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

Milfords Educational Crisis Can Be Solved

The city of Milford has an ugly little secret when it comes to education, or in other words the iconic "third rail" that few dare to address. That rail is what I aptly call the 100 Million Dollar Dilemma or the the cost of repairing the failing energy wasting infrastructure of our educational system.

For the last twenty years the city of Milford and the Milford Board of Education have adopted a triage policy where-by only catastrophic mechanical failures are addressed, but the issues with our crumbling schools go beyond just those simple repairs. Milford has not had a new school built in many decades, and the thought of education improvements is always a bitter battle against those who do not want taxes, and those with kids who just want their kids educated.

For a very long time there has been no way of breaking this taxpayer, parent stalemate until recently. The answer came to my desk at the Milford Independent Party after consulting with numerous experts and municipalities across Connecticut and the United States for a solution to this very problem. Finally a real solution to the Milford Education crisis was presented to me by Balfour Betty Construction. This company is a world class company and is rated one of the top companies to work for in America.

Balfour Betty delivers billions of dollars in sales annually. The project in question that has now become the national model for Leeds Certified education was delivered to the Irving Texas School District this year. Click HERE for a tour of Lady Bird Johnson Middle School the nations first "Net Zero" Middle School. According to Balfour Betty's spokesperson "Charter Builders was awarded the $29 million contract to manage construction of the new school, located in Irving, Texas.

The 150,000-square-foot facility will produce its own energy via solar panels, geothermal energy harvesting, and wind turbines. If the school produces excess energy, the district could sell energy to a local electric provider, creating a potential revenue source for the district." Should our local leaders dare embrace the vision of the future, a project like this can easily be initiated in Milford and Connecticut. Most of the delivery cost can easily be absorbed without incident or consequence to the local taxpayers.

This is because 60% of the cost of the school would be paid for by Hartford, another 10% could be covered by Federal Clean Energy grants and the rest %30 covered by bonds. The payments on those bonds would be at record low interest rates and paid for with the monthly savings from repairs, Gas, Electric, and energy. For example at current rates of 4% a loan for the difference or an est. $20,000.00 per month in un-needed electric and gas bills could be easily converted to the loan payment. This will cover the unfunded and bonded portion of the construction.

If Milford also decides to sell off and combine some failing Schools, it is even possible that a new school could be built for FREE. There may even be additional money in the bank to use for our kids currently unfunded programs. This is a project that is a "big win" for the people and city and should be seriously pursued to fix our towns 100 Million Dollar Dilemma.

We now just need to get the word out, because the lack of vision and inaction on behalf of the cities taxpayers and children is UNACCEPTABLE. We all need to put pressure on the present administration to take meaningful action to solve our educational crisis. Milford students should not be learning in hallways on carts and certainly they do not deserve to have their schools shut down. Demand Action, direct decision makers to this post and ask them to do the right thing for the sake our children.

Milford's Teachers's Union Failing To Protect Milford Teacher Jobs

Negotiating is simple, first both sides must be willing to negotiate. Are they? It appears not according to BOE Chairman Mark Stapleton who said "the problem could be worse next year" and warnings are emerging from DC that the Fed's will hold back 1.5 Million in school funding threatening more teachers jobs.

Second, in a fair negotiation both sides give up a little. The Taxpayers of Milford agree to pay a little more tax, the teachers union agrees to to take a little less of a raise.

Without compromise there is no progress on education. The taxpayers will not stand to take the entire burden of the flawed binding arbitration deal that was set in Hartford.

The teachers Union has a job of protecting its teachers, not hoarding their benefits, raises, and demanding excessive taxes.

Not to be rude but many of these teachers do not even live in Milford and could care less about our taxes because they do not have to pay them.

That is why, a school is closed and many teachers, albeit are not currently fired will be fired soon you can count on it.

The union is going to have to come up with something better than the "Education Outrage Machine" and for those of you who think we are not in a Depression should look up the fraudulent CERC figures for Milford.

Cerc Claims that our Employed Workforce is 30,834 people out of 54,040 in 2009. When you eliminate everyone over the age of 65 (assuming they are retired) and everyone under the school age of 18 you have 37,925 people eligible for work. (18-65 Range only). Add 7,091 people who are not counted to the ranks of the unemployed. My point is that the fraudulent figure put out the Federal Government is Dead Wrong! There are more than 8,000 unemployed people in Milford.

