The fact is, every single year taxes increase in order to balance the budget. Revenue in - expenses out = balanced budget to zero.
Every year Revenue in ? - contracted increases to expenses and rising costs = deficit and out of balance budget. Every year the BOF meets the mill rate rises in order to balance the budget. There is no cap, very little to stop this process it doesn't matter who is on watch. Once the BOF gives a "first look" the budget moves on to the only person who can make effective changes, the mayor. He works on securing government funding, grants, tax collection, new revenue sources and when that doesn't work out then he must make cuts to services. His hands are tied with union contracts. That is why the union should become obsolete. We need to abolish the union and re-hire in a more competitive fashion. Tim O'Brien has it harder than most because he is a union supporter and accepted campaign financing and owes favors. Tough spot to be in but he deserves no sympathy.
Nice Mercier is and was very capabable at budgetary review whether you care for him or not. He volunteered to continue on with the new administration but was declined that was a huge mistake. What were they scared of? Someone understanding more than them maybe?
Many tax payers believe that City of New Britain faces a “Structural Budget Deficit.” This means that with the current revenue structure (e.g., taxes, fees, and other sources of income), the City has insufficient income to maintain services, bonding, insurance, interest payments, etc. at the current level of consumption fostered by actions of its citizens & public servants.
Nobody gives a rats behind what you think of Nick Mercier or anyone else for that matter.
If you know so much, why don't you define what a structural deficit is for us ignoramus taxpayers. Or is that a secret too like everything else in this budget?
And you can put your Task Force where the sun don't shine.
Thank you to whoever put forward that definition of "structural deficit".
For those who have been blaming the Stewart administration, every big and mid size city in Connecticut would fall under this definition, not just New Britain.
The sources of revenue for the City, as well as the cost structure were cast long before Stewart was Mayor. This is a larger problem than New Britain. It was not created in a day (or eight years) and it can't be resolved in a day, even by the great and powerful Mayor Sherwood.
Lord Sherwood will likely solve all the city's financial problems by simply seizing the excess wealth from all those evil rich people who have more money than people who have never worked a day in their lives--also known as Democrats!
STRUCTURAL BUDGET DEFICIT - A government budget deficit occurs when a government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, while a structural deficit is when a budget deficit persists for some period of time.
Structural deficits will eventually pose a problem for any government. Deficits are financed by borrowing, and continued borrowing leads to an accumulation of debt. The ability to pay off this debt is measured by a country’s debt relative to its GDP, referred to as its debt-to-GDP ratio.
If a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio gets too high, investors will worry that the government will either default on this debt, or will deflate its value away by monetising the debt and thereby engineer a high inflation rate.
EXAMPLE - A number of European countries in 2011, such as Greece and Spain, are now facing structural deficits leading to a crisis of confidence regarding their ability to pay off this debt.
If that truly is the definition of a structural deficit then why do these idiots keep telling people that NB has one? For 8 consecutive years the Stewart administration finished the fiscal year with surplusses and that's a fact! Going forward to this year revenues used from previous years cannt be used again and have created quite a dilemma for this band of misfits.This was not a suprise to them as they were told when coming in that they needed to layoff people to make the budget work for the year. Stealing $10.5m from water reserves was the most stupid thing they could have done and I'll bet borderline illegal! So stop saying the city has had years of deficits it hasn't!
Nick is the guy who claims the budget has been balanced. I GUESS HE KNOWS BETTER THAN THE AUDITORS, FINANCE DEPARTMENT, THE MAYOR, AND THE TASK FORCE.
ReplyDeleteNick really thinks highly of himself. I don't share those thoughts.
I've heard Nick ask "what is a structual deficit anyway?"
ReplyDeleteThis ignorance no doubt was a contributing factor to how the problem got so bad on his watch.
The fact is, every single year taxes increase in order to balance the budget. Revenue in - expenses out = balanced budget to zero.
ReplyDeleteEvery year Revenue in ? - contracted increases to expenses and rising costs = deficit and out of balance budget. Every year the BOF meets the mill rate rises in order to balance the budget. There is no cap, very little to stop this process it doesn't matter who is on watch. Once the BOF gives a "first look" the budget moves on to the only person who can make effective changes, the mayor. He works on securing government funding, grants, tax collection, new revenue sources and when that doesn't work out then he must make cuts to services. His hands are tied with union contracts. That is why the union should become obsolete. We need to abolish the union and re-hire in a more competitive fashion. Tim O'Brien has it harder than most because he is a union supporter and accepted campaign financing and owes favors. Tough spot to be in but he deserves no sympathy.
Nice Mercier is and was very capabable at budgetary review whether you care for him or not. He volunteered to continue on with the new administration but was declined that was a huge mistake. What were they scared of? Someone understanding more than them maybe?
What is a Structural Budget Deficit?
ReplyDeleteMany tax payers believe that City of New Britain faces a “Structural Budget Deficit.” This means that
with the current revenue structure (e.g., taxes,
fees, and other sources of income), the City has
insufficient income to maintain services, bonding, insurance, interest payments, etc. at the current level of consumption fostered by actions of its citizens & public servants.
Mayor Sherwood (otherwise known as Anonymous)
ReplyDeleteNobody gives a rats behind what you think of Nick Mercier or anyone else for that matter.
If you know so much, why don't you define what a structural deficit is for us ignoramus taxpayers. Or is that a secret too like everything else in this budget?
And you can put your Task Force where the sun don't shine.
Thank you to whoever put forward that definition of "structural deficit".
ReplyDeleteFor those who have been blaming the Stewart administration, every big and mid size city in Connecticut would fall under this definition, not just New Britain.
The sources of revenue for the City, as well as the cost structure were cast long before Stewart was Mayor. This is a larger problem than New Britain. It was not created in a day (or eight years) and it can't be resolved in a day, even by the great and powerful Mayor Sherwood.
Lord Sherwood will likely solve all the city's financial problems by simply seizing the excess wealth from all those evil rich people who have more money than people who have never worked a day in their lives--also known as Democrats!
ReplyDeleteSTRUCTURAL BUDGET DEFICIT - A government budget deficit occurs when a government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, while a structural deficit is when a budget deficit persists for some period of time.
ReplyDeleteStructural deficits will eventually pose a problem for any government. Deficits are financed by borrowing, and continued borrowing leads to an accumulation of debt. The ability to pay off this debt is measured by a country’s debt relative to its GDP, referred to as its debt-to-GDP ratio.
If a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio gets too high, investors will worry that the government will either default on this debt, or will deflate its value away by monetising the debt and thereby engineer a high inflation rate.
EXAMPLE - A number of European countries in 2011, such as Greece and Spain, are now facing structural deficits leading to a crisis of confidence regarding their ability to pay off this debt.
If that truly is the definition of a structural deficit then why do these idiots keep telling people that NB has one? For 8 consecutive years the Stewart administration finished the fiscal year with surplusses and that's a fact! Going forward to this year revenues used from previous years cannt be used again and have created quite a dilemma for this band of misfits.This was not a suprise to them as they were told when coming in that they needed to layoff people to make the budget work for the year. Stealing $10.5m from water reserves was the most stupid thing they could have done and I'll bet borderline illegal!
ReplyDeleteSo stop saying the city has had years of deficits it hasn't!