Once again our Board of Selectman show that they have no fiscal responsibility and continue to spend, spend, spend. Raises, bonuses, and now huge department budget increases across the board, just more of the same from the people we entrusted with our tax dollars.
There are important reasons that voters value fiscal responsibility in their elected officials. Managing public money is a matter of public trust, and a charge that should not be taken lightly. They are entrusted to wisely manage our resources and to prevent runaway spending and out-of-control government growth by requiring all departments to run more efficiently. Instead, they continue to increase department spending and award those that ignore their department's budget and continue to over spend,year after year.
They need to apply the brakes on this runaway spending and establish a tradition of frugality that will require departments to run more efficiently, instead of rewarding those that don't. If they can't; or won't, and continue on as they have, then we need to find people who will have the public's and town's best interests at heart and remove those that are only looking out for themselves.
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24 comments:
I just couldn't believe this when I saw the headline on the other site and was coming here to voice my concerns. This conduct is outrageous and irresponsible to say the very least. I am outraged that these people think they can just keep raisng our taxes year after year with no regards to those people in town who have to choose between food, winter fuel and clothes for their children, while this group continues to prosper with raises and bonuses each year. Enough is enough, we really need to vote in some responsible people to run our town. These people must not have any conscience, otherwise they'd be ashamed to show their faces around town. I am disgusted beyond words.
What the hell is wrong with these people, don't they get it? Just where do they think this extra money is going to come from? We need to vote them all out and get people with some sense of real reponsibility to the community in these positions. We can't afford to keep digging into our pockets every time they want more money to spend. Where do they think we're going to come up with the extra tax money when the whole damn country has is in such a mess? I hope our budget committee members have more sense and say no to these damn increases.
My God, are these people for real? It really is time for a change. When I first heard about this website and started reading here I thought it was just a few disgruntled abutters pissed off at the planning board and Margaret Sharra over allowing that Van Dyke contractor to build near them. But I see now that you people really do have the town's best interests in mind and are trying to wake the rest of us up as to all the bs that is going on behind closed doors. Thank you all so much, my wife and I have woken up and will do whatever it takes to wake up all of our freinds and neighbors and help put a stop to this before we all end up in the poor house.It is time for changes.
ha ha ha ha you people are really funny. just what do you think your bitching will accomplish, think before you keep making these stupid comments, our town officials are doing the best job for us as they can. if you don't like it here why don't you move to someplace where you will.
Ha! Ha! Ha! You will be laughing with us and not against us. Your question was. What are we expecting to accomplish? We will accomplish the taking back of our town, lowering taxes and make it a better place to live. How you might ask? Getting rid elected and hourly people that are not working the best interest of the town's people. What our bitching has accomplished? So far is the fact we remove your friend John Stetser! Now his supporters that all think the tax payers owe them a living and they can suck as many tax dollars at will. The voters will speak in March 2009 if not before then. We rather have you with us then against us. Thank you for your comment. We need both sides to make a forum.
Daniel Webster said so many years age. Persistence pays off; he called it rat-a-tat-tat like a drum.
If you think having to pay for over spending every year is so great perhaps you and those who agree should move and take these selectmen with you. I used to think this board was made up of caring long time residents intent on making Winchester a better place for all of us to live; but I have to say lately, the past several years to be specific, I am very disappointed at the way town business has been handled. I was hoping along with many others that once John Stetsor was gone that things would change for the better; but we were all wrong. It's more of the same type of conduct that made us vote him out. It is now time to send another message to those who continue on with this charade. We do need change and they'll be coming this year.
I think we all better show up at the budget committee meeting and make sure these increases don't get voted in. We may also need to send a message to them too. Let them know we aren't going to stand for being fleeced over and over and over again. I too have had my head in the sand too long and speaking for everyone in my neighborhood, thank you for bringing all of this to our attention. Are any of you thinking about running for public office? Is there a way to find out who's up for re-election this year. can you people find out and provide us with this information?
This is in response to the person who was too ashamed to use their own name when they posted. If you truly feel this is a laughing matter and find a $25,816.00 increase in one dept's budget and $20,000.00 in another something to laugh about, I'll bet you'll be in complete hysterics when you see the rest of the proposed budget increases.To state that the BOS is doing the best that it can, is a scary thought and telling people they should move if they don't like how they are being treated by people they have entrusted to look out for their welfare, is downright rude and petty on your part. You may not agree with the opinions or concerns of the people who have posted their comments before you; but you should at least have the decency to respect their thoughts without calling someone stupid.
