When voters passed Issue 22 last year, it had a stipulation that the City publish the budget online. It is 12:01 am and there is no electronic version posted that I can see. I looked at the home page and the Budget sub pages and nothing. Correct me if I am wrong, but the ballot language says that they City must also publish a Web version of the estimates. You can read the wording below where it does seem like it should also be published online on 11/15.
I think it is somewhat ridiculous that there is this secret budget delivery, yet the document isn't posted online, which only takes a few minutes.
Here is the copy from the Issue 22 wording that was passed last year:
A proposed charter amendment to Section 45 Mayor's Budget Estimate. The fiscal year of the City shall begin on the first day of January. On or before the fifteenth day of November of each year, the Mayor shall prepare a balanced budget estimate of the expense of conducting the affairs of the City for the following fiscal year. The estimate shall be compiled from detailed information obtained from the various departments on uniform blanks prepared by the Director of Finance, and shall set forth: (a) An itemized
estimate of the expense of conducting each department. (b) Comparisons of such estimates with the corresponding items of expenditure for the last two complete fiscal years, and with the expenses of the current fiscal year, plus an estimate of expenditures necessary to complete the current fiscal year. (c) Reasons for proposed increases or decreases in such items of expenditures compared with the current fiscal
year. (d) A separate schedule of each department showing the things necessary for the department to do during the ensuing year, and things desirable to do if funds permit. (e) Items of payroll increases as either additional pay to present employees or pay for more employees. (f) An estimate of the anticipated income of the City from taxation and other sources to meet current expenses for the fiscal year. (g) A statement of
the amounts to be appropriated: For interest on the City debt. For paying off any serial bonds maturing during the year. For the aggregate for the year of the installments required to be appropriated annually during the life of all other bonds of the City in order to pay off such bonds at maturity. (h) The total amount of outstanding gross and net debt of the City, classified as to limits on such indebtedness, with a schedule
of maturities of outstanding general bonds classified to show those for which debt service levies are made inside and outside the limits on the tax rate. (i) Such other information as may be required by Council. The total items of current expense in the budget and appropriation ordinance shall not exceed the amount available for such purpose as provided by law. The Mayor shall submit the estimates thus prepared to the Council and at least five hundred (500) copies thereof shall be printed for distribution to citizens who may call for them and the substance thereof shall be printed in the City Journal. The Mayor shall also publish the estimates in an electronic version for widespread distribution utilizing the World Wide Web or a similarly publicly accessible electronic manner.
Shall the proposed amendment to the Charter of the City of Toledo to require the Mayor to prepare a balanced budget estimate by November 15 for the following fiscal year and publish it on the Web, be adopted?
http://www.co.lucas.oh.us/boe/Combined_List.pdf
Nothing on the Budget department site:
http://toledo.oh.gov/Departments/Finance/BudgetDivision/tabid/202/Defaul...
the documents at:
http://www.toledofreepress.com/2008/11/16/2009-city-of-toledo-budget-mat...
But the question still remains, why were they not released yesterday as what appears to be by charter? Selective rule following?
Looking at this document -
0100-CITY COUNCIL Total 1,328,078.91 148,714.80 1,476,793.71
0200-OFFICE OF THE MAYOR 01 - Salaries & Wages 1,075,978.71 1,075,978.71
02 - Operating Supplies 74,004.77 74,004.77
03 - Contractual Services 197,700.87 197,700.87
04 - Capital Outlay & Construction 6,671.30 6,671.30
0200-OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Total 1,075,978.71 278,376.94 1,354,355.65 ------------
1.476 million $ for the city council !!??
and $ 1. 354 million for the mayor's office ?!
The mayor should just become a volunteer. It would help his re-election campaign too
. lol
And what is the youth commission- 111 k . What do they do ? Is this work that can be , or is being done by churches ?
I don't think the Mayor should just be a volunteer but I don't think that he deserves that kind of paycheck. I think that both the Mayor and the City Council should get paid the same was the average Toledoan makes and no more. If we are expected to live on it then so can they.
That's a great idea. Then you'll end up with an average Toledoan as a below average mayor.
The job is incredibly difficult. Like him or not, Carty puts in about 70-80 hours a week. I would assume that Jack Ford put in similar hours and the next mayor will probably do the same thing.
Council is supposed to be a part time job. But for most councilmen, it amounts to 40 hours a week if not more.
It's been my experience that people think someone else is overpaid if they make one more dollar than the average. One average income is, of course, the final goal of pure communism.
Brian, it's positively amazing how you're able to pack in that much propaganda into your replies. Let's take your lies or invalid assumptions one at a time:
"That's a great idea. Then you'll end up with an average Toledoan as a below average mayor."
The average person has a much greater chance of understanding the need to reduce expenses instead of continuing to tax and spend.
The average person isn't insane. Czarty is.
The political class has remarkably failed us. It's time to put an average person in.
"The job is incredibly difficult. Like him or not, Carty puts in about 70-80 hours a week. I would assume that Jack Ford put in similar hours and the next mayor will probably do the same thing."
Wait just a second. You're implying that a politician like Czarty is an above-average person, hence has greater ability. Yet you're also saying the job is difficult, hence too much of a challenge. You can't have it both ways, Brian. Either the job is overwhelming even compared to your mythological superman, or you have a real superman there in the office (hence the job isn't much of a burden).
"Council is supposed to be a part time job. But for most councilmen, it amounts to 40 hours a week if not more."
You're right, it IS supposed to be a part-time job. So, why can't Toledo be managed within that timeframe?
