Oop's, it seems we have a projected deficit of $250,000.00 in the three major funds!
Well, according to the "paper" this week Mr. Myers is now expecting a rather astonishing deficit in 2008! What happened to the "surplus" we thought we had? Well, we do have a whopping $229.00 surplus in the general fund, so I guess I shouldn't be so up-set.
Now this is only a "draft" copy folks so let's see where the "fungible" funds show up!
We also see that the City fathers want to "educate" us on the use of "tax incentive tools!" This I have got to see and hear! If we give away one more cent of tax monies we will be sending the developers a check every month!
But as Alfred E. Newman used to say in Mad magazine "What, me worry!" We are in for a ride and a half here folks, and soon!
Tom Ford
No. 398
Now this is only a "draft" copy folks so let's see where the "fungible" funds show up!
We also see that the City fathers want to "educate" us on the use of "tax incentive tools!" This I have got to see and hear! If we give away one more cent of tax monies we will be sending the developers a check every month!
But as Alfred E. Newman used to say in Mad magazine "What, me worry!" We are in for a ride and a half here folks, and soon!
Tom Ford
No. 398
posted by Crestwood Independent at 18:30
39 Comments:
Can you really project losing "All" of Dillard's tax revenue? Hopefully some of the other retailers will pick up a little more business. Are we going to include new revenue from the Sappington development?
My problem with the tax tools is you know the developers are padding their costs....
How can they build a brand new hospital in Fenton for $238 million but the projected redevelopment of Crestwood Mall is $250 million? Are they going to tear down the entire mall and start again?
Roy, Roy, he's your man
he's the one with the "plan"!
It seems that Roy's plan is to do every thing he said that Fagan was doing wrong.
Guess he played us all for the suckers we are.
Did Fagan have a plan?
Yup, just read his campaign material, it's almost word for word what Roy has ended up doing. Amazing!
Can't afford a phone system...But we can afford a Crestwood "store", a birthday celebration, window tint meters and another $3K for a consultant.
Sounds like the priorities are in order.
Honestly, I don't care whose side you are on. I don't trust any of them with money.
Don't forget the lightpole banners...every time I drive down Watson it makes me want to patronize one of the businesses listed.
An intern on the CID board? Is that a good idea?
"When did I appoint you" Roy Robinson?
Sound to me like it is time for a State Audit. Anyone? Hello!
Roy, why didn't you unveil your plan to save us from this deficit? When can we expect to hear it?
Don't worry, when Crestwood can't answer their phones for resident's emergencies, we'll roll-over to St. Louis County......maybe we should roll-over to St. Louis County now, huh?
Well, the annexed area doesn't have to worry. Crestwood picks up the tab for each resident to receive their fire and paramedic services from the Affton Fire Protection District. At least they will get their calls answered.
Why not switch to Affton? Or Mehlville? At least we'd have reliable emergency response. Going maybe a week without a phone system next year? Genius, boys. Just genius. Why not use some "reserve" for that?
Frank Meyers tried to warn us a couple months back that a financial storm was coming...that was until Roy hushed him up and had him retract his statements and blame the figures on a former employee. Maybe we should've listened to Frank.
Anybody but Roy for Mayor in '08!!!
Wow! A call for help!
How in the world will the city function without phones??? Am I missing something here? Are they going to be communicating with 'the force'?
Smoke signals from a fire made from burning the "plan"?
I am not at all sure he wasn't talking about the emergency radio system we have. I know the radio system is just one step above a "Marconi tube set" and should have been retired years ago!
I think we can pay for it with the monies we give to the lawyers before you know it, if we can just stop these silly suit's from coming in!
If you had any idea of the sum we have paid to three law firms over the past five years, well, let's just say we would all be in intensive care!
We have the billing, and our payment, and as soon as I can get these scanned, I will post them, and when I do, I think you will see why we need a new City Attorney!
Tom Ford
So if Crestwood was "turned over" to the County would you move because you no longer had a municipal police force?
I see a lot of really nice homes that are under the protection of County police.
What personnel matters are being discussed in Executive Sessions?
