Norwalk: Operating Budget

by turfgrrl

February 14th, 2008 · 53 Comments

Tags: In the News

53 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: Operating Budget”

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• 1 Mr Greenpeace // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:22 pm

  outstanding,,, Thankyou Turfgrrl

• 2 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:14 pm

  What I would like to know is,

  why are grants awarded to some N.P.O’s and even FOR PROFITS that are funded with private individual, corporate and foundation donations?

  Two million + dollars?

  Where are the results from past expenditures from these organizations?

  Earmarks?

  Pork?

  Employment stimulus ( seatwarmer clockwatchers)?

  Nepotism?

  Awful lotta folks suffering with poverty, addiction, physical and mental ailments untreated? Where is the relief?

  What if one million was awarded to really address the true issues, could the first teen center be built?

  Could we build a destitute shelter that understands dignity is the only cornerstone that can be built upon?

  Nearly all the organizations that grants are awarded to have proven to have negligible results

  and in some cases add to the redundancy and chaos of the lack of a cohesive centralized strategic structure.

  In crucial challenging times, such as we are experincing, must we not sharpen our focus?

• 3 always watching // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm

  Let’s not forget what happened last year with the education budget.
  When the Corda budget was cut by $6 million, he claimed the “sky would fall”. It did not and “Chicken Little” was able to still run the school system. Does anyone really think Corda has changed his methods? He still overstates enrollment, pads expenses, inflates insurance costs, buries cushions in various salary accounts,etc. Tom Hamilton’s modest $678,000 reduction doesn’t even come close to what should be taken out of the Education budget. Let’s see if our councilmen and council women have the strength to set an appropriate cap for their taxpayer constituents. And let’s see if the Board of Estimate and Taxation does their “independent” evaluation or buys into the Corda/Moccia ‘backroom” deal (you come in under 5% and you’ll get 4.5%).

• 4 More BS from the top // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:47 pm

  The council should do the same as last year. Hold the amount down. Don’t go adding more money to a failing system. Take a look first at where the $$ are going. More admin cost? No Way! do not allow them to get over on you guys.$678,000? No way, they’ve got to trim it by at least $3-$4mil. Corda BS’s everyone and convinces the parents that the council doesn’t know what they are doing and that the council is hurting their kids. Yeah right. Chicken little is getting his flock together again and the council can be assured the council will be the ones that Corda points a finger at saying “You are taking money out of programs, I’m going to cut sports, I’m going to cut special ed classes, etc.” Hey Sal, why don’t you cut your salary? You certainly haven’t earned it!

• 5 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 11:29 pm

  The numbers on the police budget is not adding up.
  Maybe a few old timers could help translate the facts. More men are needed but not by using the figures given there are way too many smoking mirrors.Estimating crime when you can’t report the present leaves us all wondering who can we get to audit this dept? Who can we get to run this dept?

• 6 Harry Patzer // Feb 15, 2008 at 9:39 am

  Does anyone else think that $118K in parking authority credit card fees (3% of total revenue) is a little steep? Assuming some people pay in cash, the rate is even higher.

• 7 Anonymous // Feb 15, 2008 at 7:52 pm

  yes I agree Harry someone needs to ask but who?

• 8 Anonymous // Feb 20, 2008 at 10:23 pm

  The luxury of a budget surplus, which Connecticut has enjoyed for the last four years, is not likely to last.

  At its peak in 2007, state lawmakers had an extra $1.1 billion to play with. The recent projection of a $160 million surplus in 2008 is sobering by comparison, and the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis paints an even bleaker picture for the future. Come 2010, Connecticut will have a budget deficit of more than $551 million.

  “That’s scary,” Nancy Wyman, the state’s comptroller, said in an interview, “because we better be ready for it.”

  is Norwalk ready for this kind of hit as well?

• 9 Anonymous // Feb 26, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  The numbers on the police budget is not adding up.
  Maybe a few old timers could help translate the facts that was feb 14 where is the current budget for the police dept?

  Moccia said he wanted to change the policy “primarily” for economic reasons.

  the old timers have spoken

  ya there’s no more money left but there will be cruisers available for the new construction next couple of months.

  We do need to know the condition of this years budget before we plan for next year correct?

• 10 Anonymous // Feb 26, 2008 at 9:50 pm

  see what the blog reported dec 10 of last year, why did it take so long for the mayor to understand it, he should of used language line

  The mayor said he has received complaints of officers sitting in their cars rather than directing traffic.

