The proposed 2009 budget for the town will be released this Thursday afternoon. If you would like to meet with the Town Board to discuss the budget options --members of the Board will be pleased to meet with you anytime between now and mid December (when the budget must be approved).
E mail pfeiner@greenburghny.com if you'd like to meet to discuss the budget options.
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36 comments:
If I come and met with board members, will I be limited to 3 or 5 minutes air time?
meeting with juettner is like meeting with no one - why wont she resign??????
It doesnt matter, unless you are from Fairview or a Village Official, no one cares what you think. Dont waste your times.
1. Collect the money that GHA owes the Town.
2. Institute controls over TDYCC. No more no-show jobs. Shelve Xposure -- or at a minumum document that each participant is paying 300 and that all employees, including Mr. Thomas, are earning reasonable amounts.
3. Collect monies owed by Silver Streaks. Charge them fair rates.
4. Sell the Westhab property -- no restrictions.
5. Give up Police Marine and Swat units. Rely on county equivalents. Use civilians for EMT.
=======================
More serious measures
1. Get bid from State Police to take over policing.
2. Get bid from YWCA to take over TDYCC.
4. Meant sell Waterwheel.
Paul Feiner please explain why the superintendent of Parks and Recreation is given a town vehicle to take back and forth to work. I can understand why the superintendent of the water shop would take their vehicle home, because if their is ever a water emergency. Even Highway Department taking home vehicles is very understandable, if their is an emergency it gives them the opportunity to a quick response.
Lets be fair Paul Feiner their are certain departments that just down need to take home a vehicle. For example if garbage blows in the street i don't think a foreman is going to have to drive in to respond to the major emergency. But back to Parks I just cant see an emergency happening that would require any vehicle to be put in use other than their regular working day. Paul of all people I would think you would stand up for this especially since you drive your own car around town for town related work on a regular basis.
You look for ways to save money it is rite in front of your eyes. A little at a time builds up to be a lot over time. You can ask the kids at exposure that. Hopefully this will be part of your proposed budget on Thursday.
Hell no, I think they should take teh cars away from the highway and water also. This town is giving away too much.
When was the last time there was an emergency that anyone was required to come back.
The press is a very important too.
Spano has cut his overtime budget since the wrong doings appeared in the Journal News.
How about getting the press into the picture as to see what is happening in Greenburgh.
LEt's see what cuts Feiner made on the proposed budget concerning overtime.
Please make cuts in every department.
1)How many maintenace workers are needed at the community center?they are overloaded with help.make cuts!
2)parks/rec- why 3 commissioneers?
why have a parks super? when we have 2 foreman already?cut the super and 1 commissioner
3)why does sanitation finish at 12pm everyday and hang out til 3:30?
cut the crews!
4)why have 10 police officers train with fire dept to do rescue work?Why won't you make the EMT's/paramedics EMS workers all civilians amd save money. let the police do police work!
cut this duplication now!
5)Town Hall has alot of extra personel that can be trimmed also.
6) while you're at tell the fire depts to make cuts also
7)water and highway depts can make cuts also
8) close or sell the Library
I can't imagine that Town Department heads, including Police, would have to respond to emergencies by waiting for a cab to pick them up or the bus schedule were an "emergency" to occur -- if there was no Town provided transportation.
I can't imagine that Town Department heads are so different than anyone else that has to go to work -- who get there by their own means -- whether it be by personal car, bus, taxi, train, bicycle or on foot. I expect that even the Xposure program might teach this when introducing their 6th graders to the obligations of the world of employment.
And I can't imagine that Town Department heads, some earning more than the Town Supervisor, are provided this perk when, to his credit, the Town Supervisor provides his own car.
And I can't imagine that Town Dpeartments heads aren't hired on the understanding that they reside in Greenburgh or even a provision that the live within a specific radius. Certainly, if earning salaries well in excess of $100,000isn't adequate to make such a requirement possible, then what do we expect from the "workers", the CSEA members who can't even claim their 3% promised (and already paid for by taxpayers) 2008 increase?
3% of say, $50,000, is $1500. That's not enough to maintain a personal car to get them to work.
I don't even understand the concept of taking vehicles home. "If" for some reason ones personal auto is used in an emergency or and unusual circumstance, doesn't one file an expense report to be compensated for gas and tolls?
Paul doesn't have the leadership qualities to make any cuts. We are looking at another big tax hike. Can't wait till Paul's budget is released. 20%, 15%? What do you think?
I can't believe Gerry Byrne has a Town vehicle for his personal use
and Joe Lucassey is provided housing in a Town Park. What gives Paul? Do these perks show up in the budget as compensation?
Paul either doesnt know or doesnt care how to cut expenses. All his "thinking outside the box" is ridiculous.
7:40 makes a wise point; simple step for big savings!
I also agree about the benefits for selling the community center to the Y (or even a long-term lease), as this is an optional town service.
I thought the Hudson River police unit was already eliminated, no? If not, definitely get rid of this optional, redundant service.