This does not count kids who are 16 and 17 looking for Summer Jobs, or the working elderly who could not retire.

Also if we look at the housing market for Milford at Trulia.com, you will notice that Milford has 489 homes for sale of which 112 homes are in some form of Foreclosure. That represents 22% of all homes for sale in town as being foreclosures, and yes Prices are plummeting, sales are plummeting and there is no more Home buyer credits.

For anyone to doubt we are in a Depression is a Fool, believing the fraud from the Washington DC Fraud and lie factory is what is wrong with many of you who believe in the non-sense that you are fed.

For a long time, when we were all kids we all knew the Tooth Fairy was real, Santa was real, and yes the Easter Bunny Too.

Today all of them are in Washington DC selling out our country to a Global Banking cabal who hates our way of life and is intent on destroying our Austerity through any scam they can think of. Derivatives, new taxes, credit default swaps, naked short selling, wars, etc.. etc..

The sooner you all wake up the sooner we can responsibly go about taking care of our business here in Milford.

Unemployment in Milford is not 1,571 people its more like 8,000.

Milford's Budget Deliberations Draw Crowd

This years budget deliberations will begin in earnest and with the voice of the people of Milford who will own up to it and fund the city. City hall was attended by a great deal of city employees last Thursday night. Teachers who are in fear of losing their jobs were all dressed in pink as a show of solidarity and in unison voiced their plea to keep their jobs this year.

Some members of the community, myself included attended the gathering and voiced our opinions at the podium. There was much criticism of the wasteful spending by the Republican administration that has contributed to the job insecurity that our teachers are experiencing.

Aggregate to this years budget woes many people in government and education have automatic raises built in to their contracts. Each year they have the option to forgo those minimal raises to save the jobs of their newer co-workers who have not yet been afforded the protection that tenured teachers enjoy. In essence the raises of the senior teachers and city employees are what dictates the increase in the cost of education. Additionally Health insurance and benefits have also increased contributing to local economic instability.

During these "Great Recessionary times" most newer city employees are fearful of losing their jobs, and many in Milford living on the edge are afraid they will not be able to afford their property taxes in the years to come. The stage is being set for tax increases that will further strain the limited disposable income that is available to Milford's homeowners.

Senator Gayle Slossberg, in a telephone interview made it clear that the state of Connecticut is in "Dire Straits" and that "little to no help" can be expected from Hartford. She said "Milford will have to make do like the rest of the towns in CT who are in the same position... Hartford is looking to get its budget balanced to avoid its own consequences." Gayle did not know how long this recession was going to last, but was optimistic in Milford's ability in being able to solve its own interim problems until she is able to procure more funding from the state.

The event was well attended by the local press, the chairman of all three local political parties were represented and now the time begins to start the difficult process of saving jobs, and keeping property taxes from getting out of control.

The ultimate solution to this ongoing budget saga, according to acting School Superintendent Michael Cummings may be to "revive the idea originally initiated by former Superintendent Firn to merge the two high schools in Milford."

Currently the Milford School system needs $100,000,000.00 in repairs and upgrades, compared to the city abandoning its costliest middle schools in favor of the larger High Schools. Many feel that building a new unified "Green" High School is the answer. The cost of merging the two schools is apx. $60,000,000.00 to the city of Milford. This cost will also accompany an estimated $40,000,000.00 from the state of Connecticut when those funds become available.

The new High School is being looked at with the Burnt Plains lot in mind as the city recently purchased that land. The site is in the vicinity of the YMCA and Platt Tech in Milford.

While this years budget battle is void of any meaningful solutions or good outcomes, the loss of money due to the cruelty of inflation a bad economy and a stagnant grand list is taking its toll on the city.

The emerging consensus is that wisest move is to take a "Long Term" view and begin the difficult process of streamlining education costs on the infrastructure side. The savings potential from a well designed school system will eventually result in higher property values, hence faster growth in the "Grand List", reduced maintenance and energy costs, and a consolidation of redundant services and staff positions.

Mark Stapleton the Chairman of the Board of Education agrees that the idea of "merging the two High Schools is a wise one" and looks forward to beginning the difficult process of studying the reorganizational benefits of the Milford school system.

