It's 'Deja Vu' all over again with Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi's 2024 Muni Budget

 Well, here we go again playing hide and seek with the damage he's proposing to do to your pocket book with all his Ridiculous $pending for 2024. 

You remember he did the same thing last year delaying introducing the Muni-budget until after he got all his 'Emergency Appropriations' in and to make matters worse, he claimed 'His budget projects the first property tax cut for Edison homeowners since 1988' - when it actually came with a nearly 3% Muni tax-hike.

Barf! - it's actions like this that demonstrate he lacks the maturity for the position he holds.

After four months into 2024 we still haven't seen his Muni-budget for 2024 and you're not going to see it at tonight's Combined Council Meeting. What you will see is a serious bunch of 'Emergency Appropriations for 2024' which should make you look up and say what the heck is going on here.

According to the agenda, here's where we stand without a Muni-budget for 2024:

Not for nothing, if you take these numbers at face value, when you already $pent 57% of last year's Muni-budget and it's only April - you gotta know there will be Muni-tax increases coming your way for 2024.

Sad part is they don't have the Courage or Respect (albeit their bogus claims of transparency) for the People of Edison to put their plans on the table for public scrutiny - so they delay putting out their Muni-budget with the hope you're not paying attention - while the Council dutifully approves all the 'Emergency Appropriations tonight.'

Now, it wouldn't bother me so much if we had a Council that actually understood they Control the purse strings and can put the breaks on what's sure to be some more Ridiculous $pending in this hidden Muni-budget but we Don't have such a Council. We have a bunch of Enablers for an inept stewardship who serve the interests of the 'Malleable Marionette's' puppet masters. So, when you have no Checks & Balances - You Don't have any Representation at the Muni-tax table or any table for that matter.

Anyhoo, hard to be surprised with anything from the inept stewardship of Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi, aka Mr. Shrink-flation, the Malleable Marionette, the Event Planner, the Weathervane Millennial, Big-boy pants, Sam the Film-flam Man and his Enabling Council but we can always be Proud, with all this political buffoonery going on, that we live in Edison - Permanent Home of the 2017 Racist Flyer.

Top 10 'New Rules' (with apologies to Bill Maher) for the Edison Board of Mythomania, aka Board of Ed-Dems, Board of Hoarders, Board of Dysfunction

 10. New Rule - Board President Biral Patel can't mimic 'Mr. Shrink-flation's Enabling Council by blocking public questioning and getting answers the People want and need at Public meetings unless he wants to be Voted out of office at the next election just like Mr. Shrink-flation.

9. New Rule - You can't try and remove a Board Member just because you want the political majority over all that money rather than wanting and assuring that it's spent in a way that's in the best interests of the school district.

8. New Rule - You can't change what was a People-oriented simply understood school budget by department and put out a 'User-Friendly' school budget for $367 million that isn't so 'User-Friendly' (which is just excerpts from a 111 pages school budget that nobody will understand) unless you don't want People to know what you're doing with their money.

7. New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget that shows last year's Local school tax levy that doesn't agree with the Local school tax levy used to calculate last year's school tax rate.

6. New Rule - You can't put out a $ 367 million school budget that shows a Revised Budget for last year without explaining what that means unless you don't want People to know everything you did and what was actually spent between July 1st and January 31st - which isn't disclosed in any of these school budgets and the source of the infamous 'Staffing Shell Game' among other budget games they play.

5. New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget that no one can see until after it's approved by the Counter Super. After it's approved, it's too late for the People to have a say in how they're spending all that money. Once approved by the County Super, it doesn't matter what you say at their adoption meeting - the Board's vote and adoption is just a formality.

4. New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget that claims to hold the Local school tax levy flat when it doesn't unless you don't want People to know that you're actually increasing spending in appropriations and hoarding the 2% allowable increase in the Cap Bank for use in the next 3 years to increase your taxes above the 2% Cap.

3. New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget where Salaries and Benefits exceed half of it without providing a headcount analysis by department unless you don't want the People to know the breakdown of some 2,300 employees on the payroll and if the half of the school budget dollars even makes any sense by knowing how many of these positions and those positions you already have.

2. New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget that no one can see until it's too late, that you can't vote on and have to rely on a School Board that lacks any obvious Oversight over these school budgets that just let all that wasteful, bloated and out-of-control mis-spending to be carried forward exponentially. You need school board members that will look out for the often forgotten Stakeholder, the taxpayers - who pay all the bills.

