If they are against something, they need to vote against it.
By abstaining, they're simply saying that they don't have what it takes to make a decision. Those who frequently abstain should step down, and be replaced by people who aren't afraid to take a position.
Abstaining under these circumstances is just plain cowardly. At least Mary Jane Lundgren took a stand by voting "no".
In "The Inferno", Dante Alighieri placed uncommitted individuals in the Vestibule of Hell because they were unwanted by God or Satan. The vestibule is where those who took no stand, kept no promises, honored no loyalties, etc., were condemned. Their punishment was to eternally chase after a white flag while being tormented by stinging wasps and bees.
Evidently, people despised scheming politicians as much in the 14th century as they do now!
If inflation is 4.1%, the school's proposed increase should not exceed 5%.
And if taxes are 5% of your income and it increases at a rate greater than inflation what happens eventually? Ditto for 90% on the CL&P bill and 50% for fuel oil and gas...
"If inflation is 4.1%, the school's proposed increase should not exceed 5%".
It should not exceed 4.1%
How about a decrease, since the population, as well as school enrollment is decreasing, according to the study we paid for....
There are a few things to consider, including rising fuel costs and contractual obligations. However, we must also consider the decrease in school enrollment, and, most importantly, the ability of the residents of New Milford to pay any more taxes.
Rather than considering the 4.1% inflation rate to be the benchmark, our elected officials must strive to ease that burden.
The voters of New Milford should be made aware of every vote by the Town Council and Board of Finance. They need to know who's on their side, and who has no problem spending their money haphazardly.
Anyone who uses the word "only" when referring to taxpayer dollars should be exposed and removed from office. Add up all the "only's," and you've got a lot of money, by anyone's standards.
Good luck, Mr. Wellman. You have a tough battle ahead. I, for one, appreciate your desire and willingness to serve the community.
I really believe that you should all take Town Finance I. Then instead of complaining constantly you should get your butt out the door to the T C Meetings, Board of Finance Meetings and Board of Education. I have seem no suggestions, ideas etc. but all of you sure know how to tear our volunteers apart. I certainly don't agree with them but until I have the ideas of my own I certainly won't complain about them.
Here's an idea for you: a 10% across-the-board spending reduction (town and BoE) with a corresponding tax decrease. Many household incomes and family budgets have been reduced by 10% or more over the past few years. If working families can get by with less money, so can the government.
How have "most" family budgets been reduced in the past couple of years?
If you say gas/oil has gone up, along with other prices, you would be correct. However, this is also true for the Town & BOE.
Are you suggesting Police officers accept a 10% cut so you can guzzle more gas in your SUV? Be sure you tell an officer that the next time you see them help someone. Very selfish of you!
Did you notice that the NM schools saved over $400,000 last year in reduced energy consumption? Did you see they actually won an award for this? Watch last month's BOE meeting on-line to see the details.
Pay attention, people, pay attention!
New Milford taxes are low. get over it.
Taxes are low? Compared to where, Sweden? From 1994 to 2007, Connecticut had the highest tax burden in the United States. In 2007 the total tax burden was 38.3% of family income (including property, sales and income taxes). In comparison, New York was 37.1% and “Taxachusetts” was 34.4%. Only someone who’s severely mathematically impaired could believe taxes are low in Connecticut.
Not only are taxes higher but the cost of living is higher. We have if not the highest one of the highest costs for electricity, gas, and oil.
We have to lower our taxes to compensate for the other costs or people will be leaving CT as fast as they can. We are the only state that did not gain back at least the population we lost during the 1980's recession.
How many are we losing now?
Government needs to cut back on spending and NM official better hear this before they give us a budget increase we won't accept.
Taxes are high yes...but the last satistic I read was that in comparision with New York our's were lower until the State income tax was figured in. Property taxes were lower.
Most people say there taxes were lower where they came from, I'm sure you will understand how I feel about that and what my reply would be.
Until you act on the way you feel nothing is ever going to change. If you continually vote the good ole boys in and don't voice your opinion at Board meetings then nothing is ever going to be any difference.
Less Americans vote than in other countries is that because your choice is not to? Stop complaining and let's hear it out loud!!!!!
I was referring to New Milford Property taxes which are CHEAP.
The numbers you quote adds in Federal Income taxes which incidentally would make sense if we also have one of the highest income's in the Country.
I love how people quote numbers with no idea what they mean
Without Federal income tax CT Ranks 8th.