Looking over the meeting minutes of their workshop on the proposed budget for this year we found the following department increases. TOWN CLERK / TAX COLLECTOR CHANGES TO APPROVED BUDGET;The new revised total budget for this department will be $144,042.00. Selectman Fraser makes a motion to approve these changes and the new budget amount. Selectman Whippie seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
An increase of $25,816.00
WELFARE DEPARTMENT PROPOSED BUDGET; Selectman Fraser makes a motion to add a performance bonus line item to the Welfare budget for the Welfare Officer, in the amount of $257.00. Selectman Whippie seconds the motion and it passes 5-0. Selectman Fraser makes a motion to approve the proposed budget for Welfare Administration in the amount of $9,325.00. Selectman Whippie seconds the motion and it passes 5-0. An increase of $425.00. The budget total stands at $101,050.00. Selectman Whippie makes a motion to approve the budget in the amount of $101,050.00. Selectman Berthiaume seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.An increase of $20,000.00.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED BUDGET; The total revised amount for the proposed Financial Administration budget is now $127,825.00. Selectman Fraser makes a motion to accept $127,825.00 as the amount for this budget. Selectman Whippie seconds the motion and it passes 5-0.
An increase of $5,457.00.
INSURANCE PROPOSED BUDGET; Selectman Whippie makes a motion to approve this budget as submitted in the amount of $58,195.00. Selectman Fraser seconds the motion and it passes 5-0. An increase of $8,395.00
HEALTH AGENCIES PROPOSED BUDGET; Selectman Whippie makes a motion to accept the budget as submitted in the amount of $60,470.00. Selectman Berthiaume seconds the motion and it passes 5-0. An increase of $2,808.00.
LAND USE PROPOSED BUDGET: The Board begins to discuss the proposed Land Use budget with Margaret Sharra. There is a new line item: impact fee schedule at $5,000. Margaret explains that if the Town wants to charge developers impact fees, professional consultants need to be hired to create an impact fee schedule. This is required by statute. Selectman Fraser is concerned that if there is another default budget, we’ll loose our chance again to establish impact fees. Margaret and the Board decide to leave the $5,000 line item in plus submit a warrant article for the same $5,000 with language stating ..”In the event the operating budget fails…” at the beginning of the warrant article. Bob Gray will include this article with the upcoming warrant articles. Next the Board discusses the increase in Land Use wages. Margaret is asking for the position to be increased from 30 hours per week to 35 hours per week because the workload has significantly increased and she cannot get the work done in 30 hours. There is substantial discussion on the matter. Ken Berthiaume has to leave but states that he feels this increase is appropriate and he agrees with Margaret’s request. Ken leaves at 12:50PM. There is more discussion. Selectman Whippie makes a motion to allow the Land Use position to be increased up to 35 hours per week providing the proposed operating budget passes, to begin 7/1/09. Chairman Tedford seconds the motion for discussion…he is not comfortable with the request and explanation. Selectman Whippie calls for the vote after more discussion. The motion passes 3-0 with Chairman Tedford abstaining. It is late and the Board agrees that it will revisit this particular request and the rest of the land use budget at the next work session scheduled for Monday 9/29 at 9:30AM.
So far, after one work session the BOS has proposed to increase the budget by $59,506.00 and that's not counting Margaret Sharra's hourly increase due to the increase in hours/wages for the Land Use Dept. or the insurance costs that she will now qualify for. Can we afford to allow these types of increases every year?
The BOS elected Roberta Faser to become the selectmen's advisory to the budget committee to replace, "Spend at Will" Sherm Tedford this year. She gets one vote. The budget committee is just about even with those who like to spend and those who like to hold the line on spending. Last year most of the time Sherm Tedford was the tie breaking vote in favor of the spenders. The spenders set on one side of the table of which I call the left and the conservative on the right. With Roberta Faser being elected to the budget committee (who happens to set on the left)we felt the tie vote would go our way. Doesn't look that way after reading the BOS minutes. Roberta will find it hard to vote down her own budget increases after making the motion to increase their budget. It beginning to look like another year of spending. winchesterinformer.com will be posting the voting record of each budget committee member. If that turns out not to be enough wincheterinformer.com will post their phone numbers and e-mail address and you personally can tell them how you feel. "We will have to keep beating our drum"!
Looks like the tax payers should start looking for a second job or apply at the town hall. The pay is good, no one cares when you get to work or when you leave. How a few people can get a death grip on our town is more than i can understand.Live free or die?
Land Use Dept. proposed budget for this year; $79,155.00. Up $14,896.00 most of which is Margaret Sharra's Increased hours, 2% COLA and 3% bonus and the new $5000.00 line item impact study advisory fee she asked for.
Water Dept. proposed budget for this year; $230,254.00.
Sewer Dept. proposed budget for tis year; $346,954.00.