Rumor has it that you kept 2009 budget under 10%. If so, congratulations. You kept your promise.
10% is no victory. That is way over inflation and with last year 23 -- we need massive cuts
Dear 7:55 (aka Paul),
Rumor has it you kept the Council on the Arts position, certainly a telling example of your commitment to austerity. If so, then we shall be taking a very close look at the parlor tricks and the smoke and mirrors while hastening a re-read of the fund balance policy.
See you in Edgemont.
I agree with 10:03/10:04, PM on 10/27 at top of this page AND would like a list of any persons with cars NOT required as part of any union contract.
Any tax increase would be a failure by this town board.
QUARANTINE
A methodology done to contain disease and prevent it from spreading to healthy bodies. Isolating the infected by keeping them from coming in contact with others and transmitting their "cooties" to others.
Why is the Town Supervisor trying to export personnel out of the Community Center and place them in key Town departments over the objections of these departments?
Isn't it bad enough that the Commmunity Center is itself a battleground strewn with two heads, one in place, an acting replacement leaving and a third coming in November. Isn't it bad enough that the swimming pool at the TDYCC is the center of the crime of partiality and two tier pricing (posted or otherwise)? Isn't it bad enough that the Center management are the action figures for the scene of the crime but one clumsily covered up by the local gendarmes? CBS could broadcast their entire fall CSI lineups with plotlines and characters developed just from Greenburgh. Isn't it bad enough that the Center had managed to hide the cost of an ongoing after school program in its budget then whipped it out just to pave the way for an even bigger rip-off? And who would believe that with all that is going on there, that no one has recognized the dichotomy of terms between the jumbled record keeping and the after school program named "Xposure".
What say you, Town Board. Paul will be Paul but Sonja we hardly know ya. You've had your nine months of labor and the baby has arrived stillborn.
Which brings me back to the original premise. With such turmoil still going on there; does the Town Board really want to find home in Town Hall for those debarking the sinking ship? Especially if they aren't qualified for the job?
Perhaps Mr. Feiner is comforable by surrounding himself with those very grateful to be on the receiving end of a tossed life jacket. It would not be a Greenburgh first for the Town Supervisor to buy votes for himself by using the Town's checkbook.
Even though the broadcast quality of Town Board work sessions is not something to be applauded, Mr. Feiner's message still comes across loud and clear.
Hal,
We know Sonya, whom you supported. She's the supporter behind the waste, fraud and abuse at TDYCC, including no-show jobs, Xposure, Silver Streaks, you name it. Dont say we dont her.
Hal: My goal is simple. I want to avoid a double digit tax hike. The biggest expense in the town is personnel. When we have a vacancy - I'd prefer replacing the person from within rather than hire a new employee. This way we can avoid new hires and keep reducing the number of people who are on the town payroll. When I release the 2009 budget tomorrow you will see that the government is smaller than it has been and that cuts are being made. This is only the start. We will have to make further cuts in 2010 --I'm hoping that we can avoid layoffs (if possible).
You are correct- the dept heads are not happy with these transfers. But, the taxpayers will be less happy and the terminated employee will be less happy if taxes go up unnecessarily and if employees are kicked out of work.
PAUL FEINER
Paul,
That the Department Heads are not happy leaves me with the question as to whether the transfers in are qualified. That the town has not resolved the issue of no-show jobs at TDYCC doesnt leave me with a warm feeling.
Like another commentator, i was very interested in the WSJ article yesterday about a widely-used curriculum for middle and high schoolers to teach about stock market investing that costs $16 per student team. The program is designed to be managed by teachers in the school. Now, tell me again, what is the point of the expensive xposure program?
When is James Robinson going back to the community center??
please do not lay off the town carpenter fron the parks dept.
just dend James back, you do not need 3 commissioners
Dear Paul,
It is nice that the budget is to be brought in, as you indicate, under the previously thought double digit rates. We both know that had it been otherwise, you would have been "waist deep in the big muddy".
However, the public eagerly awaits discovery of how this was accomplished. Certainly, on a year to year comparison, what was evidenced in the 2008 budget left yourself and the Town Board with miles of wiggle room just by corrections to that travesty.
While rumors of tampering further with the fund balances and bonding Cert settlements still abound, I'm sure that being caught squarely in the headlights that even you and your team would be loathe to add such a new burden to your load. And you know that if I see Arts Council still surviving, that I am only going to work harder at exposing how you arrived at low or under double digits.
It is one thing to be merciful and concerned about the fate of employees but it is the other thing which affects everyone (staff and taxpayers) and it is whether the desire to protect the individual comes at the cost of tolerating poor performance at a new position to which the employee is not qualified. And, as the work session conveyed, even the County is unhappy at how you want to shoehorn an unwanted employee into a position that need not pony up to her existing pay level; especially since she is untrained and not the best candidate for the role.
