Burrell as not a leader, and is in over his head. His missteps, along with those of the commissioners are leading us down a dark unknowing road.
Faced with a budget shortfall, the county (aka county commissioners) spent tens of thousands of dollars on a study proving the county is bloated with employees. The county has chosen to ignore it, even going as far to say the study is flawed.
To accomplish the early retirement plan, the county had to borrow millions of dollars from the pension, which has to be repaid with interest. Now Ellis is wanting to refill over 500 of the 800 vacant positions at a cost of over 3 million dollars per year.
Burrell wants to give Broad Street Properties over 40 million dollars to develop the abandoned General Motors plant in Doraville. Develop it into what remains to be seen.
The county does not have 40 million dollars. Ellis recommends another tax burden on the citizens for the next 30 years to come up with the 40 million. If he can't get his way, then he said he would make cuts elsewhere, making it "cost neutral". What a croak, "cost neutral". If it's cost neutral, then why borrow the money?
Ok, we'll try to do the math on the total outstanding bond debt for the county before Ellis trys to ram another 40 million dollar debt down our throat. Here goes: $946,763,000.00.
And people are wondering why the county is in such dire financial straights. Remember, this didn't' start when Ellis was elected Chief Executive Officer. He was part of the system for the previous 8 years too.
If we started on the school system's waste of taxpayer money, our heads would explode.
Hold on to your wallets because the madness continues!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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17 comments:
Thirty million dollars from the pension huh. I think I have been reading someone on this blog telling us to "keep these idiots away from our pension". Since we employees and retirees have no representation on the pension board and very few seem concerned, I think that the real idiots are the employees and the retirees that have shown no interest in their future or their pension. Apathy will be the ruin of our future security, the pension that we have contributed to for many years and have worked had for is in the hands of government idiotic blow hards with their own interests at the forefront and a pension board who is apparently unresponsive to the concernes of the people who will have to depend on our pension to exist. I guess we will get what we deserve due to our wishy washy apathy toward our pension. Jurisdictions in the northern states realize that the safety of their pansion is of great importance. Why don't we? Do you trust the county to pay the pension back? Will retirees ever get a cost of living increase and will we ever have representatives that keep us informed of what they are doing? Your guess is a good as mine.
He oughta know it's illegal. That's a storm sewer. If it fills with gas, I pity the person who lights a match within ten yards of it.
The problems start at the top.....our leadership has learned from and takes their cue from the top..... does any of this surprise you?
You say this blog is not about national politics, then why is their a banner for Liz Carter for US Congress on this blog site. Practice what you preach.
Blogmaster what 30 million dollars are you refering to? Could you post this information or is this just a number you heard from a person who heard it from a friend. To the first Anon poster, there are pensions everywhere across the country not properly funded. Geography has little to do with the situation. Our pension is very strong but we do need to remain vigilant.
I had a discussion with my managers a couple of weeks ago about political leadership of DeKalb government. Amazingly we all had come to the same conclusion. DeKalb government is dysfunctional under the present form of government. The CEO and commissioners are always fighting, leading to inefficiencies within our strained budget.
It is time to ditch the CEO's position. Unless the citizens of DeKalb are prepared for a tax increase, abolish the CEO's office and hire a really good county manger!
Well you gave the retirees 2 years worth of time. Then you added another payout for extra vacation time. Seems you would borrow enough to make sure you cover all bases.
Well I guess a little extra money wouldn't hurt to put aside for later.
Thirty million makes you wonder.
Its not a slight mentioning pensions up north. It just means that some other places make it their business to be sure that the employees and retirees are actually represented and that there are no dirty tricks going on. I feel our pension is properly fundes now but we need to be concerned and viligent. I too feel that we don't actually have any representation on the pension board. I don't like this 30 million dollar "loan" to an insolvent entity as in the county. They are broke right? Thats what we keep hearing. IT SEEMS STUPID TO ME TO OFFER EARLY RETIREMENT TO A LOAD OF PEOPLE, DUMP THEM ON THE PENSION AND THEN FIGURE OUT THAT TOO MANY TOOK THE COUNTY UP ON THE EARLY OUT AND HAVE TO HIRE MOST OF THEM BACH. SEEM REAL DUMB TO ME.
