Ruminations on Selectmen utterances in the Press
As most of you know, the Board of Selectmen ("BOS") have changed the COLA policy that was part of the Town payroll policy. For those not familiar with the term (especially since it dropped out of usage in the private sector quite some time ago), COLA stands for Cost Of Living Adjustment. In general terms, this was a percentage (in Gilford's case, was set by BOS policy) that is automatically applied to all Town employees annual or hourly wage.
This has now been dropped and a Performance Based Increase (think merit) policy has been put into place - like almost all private sector firms.
Well, this is a "sea change" in policy, and has been accompanied by no small amount of Press and comment. Given that the local Press has quoted certain members of the BOS, I feel that it is now OK for others to do the same.
For instance, let's take the Tuesday edition (11/21/06) of the Daily Sun - the article was labeled
"Selectmen tell employees COLA had to go to ward off deeper cuts".
The starting quote:
"Noting that the Budget Committee had been concerned abou the COLA for a couple of years, he disclosed that "we've been working on this for a while, but the Budget Committee moved up its time table." - Dennis Doten, Chairman
Let's see if I have this straight - if this has been in the works for a couple of years - why has it taken that long for the BOS to do something? Was this a case of "let's wait them out and maybe nothing will come of it?". Or was it a calculus that the Budget Committee wouldn't ever have the will to look at the salaries and do something about them due to the makeup of the members - and the BOS got caught flatfooted and outflanked?
After all, since the BOS could have, at any time, change the policy, why not until now?
The BudComm is advisory only - we do not set policy. And if the BOS is supposed to be in control of the Town, making the insinuation that the BudComm has forced its hand is just a little over the top (really, just a teeny bit).
"The Committee", he said, was "making noises about doing trhings that would have hurt us very badly." presumbably a reference to a threat of deep cuts to the operating budget recommended by the selectmen.
Noises? I'm not sure that I that I would have used that word. However, my concern is the phrase of "hurt us very badly". What this says to me, given that this was in context of speaking to the employees, that his concern IS with the employees and not necessarily with those that elected him to watch over the Town and its budget. By casting his lot with the employees (from reading the article as a whole), it is my opinion that unless the BudComm had started to look at the salary rankings, he would have been quite happy to leave the situation at status quo. And thus, leaving the structural problems with wages in place.
[When one of the employees], Stephanie Verdile, said..."I thought we were going to be stood up for"...Doten replied "The Budget Committee changed the agenda and put us in a ..." ...Boucher offered "It was not something we wanted to do."
Since neither Mr. Doten nor Ms. Boucher have asked to speak to the BOS directly, nor have I approached them, it certainly appears that both of them have thrown their lot in with the employees. Again, I wonder where the concern is for the taxpayers that pay the taxes that fund the operation of the Town.
Given the ranking of the salaries, the lack of change in the salary structure before this, and the comments above, my comment is "who then IS looking out for the taxpayers?"
Doten continues: "Nothing stops them from being irrresponsible from charging ahead and doing something that is not prudent"
My first thought is "if you and Alice had been doing the job on behalf of the taxpayers and fixing this problem (given that you obviously maintained that there IS no problem from your actions), you wouldn't be in this situation. If the rise in the Town Budgets, taken over the last few years, had stayed around the rate of inflation instead of an average of 15.73% over the last 4 years (approx 3 X the overall inflation rate) using actual expenditures, you wouldn't be in this situation.
To claim that we are irresponsible? Not prudent? This is nothing more than pure politicing and posturing! In the computer industry, this is called FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. This is nothing more than the political CYA of FUD.
Oh, and the quote from Mr. Doten that the BOS had
"enough ammo and solid ground" to show that the [Budget] committee's assumptions were mistaken".
REALLY? I've been seeing this claim in the paper for a while....I've also not heard or seen anything to back this up. Let me put it plainly: if you have something, show it. Heck, I'll gladly put it up here on GilfordGrok! You've had since the beginning of the budget process to do so, and there has been nothing forthcoming to prove your statement. Until then, just bluster.
I did have a chuckle in seeing the following from him:
"there is a large silent majority out there we hope to hear from"
and an employee quipped
"and if you don't hear from that silent majority?"
And this is a very good point. Without the taxpayer support, a movement cannot sustain itself. Here, when the Town votes, we will see what the silent majority really wants - one way or another. Frankly, I have the feeling that the S.M. has had enough (given the vote downs of the Police Dept, the Library, and the School budget). This is why I am advocating for the ordinary taxpayer the way I am.
Frankly , Ms. Boucher did not help his cause any
"we have to answer to the people in town wo elected us and a lot of them are hurting"
and she had received
"lots of positive feedback" since the decision to to replace the COLA with the PBI was announced
To me, this is an indication that we know how the S.M. is taking all this. Yet, Mr. Doten continued to throw his lot in with the employees:
"We really are going to be out there fighting for you with the tools we have available"
Hey, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. Taxpayer - Mr. Doten is not your friend. Look at the overall rankings, (mine are available!) reread his remaks, and make your own decision - who is on your side?
