New Philadelphia In Financial Difficulty

      There is a way to explain the difference between ignorance and stupidity.  If you don’t understand it before I explain it, you’re ignorant.  If you don’t understand it after I explain it, you’re stupid. 

      Earlier this year, non-union employees, excluding members of city council, were given three percent salary increases, the raises made retroactive to January of 2012 for elected officials.  Recently a similar salary proposal was brought before council, again by Mr. Zucal, with a retroactive clause which would pay the increases back to January of 2013.

      On November 12, a letter was sent to Mrs. Cox, Council Woman at Large, and Chairwoman of the Finance Committee, supposedly from Mayor Taylor.  The question of authorship arises from an interesting phrasing in the first line of the correspondence which states, “you asked if the mayor wanted to add salary increases for non-bargaining personnel to the Temporary Budget appropriations.”

It is unusual for someone to refer to himself by his title.  A member of royalty may refer to themselves as us, or we, but never as king or queen.  Could it be that the letter to Cox was ghost written, and sent to Cox by someone other than Taylor?

It stated that Cox asked the mayor if he wanted to add salary increases for non-bargaining personnel to the Temporary Budget for 2014.  Her minutes for the November 11 Finance Committee meeting call this scenario into question by reporting that following a discussion on Temporary Appropriations for 2014, Cox asked Mayor Taylor and Auditor Gundy for comments.  The Mayor had no comments.

However, the letter to Cox has an entirely different tone, one that speaks of salary increases to be made retroactive to January 1, 2013.  It goes on to say, “The Auditor can provide you estimates with the cost of implementing these increases in the Temporary Appropriations.  It has been stated that a recommendation should come from the Administration to address this issue.  You now have my recommendation,” that recommendation being increased salaries for the administrative and non-bargaining staff. 

A report from Auditor Gundy on the financial position of New Philadelphia indicates that the ending cash balance for 2013 will be $867,977, which on the surface may look good until it is understood that in 2012 the ending cash balance was $2,132,381, a difference of $1,264,404.  The auditor’s estimate of ending cash balance for 2014 is a $1,130,119 loss, for 2015 is a loss of $3,490,419, and the year-end loss for 2016 to be $6,253,677.

In spite of this, the writer of Mayor Taylor’s November 12 letter advocates granting salary increases to city employees who are not presently in unions.  In addition the writer wants the addition of a me-too clause for all employees which would specify that whatever favorable contract agreements are made to any employee group would automatically apply to all employees, regardless of position, who work for the city.  The cost would be more than the city could bear. 

Mayor Taylor confirmed his own position in a radio interview after the November 11 meeting when he stated that administrative personnel deserved salary raises of five percent and more because “they deserved them.”  What ever happened to earning a pay raise? 

Fiscal responsibility is totally lacking in the New Philadelphia administration.  The answer is to push the problem off onto other people, preferably onto people who are not responsible for the situation, or to underlings who can only assume blame and cannot fix it.  This is where New Philadelphia stands. 

Mayor Taylor is unable to take responsibility for the poor financial status of the city.  It is his job to make recommendations to solve problems in the city, not to pass them on to city council.  It is his job to put a budget together with which to run the city.  It is his responsibility to respond to his staff, city employees, citizens, and others, on matters of concern to the city, and bring those concerns to city council with his recommendations for their solution.  Administrative decisions lay with the mayor and his staff.  Legislative responsibilities belong in city council.

You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility.  This is true in business, politics, family life, you name it.  And the ultimate responsibility for the condition of New Philadelphia politics and its financial situation lays with the New Philadelphia citizen.  You don’t explore the issues.  You don’t vote with a knowledge of the issues, or you don’t vote at all.  The situation the city is in is your fault because you don’t give a hoot about who is destroying your city, how they are doing it, and what this means to you. 

So where do you fit?  Ignorance?  Stupidity? 

You can make a difference.  Get involved.  Go to council meetings and make your voice heard.  Bug your council representatives and let them know how you feel.

I wonder who did write the November 12 letter.