I was just told about these websites this evening and I must say you people have done a super job exposing the misconduct of town employees and the total disregard our elected officials have for the rest of us. My husband and I are just as fed up as all of you at the way our money is spent and the disregard for those of us who struggle to make ends meet while lazy, dishonest people keep getting rewarded with raises and bonuses every year. We're with you, it's time to make changes in Winchester.
It is past time to trim the fat from Winchester's budget and that means those fat cats working at town hall too. Ms. Sharra has been the topic of many discussions about her snotty treatment of people at town meetings and her continued tardiness at work all the time. She must have an awful lot of dirt on some on the board of selectmaen to have kept her job all these years and now to get another raise and a bonus on top just shows us all what's going on. Gary Puffer was fired for several good reasons and then brought back, Dale Gray has been under a cloud of suspicion for ages and now the town's fire chief is running amock. It's plain as day that Winchester has no leadership and the only direction this town is headed in isn't healthy for anyone living here. There are no jobs in our town, no business, no prospects for any either. Winchester has become a dead town that supplies housing for Keene while we pay to send kids out of town for education instead of having our own school here. There is too much wrong with our town to allow the continuation of the same old and it neds to stop now. You people are on the right track, it's up to the rest of the people in town to get on the right side and send a message at that deliberative meeting and the polls in March. Enough is enough, it's time for a new direction.
Its time to look for a town clerk who can stay in budget. Its to bad no one can understand its time to cut back. Please { budget comm.} step up, and back the dept heads down.
A post left by "voter" has been removed by the administrators of this web site for inappropriate content; no personal attacks on anyone will be allowed. Please refrain from doing this in the future if you wish to post on this blog again.
Don't these people read the newspapers or watch tv, don't they know there is a recession going on and money is getting very tight? Pay raises and bonuses and budget increases, what are you all doing? This is really very disturbing that our community leaders have so little regard for the rest of us. It is time for a real change in our town they all must go.
The main problem this town has is that just about everyone in town government is related to each other. A HUGE MISTAKE for all of us. This is why you see these unbelievably high salaries for unqualified people and all of the raises and bonuses each year. It's take care of their family first and to hell with everyone else. This has been going on way too long in Winchester ( or as we are better know wINCESTER )It is time we the people took back our town by voting in qualified, unrelated, frugal people with the town's best interests at heart instead of their own. Too many of our friends and neighbors have either lost their homes to high taxes or have moved on to places they can really call home. The fleecing must stop now before this town dries up and we pass the point of no return. My wife and I have called Winchester our home for the past 8 years, we have never been more disgusted with a town's gov't than we have with this group in charge. They are truly thoughtless, arrogant people who need to be shown the door.
Exactly, look what they just did with Bob Gray for instance. Don't get me wrong, Bob is a super nice guy and will bend over backwards for anyone but appointing him to be our town administrator and to carry on his duties as town assessor, in my eyes was a mistake. It is costing us more now to do things this way, than it did to have a town manager and on top of that these fools went out and hired another person, a town executive secretary costing us even more money. This behavior has got to stop before they put us all in the poor house, which I am sure many of us are headed if we continue the course.
Bob Gray will have a combined job. According to Bob Gray by combining his job (records) with the administration job (Stetser's)and hiring a full time secretary saves the tax payers about $17,000.00. I disagree with Bob Gray's assessment. First of all, last year John Stetser came to the budget committee and tried to increase the secretary's hours and make her job full time, the budget committee voted it down. Now they want to hire a full time secretary again. Come on!
Now when you add the cost of the benefits for this full time secretary, vacation, sick days, health insurance the cost will exceed the savings. Bob Gray's pay will be $56,100.00 and the secretary's pay will be $38,000.00. Last budget year from June 30, 2007 till July 1, 2008 town administrator John Stetser would have received $54,000.00 and Amy Lewis would have received $27,000.00 with a $690.00 performance bonus. Where is the savings? Some more of that fuzzy math.
I'll bet someone down there is using an old Chinese Abacus with a few chipped beads throwing off their calculations. Otherwise it would seem that a semester or two of basic math is needed.
perhaps instead of taking long lunch breaks and shopping trips on our time, they should walk down to the elementary school and take a seat.
Where do think think they are Philadelphia or New York, this is Winchester,NH,backwoods USA, these budgets are ridiculous for a town our size and if those in charge keep dishing it out they need their walking papers.
Goodness gracious, the coarse language found in the anonymous comment makes me wonder if he truly understands the calamity the town officials are bringing upon this town? Lack of a balanced budget creates fear and anger in your town, if that is what you can eat and laugh with, I suggest that you find yourself a cell because that is where you are putting yourself into. The town's people have a will to live so don't be surprised if there is an outrage and a call to a Senator regarding your arrogant manner of handling the town's budget. Thank you.
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