Article from Hamden Daily News, Sharon Bass - Editor/Reporter
FIRST focuses on the town's bottom line
By Sharon Bass
A new committee charged with finding non-tax revenue for the town met for the first time last night. Ideas were thrown around. Energy was high. There was lots of talk about the flaws of town government. And ways Hamden could save money as well as bring it in.
But perhaps the most notable part of the two-plus-hour meeting was the reaction of FIRST (Finance, Income & Revenue Search Team) resident member, Peter Tredwell. He is one of two residents on the 10-person committee of otherwise elected and town officials. With the other resident member being town employee Don Werner, who's a regular at Council meetings, Tredwell was the only town-government virgin in the room. He’s always worked for the private sector.
And more than once he’d exclaim he couldn’t believe his ears.
“I didn’t come in here with any expectations,” Tredwell said after the meeting. He works for ESPN. “But I’ve worked in the TV business for 10 years and I would describe TV as a very results-oriented business. Everything is performance based, like holiday bonuses and raises. And to hear that for town employees nothing is based on performance?”
Here’s what else Tredwell heard in Government Center’s third-floor conference room.
“Our job here is rather simple,” began FIRST Chair Curt Leng, also a councilman. He asked each member for five “firm recommendations” to generate non-tax money for the Legislative Council to review during the upcoming budget season.
“I think we should cut the [Elderly Services] bus service to New Haven,” said Werner, an Elderly Services bus driver. “It takes away from people in Hamden.” He said the buses get just 4 miles to the gallon and there are three buses going all day. Riders pay one buck for roundtrip fare.
“I see a red flag right there,” said member Gretchen Callahan, also a councilwoman. “One dollar no matter how far one goes?” She said riders going into New Haven, for instance, should pay more.
“You don’t want to do that,” warned Werner. “The seniors are already overtaxed.”
“Not all of them,” Callahan shot back.
“It may not be a hardship on them paying another $1,” said Werner, “but the public relations …”
FIRST member Dale Kroop, also the town’s economic development director, asked how many people use the bus to go to New Haven. Werner said one woman goes three times a week for dialysis and there are others who go to the VA.
Leng interjected. “Especially since we have the media here, I don’t want to give the impression that we’re here to cut services,” he said.
Committee members nodded their heads in agreement.
Next on Werner’s list was to reinstate the school’s activity fee for sports and other extracurricular programs.
Mike Germano, also a councilman, wholeheartedly agreed. “I don’t care. Let them put advertising all over the sports fields. Put advertising on my forehead,” he said.
Leng said $75,000 was collected in 2005-06 in activity fees, and at least that amount of money could be made through selling ads for the sports fields. Germano said it would make kids feel good seeing those advertisements, just like in the professional leagues.
“We could make a fortune! A fortune every year and the kids would love it,” he said.
And Werner pushed his pet idea to merge all maintenance into one department. “It will instill better accountability,” he said.
“I agree with that. There is absolutely no accountability with town employees,” said Kroop.
Werner suggested having an employee evaluation system “that wouldn’t hurt their pay but maybe hurt their chances for promotion.”
Tredwell said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Can’t they be fired? I’ve never heard of this,” he said. In the private business world, employees who don’t perform well get fired or demoted. He was told town workers are unionized and protected from being fired and in most cases demoted. No matter what.
Kroop agreed raises should be based on merit instead of according to labor agreements.
“The town should be run like a business. It is a business,” said Germano.
“There is a structure problem in this town,” said Kroop. Having the mayor appoint nearly every department head is a bad idea, he said, because there’s not much job security. A new mayor comes in and can -- and often does -- wipe out many heads. Wresting that power from the mayor would require a charter revision. A group of three councilmembers is currently deciding whether the 1984 charter should be amended.
Kroop said some department heads and rank and file workers take advantage of the system.
“Charter revision is a scary endeavor because you open up a can of worms,” said Leng.
“It’s nothing against religion, but my pet peeve is too many churches and nonprofits don’t pay property taxes,” said Kroop. And he said the town cannot afford to keep the old middle school, the Keefe Center and the Newhall Community Center. One or two of those buildings should be sold, he said.
“Do you know how much money you’re going to pour into the old Michael J. Whalen?” he said.
“And if we sold a building we wouldn’t have to deal with POBs [Pension Obligation Bonds],” said Leng. The mayor wants to borrow $55 million for the town’s rather emaciated retirement account and much of the Council is opposed, saying it’s too risky to invest the taxpayers’ money.
Callahan voiced issues she has with the way Parks & Rec pays local sports groups. She said there’s some inequality in the amounts that are dispensed.
“We give checks to all the sports organizations, whether they need it or not,” said Callahan, who chairs the legislative Recreation & Culture Committee.
“Why do we pay them?” said Germano. “All the sports get a subsidy?”
“If they don’t get that check there’s an incredible [amount of] lobbying that goes on,” said Leng. Some get about 10,000 tax dollars a year from the town, he said.
The original purpose of the subsidy was to help new community sports programs get started, but for some reason the checks keep getting cut years later, said Leng. Also, the organizations use the school fields and concession stands for free, he said.
And Callahan had a few words to say about the ice-rink concession stand, which is run by a private company the town hired. “It’s hardly every open when I’m there,” she said. “There’s no accountability there.” The company is supposed to return a small percentage of sales to the town but Callahan said, “I don’t know if it’s done right.”
“The town of Hamden gives more to its residents than any other town,” she said.
“That’s why our taxes are so high,” said Kroop.
Another Callahan suggestion: department heads should be asked how they could cut 5 percent from their budgets. “I’ve heard from different departments there are places to cut,” she said. Also, she suggested the town actually collect the fines issued for zoning, anti-blight and property maintenance violations. Leng said not one dollar was collected last year.
More city bus shelters are needed in southern Hamden, said Germano, which gave him an another advertising idea. He said he talked to a bigwig at Clear Channel about building Hamden a bus shelter for free in return for Clear Channel ads all over it.
Germano said residents who have e-mail accounts should get all town notices, even their tax bills, via e-mail to save on postage. Leng said postage cost $119,000 last year.
Last it was Tredwell’s turn to suggest. He said he liked Germano’s advertising ideas. “Nothing is sacred anymore,” said the resident committee member from the private side. “Some people are bothered by that but what’s your choice? Do you want to pay more taxes?”
