Milford's Grand List Plummeting Fast

Reading the local paper I am always astounded to hear the upbeat projections and the very positive rhetoric coming out of City Hall. Seems that our leaders are more concerned with their public "image" and their public "perception" rather than what is good for the public. This may be our fault, because the truth can be very unpleasant and it’s better to pretend that our town is that amazing place where miracles happen.

Perhaps this is most true when we continue to just want to believe that we can thrive and adapt in the wake of our adversaries. So many fail to believe that our perceptibly honest leaders would ever treat the public "trust" like the public "trough" that aside I am going to share with you some enlightening research for you to think about.

This blog today is going to address the issue of our "Grand List" and the value of all our homes and real estate. I have compiled two reliable sources from data I obtained through the Connecticut Economic Resource Center and Trulia. The chart below represent the 2006 CERC and 2011 CERC for Milford Ct. The line item I wish for you to focus on is highlighted in yellow. Remarkably, you should notice it shows a 2006 decline in the Net Grand list of 2.79 Billion dollars. This number is very important because it contradicts everything you were told over those years by our elected city officials. (Double click photo to enlarge)

This means that the value of all properties in Milford declined apx. 25% in one year. But in all fairness and to those "nay sayers" who could potentially argue this information is old, let’s take a look at how things are faring today or most notably the 2011 YOY. Since CERC has not published any data (I know of) for 2010 I collected data from TRULIA a trusted Real Estate website used by licensed Realtors to track market trends.



The above TRULIA graph paints a chilling picture of our Community. Someone once told me "follow the money, follow the people and then you will get the truth." What do you see?

What I see is that the graph does not lie; it shows that Milford is entering the second leg of the Great Recession. Larger Three and Four Bedroom homes are being "fire sold" for smaller more affordable One Bed Room homes. The demand for these small homes will continue to place strong upward pressure on the local Mill Rate, of which determines how much property tax a homeowner must pay the city in exchange for our individual property rights.

Moving forward, the city of Milford is going to be faced with stiff challenges. This is because we are a very old city, and for a great many years large portions of our infrastructure has been aging. Future large capital projects will require ever increasing Mill-Rates on homes that continue to lose value as a result of external and internal economic forces.

While our new leaders for Mayor are emerging and we are already hearing Wal-Mart style catch phrases like "More for Less" the stark reality is that the public is being duped yet again. This is because our city leaders are in no position to make such irresponsible promises. (Especially a promise that mathematically cannot be kept.) The city is in such disarray that future trends will require higher taxes just to keep up with public pension obligations, rising health care costs, and legal compliance. Unlike a large discount department store Milford cannot file for Bankruptcy and restructure all its collective bargaining contracts. This makes a "More for Less" promise little more than a typical catch phrase like "No New Taxes" or "Hope and Change."

What we need is the truth and the clarification and acknowledgment that essential issues are going to be dealt with as a condition to ones electability. The founders were concerned that "Catch Phrases" would catch and trap people who will later feel a deep sense of betrayal. This, along with the consent of the governed, is the greatest danger any elected official has to face.

There are currently Three big "Issues" on our books that our announced candidates for Mayor either have "No idea about" or do know about and just would rather "ignore." Whatever the reason, it is our responsibility as the electorate to "blow the whistle" on corruption and stand in solidarity in order to support any individuals who are fearful of telling the "Truth." It is therefore our responsibility as voters and citizens of Milford to demand answers to the following dismissals of the following concerns as arbitrary or unimportant.

The three big "Issues" are as follows.

A: The grand List is not healthy and is actually eroding at an Alarming Rate.

B: The City Bond Debt is grossly misrepresented and future borrowing is severely compromised.

C: Negative income properties (I.E. 501C3'S & Non taxpaying municipal properties) are seeing a revival in Milford.

To elaborate on this last point it is important to mention that the Shriner's lodge on Wheelers Farms Rd. was recently sold to a Church. This translates to a revenue loss to the city due to the fact that Churches pay ZERO property taxes. As poverty spreads, and the commercial Real Estate market begins to crash as we are now seeing in Milford, churches find it affordable to expand their ministries into distressed properties. Milford might want to consider something other than ZERO.

The largest Negative income property we have in Milford is Kingdom Life Church, and if I may give the Richetelli administration credit for one monumental achievement it was the land deal at the old Jai- Alai property. Kingdom Life sought the purchase of that property for a Mega Church and had they achieved their goal Milford would have lost substantial tax revenue with an increased demand for city services. 

However, the threat from negative income properties does not end with just churches and municipal buildings it is a complex, yet simple, two tiered attack on our community. The first being the deployment of new Municipal and Parochial zero tax entities, the other over development of cheap child friendly dwellings both consume more city dollars than they produce. The responsibility of a well governed city is to maintain a sustainable community with a resonant harmony of taxable properties.