1, New Rule - You can't put out a $367 million school budget with all it's wasteful and mis-spending and ignore one of 2 undeniable facts in this town - that you're never going to solve the Overcrowding problem without a New School and pissing away all that money with this nonsensical piecemeal plan will come back to haunt them when all that state-aid money runs out and they have to go for a School Bond Referendum in the hundred's of millions.

N.J. Assembly Quietly Votes to End 2% Property Tax Cap for Schools

 Well, just saw this piece here in the Morris County Focus that reports that the state Assembly passed bill A4161 by a vote of 52-20, which assists schools that had reduced state aid to increase property taxes by more than the 2% Cap.

Seems the taxpayers are always left out of the loop when it comes to school taxes. 

First, if we moved school elections to November, we lost our right to vote on school budgets unless it exceeded the 2% Cap. Then, recently - even if you stayed with April elections or moved the elections back to April, you also lost the right to vote on school budgets under the 2% Cap.

Now, we have this which allows schools districts who faced state aid cuts in the last 5 years to hike property taxes by up to 9.9%, which will grow exponentially.

Not for nothing but school budgets are the worse when it comes to treating the one stakeholder that pays all the bills - the taxpayer.

Think about it. It's a budget you don't get to vote on unless it exceeds the 2% Cap (and Now if this passes the Senate, if you're in one of those districts that had reduced state aid over the last 5 years - the Cap is basically eliminated), a budget that goes down to the County Super for approval before you can even see it. 

Then, once approved by the County Super - it rarely ever changes, and gets the School Board's stamp of approval in their Public meeting. You see, once the County Super approves it - it doesn't really matter what you think, you're just the unfortunate stakeholder who has to pay all the bills.

Even if they stay under the 2% Cap, there's something called the Cap Bank which accumulates all the dollars under the 2% Cap to be used over the next 3 years to raise taxes above the 2% Cap. 

No doubt in this town after the state aid money starts to dwindle (and it will) and their ridiculous $pending continues, they'll be looking to take that money back - and add that tax on your back.

And once they're done Mis-$pending all that money and come to the realization that the only way to solve the Overcrowding problem in this town is with a New School - then they'll have a hard time trying to sell what will have to be a Humongous School Bond Referendum.

Something they should of properly addressed a long time ago and if we didn't have Mr. Shi-shed at the helm with those Mis-quided and Ridiculously Overpriced School Bond Referendums that wouldn't of solved the problem, it could have already been done.

Seems all we're left with is the School Board to keep check on these often Outrageous $pending School Budgets and unfortunately, in this town, they do very little to Keep the Out-of-Control $pending in check and make sure we are $pending the all that money the right way.

Anyhoo, until we recognize that until we have Board Members who actually understand the meaning of Oversight and Stop with the Political nonsense, nothing will change in this town and you'll continue to get School Budgets that now are up to $367 million and with all that state aid and hoarded money recognize we still haven't properly addressed the Overcrowding problem. 

Where's the 2024 Muni-budget or are they delaying for another 3rd Qtr. Estimated tax bill?

 Well, this really gets old. By the time they come up with their bogus budget, the year will already be half over and they'll have the actual numbers.

They should just call it a 6 month budget.

Even the Board of Mythomania is going to adopt their school budget on April 30, 2024.

Just a Reminder - the 2023 Muni-budget came with Appropriations of $170.2 million with a Local tax rate of 1.441, with was up almost 3% over the prior year.

Now, just like Edison's all-Dem party Council's consideration of the Public Advocate position last night, what do you think they'll do with Mr. Shrink-flation's' 2024 Muni-budget, whenever he comes up with it?

Are they going to do it to you again?

Not for nothing but when people are struggling today to put food on the table, nobody needs this political nonsense that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Anyhoo, does it really matter - it's just your town and money at stake.

An important Election coming early in May - let's keep the Political Stench Hanging over this Town out of it

 Well, as I understand it, my good friend, Jeff Bowden will be retiring this year from an amazing 40+ years teaching and doing an Outstanding job Leading the ETEA for over a decade now. I'm sure I'll have more to say about him when the retirement time approaches.

You know, I've lived in this town for a long time and been an outspoken critic of how the Edison Board of Education spends our money and have been to more Board of Education Meeting over the years arguing about that for more years that I care to remember.

