Friday, March 16, 2012

New Britain Mayor Blames Deficit On Predecessor - Courant.com

By DON STACOM
Posted by Frank Smith at 16.3.12

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The statement that the prior administration over-spent is the most un-true and mis-leading statement made yet. And to say that tax collection and use of taxpayer dollars was kept secret is also a stab at our tax collector's office which is still held by one of the last standing republicans. Just another cheap shot by the new administration to sabotage that position and work toward gaining total control. There are no checks and balances at this city hall. That is a real concern.

The former administration was basically on a spending freeze except for union contracted pay increases and the rise in expenses ie: medical benefit cost increases, rising costs of gasoline and heating fuel that effects all departments. We were losing grant funding for many in place social programs which the prior administration worked hard to maintain for the benefit of those in need. Yes, conservative Tim Stewart tried hard to maintain children's programs for the cities needy families with regard to child care and after school programs etc. The city was not hiring and not filling employee vacancies. You cannot say that for this new administration which is spending away.

Under Tim Stewart the deficit would have actually been worked on from within the budget not an easy one time line item transfer from the Water Department to bail out the problem. This problem is not unique to the City of New Britain. Other inner cities are struggling in this economy too. If you are seeing things getting tighter at home, the city budget is suffering too and can be explained by this on-going economic depression here in this country of declining employment, rising costs, rising government dependency which converts to less tax revenue being collected.

Don't be blind sighted by this "Tim O'Brien to the rescue" speech. Balancing the City of New Britain's budget and answering to all of it's residents needs while maintaining the tax rate might not be rocket science but it does take some financial ingenuity. The quick fix water fund transfer is very telling. Maybe Tim O'Brien will actually learn something in his new capacity and hopefully things will be coming up roses for all of us.

March 15, 2012 at 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...

Lets not forget, everytime Obrien points the "Irresponsible budget" finger at Stewart, he points it back at 10 of the Dems on the council that were there and voted for the past 2 budgets!!!

ALSO- wanna be Mayor Mike is the one who increased the "irresponsible" sale of property line.....

March 15, 2012 at 8:38 AM
Anonymous said...

What will happen when O'Brien bankrupts the city?

March 15, 2012 at 9:12 AM
Anonymous said...

Must have been George Bush's fault!

March 15, 2012 at 1:36 PM
Anonymous said...

He also blamed, snow in October on his predecessor, so why the big surprise here?

March 16, 2012 at 7:07 AM
Anonymous said...

Just like Obama blaming Bush.

March 17, 2012 at 1:45 PM

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