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Showing posts with label Citizen Letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citizen Letters. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2018
LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY
HOW TO LEGALLY SCREW REIDENTS OF LISBON
Mrs. Colston
This is a FOAA request.
I am looking for the money taken out of the
Undesignated Fund the last four years. Can you provide this information by years?
Thank you
2016: $10,293.47 was taken from unassigned fund balance to cover charter requirements for maintaining a reserve funded by animal control fees
2017: N/A nothing was designated
or spent from fund balance.
2018: The following amounts were designated and
spent from fund balance:
$50,000 for computer server
upgrade. $30,663 has been spent to date.
$20,000 has been designated for
Generator pad and infrastructure
$30,000 was designated for Town
clerk storage. $26,547 was spent an
the remainder put back into fund balance
$40,000 was designated and spent
for Police radio upgrades
$35,000 was designated and
spent for a Police cruiser
$75,000 was designated for the
Fire Department Capital Improvements
$300,000 was designated for
public works trucks. $275,445 was spent
and the remainder put back into fund balance
$20,000 was designated and
spent for Recreation Department
playground
$25,000 was designated for new
flooring in various town buildings. The
money was not required and was put back into
fund balance.
2019: The following amounts have been designated for
use during the upcoming year:
$26,125 for an error in 2018
Technology budget
$50,000 to establish an accrued
leave payout reserve
$10,000 for Book restorations
in the clerks office
$7,800 for Police Department
firearms upgrades
$50,000 for the Fire Department
various equipment upgrades
$8,000 for carpeting in the
Library
$323,274 to pay off outstanding
debt service.
WHY ARE WE PAYING SUCH HIGH TAXES?
The
taxpayers in Lisbon have had their taxes raised for the last four years and
will probably experience an increase in taxes every year from here on out. This
trend must stop if the taxpayers of Lisbon are going to stay out of bankruptcy. We have been over taxed for the last four years and I will
explain it to you.
Take a look
at the carry forward for this year and it is the same for the last four years:
I did not
total all of the funds here but as you can see it is a large amount of your tax dollars. So where did all this money come from and why
is it being carried forward? Was this money
left over from previous year budget; if so, someone needs to explain why our
taxes were raised if the town did not need our money? Personally, I
would have been happy to keep my own money.
Now, let’s
take a look at the Undesignated Fund expenditures for the last four years:
As you can see, the town spent a lot of money from the Undesignated Fund. Look at it by years:
2016 $10,293.47
2017 None
(Which I do not believe)
2018
$595,000.00
2019
$475,199.00
Well, how did the town get so much
money in the Undesignated Fund? Apparently, the tooth fairy blessed Lisbon. I have a
better answer and that is the Town Manager, Diane Barnes has been padding her
budget without the knowledge of the Town Council. The Town Council has been supporting the Town Manager instead
of supporting us, the taxpayers.
This is really ridiculous to have so much money left over every year and
have so much money in the Undesignated Fund.
This is our tax dollars at work.
This
explains the high taxes and where our tax dollars are going. We need to tell the Town Manager, Diane
Barnes, that we will not put up with this from now on. The
Town Council has to start making the Town Manager accountable for her actions. I realize that she works for the Town Council
and not the citizens of Lisbon; so it is the Town Council responsibility to see
that this never happens again. Having over a
half million dollars every year is ripping the taxpayers off every year.
It is time to hold both the Town
Council and the Town Manager accountable for the way they spend our tax
dollars.
Larry Fillmore
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
WAKE UP MAINERS - PART 1
June 14 Targeting imports of opioids through the international mail system (353-52) Voted – Yes
June 7 Rescinding previously approved but unspent funding (210-206) Voted – No
As you can see, Representative Pingree has voted “NO” the majority of the time. In fact, Representative Pingree has only voted 17.2% of the time to support the President’s agenda. I believe that this definitely reflects that Representative Pingree votes along party lines instead of what the Mainers she represents feels.
Concerned Mainer
Monday, July 9, 2018
GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
remark that placing a solar
light at the School Street/Route 196 Garden
might prevent vehicles from
driving into the garden, and hopefully
stopping the annual
destruction of the garden and Worumbo Mill Wheels.
the perimeter of the
garden.
called the PW director and
left a message, thanking him.
the solar lights, and, with the help of his son, put the them around
the perimeter of the
garden.
lesson for his son.
unselfish act.
He is my hero!
Dorothy Fitzgerald
Concerned Citizen
AS MAINE GOES, SO GOES THE NATION
Bruce Poliquin – Republican
Angus King – Independent
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
VANDALS STRIKE TOWN GARDEN
Route 196 Town Public
Flower Garden.
perimeter of the garden,
hopefully to prevent vehicles from crashing through it,
damaging shrubs, flowers,
and the Worumbo Mill Wheels, again.
Street side, from the last
time someone drove into the garden. A beautiful, large
bush was driven into, torn
from it's roots and had to be removed, and the wheels
were damaged,
again.
long time State of Maine
Representative in Augusta. Someone ploughed into the
garden with enough force to almost uproot the
tree.
Sadly the tree did not make
it.
They were an attractive
addition to the Town Garden during the day,
and were beautiful at
night. At least on Monday night, until vandals decided
different.
with only 3 or 4 still in
the perimeter, the rest, missing.
because someone misses the
curve and ploughs into the garden?
beyond repair?
as a reminder of
the our heritage.
and leave them at the
police station so they can be put back in the
garden,
to be enjoyed by all.
