[RP TownTalk] Tax Rate Hearing

[Rob Oppenheim]

Hi Nancy
 
My answers follow your questions.
 
On Wed, 23 May 2007 23:42:20 -0400, Nancy Augustine wrote:
 
>Is there a schedule of when the Council is going to review the
>various pieces of the budget? So that if I'm interested in a
>particular category, I could plan to attend that night?
 
Unfortunately we are not that well organized. But what a great idea.
 
I notice that Hyattsville does this. They had their 1st public budget
meeting about 2 months ago, on March 26 - and they post the schedule
of the meetings and the area of discussion for each meeting on their
web site. Wow. This is something we should strive to do. If you want
to see what Hyattsville does, try this link
http://www.hyattsville.org/almarpm/cpublic/rosterview.cfm?RID=295
(If that does not work goto www.hyattsville.org and scroll down and
click on "Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Process Underway".)
 
>You said that the work sessions are open to the public, but is there
>an opportunity for the public to participate? Or is that held for some
>future public hearing? Or was the initial meeting my only chance?
 
You will certainly have more opportunity to speak, but I am not sure when.
 
The budget meetings are typically run by the Finance Chair - Mary
Donaldson. As to who gets to speak, that is largely her decision.
For the most part, these meetings will be the council going line by
line and asking staff and the mayor questions about the proposed budget.
 
My recollection from 2 years ago, was that Alan and I were the only
public in attendance, and I don't think either of us made all the
meetings back then. (Of course, last year I was on the council and
so I attended all the meetings last year.)
 
There was less interest last year because 1) the proposed tax change
was considerably smaller and 2) this time I tried to get the word out
as best I could.
 
I would expect opportunity for the public to comment at the budget
work sessions. It may depend on how many show up and how many
want to speak. It is important that the council make real progress
so they will be doing most of the questioning.

There are always public comment periods at regular council meetings.
You can certainly comment there. The next normal council meetings
are Tuesday May 29 and Monday June 4 (8 pm). The budget will be
a topic at those meetings.
 
The budget work sessions currently scheduled are tonight Thr
5/24 at 7:30pm and next Thur 5/31 at 7:30.
 
>On Monday night, did the Council review any particular category, or
>did they welcome comments on the document as a whole?
 
We welcomed comments on the document as a whole. This meeting was a
chance for the audience to make whatever comments they wanted. Almost
no budget details were reviewed. Mostly the mayor or staff answered
questions. I answered a few questions.
 
>You said that more information would be forthcoming - so I'll take
>that to mean that no additional information was provided Monday night? 
 
Largely correct. Copies of the budget were distributed (without
salary information).
 
>Were any changes made to the original document on Monday night?
 
A slightly updated version was passed out. I believe the updated
version did not change any of the numbers, it just cleaned up some
of the footnotes. No additional changes were made that night.
 
People requested more information... they asked us to
1) provide some of the salary information in summary form w/o
identifying individuals
2) Add a column that would show the cost to carry the same service
level into the next year (that is, show the cost of inflation on
current service levels),
3) explain more about what services are changing (I am personally
very interested in understanding this better),
4) Add footnotes explaining the changes (and clean up some cross
references in the existing footnotes).
 
>...was consensus reached on anything?
There was no attempt to decide anything that night.
We were just listening.
 
>Is there a written document that summarizes progress in review, or
>does it just not work that way?
 
The budget document itself will be updated as we go along. Changes
should be clearly indicated. There is a column for this on the forms.
 
>I hardly expect you to answer all of my questions, there are way too
>many. But any light you could shed on process and how I can catch up
>would be appreciated.
 
I appreciate your questions and interest!
 
Two final comments.
 
Some recent posts on TownTalk state that the increase in services were
all decided last year. And while that is largely true, some of that
money has not yet been spent and it is not too late to cancel some
part or all of those projects and reduce costs. A year ago, we did not
think that assessments and taxes would go up by this huge amount. I still
do not understand why such a large tax increase is needed. I intend to
find out in the next few weeks.
 
--
 
Budget crunches seem to happen every 2 years in RP, when the demands
of campaigning starve the budget process of time and attention.
Another unfortunate side effect of this timing, is a temptation
for candidates to play politics with the numbers.
 
Many Maryland municipalities have moved their elections to the fall to
avoid these conflicts. Doing so, also gives new mayors and council
members time to learn the ropes so they can make a fair assessment of
their towns’ finances. Riverdale Park would do well to consider doing
the same.
   
-Rob
 
Rob Oppenheim
 
Outgoing Ward One Councilman, Riverdale Park
5902 Cleveland Ave
Riverdale Park, Md 20737-1930
 
Home Office: 301 779 1745