  As I drive around town at night, and see our new Police cruisers manning the CL & P, invasive digs, I wonder why there are so many new police cruisers out there idling away. Is CL & P paying all the overtime and use of those police cruisers? And what’s the priority for the department, overtime staffing for Cl & P, or scheduling staff appropriately in the first place? What hours of the day is the overtime being paid out in? that was dec 10th of last year

• 11 Anonymous // Feb 26, 2008 at 9:52 pm

  Chief Rilling announced that the police (Dec 10) department has used about 65 percent of its overtime budget and we are not at the fiscal year midpoint. Of course, it might be helpful to know if the overtime was the result of one-time events, a trend or how it compares to same period in previous years. This type of basic analysis is something that it seems would be important in the sixth largest city in Connecticut, but strangely always seems to be missing form budget presentations.

  where are the numbers now?

• 12 Anonymous // Feb 26, 2008 at 10:11 pm

  Does any of this need to be addressed during the upcoming budget talks?

  It is time for Mayor Moccia,
  the police and fire chiefs, and
  the Common Council to work to
  correct this unjust and dangerous
  situation.

  base salary is now $4,000
  less than that quoted in The
  Hour, since Mr. Haselkamp
  began deducting a day’s pay
  every three weeks since the
  beginning of 2007.

  is this still happening?

• 13 Anonymous // Feb 26, 2008 at 11:59 pm

  Nothing will be said at the next meeting about this year they are only talking next year.

• 14 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 1:28 pm

  Anonymous 10 - you seem to have missed the blogs over the past month or so. To update your inquiry. Every extra duty job at a construction site is paid by the company, not from the Police Budget or any city budget. The City also charges a 9% fee or surcharge to the company which covers the cost of fuel and vehicles. The city collected several hundreds of thousands of dollars on that fee alone, you should ask to see those numbers. The officers that work the construction jobs are not on their regular shift. They sign up for the work on a voluntary basis and are not taken away from the staffing levels for the normal shift staffing. There is no effect on the priority, two different entitites. Extra duty assignments are voluntary off duty hires for traffic, not regulary working officers assigned to a construction site instead of a patrol area.

• 15 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 1:41 pm

  your dreaming #14 take it from a cop who knows

  who do you think paid out of pocket when An officer was almost killed by a construction accident his shift was covered by overtime for a long time who footed that expense?Thats right keep feeding the taxpayers crap there are more examples but lets wait for another election.Of course sick days and them overtime days were mixed and then buy back days were involved please don’t feed us perfect plannning when we have seen piss poor planning. Top pay makers learn from example your formula is not an example.Can’t blame the council its taken years to pefect the some council members have been there for years and havn’t caught on so you new ones are excused.

• 16 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 1:56 pm

  Many parents are now worried that due to NEON’s cut, the cost of programming will rise.
  “I think the center’s really going to start going down,” said Jerome Williams, whose two granddaughters, Demetrica and Sandra, attend the center. “They’ve tried to build it up, but they need the money.”

  Williams said a lot of working parents enroll their children in the program and, if the cost of programming rises, many may not be able to afford it and enrollment will go down.

  “A lot of the parents here are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he said.

  The community center provides various after-school programs for children and teenagers, including help with homework and a yearly college tour for graduating high school students.

  Both Peterkin and Mann declined to disclose the amount of money NEON dropped from its funding, but Peterkin said the majority of the $90,000 NEON usually gives the center was cut.

  why not tell us what the cut was we are adults right?

• 17 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 2:10 pm

  Police received over 700,000 dollars from 9 percent fees last year. More than covers the expenses. Fee does not go back into Police Budget, but to cities General Fund.

• 18 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 2:31 pm

  Just giving a number would seem good to some but the outfall that isn’t in numbers meant most of those cruisers that took gas and were left on all night now some don’t work when we need them.Some don’t even turn over whats the deal now. That was last year what about now, is the figure still 9% or have we increased the figure , what are Stamfords fees set at?

  Politician runarounds have met the end of the road in Norwalk the hillbilly accounting has now been questioned look at the BOE and wait till the DPW starts its antics, the taxpayers of Norwalk deserve better.

• 19 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 2:54 pm

  # 14 to # 15. Not sure what you are talking about, just the one example you mentioned was of an officer that worked in the complaint bureau taking complaints over the phone, not a patrol sector. His spot has not been filled, and he is out on workers comp. I’m sure he or the city will sue the company and in the settlement, the city has to be repaid any of its out of pocket costs for the officer. You left all of that out in your rant! And please let me know about the dreaming part. please point out specific errors concerning the 9% fee or the voluntary extra duty positions or that the construction companies pay the officers pay for the job. Please correct me with your knowledge.

