Earle Reed is on a spending spree in New Hartford, this time wanting to hire a comptroller at $50K per year.
"I am not a financial expert," Reed said. "I've heard a big outpouring in the community that we need this. I think a (chief financial officer) is a natural evolution for the town."
"Outpouring?" From whom? Until Mr. Reed and the Town Board decided to put the Town into debt, New Hartford 's finances were hardly on anyone's mind.
"Evolution?" From what? In spite of the urban sprawl along Commercial Drive, statistics show that the population of the Town of New Hartford is decreasing. 1990 census: 21,640; 2000 census: 21,172, a decrease of 468 or 2.2%. With fewer people to serve, government should be contracting (in the "getting smaller" sense) -- not expanding.
"I feel this position will pay for itself through investments of the town's money," Reed said. "With a $13 million-plus budget, we really need a (chief financial officer)."
"The town's money?" How about the taxpayers' money?
If the town has so much money to invest that it needs a CFO, then why all the borrowing three weeks ago? If the town has so much money to invest that it needs a CFO, then perhaps it has taken too much from the taxpayers.
It's starting to sound like all the borrowing from a few weeks ago is being used to justify the need for this position. So this issue can be resolved easily:
No borrowing = no investing = no need for a comptroller -- AND the taxpayers save $50K/year plus $2+ million in financing charges.
2 comments:
Arbitrage...That is when a town borrows money, invests the money in hopes of making more money by investing the bond money than it cost the town to borrow the money and thus hopefully offset their over-spending. Could be why they need a comptroller since we already have a very capable bookkeeper. If they do arbitrage bonds, I believe they have up to three years to start to spend the bond money. All those people that think the $2 million will fix their storm water problems may be in for a big surprise. Can't fix problems right away if the money is temporarily tied up in investments. We have been working hard to get enough signatures to bring the bond resolutions to a vote by the people. We want answers and we are not happy about the thought that the town might be thinking about getting into the investment business. The OD editorial written after the meeting with some of the Town Board members sure made it sound like that is the plan. I hope I am wrong.
Blah Blah Blah
Same old same old in New Hartford. Spend Spend Spend. All those Town Officials
love to spend. Too bad New Hartford dowsnt have the population it used to. Wonder
why? Move to the fastest growing town in the county instead LOL
:)
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