In a private, family owned company, perhaps this would be tolerable but not when the payrolls and benefit schedules of the entire Town staff ride on turning a key function over to a trainee. In this particular department, there is little to no back-up unlike other departments where there are multiple and interchangeable employees. In any case, micro-managing is never a good idea and department heads should be allowed the freedom to make their own mistakes, not suffer the consequences of yours.
As for the other departments in which you contemplate similar substitutions, the same operating procedure is again being challenged by feeling your pressure to hire from, not within, but from outside the department and from the cast-offs of a department that is undergoing a shake-up. Will you also be coming to the aid of Ms. Roper?
And, as the Chief Financial Officer, your confusion regarding simple math functions is astounding.
From your post:
"The biggest expense in the town is personnel. When we have a vacancy - I'd prefer replacing the person from within rather than hire a new employee. This way we can avoid new hires and keep reducing the number of people who are on the town payroll."
employee to be fired or transferred = -1 from TDYCC staff
position to be filled or
hired from outside or "inside" = +1
-1 plus +1 = 0
How does this reduce staffing?
Instead, by not allowing hiring from outside, you tend to retain the rejects of inside or assuming that a job done well in one town discipline is the assurance that the same person can do well in any assignment.
You need to reread "The Peter Principle".
All of this raises the question as to whether the employee who quit the Town for higher pay elsewehere and her departure creating the vacancy, earned as much as the applicant you are sponsoring.
ACTING TDY COMMISSIONER WHITEHEAD LAUGHS AT AQUATICS DIRECTOR FIRING
I have been using the TDY pool for four years. But today was the last day I will ever enter through the doors of that Community Center. When I asked about what happened to Patricia Roper, in a vivid illustration of almost demonic proportions, Whitehead gleefully implied that she was no longer working at the Center. I was disgusted as to how giddy and cruel her mannerisms were at the point of my question. It was very clear that she took some type of perverted sick pleasure over someone’s loss of employment.
In the last two years Ms. Roper has been the Aquatics Director, I’ve seen a tremendous improvement in programs, staff courtesy, and equipment upgrades including a brand new electronic scoreboard, not to mention her determined advocacy of the FAST swim team. I don’t know what happened to cause Ms. Roper’s apparent termination but there was no reason for me as a Greenburgh resident to be subject to Whitehead’s attempt to denigrate and take joy from someone else’s pain. It seems hard to believe that with Whitehead’s attitude she’s employed at a community center. Her vindictive display is a poor example to our children.
Does Whitehead’s unprofessional behavior reflect the integrity, ethics, and motus operandi of you and our council members? Please answer this Paul.
OUTRAGED GREENBURGH TAXPAYER.
UFFA THE HECK WITH THIS FIRING.
THE CENTER SHOULD BE CLOSED OR SOLD .
Isn’t it funny that when someone brings up a concern about the TDY Center, a blogger here responds by saying, “Close that place!” Mr. Feiner, is that you???
No it is not Feiner ,
Did you ever stop to think that the public is getting tired of supporting this center .
Where has our money gone to?
Could it be possible that an establishment like this has to depend on taxpayers dollars to exist.
How can anyone permit this to continue?
Well Feiner has been doing a good job in seeing that our money pays for all the programs.
There are too many handouts that should be stopped.
Paul we work hard for our money .
We do not depend on anyone to give us something for free and in the same way we expect you to stop what has and is going on at both centers.
My sitter gets paid good money and is here woking legally.
Why is it that those that receive the services that I pay for get it for free.
Taking care of children costs a lot of monay today but you are allowing those that can pay get away with paying nothing.
ARE YOU BEING FAIR???????
WHY SHOULD MY MONEY BE SPENT IN THE MANNER THAT YOU CHOOSE .
YOU ARE NOT A MANAGER WITH A GOOD BUSINESS BACKGROUND.
STOP THIS PRACTICE OF SPENDING MONEY THAT YOU HOPE TO RECEIVE.
THERE ARE NO POOR PEOPLE IN GREENBURGH WHEN YOU ALONE MAKE THEM POOR.
Samis can't imagine 4X-could this
be a lack of imagination or
thinking outside the box?
Valerie's glee at firing the
aquatics director-for OUTRAGED
GREENBURGH TAXPAYER-Valerie supported
the immediate termination of Roper,
but didn't have the nerve to do it
herself...she made the town attorney
do it...and this Whitehead sits at
town board meetings reading a clutching a bible...what's wrong with
this picture? If you are that outraged, let Paul know, he seems to
think the world of Valerie who
allowed absentism, theft, long lunchbreaks, and convicted felons to work again at her hiring...you and I are paying for this.
I'm outraged too...where's your
answer for this Paul???
there is no reason for anyone to take a town car home its cheaper to pay the mileage charge and you would save ware and tear on the cars they would last longer and you would purchase less cars and gas also. whens the last time you had to call the police chief in or the parks dept. please the parks whats he need for someone put a hole in the grass come on..you will save alot of money right there alone do the math per car + gas + service on the car etc..
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