Dorothy B.
Fitzgerald
A Concerned
Lisbon Citizen
CONTROL OF THE MOXIE FESTIVAL
To bring together the resources of Business people, local
Government and Citizens, partnering together in a positive environment, to
improve the image of our community. Through the efforts of a group of highly
motivated individuals guided by a clear vision of our future, we aim to build
on the favorable attributes of our Town and make Lisbon a more attractive place
to live, recreate and to conduct business.
Friday, June 22, 2018
PURE WASTE OF TIME
Thursday, June 14, 2018
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DISCUSSION
During the June 5, 2018 Town
Council meeting, there was a discussion on MUNIS. MUNIS is the computer software used by the
town to control the majority of its business.
This
software package cost the taxpayers $680,000.00 for a period of 7 years.
Apparently, the town was sold
a bill of goods because it is not working out the way it was advertised. This is not surprising to me, because I
remember the initial discussion about getting rid of TRIO. The
Town Manager made two mistakes with this purchase:
The
first mistake was taking advise from someone who had absolutely no credentials
or certifications in the Information Technology field. She never thought to professional advice
first.
The second
mistake is pushing the Town Council into entering into a 7 year contract
without first having the software installed and seeing how it would work for
the town.
This is yet another example
of the Town Manager duping the Town Council into getting her way. On June 5th at the meeting, she
did it again and no one realized it. Instead of
providing all the options and information, she left off a very important fact, “What
is the cost of termination this contract?” To me and the Council because they asked, this
information would be critical to making a sound decision but neither the
Finance Director nor the Town Manager had that information. This
is how she has always manipulated the Town Council.
The Town Council voted to
spend $5,000.00 tax dollars on an assessment verses terminating this contract
and going with another software package.
Having the information on the
penalty to terminate the contract early may have had an impact on the decision
by the Town Council.
Chairman Ward should have
tabled any further discussion until the Town Manager was able to provide ALL
information needed for the Council to make a sound and logical decision. It should be a rule that if all the information is not
available at the time of the discussion, the item will be tabled until all
information is available to the Council. Information needed to make decisions by the
Town Council is conveniently not available.
This is how our Town Council
is being forced to make decisions that the Town Manager wants.
The Town Manager is being paid over $90,000.00 yearly and
should be providing better recommendations to our Town Council.
Larry Fillmore
GENERAL ASSISTANCE IN LISBON
At the Lisbon Town Office
there is a door with the wording "General Assistance".
This morning, needing to
contact someone at General Assistance, I went on the town's
website, clicked on "Departments", looking for the
phone number so I could leave a
message.
I went to :Boards and Committees", no General
Assistance listed there either.
I than called the Town
Clerk's office, asked how to find General Assistance.
I asked Town Manager, Diane
Barnes, why we do not have at least a part-time person in General
Assistance? She said that the only
time anyone is in need of general assistance is in the winter. This
from a person making $95,000+ per year plus benefits.
Perhaps it is time to stop wasting money on someone not available to render assistance, when it is needed.
Dorothy Fitzgerald
Concerned Citizen
EDITOR'S NOTE: According to the latest proposed budget, under General Assistance 05-500 there is a line item 5211 Cell Phone which has a proposed budget of $363.00. If this is the case, why is the cell phone NOT listed on the town web site. When is the Town Council going to force the Town Manager to do her job?
Monday, June 11, 2018
RESIDENT IGNORED BY LISBON TOWN COUNCIL
LISBON TOWN COUNCIL PUSHED THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD!
Communication Center; so that the Patrol
Sergeant currently performing these duties can return to Patrol. Cost is approximately $1,600.00 to $4,000.00.
2.
Promote a
Communication specialist to a Communication Supervisory.
Costing between $1,040.00 to $4,800.00
3.
Hired two
additional Patrol Officers. Costing
between $69,000.00-
$81,000.00 eachNEEDY OR GREEDY – YOU BE THE JUDGE
Back in early 2015, our Town Council terminated the contract on the previous Town Manager and rightfully so. However, that left a critical vacancy and needed to be filled quickly. In the Town Council’s hurry to fill this critical position; the Town Council allowed Diane Barnes to include paragraph 5F under Section 5 Salary and Fringe Benefits which states and I quote “The Manager shall also receive any benefits as the Town provides to its other employees.”
PURPOSE AS DEFINED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:
A cost-of-living adjustment is made to social security
and supplemental security income to counteract the effects of inflation.
Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are typically equal to the percentage
increase in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical
workers (CPI-W) for a specific period.
B. The Town Council must restrict any salary increase to ONLY those in Blue Collar positions. Those individuals in management positions make enough money off the taxpayers. Let’s look at the three recent hires”
1.
Sewer Director
was hired for approximately $80,000.00 per year. If you filter
in the COLA this salary increases roughly $1,600.00 per year.
2.
This is the same with the new Public Works Director
hired for $80,000.00 per year. The COLA is the same.
3.
Now, let’s look at the new Fire Chief who was hired
for $70,000 per year. The COLA on this is roughly $1,400.00 per
year. Also, the previous Fire Chief
received $69,284.80, according to the 2016-2017 Annual Report. This was after several years on the job, so
what was his starting salary?
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