The stellar decline of three and Four Bedroom homes is terrible news for Milford. These homes will now be on the "radar screens" of families shopping for a better place to educate their kids. When a choice has to be made on where to relocate, cheap family housing in conjunction with quality education is a recipe for disaster. If a moratorium on and Three and Four Bedroom houses is not implemented soon Milford's educational system will have years of unmanageable financial problems combined with debt service to our maxed out credit card. The final missing ingredient of cheap family friendly housing is a "Red Alert" issue that must be addressed now if we are to preserve the financial integrity of our community.

The next few years will undoubtedly be marked by the usual rhetoric of political posturing, and pacifying. As times change it is no longer enough to say you "love your community" you were "Born and raised in Milford" or "I was involved in the city," what is required is the "Truth" marked with a clear "Purpose" built on a foundation of solid social engineering to re-balance all those essential ratio's that position our community against our true enemy the Federal Government/Federal Reserve and its tandem community destroying policies of Inflation unfunded mandates and oppressive taxes.

To ignore the "telltale" warning signs of a possible Federal disaster is irresponsible for any incoming Mayor. I would beg, on behalf of and for the sake of every person in our community that we make the tough choices now. Milford needs not another Mayoral pageant but rather a brilliant leader who is not afraid to socially engineer our city through clear and concise leadership. We need a dynamic individual who will master Game Theory by virtue of the truth. If we do not win over the "hearts and minds" of the people who live here in our beloved town than I fear that our continued position of weakness will be prevail. As we move forward, only the strong will survive, the weak will perish and be absorbed into other towns as was the tragedy of Maywood California. Let us learn from that lesson and let us build unity by electing honest leaders.

The Looting of Milford Taxpayers Alive And Well

One thing that has been ongoing in our community in the last several years is hypocrisy. The town leaders, as we have just seen at the state level, preach an agenda that condemns wasteful spending and record tax increases. But when those tax increases just happen to benefit their friends in the local controlling political party then the taxpayers of Milford are told to relax, that these increases are "minor."

The Democratic Governor and his liberal cabal are using the same argument, telling the taxpayers of the state of Connecticut to "relax" that the state increases are "minor." While I already spent considerable time discussing the exploitation of the states taxpayers in this blog I plan to shift focus to the exploitation of Milford's taxpayers.

Lets begin with a reminder that our taxes have doubled in just a short 12 years. This doubling was accompanied by city services being cut to the lowest level Milford has ever had. This doubling and cutting has arrived during the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Lets look at today's news and work in reverse. Astonishingly our Mayor Jim Richetelli is not running for re-election, he instead found a way to escape the wrath of his terrible decade of "tax and spend" leadership in favor of a job that appears to be completely invented out of "politics." Lucky for the mayor this new job "deputy operations chief of schools" pays him 20% more money than he was earning as the Mayor. Wow! We can only assume that this post is being created with the approval of the Republican dominated board of Education.

Greg Smith the Republican Chair of the Board of Alderman has been at odds with the school district because they claim they are "Broke." They have closed schools, fired administrators, and threatened non-tenured teachers that they need to find new jobs. While this was going on the Mayor was scheming to deplete their budget another $120,000.00 plus his benefits and carrying costs.You would think that some respect would be allowed for the parents of our kids who have amassed in record protests. They have filled school auditoriums more than once in the last several years and as a result this Mayor has aggravated and opposed our schools and their improvements time and again.

Back in 2009 when Jonathan Law wanted an addition it was the lone dissenting vote of one brave Republican Alderman that improved our kids school conditions. Teachers, and parents pointed out that teaching was going on in the hallway on carts, and student restrooms were so dingy that the girls at the time were using the men's room.

Then came the wasteful Czars, the land use Czar, the Blight Czar, The Mgat Czar, and now our Mayor appears to have appointed himself as the Education Czar tapping into a budget that is in terrible terrible trouble. Our schools have been impacted by the loss of millions from the Federal Government, have been victimized by  "No Child Left Behind" disparaged by a monumentally unfair ECS formula at the state level and taxed Milford's home owners into the ditch to pay for failure. Failure that rendered our students with terrible CAPT test scores at the state level. Our Schools according to Ms. Feser rank in the Bottom 1/3 for elementary schools, and the bottom 2/3 for middle schools.

Our last two Supers were a joke, one being fired for writing letters of recommendation to a teacher who was later arrested for having an affair with his student, and another arrested for lewd and perverted conduct toward his staff. Now we are going to add our former Mayor to a high level position in education. This position is one where he will keep company with individuals who are intellectually superior to him. Individuals who had to do the hard work of graduating with advanced degrees from universities that actually taught their students the complex mechanics of running a school.

