Limiting Council time to Query Joshi's 2024 Budget Presentation - just Highlights his Incompetence

Well, there's no doubt Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi, aka Mr. Shrink-flation, Big-boy pants, the Weathervane Millennial, the Malleable Marionette, the Event Planner, Sam the Film-flam Man, the Emperor has No Clothes, the Debt-a-nator and Mr. Swiper has the Council votes to pass his Ridiculous $175.9m Out-of-Control $pending Budget for 2024 - so why would it be necessary to move his 2024 Budget Presentation to the same night as a Council work session and why would his Council cohorts go along with it??

Seems pretty plain and simple - his Council cohorts must know he's incapable of defending his own budget from substantive questions in a public forum. So, what do they do to protect him - they go along with limiting the time the Council can ask questions after he makes his 2024 Budget Presentation.

Clearly, Joshi would be incapable of selling this inflated cash grab if there's any Council push-back allowed after his presentation, which, if history is any indication, will again no doubt be full of lies.

Not only disrespectful to their fellow Council Members by limiting their attempt to perform their due diligence but to the residents and taxpayers. 

A outright attempt to block transparency in the budget review process.

Everyone should object to this change just to protect Joshi from looking like an incompetent boob in public. Even he must know he can't talk himself out of something he's behaved himself into.

I can't say how strongly I find this to be offensive and, not for nothing, I did send the following email yesterday to Bob Diehl, his Chief of Staff to express my objection to this change and the reasons why:

'Hey Bob - nice to see you again at the Veterans’ Park Memorial service. Just a couple things, if I may. 

First, I just found out the 2024 Budget Presentation has been rescheduled from Thursday, June 13th to Monday, June 10th.

Seems it is now on the same night as the Council Work session that starts at 6:00PM. That’s a tad bit unfair to the Council to be scheduling both on the same night as well as limiting their time ask questions and have discussions with the Mayor about his $175.9m budget before the 6:00PM work session start time. 

The 2024 Budget Presentation should be on a separate night by itself and take as long as it takes for the Council to do their due diligence. It has always been done that way and for good reasons.

Further, it’s unfair to the residents and taxpayers to schedule this meeting at 5:00PM. Most people who would want to attend wouldn’t even be home from work by that time. 

This change demonstrates a total lack of transparency in the budget process. 

Second, as I mentioned to you, I have an OPRA Request outstanding regarding the 2024 Budget. With salaries & wages approaching almost half the total appropriations in this budget, I specifically asked for the Number of employees by Department for the 2024 Introduced Budget along with the Number of employees by Department for the 2023 Adopted Budget. Clearly, documents that anyone would need when putting together a budget by department. 

You can appreciate why that would be important for anyone to understand if the Salary & Wage amounts in this budget as well as the change from last year makes sense.

Seems that, after waiting the 7 days, my May 15th request has been extended to June 7th and I was looking for your help. With the Budget Presentation now scheduled for June 10th, you’ll excuse me if I’m concerned that I may get another extension on June 7th - post budget presentation. 

If you have time to talk and can help with this, I’d appreciate a call.

Just to summarize, I would object to moving the Budget Presentation to June 10th at 5:00PM and hope you can help to reverse this change to a date and time by itself and if you can do anything to help expedite my OPRA Request, I’d appreciate it. 
Thanks for your indulgence.'

Ralph 

Anyhoo, what's really disconcerting here isn't Joshi's inept stewardship, that's a given - it's the lengths his Council cohorts will go along with to protect it.

If Budgets are a statement of values..

then there's only 2 things you need to know about Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi's $175.9m Budget for 2024:

1. he values inflated $pending budgets.

2. excessive bat-sh*t crazy bonding.

Both for personal political advantage.

#gettingthingsoneanddone

Anyhoo, if history is any indication, let's see how many lies he'll try and tell when he makes his 2024 Budget Presentation on June 13, 2024.

At least Mr. Shrink-flation's Double-secret 2024 Budget is giving him valuable experience for his next career move

 Well, when almost half the 2024 Budget Appropriations are in Salaries and Wages, you'd think a simple OPRA Request for the Number of Employees by Department would be readily available.

