Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

It finally passed

Pickerington council approves $21.7 million budget



PICKERINGTON ?– The Pickerington City Council passed the city?’s 2006 budget Tuesday, after much discussion over the rising legal expenses.

The budget is as tight as it can be, Councilman Ted Hackworth said.
?“We?’re coming to a point where our revenues are not keeping up with our expenses,?” Hackworth said. ?“Our general fund is doing the same thing. ?… I think the budget is as lean as it can be.?”

All but one council member voted in favor of the $21.7 million budget.

Councilman Bill Wright cast the dissenting vote. It was Wright?’s final meeting as a city councilman.

?“I still have concerns for revenue and expense projections, and the pay down of our debt really wasn?’t addressed with the work session,?” Wright said. ?“There?’s been a true breakdown of the leadership of council.?”

Wright said the city has ?“dragged its feet?” in hiring a new law director and instead allowed the interim law director, Columbus-based law firm Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn, to ?“nickel and dime the city to the tune of $527,000.?”

The council held the special meeting and work session Tuesday to address the concerns of Wright, Michael Sabatino and Brian Wisniewski brought up at the last council meeting.

Wisniewski said he was satisfied with the outcome.

?“I was just looking for more information,?” Wisniewski said. ?“I kept looking at (the budget) from a high-level perspective, looking at the big ticket items. But it?’s not just about the big ticket items, it?’s about the small line items where our expenses are outpacing our revenues.?”

One of the goals Wisniewski accomplished was getting the public information officer pay reduced from $66,000 to $26,000. Those services are contracted out. The $40,000 will go toward a new police cruiser, which will cost $30,000. The remaining $10,000 will be used to hire a part-time employee to assist Municipal Clerk Lynda Yartin.
The majority of questioning focused on the legal expenses being paid to the law firm acting as the city?’s law director.

City Manager Judy Gilleland said the law firm isn?’t under contract. The city is paying the firm hourly. She said an agreement was made to keep general legal expenses below $20,000 per month. General expenses don?’t include litigation.

Sabatino said he wants to know how much the law firm is receiving hourly. Gilleland said she would have to get back to council members with the amount.

Mayor David Shaver said the law firm has ?“voluntarily reduced?” its rate for general expenses, which have reached more than $20,000.

?“They are acting in good faith as if they are in a contract,?” Shaver said.
Shaver added that the council had the opportunity to enter into a contract with the law firm earlier in the year ?– a measure that would?’ve cost the city much less. Shaver said Wright and Sabatino were adamant about using a selection process to find a law firm.

?“It?’s a little bit disingenuous of them now to complain,?” Shaver said. ?“Quite frankly, that type of grandstanding is politics at its worst.?”

Originally published December 28, 2005

Reply for Anonymous (others)

Dear Anonymous,

Well the budget passed?…. NO duh! As the previously written articles never emphasized that it would become law anyway, by Charter, if not passed shortly.

Of course that could bring up the OBVIOUSLY needed Charter reform that this most recent election really forgot?…. Sorry I digress also.

So what as to the Public Information officer. A concerned 4th estate would do the research anyway for a better informed public, but that doesn?’t happen. And so the obvious question ?… should the press take the lead roll in the formation of Bickerington? By that I mean information is key to an enlightened public. Hearst-like yellow journalism does nothing to move needed reform and community progress. Right? Isn?’t it there JOBS to get the Packets, read the Charter, know the content of important Ordinances, and the like PRIOR to reporting?

Yes, I?’m aware that SOME township trustees are weak kneed over testing the waters of home rule?…. Potentially leaving something in a future question?… What happens when you give Home Rule to a Fool? Answer ?– NOTHING. All mistakes stay the same unless the correct people are in place to make the necessary changes! Right?

Likewise the PLSD?’s inability to LEARN to LEAD. A resolution to a potential state house bill?…. Oh, my!! Give me a break. It?’s about as powerful in creating positive change as a dead 9 volt battery. Lets remember the PLSD Boards resolution to give back the extra funds in building Tussing, in not overspending on renovations at the Old Middle School, in making equal High Schools. They have as much chance of passing a bond as they deserve from this pathetic record of resolutions and broken promises.
The PLSD has one motto --- In Growth we Trust. ?– and yes I mean residential growth --
They rely on it, they depend on it, and they sink all of us by it.

Yes I hate the concept of subsidizing residential development (subsidizing that is akin to socialism in my mind) and I know the builders will pass the buck on to their buyers. So what!

As to your typing of my name, please be courteous and correctly spell, Be Real ?… not Bea Reel. I don?’t find that cute.

Thanks.


By Be real

Reply to Be

Dear Be,

Your rage and outrage inspire me! You are awesome. If I just knew if you were male or female, I might even get a crush on you. Was your name on the ballot this year? Because if it was, the voters really missed a sure winner here. None of the losers elected inspire me like you do.

Pray tell about the obviously missed charter change. The Coffee Freak may have another chance at being on rules committee and he is looking for something to keep him busy this year. He still has to further divide us by dividing Bickerington into wards and he still wants the manager to report to the council rather than the loser mayor which in retrospect might have been the moron?’s only good idea. Then this entire budget hubbub may have been averted by keeping the mayor and co-mayor at bay.

As to the media, most reporters assigned to Bickerington are cubs. For many, this is their first reporting assignment. This is a stepping stone to bigger and better places like Westerville. The media officer was the only one able to keep them informed and up to date on the issues rather then the bickering that the councilmen portrayed. Should they be informed and learned about this hamlet? Sure, but they just won?’t be. If a seasoned pro was to take the ?“Bickerington Beat?” for 6 months, they would literally set up office in the city hall because there?’s so much fodder there from which to report endlessly. Many of these cubs have other ?“beats?” also plus you certainly must have noticed how many inches of news ink there is as opposed to the advertisement ink.

As to Home Rule anxiety, school board follies and who really drove the residential boom over the last decade, let?’s split them out into other threads, OK? It would be too cumbersome to drag it out under this budget thread. I?’ll follow your lead as to what peeves you the most.

And to effect an apology and show turnabout is fair play, I?’ll sign this?….

Ignonymous

PS ?– To wrap up my budget thoughts, this city will go broke next year. Mark my words. There will be no other choice than to go to the polls to raise the income tax to 2 or 2 ?½%. It?’s not an election year, remember? Java Boy is the only one to acknowledge that if you read the press. The Manager, Mayor and Co-Mayor refuse to reduce spending where it s really needed. To them a tax increase seems the prudent course.

Minority is not material

Looking at the Board Minutes - the resolution was passed 4-1.

http://www.pickerington.k12.oh.us/ldrship/BOE/Minutes/091205regular.htm

From your comments you believe someone besides Mrs. Oakes is against impact fee's other than voting for the resolution. That may or may not be the case. In any event that would still leave a majority of the Board in favor of pursuing these type of fee's.

School funding is calculated on a per pupil basis with Pickerington's being one of the lowest in the Central Ohio area and the result being one of the highest values for the dollar paid.

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/12/27/20051227-D3-00.html

While growth does bring the district more state dollars it does NOT bring more operating dollars from the local community - you can see that in the current property taxes which are going down by .45 mills (.4 being schools & .05 being library) this coming year - effect of HB920. It brings on additional expenses of having to provide a teacher/appropriate support staff for every 25 students. So growth is not really as beneficial to a school district as some perceive.



By Watcher