"4 inmates let out because of 'lazy' cops"
3 have been recaptured after wrongful release in Clayton. 7:54 a.m. "..To the AJC........ never waste an opportunity to trash the police. Corrections officers are not COPS you jackasses !
The figures bounced around at the pension board meeting (yes, I'm one old retired fart that actually went to a pension board meeting) were $13 mil up to $30 mil if EVERYONE that was eligible for early retirement took advantage of the offer. It appears that is what happened. As discussed at that meeting, the CEO's office proposed all of these bells and whistles to get the higher paid employees to get them off the payroll - and (I'm not not lying about this - I'm recalling as best as I can)once those people left, then the executive assist to the CEO would then turn around and re-hire people in critical areas. The meeting was very frank, no one tried to hide the purpose of the early retirement offer, the board members were just interested in how it would be paid back. Now here's the kicker - the lawyer attending the meeting said there could be no written agreement with details as to how this would be paid back - it would just be an understanding. You go and try to find the terms of this "loan" in writing somewhere - all you have is the Executive Assist's word. Gail Walldorff is a new Board member...her e-mail is: gwalldorff@bellsouth.net. If you want to be notified of the meetings or just want to know what is going on...e-mail her.
So I take it theyre not wanting to "invest" our pension funds in south DeKalb anymore... GOOD. If DeKalb really wanted to do something smart for a change, have GM donate the old GM plant to DeKalb (its a toxic mess anyway) and then open up a huge casino complex & concert venue. Bad economic times might get Georgians to vote to allow gambling in this state IF it gets us out of this financial mess. If you did that, then DeKalb would be the center of a huge cash cow! Why have all those folks head down to Biloxi and Tunica etc every weekend when they can stay here and spend thier money. Just a thought from a disturbed old retired DeKalb Officer.
Disturbed about this damn mess or just disturbed :-)
PS... who the hell is the retiree rep on the pension board and why doesn't he communicate with us? Retirees need a pension rep .. not an empty suit sitting in a chair...if he even does that.
I'm just plain old Disturbed. At least thats what the shrink told me.... before I threw him out the window onto the lawn like we used to do on southside in the good old days. For those of you who might still understand..... I am Trapped here and Demented. When you figure that one out let me know. I get off the boat every evening and check this site, close my eyes and say a little prayer and thank GOD ALMIGHTY that I no longer have to go to Dekalb every night.
Surprised, you've been furloughed! Happy Merry New Year! I want to give a special shout out to Stokes. Your term can't end fast enough for me sweetie.
Why isn't the county going after that Banks who are in possession of all the Foreclosed properties? Just because a home is foreclosed on does not eliminate the Tax obligation to the county on the property it just makes the banks responsible for the payment. If DeKalb County would go after the banks for this money they would find millions of dollars it could collect. If the banks refused to pay DeKalb County could place a lean on the homes and sell them on the courthouse steps for payment due to them. If the property is sold then they just started a new tax collection base. This money is owed to the county by the banks so why don't we go get it? The Banks are the first to come after someone if they are owed money so why not go after them are we afraid of the Banks? Several other states already make banks responsible for property tax payments when they foreclose on a home and they do pay so why don't we do the same since it is money owed and we could use it to help offset the budget? Mr. CEO you are an attorney so look into this and get all the money that is owed to your county by law.
I'm surrounded by idiots !
City remains committed to development despite meager resources...
DORAVILLE, Ga. – The City of Doraville has diligently worked with DeKalb County and a Developer, New Broad Street, to come to an agreement regarding the land acquisition financing of the former GM Plant Site Redevelopment Project.
Doraville proposed a fair and equitable contribution based upon its relative population, financial resources, and City Charter property tax levy millage cap.
It is unfortunate that DeKalb County has not been able to come to an agreement with Doraville.
The City of Doraville remains committed to the successful redevelopment of the site and to ultimately bringing a first-rate development to the community.
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