Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Cell tower off of Knapp Ave. - up before the Zoning Board tonight

Update: tonight's meeting was postponed at the last minute and has been rescheduled for June 30, 2015 at 7:00 PM. See here for details.

The meeting that was postponed on 3/31/15 due to both sides seeking clarification from the judge on the ruling is back up before the Zoning Board tonight at 7:00PM. 

If you can make it there to show your support and offer your opinion as to where the tower should be placed on the property that would be helpful to your neighbors.

The mock-up of the tower at the original proposed location:




Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley must be Happy today!?!

Just saw this piece here in the SL. Looks like the NJ Senate voted to end the Super Salary Cap.

Hey, you remember Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley's Safe Haven Contract given by the Board of Mythomania after he was out looking for another gig - and didn't get it. You know, the one where they just shifted base salary dollars over to Performance Bonuses.

That contract that took effect on April 1, 2015 (and wish it was an April Fool's Joke - but it's not) and runs until July 1, 2019. Under that new contract (you can see it in the 1/5/15 post), his current salary of $222,854 drops down to $209,000 on April 1st. but he's eligible for a max bonus of 8% this school year and the Board made him eligible for a 7% max bonus. 

There's also another provision in that contract called Contract Re-Opening and you can find it on page 8 of his employment contract referenced above. 

It states - 'The parties agree that in the event that the New Jersey Department of Education's Accountability Regulations are materially revised, repealed and/or expire, the parties agree to reopen the compensation provisions of the Employment Contract and discuss the possibility of revising the base salary and any contractual increases consistent with then-current laws and regulations. Such discussions shall be conducted in good faith by both parties.'

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall for the conversation these two are gonna have on his $alary if this moves forward and gets through?



Anyhoo, let the renegotiation's begin in the Land of Mythomania where Out-of-Control $pending is an activity and not an accomplishment - unless, of course, this leading from behind board considers only achieving a dismal 25% of their written goals last year to be money well $pent.

Friday, May 15, 2015

So. let Edison Mayor Tom '8%' ChoiLankey's 2015 Tax Increases Begin!?!

Well, as best as I can read the last week's Council agenda here - here's the 2015 Sewer Tax Increases:
Anyhoo, can't wait to see how much he's going to raise the 2014 Muni-tax Rate of 1.205, which was increased by .089-cents or 8%?!? Maybe we'll get to see a Muni-Budget before the year is half over.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Top 10 Reasons why you gotta like Anthony Russomanno for EDO Chair

10. Because the party hasn't done enough for the guy with the longest title in town; CampaignManagerLawsuitSettlementRecipientConstituentRelationsAdministratorPlanningBoardMember
and he wants to finish the job himself.

9. Because he loves Edison, loves the Dem Party and loves the People of Edison - for what they can and have done for him.

8. Because he has 20 years or so experience working as a Dem Party soldier taking cheap shots at all those who don't agree with the party line or him and it's payback time from the party. 

7. Because he has the uncanny ability to switch sides in midstream - and you thought he didn't learn anything from Rob 'March on Trenton' Karabinchak.

6. Because he's tired of 'Constituting', whatever that is, and wants to spend more time writing love letters to the Local Dem Party Committee people.

5. Because he likes to annoy and step-over poor Bob 'See No Conflict' Diehl who is patiently awaiting his turn to move up to anything.

4. Because he's good at campaigning for the Local Dems here in Edison where the truth doesn't matter and you only count at election time.

3. Because he wants to be Mayor Tom '8%' ChoiLankey's boss and tell him what to do for a change.

2. Because he brings a level of sophistication to the job that can only be measured in curb height.

1. Because you really want to have a Local Dem Party Chair that will do more for the Republicans than the Democrats here in Downtown Edison.   

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Special Board of Mythomania Meeting - Public hearing on $227.9M Pot of Money!

Well, the Edison Board of Mythomania is having a special meeting on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM to Vote on the $227.9 million Pot of Money they call a budget for 2015-16. But hey, bet Super Dr. Richard 'Build the Trust' O'Malley is holding his breath on the outcome of that Vote.

Unlucky for us that we don't get to Vote anymore to Stop the Out-of-Control $pending over there on Mythomania Lane  - where $pending is an activity and not an accomplishment.


Anyhoo, you should go to the meeting if you can. It's your money they're playing with  - and now without your approval.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

$227.9 million Edison Board of Mythomania $chool Budget - adding insult to injury!?!

You know, the more I watch the Out-of-Control $pending going on over there on Mythomania Lane - the more I wonder who's watching out for our tax dollars and if Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley has any board oversight at all?

Do we even have a board that looks out for all the stakeholders in town; the Kids, the Staff and last, but not least, the taxpayers? Sure doesn't look like the taxpayers are treated as stakeholders at all - just as a source of funding for their out-of-control $pending. Even worse, we're treated to fairy tales of how well they're doing over there every time they come back to the well for more - fairly tales that are only believable if you actually live in the Land of Mythomania.

Seems to me that a board that increased $pending by $29.3m over the last 5 years, fails to meet 75% of their own stated objectives, has unacceptable test scores, hoards taxpayer relief money, engages in deceptive and misleading budget practices and engages in so much spin and half-truths in their budget presentations that, honestly, they make themselves dizzy - shouldn't be patting themselves on the back.