Are there more harassment cases to retire early from Crestwood?
Since 5/02 parts are not available for the current police communication system??? Another year....hope there is no major storms in the spring!
That's what I expected from you Tom, blame the past legal suits for current money problems. Nothing the Current Mayor could be blamed for after his almost 3 yrs in office with nothing to show for it except a deficit even after a tax increase.
Like the poster said anybody but Roy for Mayor in '08.
10:50PM blogger: READ the post again! Where does it say anything about not blaming the current administration?
Believe me our problems are still on-going, and I am less than pleased with the way these things keep occurring.
Like you I am not privy to closed door sessions, but from what I gather, there is reason to believe were not out of the woods yet. If you don't believe me, call your Alderman, or the Mayor and ask them where our legal budget is being spent, and to whom.
Some legal fees are to be expected, but some of these should never happened in the first place. In some cases a little bit of back ground checking goes a long way to preventing them.
Tom Ford
10:50 PM
First of all the city does not use the 20 cents from prop S to pay the day to day expenses. That money is only going to pay off the debt being financed by the bank.
Secondly to you Tom, we will have a healthy balance by end of 2007 but they are projecting that in 2008 we will take in less than we will be paying out so we will have a deficit. And I think what the C/A is saying is that he will have to dip into some of the estimated 3+ mil we will have at the end of this year to balance 2008.
10:07 which bank is got the 3million surplus? Where is the surplus in the budget?
Didnt Myers say that the 2008 budget would be in the red?
Aldmeran Miguel mentioned the city's financial investments and was suggesting that City Administrator Myers change our investments to treasury bonds.
Did we loose on our investments?
How much money was placed in these investments?
Did someone mention the need for a new system since 02? If so, then place that blame where it belongs.
The below is pure heresay: I would not think a city administrator other than Greer would succomb to pressure to change facts. If the below is true, I challenge the anonymous blogger to call a meeting and accuse Mr. Myers of being persuaded. Otherwise this is just a lame attempt to make Roy look bad. Not uncomomon for this poster. The politics in this town are pathetic. Think I will just plain ask Mr. Myers if he is capable of this accusation. And then tell him the name of the poster.
"Frank Meyers tried to warn us a couple months back that a financial storm was coming...that was until Roy hushed him up and had him retract his statements and blame the figures on a former employee. Maybe we should've listened to Frank."
1:19 PM, October 12, 2007
3:54 Don't you remember Roy when asked at a BOA meeting, about the storm saying that was just some peoples figures, that there was no truth to it? Listen to the tape of the meeting if you don't trust me.
Anyway if things are so rosy and we are flush with money in cash reserves, then why doesn't the Mayor and the other members of the Ways and Means Committee recommend a tax cut for all of us? You know like the tax cut the mayor gave last Tue at the BOA meeting when he broke a tie to grandfather some business from paying the new tax rate!! Wish he would do that for all of us on that are on a fixed income!
7:09 PM blogger: By jove I think your on to something here! I agree 100%!
Let's have the BOA give all of us "senior citizens" a tax cut, and leave it to the rest of the working citizens to pick up the slack!
In fact we could tax the "private club members" extra because they have the funds to belong!
My friend, times are rough, no doubt about it, but would you rather live in a community where you pay extra for police, para -medics, and fire?
We are all in this boat together, and we will all have to pull together if we are going to make it, so what say we buck up, and go for it?
Tom Ford
happy to pull together after i understand why the tax increase was needed when we have 3 million in cash reserves.
Previous lines of credit were only $1mil to $1.5mil. Why would the city need $3mil for it's own line of credit? Is the cash really in the bank? Beginning to wonder.
good time to call and find out is when th computor that runs the phones at city hall go down
"Did someone mention the need for a new system since 02? If so, then place that blame where it belongs."
Updates to the communication system had been included in the budget several years in a row...the mayor and the ways and means committee are the ones that always cut it! I guess blame the current mayor? Not sure where you were going with that comment.
Another example of "bringing Crestwood back", if you ask me.
Bringing Crestwood Back - to what?