The Mayor now seems to pompously and arrogantly trivialize this right of passage, he is attempting to use politics to create a job that he never had, to do a job that he never did, and is adding to an education problem that is never ending.

My step daughter and her husband had to get advanced degrees just to be considered to teach in a classroom. She has had to pay hefty college loans back and prove to countless professors and higher education administrators that she was even competent and capable enough to hold a state teaching licence. She then was offered a job that barely paid the minimum payment on her student loans.

The news today makes a mockery of the entire education system, proving that a person like our former Mayor can just sidestep into one of these positions politically. Despite the added financial hardship to the school budget, and the fact that his new post may require Three or Four bonafied teachers to be laid off, where does the school system and its administrators get off "signing off" on this incredibly political appointment.

Thus far it appears there was a rush to hire him. No serious ads posted for the job, no meaningful interviews of who the best candidate is for the post, and most troubling no public debate over the need for this post. Since when, for the sake of welfare, do we invade random jobs for politically connected people? The idea that the city of Milford should be creating jobs to help individuals who are too lazy or too unwilling to go out and find one (they way the rest of do) is really the epitome of corruption.

When Jim Amann stepped down and tried to create a crony job under Speaker Donavan, the people of our state complained loudly. The pay was substantially cut to match his credentials, he then refused the job. Why are we going to repeat this dangerous precedent at the local level? The worst form of corruption in government is nepotism, and favoritism if we allow this appointment to occur without a fight the parents and teachers of Milford deserve everything they have coming to them.

The final straw will be if the Board of Alderman pass the bloated school budget as yet another amazing surprise. Suppose we should all be so naive to think that the Mayors new post and the Superintendents demand for new money is somehow not a conflict of interests. This appointment has now marred any sincerity in purpose the Board of Alderman or the Board of Finance has. They are both Republican Controlled and their actions will be viewed as highly suspect. Could it be that the Mayor was offered a $120,000.00 a year job in exchange for passing the bloated school budget? Someone should find out.

TO READ THE OFFICIAL AOL HUFFINGTON POST PATCH PROPAGANDA CLICK HERE

Jim Richetelli Makes Insulting Offer

The Republican sweep of virtually every board has put the Republican party in a very powerful position. Our Mayor has the most amount of dictatorial power than at any time in his career and this week he used it when he asked Genevieve Salvatore, the Democratic candidate for mayor to abdicate from her party.

Genevieve, who now chairs the Economic and Community Development commission is in danger of losing her seat. This loss may be due to the fact that some conservative Democrats are falling victim to the process itself.

Salvatore become the subject of criticism by the Republican party when she began canvassing for sewer installations in the North end of Milford. This would directly benefit her and her community as her home is one of those that would benefit from city sewers.

The sewers were all set to be installed as part of a development plan, known as Avalon Grove, that failed to come to realization. The cost of the sewer system was of concern despite the fact that the city of Milford promised it to the citizens of the North End. The cost of installing the sewers "skyrocketed" when the developer of Avalon Grove backed out due to political and market conditions detrimental to their investment.

When interviewed by the Connecticut Post, regarding the Richetelli offer, Salvatore responded by saying: "To be honest, I was a little insulted that he thought I'd change parties again. I made my decision to become a Democrat because my strong values and ideals align with the ideals of the Democratic party," she said. "My decision wasn't made for political expediency."

Mike Brown, a Democratic Party Boss and supporter of Ms. Salvatore, said that "what particularly disturbs him is that Democrats who have served the city well for the past two years, while the party was in power, are not being reappointed simply because they are Democrats."

Marian Gail Brown, Calls On Voters To Do "The Right Thing"

Picture yourself as the chief executive officer of a corporation with several hundred employees. Imagine you've put the finishing touches on its megamillion-dollar budget. The very next day you pack your bags, jump in a friend's car and drive four hours away and check into a drug rehab place for a monthlong stay.

Naturally, you have a second in command. But you fail to inform him you'll be gone a while, and you don't even tell him he's in charge. In the meantime, you allow your closest aide to mislead everyone. First the aide claims you are simply "unavailable," then that you are "on a much-needed vacation." The next announcement is you are being treated for an "adverse reaction" to a prescription drug, and that you are in upstate New York. In reality, you are in a Maryland drug rehab center. When you return a month later, you disclose you sought treatment for an addiction to, and misuse of, a prescription anti-anxiety drug, but you won't say what that medication is. Why not?

The question is, should you keep your job? In this case, no way. In the corporate world, CEOs get bonuses for lots of amazing things. Pulling an Elvis -- slang for a sudden, unexplained departure and failing to communicate where you are, when you might return or how your work will proceed in your absence -- is not one of them.

Nevertheless, if you're Milford Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr., a Republican seeking a fifth, two-year term, your answer to whether you deserve more time at the helm running this city is yes.