Video of myself speaking at the podium during the public budget hearing

Teacher Layoffs Loom Again

Every year, the school budget is put under review, this year is no different than any other year. The Milford Board of education, already mired in difficulty is awaiting a resolution on this years budgetary issues.

The issues regarding education have often been blamed on the city charter, and union protagonists in the School system. Talk by some Board of Ed members has already taken place to re-open the city charter to address these problems.

However, critics of this action warn that re-opening the Charter will result in more changes than just those intended to be specifically addressed.

The issue this year has to do with teacher layoffs, due to the cities inability to close a growing multimillion dollar gap. This issue over educational funding has happened before, and last round of negotiations resulted in alarm that 180 teachers would be fired.

The result was a happy one last year, no teachers were let go, especially after the "Education Outrage Machine" went into full spin. For those who do not remember, kids were circulating petitions with thousands of signatures on them, and the Board of Ed meetings were packed with standing room only protesters.

The final result was a mild culling of the school system, marking the loss of several Administrative positions, and cutbacks to school services including landscaping and energy efficiency savings.

This year the picture is more daunting, because aside from the multi-million dollar shortfall, our schools are in disrepair and need costly improvements that are approaching almost the entire annual school budget of 80 plus million.

These issues are being addressed as part of a triage system at the moment, a system determined by the school engineers who have been making emergency repair requests. However not all are happy with this approach especially after the Milford PTA got fed up with our kids learning in janitors closets, and doing their science work on carts instead of labs.

The problem was partially fixed last fall when the Democratically controlled Board of Alderman defied the Wishes of Mayor Richetelli (including the defection of Republican Alderman Ray Vitale) and succeeded in defeating the Mayors agenda.

The problems this year are the same, Special Education funding is still of grave concern, and a steady stream of complaints and lawsuits regarding Special Ed. are plaguing our school system. The Bureaucracy, and state legislature still have no idea on how to best address these concerns and continue to impose ineffective unfunded mandates that the city must pay each year.

The state Constitution requires that all children from Kindergarten to Grade 12 be educated FOR FREE, and if cities cannot meet that obligation due to the physical or psychological condition of a child, parents have a legal right to sue the city. These lawsuits force Milford's taxpayers (in many cases) to pay $50,000.00 to $150,000.00 a year to a parent whose child had to be educated in a private school.

Part of the issue with Special Education also appears to be the towns open door policy. The law also prohibits the School district from refusing children, like those at The Boys and Girls Club on Wheelers farm Road the services they need including custom transportation.

When the city of Milford addresses these issues too well, we risk becoming a Magnet city. Parents of special needs children will often relocate to towns, with the best services to educate their kids. The result of doing a good job can inadvertently become a moral hazard.

This hazard is often on the backs of lower income people who already lose their homes in town at a rate of two to three a week. The loss is often due to foreclosure, these happen when property taxes are too high, the economy is weak, and our local elected leaders fail to find solutions that satisfy the issues of property owners.

Some cities like Westport allow for people over 70 to stop paying their property tax all together. But the catch is to collect it from the estate of which the city is the First Lien Holder. Most cities including ours already have a program in place to grant tax relief to Veterans and the Elderly, but the cost of education and the dwindling state and Federal Resources are forcing towns into a process called Binding Arbitration.

This Arbitration is often a last ditch attempt, whereby arbitrators in Hartford settle monetary disputes between city unions, taxpayers, and school boards. Since most people do not understand that Arbitrators have the right to override decisions by school boards, a frustrated public retaliates with their votes in municipal elections.

The people who are voted out of office are usually completely powerless and never had any meaningful authority over a contractual monetary dispute in the first place. Regardless, this has somewhat managed to trivialize the ability of the Milford School board to respond to any financial settlement outside a drastic, or perhaps worse catastrophic financial event.

In order for there to ever be any resolution on education, budgets or negotiations, all parties must agree to accept the money that reasonably could be paid and derived from taxes and grants. The most irresponsible actions any union or board could ever take, is to litigate a situation to the point where it forces our city to continue toward a path of financial indebtedness, or worse, default on its current obligations.

The solutions to these problems rests soley in the hands of those people who created them. The caveat (to quote Einstein), however, "is that the same level of thinking that got us into this crisis cannot be used to resolve it."