As much as I may have argued against their School Budgets & Bond Referendums and Defeated School Budgets over the years, I always remember and been impressed how well the ETEA team did in their Contract Negotiations representing their Members every time their contracts came up for renegotiation - dating back to Emil 'Do the Right Thing' Ferlicchi.

I now see that Matt Hrevnak, ETEA Vice-President is looking to replace Jeff as ETEA President in an on-line election scheduled for May 6th through May 15th by its Members. A Math teacher for the last 36 years at JPS as well as part of the ETEA Leadership team for the last 17 years.

If you pay attention to what goes on over there at Board Meetings, and I do, you'll see here's an extremely intelligent and knowledgable guy, with a host of experience at this doing this work, who makes his presence known speaking out and standing up for the Students and for his Members.

A vital and instrumental Member of the Negotiating Team that just settled a new 5-Year Contract for the Professional and Non-Certified Employees (see below for the financial results).

Now, as someone who doesn't like all that BoE Spending and a staunch critic of the BoE, if your honest with yourself - you have to give credit where credit is due. So, Wow - don't know how you did it but Hat's off the ETEA Team.

Now, I don't say that lightly. If you had a chance to go through those Contracts like I did, it's hard not to be impressed with the Results achieved by the ETEA Team and the Results they achieved for their Members - not just in the financial areas but also in the language and work conditions areas. A lot of times, while money is certainly important, there are other non-monetary matters that need to be addressed in these contract negotiations too. 

Clearly, this contract did both for the ETEA Members and Matt was instrumental in negotiating and achieving these results. 

Here's Matt's Qualifications & Association Involvement:

Now, I'm not a Member of the Union but I am someone who can tell if the result of a Union Contract Negotiation is either Good or Bad for its Members under the given circumstances - and this one was Good, since you had an experienced team knowing what was important in these negotiations and getting it done for all their Members. 

You know, Experience is Very Important and absolutely Required to be ETEA President but Experience along with a Proven Record of Performance is even Better - and, from what I see, Matt has Both.

Here's the 5-Year Contract Numbers ( you can see the previous Four 3-Year ETEA Contracts with similar results in a previous post):

Anyhoo, to all Union Members, please recognize What You Have in Matt Works for You in and for Your Best Interests and You Should Keep it Going with Matt. When it comes to the ETEA Matters, Matt's knowledge and experience and understanding of Union Representation along with Contract Negotiations comes with a Proven Record of Performance over the years.  And if it means anything to you - as someone who understands all the jibber-jabber about Scattergrams & Salary Guides, I wouldn't even dare take him on when it comes to these matters.

It's Budget time here again in the 'DemBadLands' of Downtown Edison!

 Well, just a Reminder of what Your Property taxes were Last-Year and who Lied to YOU about what they were and actually showed up on Your Tax Bills.

Anyhoo, pay attention to who's gonna Lie to You about this year's journey down the Non-Transparency Highway known as Edison, Home of the 2017 Racist Flyer.

Edison 2024-25 Preliminary School Budget - Some other Expenditures & Employee Contract List

 Well, here's some of the other expenditures in this school budget. Look at the difference between the 2022-23 Actuals and the 2023-24 Revised Budget. Here's why they should have another column for the Original 2023-24 Budget. Without that you can't see the activity from July 1 to January 31 of the 2023-24 Budget and the total change from the 2023-24 Original Budget to the Proposed 2024-25 Budget.

There's something Unique about School Budgeting that's Good and Yet Sooo Very Bad

 Well, if you look at the 2024-25 FY $367 million Preliminary School Budget, you'll see that the Total Expenditures/Appropriations are $367,313,416, which is an increase over the Revised 2023-24 Budget of only $1,309,233 or .36%.

Well, that's not too bad - looks like they're doing something to hold down their Out-of-Control $pending - 

Right?

Not really. If you look at their Original 2023-24 Budget, you'll see that the $pending was $352,219,522 and from that Original Budget, they're actually increasing $pending in the 2024-25 Budget by $15,093,894.

Now, how does that happen? 

Because you have to understand what makes school budgets unique and what that 'Revised Budget' really means. The FY Budget runs from July 1 to June 30th and schools are required to update their Original Budgets on February 1st to the actuals. So, when they're comparing the 2024-25 Budget to the 'Revised 2023-24 Budget, they're not comparing it to the Original 2023-24 Budget.

