It seems that some town employees enjoyed 3 raises annually for the past 3 years. One: annual raise for performance, Two: the cost of living and three; the (zinger) performance bonus. Can you image only one person failed to receive the performance bonus last year! The payment is a given! Some raises where done at the expense of the tax payers by calling it a promotion. At the Budget Committee meeting Tuesday night the motion from Ken Gardner to remove the line item "performance bonus" from the budget was passed by a 6 - 2 vote. This was the same amendment that Bob Davis attempted to attach to a motion 2 weeks ago and it failed. Colleen DuQuette and Roberta Fraser voted to keep the performance bonuses in the budget.. Upset at the outcome, outraged member Colleen DuQuette said, she will make a motion to increase the annual raises next meeting. Will she succeed? We will let you know.
Bob Davis went on record as saying, if we do not make an honest attempt to cut the taxes,the tax payers will be angry and outraged. At the deliberative session we know people will not consider a default budget and will attempt to cut the budget by $500,000.00 or more and at least one $1,000,000.00 from the School Budget ...Winchester Informer feels, we can do this! It is our best weapon! The Budget committee is quite evenly split, between the people that want to cut taxes and the ones that want to allow continuous overspending. There are several people up for re-election this year for Budget Committee and we would love to see the people in town stand up and vote out those that would continue the current trend. If anyone would like to run for these open seats the process is am easy one to follow. It is so simple and doesn't require much of your time. Just $1.00. Please help support those of us who promote change and vote out those who continue the unchecked spending. It's time to remove these people who think the tax payer is an endless supply of dollars. We cannot continue to follow this path of tax and spend and expect our town to grow and prosper, it's time for change.
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10 comments:
I dont understand how anyone can be a spend as usual advocate. The fed. is broke, the state is in trouble, and we keep spending. These people that refuse to cutback can be replaced. Lots of people would lineup for some of these jobs,they might even get to work on time. Where does the tax rate stop at 100%? Other towns are freezing spending and wages, some are cutting back, my money tree is dead. When we have our town meeting i would not want to be on that stage. the avarage taxpayer in winchester makes about half what are employees are making, there is a limit,and we way be there. A lot of the dept. heads are taking us for a ride, RIDES OVER.
I tried to pass a wage freeze at the budget committee meetings and got no where. It is time to replace the all the people that support these blotted budgets, wage increases and low productivity.
AMEN
Since when do you give part-time employees a 2% cola raise? Looks like anyone who works for the town can expect an increase in pay each year. While other towns in our area and even the state are cutting back and laying off, it's just more of the same here in Winchester, the BOS continue to hand out money hand over fist with total disregard for the tax payers.When they say taking care of business, they really mean taking care of their own!
Can we talk about the Police Department ? The police Chief wants a new cruiser. We have five or six is that enough or due they need more in Keene for the officers to line there pockets ? On friday the town hired state line security. Instead of hiring our own police force . WE are one town one overall budget every department head should work for the best of the town.
It has been learned that over the past three years, Margaret Sharra has received a 12.5% increase in her annual salary in the Land Use Dept. That's a pretty substantial pay increase for anyone; but for someone who is scheduled to work part time for the town, it is plain wrong and outrageous! According to our town Selectmen, this was all John Stetsers doing; however, the Selectmen do have the final word and approved the increases along with bonuses. It is this type of conduct that inflates our town budget and puts the rest of us in the poorhouse. At this past Thursday's Budget Committee meeting, an increase in pay and hours for her was voted down by the board 8 - 2 with only Colleen Duquette and Roberta Fraser voting yes, to give her more money. Also voted down was a $5,000.00 line item Margaret wanted inserted in the Land Use Budget to hire outside consultants to study Impact Fee schedules. Another total waste of money. It was reported by someone who was there that she was very upset when she left and stated to the board,“you will get what you get from me from now on“. That's pretty petty behavior from an elected official and shows she only has her best interests at heart, not the town's. I can just imagine us telling our bosses where we work, that if we don't get another raise we'll do less, wonder just how long we'd still be employed?
What an attitude that woman has, she threatens to do less work now because people with a conscience said no to her demands? She needs to be let go immediately without a second thought. My God, what arrogance.
iF A FEW MMBERS OF THE BUDGET COM. DONT WANT TO GET REAL, WE WILL GEAR UP FOR DELIBERATIVE. JUST A SIMPLE THING LIKE THE TOWNHALL EMPLOYEES GETTING TO WORK ON TIME, AND NOT LEAVING EARLEY SEEMS TO BE OUT OF THE QUESTION. AFTER DELIBRATIVE THERE MAY BE A FEW LESS JOBS, WAKE UP.
If this town was run like a business Rick would run water and sewer, John and Donald would run hwy, and as people retired replace them with private contractors. In the town hall half the employees would be parttime, i can think of 5and maybe more, it would be a good start to getting back to reality in the tough times that are not going to get any better for a long time. After deliberative than may be the only choice we have.
Unfortunately this town is run like the Fed's run the country, spend,spend,spend and spend some more, driving up the deficits and expecting the taxpayers to keep shelling out their money to fix the problems created by their inability to be fiscally responsible as elected officials. Don't expect anything to change with this bunch in power, not going to happen. In fact, until we elect people with a conscience and are willing to stand up for what's right, we're doomed to constant budget increases and a town that's going nowhere.
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