Mismanagement of funds, thousands in architects fees, attorney fees, employee lawsuits, sexual harrassment, an illegal Charter Board, a hard try for a 14.5M$ city facility/bankruptcy fodder, Mayors who resign, mismanagement of funds, a private swim pool with its fins in our city pot and its noise in resident backyards, rude ignorant aldermen x several, CA with an affair to remember, a 3.5M$ LOC, dirty campaigns, tramatized employees, a couple of aldermen whose input was at a steady zip, paper shredding parties..... & On!
All things considered, "I'd rather be in Philadelphia" however my house is here, and dealing with the new gang is at least an improvement even tho some seem to think we aren't paying attention. Wrongggggggggggggg!
If you feel so good about the new sheriff if town, you know the guy in the white hat riding in on a white horse, ask him for his Plan B if things go further south at the Mall.
Poster: 6:39 PM, October 24, 2007
Government and development are slow processes but at what point will you quit nagging about the past? 3yrs, 5yrs, 10yrs???
Think about it - work on a long term vision/plan for the city. Isn't the CA required to give a 5 year budget forecast? Oh - was that the information provided by Justina? Oh - the 2007 budget was provided by Justina, etal. It is the CA's responsibility to give the BOA a balanced budget. To date, haven't seen the new CA provide this information. Recommendations should be given to the BOA regarding "cuts" to get to a balanced budget. Goodness knows the Ways and Means committee can't handle it!
Who is the chair of the ways and means committee? Who said at their last meeting, that the Alderman don't set the agenda, he does? Any wonder why the committee cant handle it?
Poster 3:57
From the sound of your blog, it sorta sounds like you are already loading your guns to cover the sins of the immediate past.So don't be the pot calling the kettle black until you realize you are refusing to deal with the present as it is and don't like to hear about any sins of the past. If you contend that government and development is a slow process, then why can't you be patient. A lot of this BOA, as are some staff, are new at what they are doing. I'm sure it would help if you and yours and me and mine would not split hairs so often. However, I think what happened prior to this administration has played a large role in today's situations. That board saw the train coming and just kept spending. Blindsighted by a CA.
Guess working together would be, for some, just cutting too much slack. Thus, Rome burns while some of the busters from the past post on and on about complaints about how long it is taking for the cobwebs to be cleared away. Well,The roadmap was not left behind, it was shredded late at night at city hall. Funny thing, while you are in such angst over Roy's Reign, you don't seem in the least bothered by the City Attorney's apparent ineptness. Why is that??? Hmmmmm
11:45 PM Plaudits to you. I hope that you are a board of aldermen member, and/or on the ways and means committee. That would please me because it would tell me that you realize the past is a big reason for our present problems.
I could then see that perhaps some of our elected officials that are part of the here-and-now, really understand what our previous City Administrator did to this city, including his paper shredding party. It will tell me at least one person understands why people keep harping on the past.
Sure, we all know that we have to focus on now, but why do doctors look at a person's history to try and solve an illness a patient has NOW? Why do we teach history to our kids? Why are some people more prone to illnesses and their heredity is researched to find a clue to their present illness? All these things are important to what is diagnosed to prevent it in the future.
Without history, we can't begin to positively go forward. The past city history has to be investigated and studied. Previous budgets were compromised as well as previous documents are not available. If you don't think that is possible, you definitely didn't know the previous CA and his henchmen.
Blogger, whoever you are, I hope that you can convince people that there has been so much previous damage done, that it will be nearly impossible for us to get through it all in 3 years.
I am patient and I try to be confident. But it is very hard because we are people who are fast paced and live in a fast paced world.
Instant gratification isn't going to get the job done with our problems. Still people want it NOW. I say if that's what you think, time will tell.
You can put anybody in the mayoral seat you so desire, and I will tell you it's going to take more time than 3 years to save this city from what happened in the past; and it ain't gonna matter who is mayor.
As far as the City Attorney, he is part of the problem and I wish he would go away. But I can tell you this, if the 2008 election brings in any of those persons who still believe our past administration didn't make big, huge mistakes, we will again be stuck with our useless City Attorney who doesn't protect this mayor and board from anything.
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