Using your incomplete figures (not including income tax, personal property tax and sales tax) Connecticut’s tax burden ranks 8 out of 50 and you still insist that’s “low”? What’s your definition of high? 24 of 50 would be lower than average, 42 out of 50 would be low, but 8 of 50 is much higher than average. You either didn’t take statistics or failed miserably…
Most of the discussion here was concerning NM politics, policy and taxes, not CT or Federal. You can check the mill rates for CT municipalities at http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?A=2987&Q=385976
I'll let you decided how our local government compares. Whether it is cheap or not is really a different question.
I was quoting property Tax
Mill Rates do not indicate how high property tax are. Waterbury had a mill rate of something like 1.??? because they didn't have a revaluation done for over thirty years. Their car taxes were enormous but their house were valued so low they were less than the cars.
Also Federal Taxes were not taken into consideration on the satistic I recieved.
Sorry the link got cut off in the previous post. Here it is in two parts. Or search for mill rate at the OPM site.
http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/
view.asp?A=2987&Q=385976
Your actual tax will, of course, depend on a combination of mill rate and assessed value. Waterbury's mill rate was 55 (in 2005) while NMs was about 20.
I looked through realtor.com and found a home that is on the Waterbury market for $314K. The assessment records (www.waterburyrealestate.org) show an assessed value of about $135K. That would give a property tax over $7000.
Let me know what I did wrong.
"Using your incomplete figures (not including income tax, personal property tax and sales tax) Connecticut’s tax burden ranks 8 out of 50 and you still insist that’s “low”? What’s your definition of high? 24 of 50 would be lower than average, 42 out of 50 would be low, but 8 of 50 is much higher than average. You either didn’t take statistics or failed miserably…"
Did anyone say that CT as a whole has low taxes? But of course reading is probably not your strong point.
I don't have the time to explain to you basic demographics and their relation to the tax base. But to make it short. CT has the 2nd highest median income in the United states. Therefore its more then reasonable they have one of the highest state tax burdens.
If you want cheap taxes move south where income is lower and they don't fund their schools properly (and it shows).
"Therefore its more then reasonable they have one of the highest state tax burdens."
Before you start insulting people, and saying that "reading is probably not your strong point," perhaps you should learn to write.....
1. There's an appostrophe in "it's."
2. The correct spelling is "than," not "then."
Did you get your education in the south, where "they don't fund their schools properly?" AND IT SHOWS......
Anyway, your liberal views of taxing and spending do not belong in New Milford. We can't afford to keep you here. Please go away.
I would think it would be the other way around. If you can't afford to live here then perhaps you should move.
Did you get your education in Connecticut (Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, etc.) where they highly fund their public schools and it DOESN'T show?
I didn't say that I can't afford to live here. I just can't afford to have people like you living here. Fortunately, the voters are smarter than you.
There is really only one indication of your taxes and that's the budget. No matter what your house is valued at makes no difference as long as everyone is assessed equitably. This insures that the McMansions are taxed higher than the 1960 Cape.
When the budget goes up then your taxes are going up and that you can depend on. When they constantly pass new items for millions of dollars every year then you should really watch your boards. Our Council is under the impression that we have a bottomless pit of money and every idea is wonderful.
In the paper last week is stated that New Milford's Taxes only comtributes to 69% of the spending because of the Grants we apply for. How high do you think your taxes would be if we had to pay for 100% of the spending?
In this recession that we are into I believe that our Councilman have to have the guts to vote on all items unless there is a conflict of interest. We put them there to make the hard decisions so they should not be able of abstain just because they don't want to make a stand.
New Milford is made up of many low and middle class families. We are not Washington, Roxbury, Sherman or Bridgewater So for many the taxes are to high. You have to consider all the taxpayers. I'm really happy some of you think the taxes are low - but you're the lucky ones.
The problem in Waterbury was a few years ago...they finally did pass a revaluation to bring equity to the City.
"I didn't say that I can't afford to live here. I just can't afford to have people like you living here. Fortunately, the voters are smarter than you.
Oddly enough the last two budget referendums they sided with those of us who want a first class education system. More then likely they will again.
"... Oddly enough the last two budget referendums they sided with those of us who want a first class education system. More then (sic) likely they will again."
The correct spelling/usage is "than" not "then".
Also, on a previous post I mistakenly wrote "24 of 50 would be lower than average...". Actually, 24 of 50 is slightly above average (I meant to write 26 of 50 would be lower than average). I'm not surprised you didn't pick up on that mistake either.
Are you sure you know what a "first class education system" is?
"Oddly enough the last two budget referendums they sided with those of us who want a first class education system. More then likely they will again."
Really? Emperor Paddyfote wanted a huge increase last year, and the Mayor, Town Council and Board of Finance cut that increase in half. The voters would have never approved her request. We already have a first class education system. The problem is the wasteful spending.