Updating to the actuals on February 1st is a Good thing for Budgeting purposes since it allows for updated information to be used when trying to come up with the 2024-25 numbers.

But here's where it can and does turn Bad over there on Mythomania Lane. By updating on February 1st, you don't get to see what happened or any of the activity that occurred between July 1 and January 31st in these budgets.

Hence, among other things. the creation of the infamous 'Staffing Shell Game' over there on Mythomania Lane. This is a Budget Game where they hire new employees between July 1 and January 31st that were Not in their Original Budget but show up in their Revised Budget - and it's never disclosed to you.

A simple example. Let's say that the Original 2023-24 Budget had only 100 employees budgeted and between July 1st and January 31st they added 20 more non-budgeted people. And let's further assume that in their 2024-25 Budget they wanted to add 2 more employees. 

What they would show you in their 2024-25 Budget is 122 employees and when compared to their Revised 2023-24 Budget of 120 employees, that would only be an increase of 2 employees and fail to disclose to you in their budgets that they added 20 more employees during the fiscal year. Not too bad if you think they're only asking for 2 more employees.

Now, if you knew that they already hired 20 employees wouldn't you say, what a minute - you already hired 20 employees why do you need 2 more in the 2024-25 Budget? 

But you never get that chance to ask since they hide it and don't disclose it to you. 

If you don't think this is Bad thing then search 'Staffing Shell Game' in this blog and you'll see the hundreds of non-budgeted employees added to the payroll over the years this way when I use to track it- and you never knew about it when looking at their School Budgets. 

And to make matters worse, they no longer report the headcount as part of their school budgets.

Be that as it may, here's what's going on with the Capital items in their 2024-25 Preliminary School Budget.

As you can see below, their Proposed 2024-25 Budget includes $37,418,580 in Capital. Not for nothing but this whole piecemeal attempt to properly address the Overcrowding problem just isn't going to work. Even Bragen knew, the $93 million bogus piecemeal plan wasn't going to work and had numbers that started coming in twice the amounts in that plan. It was a spaghetti bridge to address the Overcrowding.

There are two undeniable facts in this town and one is that we'll never solve the Overcrowding problem without a New School. And as the state-aid and their hoarded money and reserves start dwindling away, the Board is going to regret pissing all that money away with this nonsense when they have to go for a Bond referendum in the hundreds of millions - people will remember what they did.

Anyhoo, since we don't get to vote on school budgets anymore, we're left with relying on the Board for Oversight of these Ridiculous, Bloated and Out-of-Control $pending School Budgets - and there is none with this Board paying more attention to playing politics for power and control over all that money than by spending that money in a way in what's in the Best interest of the School District.

If you want to see the Largest amount of Bloat in the School Budget - Look at the Single Largest Expenditure - Salaries

 Well, for years the biggest hiding ground for all the Bloat in these school budgets has been buried in the single largest expenditure in the school budget - Salaries, which grows exponentially with every new school budget. Wrought with budget games like 'Breakage' and the 'Staffing Shell Game' in which they inflate the salaries and keep adding new employees that weren't in the original school budget and fail to disclose to you in these budgets.

Of course, the simplest way to flush out all that nonsense and Bloat in these school budgets is to have a Salary and Headcount Reconciliation from the Prior year to the Current year school budget. But if you notice, they don't provide any such reconciliation anymore along with their school budgets. 

Without such a reconciliation, it's impossible to understand if what they're asking for makes any sense.

According to a quick, down & dirty look at the numbers in their 2024-25 111 page 'User Unfriendly' Preliminary School Budget, the Salaries went from $165,797,114 in 2022-23, to $183,835,822 in their Revised 2023-24 Budget to $183,835,822 in their Proposed Budget for 2024-25.

Seriously, how did they go from $165,797,114 in 2022-23 to $183,835,822 in 2024-25 and not explain it?

Here's what they should be providing each year along with their school budgets but don't and won't - I know I asked:

Without such a reconciliation, you can't know anything about what's going on with Salary dollars or the change from the prior year.

Here's a quick, down and dirty list of all the accounts with Salaries in the FY 2024-25 Preliminary School Budget:

Anyhoo, there's other Bloat and Hoarding in this Preliminary School Budget for 2024-25 but it's hard to Top the Bloat that goes on every year in these Salary accounts and until we get some effective Board Oversight of these School Budgets - it will continue to go on at your expense.