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Furlough day vote
From West Bloomfield Township Trustee Lawrence Brown:
I am writing you to address the article that appeared in the (Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 edition of the Spinal Column Newsweekly) headed “Board eliminates furlough days in township budget.” This article appeared on pages 16 and 17 in reference to our board meeting in West Bloomfield on Nov. 28.
It is my concern that this article is misleading by implying that the board unanimously passed the elimination of the furlough days, when in fact (Clerk) Cathy Shaughnessy and (I) voted against such action. My reason for voting against such an action is in essence giving the township employees a type of raise which was not the purpose of having had the public safety millage increase pass.
When the board evaluated how large the additional millage needed to be, our projections included the furlough days being left in place for the years 2012 and 2013. It’s not that I believe the township office staff doesn’t deserve to have these days reinstated, it is my opinion that we first see how all of the instituted decreases in costs affect our budgets going forward before making such a decision. It is presumptuous on the other members of the board to place an increase in our costs before knowing the long-term impact on our fund balance. The furlough days might have been able to be eliminated later next year once we have a better handle on the revenue side exclusive of the new millage money.
It is interesting to read the Commerce board article (“Commerce board split on budget over wage issue,” Nov. 30, 2011 Spinal Column Newsweekly) where your staff writer at least reported the split vote and included the reasons why from the minority. Why didn’t we get that same coverage?
6 Responses to Furlough day vote
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There Goes Our Public Safety Millage Money
December 8, 2011 at 11:20 am
Wow – it took the WB Township Board less than a month to find a way to start spending every penny of the narrowly-approved Public Safety Millage Increase, starting with this reversal of the few cost-cutting measures they had managed to put in place.
I guess the Board figures no one recalls the Pre-election Board discussions of the Tax Increase, when Board members stated with such sincerity that they might not need to implement the entire millage increase requested, but they wanted to give themselves leeway in case of unforeseen financial “emergencies”.
Post-election the Board immediately decided to implement the entire millage. Surprise, surprise.
Funny how that doom-and-gloom desperately-needed Public Safety Millage Increase has now freed up all sorts of money for administrative spending. So much for promises….
Denise Hammond
December 8, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Whenever I received a gift of money as a child and asked my mother when we could go shopping, she would ask me if the money was burning a hole in my pocket. I would ask the same question of the majority of the West Bloomfield Board of Trustees.
It would seem that this group of folks, living at ‘disfunction junction’, has decided to spend their new found millage monies as fast as they can.
Apparently this group is not very good when it comes to interpreting election results. While they may pat themselves on the back for getting both millage questions for public safety passed in the November elections, a good look at the results shows a huge difference in the votes for the two questions.
The renewal millage passed with an 80% YES vote. The increased millage only passed with 54% approval. With 80 voters not voting on that question, 2,460 of the voters who approved of the renewal said NO to any increase.
I have long supported a super majority requirement for any tax increases. That means a 60 – 67% YES vote. I was very out-spoken about implementing the Safety Path millage that passed by only two votes.
And so, if they are not having furlough days, I can only wonder what else they will spending their new fund balance on. Maybe the officers who gave up only their car allowance, will now want it returned to them.
Who are your trying to fool?
December 8, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Shaughnessy and Brown are off the mark as usual. The general office employees took the hit on furlough days to keep public safety well staffed. Now,that there is money to keep public safety up to normal levels, why wouldn’t you take the burden off general office employees and restore their days? Exactly what sacrifices did Shaughnessy and Brown commit to so West Bloomfield could remain safe?
Foolish is as Foolish does
December 8, 2011 at 5:25 pm
“…why wouldn’t you take the burden off general office employees and restore their days?”
Well, let’s see, we have over 400 foreclosed homes currently on the market in West Bloomfield, hundreds more currently in or headed into foreclosure, unemployment at a record high for 3 years, private sector employees struggling with slashed wages, slashed hours, slashed benefits, and increases in cost shares.
And now you want to pretend that furlough days were “temporary’?
Gollly, someone forgot to mention that to the voters in the this-is-only-for-Public-Safety-pass-it-or-people-could-die Millage Push.
Who are you trying to fool?
December 8, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Then start by leading by example.
Revert the township board pay to pre-election levels. There was a huge hike in pay for them in the 2008 election. Before you start blathering about elections “fixing” a pay level, there is absolutely nothing to stop the board from taking less…except the board. Trustees got a 25% hike. Didn’t the board officers go up $20 thou a year to somewhere in the $120,000+ a year realm? Weren’t benefits added for cars, insurance, ect, ect, ect. AND then you tell the people that actually work for a living they need to take furloughs?
Publish how much the board members pull in each year plus all the benefits, then we will talk.
Voters were Deceived
December 9, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Hey, I agree with you there, Fooling; the moment the 3 Salaried Board members declined to take real pay cuts, they lost the moral high ground. Their waiver of a car allowance was a token sacrifice.
So if Township employees believe that those folks weren’t sharing the pain, they are right.
None of which justifies a fear-mongering Board selling a Public Safety Crisis to taxpayers suffering through the worst recesssion since the Great Depression, and then using the proceeds of that Public Safety Millage to plump up the general fund. That is a shocking breach of the public trust.