Think again - made the request on May 15th. Seven days later I got a response that was simply a link to the 2024 Budget on their website. I responded by saying that I don't understand their response. Their Budget doesn't have the Number of Employees by Department in it, just a total Number of Employees for the town.

Then got a response that they misread my OPRA and would forward it to the correct department but it would require an extension until June 7, 2024. Now, it's my understanding that the Mayor's 2024 Budget Presentation is scheduled for June 13, 2024 - what's the odds of getting another notice of extension on June 7, 2024? 

We'll see, I guess.

Now, this is all fun and games but highlights the length they will go through to prevent providing any basic information to the Residents about what's in their $175.9 million 2024 Out-of-Control $pending Budget and whether the changes from last year make any sense. A Ridiculous $pending Budget that comes with another increase in the Local tax Levy of 3.12% and a Muni tax rate of 1.477, which is up 3.6-cents from last year's 1.441.

Now, I reached out to a couple of Council Members to help get the information but not sure if they can help since I'm not sure they are even given it or can get what I asked for. Seems hard to believe they can adequately review this budget without seeing that information.

Finally, I reached out to the Chief of Staff for some help and waiting to hear back from him.

Here's the Salaries and Wages from the 2024 Budget:

Seriously, how much more can they do to protect the inept and opaque stewardship of Mr. Shrink-flation. These Budgets are a joke and if we had a Council that took their control of the purse-strings seriously, they would see it and do something about it. 

But they won't as long as Joe 'the Florist' Coyle is the assurance of a 4th Vote.

So, while we play these games of hide and seek with the 2024 Budget, there's one thing that's for sure. 

Mr. Shrink-flation is certainly gaining valuable experience for his next career move.

Anyhoo, Welcome the Edison, Home of the 2017 Racist Flyer - Can You Smell the Stench?

Not for Nothing but What's this doing in the Memorial Day Parade?!?

 Well, I can certainly appreciate the Finance Department coming out on Memorial Day but isn't this too much of Campaign propaganda so early on?

'Investing in Edison's Future - Where Everybody Counts!'

Geez, you gotta feel for these people getting sucked into something that's just more of Mr. Shrink-flation's endless bag of childish lies.

One look, with even one eye closed, at the 2024 Budget will tell you that the Taxpayers of this town don't count.

#gettingthingsoneanddone - for sure.

Of course, you gotta ask who paid for these campaign signs - I hope we didn't.

Anyhoo, seems there's no level of low this guy won't stoop too to try and make people believe his inept stewardship is anything but inept.

What the Memorial Day Parade in Edison looks like - in a Non-Election Year

 Well, of all days that deserves our Respect - it's Memorial Day. What's been aptly described as the Township's Flagship Parade by Mr. Kentos - it's unfortunate the Lack of Respect our Local Politicians showed in this non-election year.

All the Local Politicians should of been walking the Parade route, yet None did. Now, why is that the so-called leaders of our town weren't up front in the Parade? They usually are, oh wait, that's just in election years - my bad.

And what can you say about Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi, aka Mr. Shrink-flation, Big-boy pants, the Weathervane Millennial, the Malleable Marionette, the Event Planner, Sam the Film-flam Man, the Emperor has No clothes, the Debt-a-Nator and Mr. Swiper Not walking the Parade route out front as Leader of our Town but instead hiding out on a truck along the route?

What you can say is that he is far from a Leader and a Tad Bit Disrespectful of the Day. Kind of highlights the lack of maturity, knowledge and experience he brings to the job. You can't be a Mayor of this town and hide-out from the People you purportedly represent on such an important day. 

He's an embarrassment but he could of picked every other day of his inept stewardship to show it.

Clearly, there wasn't much effort put into this Memorial Day Parade on his part but Kudos to the People who Participated in the Parade and to those who came out to watch it and pay their Respects.

Anyhoo, it's too bad none of our Local Politicians did the same.

