{"id":1119,"date":"2016-03-21T22:35:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T03:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1119"},"modified":"2016-03-21T22:37:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T03:37:29","slug":"overspending-the-budget-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1119","title":{"rendered":"Overspending The Budget YET AGAIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overspending The Budget YET AGAIN
\n<\/strong>By Susan M. Halpern
\n<\/strong>Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

They\u2019re at it again.\u00a0 Meier is about to lead this council to overspend the budget for the third year in a row.\u00a0 You see, they\u2019ve painted themselves into somewhat of a corner with this whole Kanter fiasco.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re spending our tax money for shamelessly political reasons.<\/p>\n

Start here: the recent Kanter presentation was a recycled version of his almost-two-year-old July 11, 2014 letter. In that letter, Kanter opined that the Finance Department was significantly understaffed. Management responded: \u201cWhile we generally agree with the provided recommendations, we will also evaluate the cost-benefit of these recommendations\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Further: \u201cThroughout this process we will make sure our recommendations are those of best practice, yet feasible to the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around this same time, early July 2014, the council received the results of a compensation study that concluded that our employee compensation was not competitive.\u00a0 The council ignored and rejected the recommendations of the expert who conducted the study.\u00a0 Once again, Meier and his cadre believed they were the smartest folks in the room.\u00a0 And employee attrition has continued, particularly with respect to police and fire personnel.<\/p>\n

During the budget process in the Fall of 2014, with full knowledge of Kanter\u2019s observations about the Finance Department being understaffed, the council did not allocate any funds to address this issue.<\/strong> And, having rejected the recommendations of the compensation study, the council refused to adequately address Addison\u2019s non-competitive compensation issues.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a year to the Fall of 2015.\u00a0 Again, with full knowledge of Kanter\u2019s observations that by then were well over a year old, Meier and his cadre again failed to allocate funds to address the Finance Department understaffing.\u00a0 FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They also postponed action on the continuing employee compensation issue.\u00a0 Instead, they decided to spend more taxpayer money on yet another compensation study.\u00a0 The good news was that they set aside a pool of about $500,000 to deal with the issue, but the bad news for employees was that they saw none of it, and that remains the case five months later.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s where politics intervened.\u00a0 As soon as Meier realized there were six candidates for the three seats currently occupied by Meier\u2019s incumbents, he grew nervous.\u00a0 In an act of sheer desperation, he trotted Kanter back out, orchestrating Kanter\u2019s inappropriate, recycled, inflammatory February presentation.\u00a0 Even though they\u2019d heard it all two years ago, and had twice ignored the Finance Department staffing issue during the budget process, Meier and his cadre acted surprised (emphasis on \u201cacted\u201d).\u00a0 And that, of course, backed them into the corner they are now trying to escape.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to tomorrow night.\u00a0 With the walls closing in on this ill-conceived, destructive \u201cstrategy,\u201d Meier and his cadre have decided they have to do something about the Finance Department\u2019s staffing issues.\u00a0 Even though they\u2019ve ignored it for almost two years and TWO BUDGET CYCLES.\u00a0 Even though it\u2019s not in the budget.<\/p>\n

So at their March 22nd<\/sup> meeting, they\u2019re proposing to pull $374,514 out of a hat not included in any budget, to implement staffing recommendations that were made almost TWO YEARS AGO.\u00a0 And I guarantee you that they will try to make this all seem recent and therefore urgent.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait for the first member of the Meier contingent to claim that this was \u201cunanticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is, of course, nothing of the sort.\u00a0 It is nothing more than a political ploy being played out using my taxpayer money, which is beyond comprehension and irresponsible.<\/p>\n

And, if they do it, this will be the third year in a row that they\u2019ve overspent the budget<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

All of this is before we even get to the report Meier and his cadre will receive on the latest employee compensation study (costing more taxpayer dollars) which will AGAIN tell this council that our employee compensation packages are NOT COMPETITIVE.\u00a0 Police and fire officers are more than 5% BELOW market rates and several civilian positions need pay grade increases. Other Addison employees are 2% BELOW market.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t act, employee attrition will continue.<\/p>\n

And of course, this council still hasn\u2019t figured out where in the world they\u2019re going to find the $6.5 million promised to the Sam\u2019s redevelopment.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t budgeting, this is a complete abdication of responsibility in favor of perceived personal and political gain.\u00a0 And, I say again, this approach is clearly unsustainable.<\/p>\n

Addison\u2019s residents must demand more.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n