"I love the challenge of public service. I know my 25 years of experience in government are an invaluable asset...," he states in a Connecticut Post op-ed piece that ran Tuesday. "And I have demonstrated the skills, the maturity and inclusiveness that are the benchmarks of effective, experienced leadership."

Where were these skills and powers of maturity when Richetelli disappeared last winter for about a month with no advance notice to the city's second in command, Board of Aldermen President Ben Blake, D-5? Richetelli's departure thrust Blake into running Milford and not knowing where he was or when he might return. On top of that, some Richetelli staffers closed ranks behind their absent boss, by initially refusing Blake's request to see the mayor's proposed budget and other documents because they didn't know if it was allowable.

Crises happen. Addictions to prescription drugs are nothing new. Lots of folks have them, and seek treatment all the time. Assuming that dependency doesn't impair you on the job or endanger the safety of others, it shouldn't be held against you.

"He's a good guy and really well-liked around Milford, and I might vote for him," says Matthew Kealy, a mover, as he waited near a bus stop for a ride to work. "It's so easy to get hooked on prescription pills. Elvis did it, lots of other celebrities, too," he said. "So he was hooked on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs. It's not like crack cocaine, crystal meth or any of that."

Kealy thinks voters should give Richetelli a break, have some compassion. And, well, they should. But the mayor missed a teachable moment. It's an instance where Richetelli, as a public persona, might have displayed some candor to those he works with in government, to voters and especially Milford's youth about confronting one's demons.

"He should have been a little more honest, say where he was going ahead of time," Bill Carey, a retired school teacher, said of Richetelli. "He's done a disservice because he didn't level with his constituents."

With a field of four vying for mayor, Carey thinks Independent Party candidate Peter Spalthoff, a former Republican chairman in Milford, is a better choice than fellow Republican Richetelli. The mayor's other challengers are Democrat Genevieve Salvatore, who promises improved customer service, and Timothy Chaucer, a petitioning candidate, who thinks Richetelli's office puts "special interests ahead of the public good."

Those we place in elective office are supposed to be clear communicators, not obfuscators. They set the top-down tone for open and accessible government. Mayor Richetelli, your lack of candor is a signal. Kudos for wanting to lead Milford. But you've pulled an Elvis once. The question before voters is whether it's time for you to leave the building.

MariAn Gail Brown, a Connecticut Post columnist, can be reached at 203-330-6288 or mgbrown@ctpost.com

A Post Endorsement Letter From Peter

Dear Milford neighbors,

With Election Day just around the corner on Tuesday November 3rd, I want to remind you of just 2 things.

1. I ask for your vote
My objective in contesting this Mayoral election is to give you the choice to vote for someone who will represent your interests instead of representing the bias of a political party.

As an Independent, I can and will make decisions based on what’s best for Milford and for you.
I have a proven background in leadership and management, meaning I can effect the necessary changes and make decisions based on what is best for our city and its residents.
As your Mayor my aims are:

• Fiscal responsibility
• Educating our children
• Citizen safety
• Business development
• Historical preservation
• Environmental advancement
• Infrastructure improvement

In summary, my principal goal is the betterment of our wonderful city.

I pledge to you that during my term as Mayor, I will always put PEOPLE BEFORE POLITICS. I respectfully ask for your vote on November 3rd to enable me to serve you and serve Milford.


2. Vote!
Why is it so important to vote?

1. VOTING AFFECTS YOU. This election is solely about Milford. The candidate who wins will directly impact YOUR life and YOUR community.
2. VOTING IS YOUR VOICE. Many people complain about the current Mayor and Board of Aldermen, with their irresponsible behaviour and decisions. Well, this is your ONLY chance to do something about it.
3. VOTING IS A RIGHT. Vote because you can. Voting is a ‘right’ which is actually a ‘privilege’ when compared to many places around our globe.

In closing, I request that you consider voting for me, Peter SPALTHOFF, so I can work at making Milford the best city in Connecticut to live, work and raise a family.


Faithfully,
Peter SPALTHOFF

Take Our Mayoral Election Poll

In the box located on the top right corner of this page you will find a poll bearing the names of all four candidates for Mayor in Milford CT. Take the time to place your vote in the box. The more people who vote the more likely we will get an accurate feeling of who is going to win this November 3rd.

The poll will be active right up until election day. If you do not live in Milford but know someone who does, ask them who they think the best candidate is and vote on their behalf. You can only place one vote per IP address, so please vote honestly and encourage your family and friends to do the same.

The purpose of this poll is to come up with an accurate way of predicting election outcomes, and coming up with margin of errors. If we can make it work it will be used again in the state election for our local Milford representatives. Thanks for voting in advance.

To find your polling location in Milford, CT refer to the bottom of this page for the new innovative gadget that tells you where to go and vote. Or you may just click HERE.