OUR TOWN….
SUCH A NICE PLACE TO LIVE
AND RAISE A FAMILY.
I have bone to pick with Town Hall, again! I ran across an
article in Newsday, by Deborah
S. Morris which
I will post in its entirety, and provide a link to the complete article. Ms.
Morris has captured some little nuggets that the residents of Huntington might
want to have a look at. This is all about our tax dollars, aka your money, which is being
stolen right out from under us by a corrupt administration in Town Hall. And,
it’s also about who we elect to run our Town government. Prior to seeing this
article by Ms. Morris, I had a chance to read through the newly adopted Huntington Town Budget for 2014. It took me a while to find what I
was looking for, and another while to get through it all. What I did find is
that our money is going places you wouldn’t imagine in a million years. (I will
address that in my next post.) Does it bother anyone that just three days after
the “head of the
beast” was
re-elected, with the ink on the ballots from Tuesday still wet, there was a
Town Council meeting to vote on next year’s Budget? Heaven forbid the meeting
should be well advertised and well attended! Come on, folks, there should be
standing room only at these meetings, and, until there is, our Town government
will exercise free reign on spending our money.
“Huntington
Town board narrowly approves 2014 budgets”
Photo
credit: James Escher | Huntington Town Supervisor Frank Petrone posing for a portrait
inside the clubhouse of Hamlet Golf and Country Club. (June 26, 2013)
“The Town of Huntington has approved its spending
plan for next year by adopting operating and capital budgets for 2014.The
adopted $185.2 million
2014 operating budget calls for a net zero increase across the town’s 14
taxing funds. But there will be hikes in two of the top three funds. The
general fund will see an increase of 3.6 percent, and there will be a 1.7
percent rise for the Consolidated Refuse Fund.
The Highway Fund will see a
decrease of 4.65 percent. The budget calls for no reduction in services or
layoffs; and raises will go only to those under a collective bargaining unit
contract.
Spending is up 2.2 percent, but
the amount to be raised by taxes stays at the same level as last year — $109,686,705.
“We spent a lot time putting this
budget together; we got a lot of input and obviously the board thought it was
fine and thought it was the proper budget for this next fiscal year,” said Town
Supervisor Frank Petrone, also the town’s
chief financial officer. “The two people who voted against it did not
offer any amendments so I don’t know where their concerns are.”
Both budgets were adopted 3 to 2
with Mark
Cuthbertson and Susan
Berland voting
yes and Mark
Mayoka and Gene Cook opposing the plans.
Cook cited discrepancies in the
costs allotted for outside attorney fees and to settle various lawsuits against
the town.
“I just didn’t believe the
numbers and I couldn’t vote for something I didn’t believe in,” Cook said.”
The $8.8 million capital budget was also approved 3 to
2. The capital budget includes building a boathouse at Centerport Beach,
$350,000 is earmarked for that expenditure.” [1]
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Items of note:
Watch out for those “general Funds”. That’s where the
largest increase occurs, and that’s the category most often used for corrupt spending. Looks like the new Highway Superintendent is in for a
rough ride. His budget got slashed, and he hasn’t yet taken office. Oh, did I
mention, he’s a Republican who unseated the worst Democratic Highway Superintendent
the Town has ever had? “…obviously the board thought it was fine and thought it was the proper
budget for this next fiscal year.” Well,
actually, two (2) out of five (5) board members thought it stank to high
heaven. “the head of the Beast” is also the chief
financial officer? You gotta be kiddin’ me! I thought Centerport has its own “Beach Association”. I know for a fact
there are plenty of tradesmen in Centerport. Why does the entire Town have to
pay for their boathouse?
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