Anonymous commentator # 31 wrote:
"Oddly enough the last two budget referendums they sided with those of us who want a first class education system. More then likely they will again."
If throwing MORE money at a public school system makes for first class education, then over the past 50 years the US public education system would be the finest in the world. Since that is obvously not the case, perhaps it is time to lower the funding and force the system to change, hopefully for the better. Unfortunately, the system is rigged, not for the benefit of students, but everyone else involved. If you believe that unions and administrators negotiate for the benefit of the students, I have a bridge to sell.
Well I am glad the last two commenter's had something more intelligent to say rather then pointing out my error's in grammar. Admittedly its atrocious but then again in my line of work its unneeded.
"If throwing MORE money at a public school system makes for first class education, then over the past 50 years the US public education system would be the finest in the world"
Actually sir I kind of agree with you on this point. Quite honestly being a graduate from High School you are qualified to do absolutely nothing. Not all people are (or should) be college bound. The liberal arts education in grades 9-12 is pretty useless. I would like to see more emphasis on life skills and trades. Perhaps if we taught basic finance we wouldn't have people with 20k of credit card debt.
Anonymous wrote;
"Not all people are (or should) be college bound. The liberal arts education in grades 9-12 is pretty useless."
Actually, the problem is deeper, and more systemic than that.
It's a sad day indeed when a prospective math (or any other) teacher takes more college courses that include the words "race, gender, class, or multiculturism" to graduate from college than actual math (or their other major)courses.
Check out the catalog of courses in your universities and colleges and get prepare to get ill.
If your BOE had any balls they would get rid of the above referenced BS in the local school curriculum. But then again, they are children of the 60's.
One of the problems is Community College is looked down upon in NM, It is actually a wonderful alternative for those students that aren't ready or will nevere attend a 4 yr college. Our high school counselors are useless.
They need to work more with the students that would fit the community college profile.
The one thing I always tell parents. Unless the college is Ivy League. MIT or the military schools like West Point. The undergrad school you attend really doesn't matter.
I know people who attended community college who make 300+ a year. I know people who attended some of these "elite" schools who don't crack 100k
To be successful is not the college you went to but how hard and how smart you work
It sounds like your definition of success is tied to how much you can earn. If 100K is the threshold for success, then a teacher can never be successful.
Is it any wonder that is it difficult to attract talented people to the profession? Can you blame them for asking for as much money as the town will support?
Of course not.....You can't blame them for asking. But you also can't blame the residents for wanting to keep their taxes low. Maybe if they reduced all the waste, the teachers could actually make more money! Queen Paddyfote, however, would never let that happen!!! She couldn't care less about the students or the teachers. It's all about her and her evil empire.....
If 100k is good for a year then 66k is the same for 2/3 of a year. Nobody stops them from working the other 1/3 of the year. If you think I am making it up read the contract.
Not to mention the outstanding family benefits and retirement.
In order to make fat money in the private sector typically requires managerial and or budgetary/supervisory skills dealing with other adults and all of the problems that occure on a daily (5 9-10hours a day for 12 months per year) basis.
If not then you probably own your own company and pay overhead and taxes and also have plenty of the above mentioned problems.
I realize you (and this site) feed on negativity but why insult Dr. Paddyfote? On every occasion I've dealt with her she was intelligent, informative and respectful. She has a job to do and she's doing it well.
Anon escribe:
"Is it any wonder that is it difficult to attract talented people to the profession?"
If teacher pay was linked to performance, one would attract talented teachers. As it stands now, even the lowliest slug of a teacher receives the same as the most talented.
"If teacher pay was linked to performance, one would attract talented teachers."
Liberals don't believe in getting paid for performance....
Everything is owed to them, and everyone else should work hard, earn their pay, and then fork it over.....
One smart cookie wrote:
"Liberals don't believe in getting paid for performance....
Everything is owed to them, and everyone else should work hard, earn their pay, and then fork it over....."
As Jonah Goldberg tried to explain to Jon Stewrt the other day, and as any conservative on a college campus can confirm....
Liberals (progressives!!) are simply 21st century fascists.
"...On every occasion I've dealt with her [Dr. Paddyfote] she was intelligent, informative and respectful. She has a job to do and she's doing it well."
Is shamelessly requesting a 10% school budget increase when student enrollment is decreasing "doing it [her job] well"? I think it makes her just another pathetic, spendthrift, bureaucrat who's part of the problem.
Dr. Paddyfote and the BoE must be smoking crack if they think taxpayers can afford such massive spending (and tax increases) in this economy. Let's hope the mayor and town council can muster the courage to say no to the BoE...