NJ School Performance Report (2022-23) - Edison School District

 Well, just saw this School Performance Report for the Edison School District on the NJ DoE Website:

Anyhoo, interesting summary and worth a quick read.

ETEA Professional & Non-Certified Employees 5-Year Contracts - July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2028

 Well, here's the above-mentioned Contracts completed months ago, which I'm told will now be posted on the School District's website.

Professional Employees:

Non-Certified Employees:

Here's their 5-Year Financial Summary of these Contracts, which is never made public - unless you ask for it:

Anyhoo, better late of them producing these Contracts - than never.

Getting things done alright - wonder what Lies he'll tell about the 2024 Muni-budget!?!

 Well, it's anybody's guess when Mayor Sam 'the Big Lie' Joshi, aka Mr. Shrink-flation, Big-boy pants, the Weathervane Millennial, the Malleable Marionette, the Event Planner, Sam the Flim-flam Man, the Emperor has No Clothes, the Debt-a-nator & Mr. Swiper will make his 2024 Budget presentation but does anybody really care?

He demonstrably has an anomoly with the truth and you should never believe what he says anyway but rather just watch what he does as he tries to climb-up the politically-corrupt Dem-party ladder - at your expense.

Regardless of his Council cronies, the way he's treating the People of Edison will assure that he'll be a one-termer.

Here's what he's unnecessarily doing to You with this 2024 Muni-budget:

Anyhoo, good thing Joe 'the Florist' Coyle' is on the Council to guarantee a 4th vote on this Ridiculous 2024 Muni-budget, if necessary.

Not for nothing but if the Summary of Tax Rates in the 2024 Muni-budget is obviously incorrect, wouldn't you be concerned with what's in the details that follow?!?

 Well, one look at your 2023 Final tax bill will show you what's wrong with the 'Actuals 2023' column and what's going on with the School Budget numbers for 2024. Seems they have the wrong School tax levy, School tax rate and the Rateables used for the 2024 Muni-budget of $7,423,717,100 is different than the School Budget's $7,418,374,600 used to strike their School's 2024 Tax Rate of 3.168.

The School Budget was adopted back on April 30, 2024 and published on their website.

Duh..

Here's the School Budget for 2024-25 published on their website:

Anyhoo, not to worry as long as Joe 'the Florist' Coyle, aka Mayor of Clara Barton, Poster-child for Wards, Joe 180 and Joe the 4th Vote is on the Council - does it really matter what's in or not in this 2024 Muni-budget? Good to see though that both sides of town are communicating when it comes to property tax rates.

2024 Introduced Edison Muni-budget - Appropriations, $175,929,229

 Well, the 2024 Muni-budget comes with $175,929,229 in Appropriations.

Here's a table of the 2024 budget that will show you the Breakdown of the Appropriations by Department, Office and Category with a comparison to last year, as reported. You can sort this table by any of those headings.

Here's sort of the Salary & Wages from the table:

You know what's totally unacceptable? Almost half the $176m in total appropriations is in Salary & Wages and they don't provide a headcount schedule with this Muni-budget. It's impossible to know whether the change from last year (in half the budget) makes any sense without it. 

Transparency at its best - Not.

Be that as it may, if anyone wants the file, you're welcome to it - just drop me a note.

Anyhoo, seems to be a lot of questions generated from this 2024 Muni-budget - let's hope those responsible for the checks & balances see it.

Tax increases Built into the Edison 2024 Introduced Municipal Budget - Muni tax up 2.52% and Library up 4.34%

 Well, just saw the Introduced 2024 Muni-budget. Looks like this budget comes with a Muni-tax rate of 1.477, which is up 3.6-cents or 2.52% over Last year's 1.441. The Library rate is .091, which is up 4/10's of a cent or 4.34% over Last year's .087.

The combined Muni & Library tax rate is 1.568, which is up 4-cents or 2.62% over Last year's 1.528.

What this means - if you live in that imaginary home assessed at $183,400, then your Muni & Library tax will be $2,875 and your tax increase will be $73, which represents $90 due to increase spending offset by $16 due to the increase in the Rateables.