Take, for example, this latest Pot of Money they call a budget. On the surface, it comes with total $pending of $227.9m, which is up $11.0m or 5.1% over last year. It also lets that $11.0m fall right into the school tax levy - meaning Your paying for their entire $11.0m increase in $pending. It also comes with a school tax rate of $2.820, which is up 8.7-Cents or 3.2%. So, those are the basic numbers and if you want to know how much of an increase this budget will cost you, just take your home's assessed value divided by 100 and multiply it times .087.

So, while they all sit back and pat themselves on the back for holding tax rate flat in past years, particularly in 2012, let's see how they did it. Did they do things better, smarter and more efficiently that resulted in a savings to You and Me with a reduction in the school tax levy? Nah, they passed on giving the tax relief money back to us and instead used it to fund their increased $pending in 2012.

Here, you can see what they did:
 They took that entire $7.2m in hoarded taxpayer relief money and used it to increase $pending and left you with nothing. So much for keeping the school tax rate flat. That's the injury.

Now, let's look at this year's budget where they're raising the school tax levy by $10.4m - a tad bit more than 2%. Take a look at their tax levy change:
Now, here you see the insult. They're adding another $5.9m to the local tax levy from the bank cap. Whenever they swiped your taxpayer relief to fund their increased $pending and stayed under the 2%, it got banked, which simply means that they can use it in later years - and they're using it this year.

Something isn't it - first they swipe your taxpayer relief money to fund their Out-of-Control $pending and when that runs out, they stick it to you again for another $5.9m - for the very thing they're claiming credit for, holding the tax rate flat.

Can you imagine the conversation these two had on caps & bank caps?:



Anyhoo, this budget truly adds insult to injury if you live and pay taxes in Downtown Edison. It's well past time to get $pending under control and to treat the resident/taxpayers as stakeholders and not just a funding source - and this board isn't up to it.


Friday, May 1, 2015

Your 2015 School Tax - coming soon to Your Tax Bill - without a vote of course?!

Edison Board of Mythomania's $227.9 million - another in your face yank on your money chain!

You know, as a general rule, I never kick anybody when they're down nor do I try and rain on anybody's parade - but in this case with the Board of Mythomania's 2015-16 School budget presentation by Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley, it's time for a little rain.

It's just another in a long line of Out-of-Control $pending pots of money they call a budget. It comes with a $11 million increase in $pending and a whopping 8.7 cent increase in the school tax rate, which takes it up to $2.820 from $2.733 or 3.2%. From hoarding taxpayer relief money that should of come back to us in the form of a tax reduction but was instead used to increase $pending to continuing on with the practice of hiring additional staff and not disclosing it in their budgets.

Same old, same old with only one difference. You don't get to vote on the budget anymore, which means all that bloat was carried forward and will increase to the max cap allowed every year, adjusted for exceptions to the cap and banked cap of course. And don't you think it's a tad bit gosh to claim credit for not raising the tax levy when all they did was use hoarded taxpayer relief money to cover the increase in the $pending? It's not like they did it by saving any money by doing things better and smarter. Savings to them means if they don't spend all the money on one line, they use it on another line and nothing ever comes back to us. That's not savings - it's a re-purpose of money to increase spending somewhere else. So, understand that the Board of Mythomania never saves money and any claim that they do save money is just as silly as these self-serving budget presentations they put together.

Don't think so? Take a look at Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley's numbers since he took over:


Geez, ever wonder how he covered an increase of $29,303,650 or close to 15% in $pending? You should.

And let's not even get into my favorite on-going practice of theirs; the Staffing Shell Game - you know, that's where they hire additional staff but fail to disclose it to you in their budgets. Apparently, it's still alive and well over there on Mythomania Lane in the 2015-16 school budget. Seems they added an additional net 23.5 non-budgeted heads in 2014-15 and failed to disclose that to you. Now, for as long as I've been looking at this practice, that brings the total up to 419.8 heads they failed to disclose to you in their budgets.

The problem with this stuff isn't that they shouldn't be allowed to hire and or fire with fluidity, of course they should - the problem is they do it and don't disclose it to you and that puts you at a disadvantage in understanding if the staffing level in their budget makes sense. For example, if you knew they hired a net 23.5 non-budgeted in 2014-15, wouldn't that be important to know when they're asking for an additional 16 heads in the 2015-16 school budget? It sure would.

For the single largest cost in their budget - salaries, there's just no meaningful manpower reporting they're willing to provide.

Here's the net non-budgeted heads added in 2014-15:
And here's how you can see it if you have both this year and last year school budgets (General Summary Page 32):


And here's the cumulative heads:



Anyhoo, you really have to live in the Land of Mythomania to think that the rain isn't coming down on you and your pocketbooks.

Edison school tab carries $153 tax hike! There's a Shocker!?!

Well, here you go. Just saw this piece in the Sentinel here and wouldn't you know it - another tax hike brought to you by Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley and the leading from behind Edison Board of Mythomania.

According to this piece, the total budget is $227.9 million, up 5.1% and the tax levy is $199.2 million, which is up $7.1 million or 3.15%. Good thing for banked caps.

The public meeting on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 6 at the Ed Center.

Anyhoo, as soon I can get a copy of the budget, I'll share my thoughts on it with you. Just been told that the 2015-16 school budget is up on their website here.

Just a thought but two things that should never happen together - Super Dr. Richard 'Looking for the Exit Ramp' O'Malley and School Budget Numbers! Something usually gets lost in the translation.



But hey, at least we're comforted in the knowledge that they think they're doing a good job in this presentation on their website!?! Go look at it and see for yourself.