****Attn Threadjackers****
Just a reminder: This post is about Mr. Wellman. I'm looking forward to hearing from him during the budget "deliberations." Hopefully, he doesn't fall under their spell, and will actually be heard.
Have you ever met Dr. Paddyfote? She is completely professional. I doubt most of you "Paddy-haters" would fall into that catagory.
What has she done to get you so angry? I hear the previous Super was a real loser, but he was also in the back pocket of the Republican leadership in town. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
If she was so "evil," then she would have left this gig a long time ago. Superintendents in nearby districts make a lot more money than she does. And when she retires we'll have to face up to that fact. But most of you dumb dumbs don't have the skill set to manage 500 employees and 5000 kids, so you'll argue that any pay package is too much.
How many of you make over $150K and manage that many people & kids? If you do, you probably make a lot more $$ than she does.
The bulk of you are likely talentless hacks who just like to complain. So go ahead, do what you're good at - I'll read it and laugh!
Is your argument that it's better she's in the back pocket of the Democrat/union leadership than the Republican leadership? Don't kid yourself, they're all corrupt.
I'm not deluded. After all, there is no Democrat leadership in NM!
"... Superintendents in nearby districts make a lot more money than she does. And when she retires we'll have to face up to that fact..."
It's a wonder why so many people apply for these low-paying school administrator jobs... They must all be philanthropic humanitarians!
There are few tears being shed over the "injustice" of Ms. Paddyfote's 6-figure salary. I wouldn't worry about her though. She'll game the system, just like all the others, to maximize her salary, retirement benefits, payoffs and other compensation. It seems that "Gaming the System" is a required course for getting an Ed.D.
What is people's obsession with our superintendent salary? Are you pissed that she makes more then you?
Jeez, if she was in the private sector with that amount of responsibility she would be making far more.
I seriously doubt that!
Regarding the superintendent’s public-sector salary; she makes more than a 4-star general in the US military with nowhere near the responsibility… Not even close! She’s got a cushy gig, doesn’t have to move all over the world, gets a lot of time off, is home every night with her family and isn’t in any danger. She’s probably overpaid relative to other government workers with much greater levels of responsibility.
If she was in the private sector she'd be held accountable for poor (student) performance and conceivably fired. In the public schools however, poor performance is not only tolerated, it’s rewarded with automatic salary increases regardless of performance.
If she could make more in the private sector, she'd be there!
Sheesh. There y'all go again with that negativity. You folks live in a beautiful town. Back away from the computer, go for a walk and enjoy the day. If you met Paddyfote and stopped foaming at the mouth for a minute you might just like her and respect the job she's doing.
Let's put this whole "low school administrator salary" thing in perspective.
U.S. Senators and Representatives make $162,100 per year and the Governor of Connecticut makes $150,000 per year. Is anyone arguing that a local public school superintendent has more responsibility than a U.S. Congressman or State Governor?
I've worked for the government for over 20 years. Government salary schedules are published for all applicants to see before applying for a government (or teaching) job. There's little sympathy out there for government employees who complain about how "low" their salaries are after the fact. The last time I checked, nobody was forcing any government employee to stay in his or her job. If they really can make more elsewhere, then they should do so instead of complaining about their pay.
If she was in the private sector she'd be held accountable for poor (student) performance and conceivably fired.
You have obviously never worked in the private sector or apparently watched the news. Where else can you bankrupt a company lose billions of dollars and get 53 million severence.
U.S. Senators and Representatives make $162,100 per year and the Governor of Connecticut makes $150,000 per year. Is anyone arguing that a local public school superintendent has more responsibility than a U.S. Congressman or State Governor?
your joking right?
If you people only knew...
The superintendent gets what she wants, is ruthless, and has her stooges do all her dirty work, so she stays clean. NM is one of many places where the BOE works for your superintendent, not the other way around.
As far as teachers' salaries and time, teachers work an additional 2-4 hours more on top of the time in school, grading papers, meeting with students, prepping for the next day/week. $66k for 2/3 year? C'mon! It's an ANNUAL salary, and most teachers in this town earn far less.
Pay based on results (performance-based?) Get real! Wake up! Teachers get stuck with the dirty work of being responsible for Little Darlings that do not take their JOB as students seriously. Teachers are trashed for kids being close to being functionally illiterate, but nothing is said about kids who resist co-operation at every turn. Teaching is an (almost) thankless job.
Lets go back to the "good old days:" a kid is sixteen, doesn't want to co-operate in school? Cut 'em loose! Give them their working papers, and let them learn what an education is for. Stop coddling the kids who are being a pain.
Well said!
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