• 20 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 3:06 pm

  no knowledge is needed colors have been shown, the kid comes home today and talks about a bomb scare at his high school, when do we read about that? Norwalk is in trouble and all we can do is wait for help.

  Likely the knowledge you have received are from experts who enjoy the bullshit you on the other hand are trying to fix a problem by offering solutions in a field your not use to being in . In time you will find the numbers hidden from the taxpayer delivering it will be the challenge.

  But I’m sure what I have left out is more than I have supplied.

• 21 old timer // Feb 27, 2008 at 4:46 pm

  who reports on that $700,000 and how acurate of a figure is it?

  How many men do we have out now didn’t we just have two more get hurt at Ryan Park?

  They arrested a kid at BMHS for that threat today by the way.

  Its a shame but a blessing we learn so much by reading the blog.

• 22 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 6:13 pm

  it does not even cover the cost of the gas, insurance, wear and tear and purchase of the cars. one PBA member told me cost to city was over 2M per year so the city lost over a mil on this bad deal. maybe the cops should concentrate more on the day job and not work so much ot. maybe the sky high crime rates would go down.

  this was posted elsewhere

• 23 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 6:25 pm

  old timer. The two officers injured during the arrest at Ryan Park have been working, one never missed a shift, and the other may have been out a day or two but is back to work. Both are veteran officers. The $700,000 figure goes through Administrative Services, they oversee extra work pay and the budgets. The figure comes from 9% for every extra duty officer, day and overnight, that you have seen for the past year. It’s about $35 - $50 per officer depending on the # of hours. Add up 20-30 officers on the overnights and the 15-20 jobs durng the day and it adds up quickly. The manpower is not due to men “out” it is due to lack of men/women period.

  # 22, your figures are incorrect and exagerated. City vehicles are self-insured which reduces costs, the car are idling or off and in the last 10-15 years the cars have been kept on the road with higher mileage then in the past, and many of the cars at construction sites are older cars that would have been crushed by now and used for the sites to save the newer cars. Please tell me how many patrol vehicles are purchased each year!!

• 24 npdinsider // Feb 27, 2008 at 7:06 pm

  The last accident was a single cruiser and no one else, car 52 was to have been in an accident as well. They took all the new ones off the road last couple of storms .Have to admit we did more damage in our day.

• 25 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 7:07 pm

  2 years ago there were 9 cruisers behind the dpw we all saw them open house at the dpw none of them looked like they were ever going back on the road.

• 26 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 7:43 pm

  # 25 The old cruisers in service are parked outside the main gate at HQ. Of the 9 you viewed, what year were they each purchased. Also, how many were back there the past 2 to 3 years. I’m not sure how many get turned over each year. 9 times $35,000 equals $315,000. Looks like the 9% fee covers some new car purchases. Oh yeah, the cars have to be purchased anyway for the 24/7 patrols. I believe the 2 million figure above may also includes the cost of running the patrol fleet 24/7, the cars for all of the Administrators, the Detective Bureau, Youth Bureau, the Narcotics Division and other headquarters vehicles. Not sure of the exact breakdown, but # 22 left that out.

• 27 anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 7:45 pm

  error

• 28 Anonymous // Feb 28, 2008 at 12:28 am

  Sounds like most taxpayers want to know what bottom line is not what the stats say we have been lied to in the past or simply mislead through no ones fault of course.

  How many officers on the street?

  How many suspended or out on injury?

  How many civilians ?

  How many cruisers on the street?

  How many cruisers are not on the street?

  How many cruisers will never return to the fleet?

  How many canine cars do we have enough for our canines?

  How many vehicles go to the marine division and is the gas there for the boats broken down for running of the fleet?

  sounds simple enough to answer before the budget meetings doesn’t it?

• 29 Anonymous // Feb 28, 2008 at 1:07 am

  The officers will still use the vehicles for community functions, such as a high school football game, that require a patrol car, according to former police Capt. Peter Torrano, a commission member.

  The department is looking at the possibility of having contractors pay for the use of the vehicles, as contractors share the cost with departments in other municipalities, according to Rilling and Mayor Richard A. Moccia

  sounds like they contractors were getting the car for free

• 30 Anonymous // Feb 28, 2008 at 1:09 am

  The officers were to limit the use of the vehicle’s engine and shut off the vehicle’s lights if illumination was not needed to promote the work site’s visibility, according to Rilling.

  “If you have a vehicle out there for eight hours with the light bar running, you’re going to be replacing light bars and parts and materials and the tune-ups that go with it,” Torrano said.

  a small price to pay for an officers safety

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