Here we go again.
Why is the Auburn City Council considering charging nonprofit organizations fees for city services and trash collection? Because of its own money mismanagement.
The city manager, John Salomone, has done a lousy job of managing our city. He has proposed budgets to the public that exclude major contracts (like fire and police departments) that still must be paid by the city; and costs for many city employees (including the city manager) are hidden between the lines. These include individual salaries, pensions, expense reports, overtime, stipends and cell phones.
The expenses should be easily accessible to both the councilors and the public. Money has been borrowed from the landfill to support our debts. So the landfill looks like it isn't producing for the city but in fact it is profiting. But the profits are being spent on other parts of the mismanaged budget.
Do you ever hear of the city proposing to increase the cost of water or trash to outside municipalities? Why is that? Because they know city residents are stuck here and we don't have a choice like the outside townships. The city councilors and city manager continue to punish us taxpayers.
And whose bright idea was it to begin taxing our nonprofit organizations? That's brilliant - punish and penalize the nonprofit groups that give 100 percent back to the community. They perform works of mercy by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, etc. They also provide us with culture and the arts.
So instead of thanking them for their dedication and services, we decide to charge them for their charity. I guess it's still true that no good deed goes unpunished.
The city manager and councilors need to look at the mess they've created with all these tax burdens. First we had new assessments, and now they're talking about reassessing our assessments. They call it an “actual” assessment. What does that mean?
Do they think the citizens of Auburn are morons and we're just going to sit here and take it? Every budget cycle we go through the same thing. They shove an inflated number at us, wait for a disgruntled public to complain it's too high, then they reduce it to the number they wanted in the first place.
There needs to be a hiring freeze in all departments until a new evaluation can take place.
Do we need all these department heads? How many managers are there in city hall, the fire department, police department and elsewhere?
We need to fix the financial blunders.
Maybe we should start with Salomone's job and bring in some Auburn High School business majors to re-evaluate his position and the city's finances.
Now that might be money well spent.
Ducayne's column appears Tuesdays in The Citizen and she can be reached at sacredheart6005@hotmail.com
The city manager, John Salomone, has done a lousy job of managing our city. He has proposed budgets to the public that exclude major contracts (like fire and police departments) that still must be paid by the city; and costs for many city employees (including the city manager) are hidden between the lines. These include individual salaries, pensions, expense reports, overtime, stipends and cell phones.
The expenses should be easily accessible to both the councilors and the public. Money has been borrowed from the landfill to support our debts. So the landfill looks like it isn't producing for the city but in fact it is profiting. But the profits are being spent on other parts of the mismanaged budget.
Do you ever hear of the city proposing to increase the cost of water or trash to outside municipalities? Why is that? Because they know city residents are stuck here and we don't have a choice like the outside townships. The city councilors and city manager continue to punish us taxpayers.
And whose bright idea was it to begin taxing our nonprofit organizations? That's brilliant - punish and penalize the nonprofit groups that give 100 percent back to the community. They perform works of mercy by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, etc. They also provide us with culture and the arts.
So instead of thanking them for their dedication and services, we decide to charge them for their charity. I guess it's still true that no good deed goes unpunished.
The city manager and councilors need to look at the mess they've created with all these tax burdens. First we had new assessments, and now they're talking about reassessing our assessments. They call it an “actual” assessment. What does that mean?
Do they think the citizens of Auburn are morons and we're just going to sit here and take it? Every budget cycle we go through the same thing. They shove an inflated number at us, wait for a disgruntled public to complain it's too high, then they reduce it to the number they wanted in the first place.
There needs to be a hiring freeze in all departments until a new evaluation can take place.
Do we need all these department heads? How many managers are there in city hall, the fire department, police department and elsewhere?
We need to fix the financial blunders.
Maybe we should start with Salomone's job and bring in some Auburn High School business majors to re-evaluate his position and the city's finances.
Now that might be money well spent.
Ducayne's column appears Tuesdays in The Citizen and she can be reached at sacredheart6005@hotmail.com
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