The answer is that they are wasting time with trivia and parliamentary procedure instead of actually governing with a hard-nosed business sense.
Note that the same thing applies to 80-Hour Czarty. Lee Iacocca said it well some time ago, that if you're so busy as a company manager that you can't even schedule and take your due vacation time, YOU'RE NOT MANAGING EFFECTIVELY.
"It's been my experience that people think someone else is overpaid if they make one more dollar than the average. One average income is, of course, the final goal of pure communism."
Your experience is highly suspect, having been paid too much to do too little. That you pull out a word like "Communism" on this issue shows that your skill lends more to distraction than honesty. We're talking about getting our value for our money from our employee (i.e. the mayor). HE WORKS FOR US. Remember that? I'm sure you don't, or that you can't admit that once a mayor gets in he fails to attend to his basic duty to his employers.
Thats very elitist of you Brian.
You are of the opinion then that you are some how better then the rest of us?
I find the your idea that the mayor is some how better then the rest of us in Toledo offensive.
You assume because someone isn't making 100K a year then are some how less worthy or capable of doing the job of the Mayor of Toledo or to be a member of the Council?
You seem to be missing the fact that many Toledoans feel that the job our current Mayor is doing is quite a bit less then average so obviously paying a mayor above average certainly is no guarentee that you'll be getting more bang for your buck.
Maybe if the mayor wasn't pulling down such a big paycheck he'd be a little less inclined to take so many chunks out of ours.
I don't think the mayor is "better than" the rest of us.
I don't think a "common man" or person is the solution to any problem.
I want a leader of extraordinary intellect.
I want a leader of extraordinary leadership ability.
I want a leader with extraordinary ideas.
In essence, I want a leader who is extraordinary. Not common.
My comments were not a commentary on the current mayor. I just know that the job requires something beyond an average intellect and ability.
That is not to say that someone who has roots within what is regarded as the culture of the "common man" isn't capable. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were extraordinary leaders who were raised in "common" households.
My own father was a factory worker. I think of him as an extraordinary man.
As to GuestZero's comments: You don't know me. You don't know my background. You don't know my abilities. You don't know my liabilities. You don't know me period. So any comments you might have about me really aren't based on anything other than some deep-seated bitterness you have toward someone who is more successful than you.
Firstly, by your own standards herein espoused, you wouldn't vote for your own father for mayor. He's just too common. A factory worker. Icky.
Secondly, you've been in the public eye for years. We have your measure, and from that, we can clearly see that you just collected your $80K paycheck.
The more you open your mouth, the more I can see that your just another weasel that clicks precisely into the current, crony government that attacks us working Toledoans constantly. Like those pols, when cornered by logic, you use distraction techniques well honed from use in the mayor's office.
Obviously you're only here to bat around a few bloggers since you seem to believe we're a bunch of feebs playing tough behind keyboards. But the facts and logic are all on our side. You're not trained to handle us, since we can't be handled. That's why more self-interested or experienced pols generally avoid blogs, since they can be trounced so easily on them.
Of course, you DO have a choice. You can drop the political posturing and return to being an honest person who deals in facts. You can return to the original design of the Republic, which assumed government would be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Are you man enough to make that choice? I'm ever hopeful that you can.
I don't necessarily think that all factory workers are of common intellect. Some extraordinary people operate machines in factories. I've worked in a factory. I've also lived in a mobile home park. I guess you'd call me "trailer trash".
As far as my public record, I'm proud of the body of the work I did. I made mistakes, but I don't dwell on them. If you disagree, I doubt anything I say will change your opinion. However, I put my name on all my posts and own my opinions. I don't hide behind a nonsensical nom de plume.
As far as being a weasel, I don't engage in name calling. Call me what you will. I've been called worse. I don't much care for the cronyism that exists in Toledo government. I was pleasantly surprised to see Tom Waniewski defeat one of the old names in Toledo politics. It gives me hope. . .
Actually, I find most posters on blogs to be very interesting people and the development of blogs and message boards to be the most positive development in politics since television. I was the first person in municipal government to take blogs seriously because I realized their importance.
I don't have to politically posture anymore. I am free of any burden of expressing the opinions of others. I now express my own opinions.
As far as being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, I don't think that, to be reasonable, you have to adhere to any particular ideology. I disagree with many people who are reasonable. You've either forgotten or never learned that a person can disagree with YOU and still be reasonable.
I want a leader of extraordinary intellect.
I want a leader of extraordinary leadership ability.
I want a leader with extraordinary ideas.
In essence, I want a leader who is extraordinary.
I want those things to but thats not what we're getting and I think we're overpaying the one we're not getting it from.
As I said, my thoughts are not a comment on the current mayor.
...intellectually satisfying. I do not think that being the mayor of any city meets the criterion. It can certainly be frustrating trying to get a consensus in a democracy. Remember, a majority can still leave 49.99% of the voters dissatisfied with the outcome. Look at this blog.
So we need a person who can bring disparate groups together to form a large enough majority so that something gets done. A lesser man (such as myself) would already have walked away from the job of mayor. Unless the office is a stepping stone to something more satisfying you have to really love the humanity that makes up this city. In my opinion, most of the sane citizens have already moved outside the city limits.
Old South End Broadway
Demented sawed off runts like you, need to pick up a thesaurus. Not only does a weak minded zit like you repeat and ,use other bloggers words and thoughts, you cannot even use different words that YOU use. Repetition- the act of an insane ninny ! ! ! ANY NEW WORDS IN YOUR LEXICON , in the past 20 YEARS??! I did not think so.