If you don't live in that imaginary home, then just take you home's assessed value divided by 100 and multiply that number by 1.568 to get you total Muni & Library tax and to get your tax increase take your home's assessed value divided by 100 and multiply that number by .04.

This budget comes with an increase in the Muni tax levy of $116,388,429, which is up $3,636,456 or 3.23% over last year. The Local tax levy is $109,648,165, which is up $3,318,485 or 3.12% and the Library is $6,740, 264, which is up $317,971 or 4.95%.

Noticed that they increased the Rateables number from the one previously issued and used by the Boe in their 2024-25 School Budget, so the Boe might want to check the change from 7,418,374,600 to $7,423,717,100 as well as the School tax levy and school tax rate used in this Muni budget, which are different. Further, most of the 'Actual 2023' tax rates used in this budget for all taxing entities don't agree to what was on the tax bills for 2023.

Here's where you can see the numbers - compared against Last year's Adopted budget - after the Adopted budget, Appropriations and Revenues were increased by the same amount of $2,809,345 but the Muni-tax levy remained the same.

And here's where you can see the Breakdown of the changes in Spending and Rateables:

Anyhoo, there's a lot to go through with these appropriations, revenues and capital items in this 2024 budget and the changes from Last year - as soon as I can go through it, I'll share it.

Jeff 'You da Man' Bowden Retiring after 40 years of service to the Edison School District

 Wow, 40 years - that's a pretty awesome accomplishment to be serving the Edison Kids for 28 years and another 12 years serving his fellow Professional and Non-Certified colleagues for another 12 years as President of the ETEA.

Quite an accomplishment for one's life in and of itself - not to mention that along the way, the positive impact he has had in the lives of his students and to those he represented as President of the ETEA.

Now you may find it odd that someone like me who is a long-time staunch critic of the Edison Board of Education and all their mis-spending - would think this is important to highlight and say a few words about.

You see, over the years, I've gotten to know Jeff and oddly enough - because of all those Union contracts he was able to negotiate, but more about that later.

Perhaps he should be reminded that his greatest gift to the People of Edison was spending a lifetime educating our Kids and turning empty minds into open minds and impacting their lives for a lifetime - and it didn't go unnoticed.

Of course, teaching 'Earth Science' is somewhat above my pay grade and my head. Being just a beancounter who went to school on the south side of town a long time ago - guess I missed some of those classes or they didn't learn me too good. So, you know I have to ask him some questions when I see him again like (1) Can it rain fish, (2) Does the back of a rainbow look the same as its front side and finally (3) Do I weigh less on the equator than at the North Pole?!? Inquiring unlearned minds want to know.

All kidding aside now, it use to irritate me to no end whenever these collective bargaining agreements came up for renewal. The Board would just give away the money in these 3-year contracts and would turn around and say in future years that there's nothing they can do about it, it's contractual. Yeah right, first they give the money away then they say there's nothing they can do about it. Here's a thought - don't give it away.

Now, I can tell you that I've gone through all the Contracts that Jeff negotiated since he took over as President of the ETEA back in 2012. As much as it irritated me since the teachers were some of the highest paid in the state, he was able to get some of the most generous contracts that I've ever seen over the years (and that includes the latest 5-year contract recently negotiated) and his membership owes him a great deal for his service and raising the scale here in Downtown Edison - as much as I may have cringed when reading them.

And over the years, we've become friends and in spite that we come from different positions on these contracts, I've always made a point of congratulating him for a job well done under the circumstances when they were done. If you're honest with yourself, you have to give credit where credit is due and tip your hat and ask - how do you pull that off?

So, being just a bean counter, what better way to show my Respect and Friendship to someone who spent a lifetime serving others than with some personal thoughts about Jeff in, what else, a Chart:

Anyhoo, Congratulations on your Retirement and Remember, as you continue down life's journey, 'You da Man.'

PS: It's May 1st and waited to post this until today to Wish Jeff a Happy Birthday.