The Buffalo News and LUSJ have reported on last nights council meeting.
1) 2.3M in borrowing was approved.
The Common Council voted Wednesday to borrow more than $2.3 million for various expenses, including the cost of the 17,000 garbage totes being delivered to homes this week
Some more borrowing is expected next year for building roofs and other capitol expenses.
Other items will include the cost of repairing a sinkhole that kept part of South Transit Street closed for three weeks this spring and the city’s share of the price of a new fire truck delivered last month...
...After January, when the city has more cash in reserve, White said he’ll return to the Council seeking the OK to borrow another $4.5 million, to pay for pending needed projects including roof and wall repairs at City Hall, the highway department salt barn, the water and wastewater treatment plants; heavy equipment for public works; and a new phone system for city offices. Interest rates on bonds are expected to remain low into next year, he said.
2) There will be a public comment session on term limits during the Oct 19th council meeting
The Common Council will hold another public hearing on a proposed term-limits law this month.
Council members unanimously approved a motion Wednesday by 4th Ward Alderman Andy Chapman calling on the city attorney to draft a local law specifying term limits for the mayor and aldermen.
City Attorney John Ottaviano said he’ll simply re-post the proposed law that Chapman suggested last year, which calls for the mayor to take a break from the office after two consecutive terms/8 years and aldermen to take a break after three consecutive terms/6 years.
13 comments:
Tax tax tax tax..spend spend spend spend spend..oh wait..did I mention TAX?
I know, Joe - but I do want that fire truck that Chapman scuttled and this is the only way we can get it.
(It was interesting to see Mike White at the last meeting - it was FUNNY hearing the Council dragging him back into the Chamber when he tried to sneak out...)
IF we really NEED the truck then we should buy it.
As far a White's appearance...one of the ideas that Smith had was to have the Department Heads present at the council meetings to answer questions....novel Idea, doncha think?
What do you mean they dragged him back? bWhat happened?
And don't forget these department heads are only obligated to work 7 hours a day, less than normal people work. If they are forced to attend the meetings they will either be paid OT or take the time off later. Is it worth having them sit thru the meetings?
That's a contractual thing and I think it STINKS to High Heaven!
ya..I think it's worth it once a month for two hours? Save the money that the OT will cost on some other line item. By the way...when are we going to start to hear about other ways to raise revenue beside through taxation??
Frank Rose of all people... actually echoed something I've been saying for a long time.have the police write some tickets,a lot of tickets! Have the housing department issue and COLLECT some serious fines for neglect, trash/hoarding/,etc. etc. etc. and you'll see a revenue stream like never before.
But then "the courts won't be able to handle it"
blah blah blah....
We need some "thinkers" in office. I say to the common council...leave your ego at the door!
You work for me!
WELL SAID GIJOE!!!
The lack of effort in all these areas is often (self) excused by the lack of another Judge and/or Courtroom. This is b.s.
Think about the Village of Kenmore! If you're NOT driving 29 mph down Delaware or Colvin, etc. you'll get a very hefty ticket. Granted, for the driver's sake, these tickets are often bargained down. Why? Because if it's a parking ticket-not a moving violation KENMORE KEEPS ALL THE MONEY!
I know the cops are busy and they'll be busier once the layoffs start - but this and/or a slew of parking tickets in the middle of the night would greatly enhance the City's coffers and its appearance.
Building Inspections? Don't get me started. First to be done is the head of that operation needs to bring his property up to code THEN paper, paper, paper... I'll bet 50% of the houses in this City have bad electrical, plumbing, etc. - any of which call for remediation and a heavy fine. Here, though, we run into the absentee landlord b.s. and I still haven't heard whether or not the Council enacted a law requiring all multiple unit dwellings to appoint a representative for purposes of service of process.
It's necessary for the improvement of our City and possibly even save lives.
(My Mother is the only person I know of who walked out of a Kenmore Court w/o having to pay a huge fine. Go figure...)
Absolutely, where do I sign up for the housing violations tickets?! Let's get a petition going on that one. Violators get nothing but a slap on the wrist while those of us who keep up our properties get nothing but more taxes. I'm still looking at a dump of a house next door that has been abandoned for years and the city has done nothing. In and out of housing court with a coat of paint that's already pealing.
Liz - I believe your issue is with Building Inspections. On one occasion the head of that department gave me a "Warning" on the car because it was parked, legally, on the grass. At 6:40 a.m. On a Sunday.
When it came to the rats, bats and human vermin living in the Church - nothing. Nothing for years. (Here comes the "she's crazy" part.) Thank God a woman has finally bought it and plans to turn it into a single family (person) residence.
You can't see much from the outside but they've made tremendous progress inside. I'm cautiously optimistic!
Joe - the truck being replaced is +/- 25 yrs. old. We NEED it.
Even though Mr. Smith has lost his election, as to your point re: Department Heads at all the meetings... the Mayor CAN NOT demand they be there - only strongly suggest and then you're paying these ridiculously highly paid people overtime to be there.
"....I still haven't heard whether or not the Council enacted a law requiring all multiple unit dwellings to appoint a representative for purposes of service of process."
City Ordinance 142 adopted May 2008:
"The purpose of this article is to establish rules, regulations and enforcement procedures for the identification of owners as defined below of rental housing units and to provide a means to effectuate service of legal process upon such owners or authorized agents of rental housing units located in the City of Lockport. This article is intended to preserve the City's existing housing stock and to protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public."
Visit the "Code of the City of Lockport" link at the left. Has a search function that is easy to use.
Thank you, Mike!!
I wonder how many landlords have complied with this. You might be able to provide us with that information. It sure makes prosecuting these dead-beat absentee landlords a lot easier. More money in our coffers if it is done. It would, IMHO, be a small price to pay for another p/t judge to handle the uptick in prosecutions. Again - IMHO - it would be well worth it.
Per the Buffalo news-
- I hate seeing any headlines saying the tax rate is going down when in reality our bills are going up 11% due to the miracle of re-assesment. 11% is outrageous.
- Tucker was given credit for biting the bullet and doing a re-asses, but now it's working to his advantage as the less intelligent will only read the 2% reduction phrase.
- So we borrowed all this money but yet we used all kinds of one time gimmicks to get the tax rate down. What happens next year?
-Does anyone still think we can afford the luxery of transferring the 10 garbageman to non-existent jobs just to make sure our parks and trees look better?
- Norm Allen is unhappy with only making $81,000 a year. He only works, no I should say he is only there 35 hours a week. That means he is making $44.50 per hour ($81,000 / 35 hours times 52 weeks). How big a mistake did the city make firing Hoffman who was earning $60,000? Now we are paying Allen $80,000, his assistnt engineer close to $60k, a lot more Buffalo based engineering firms consultant fees, exta foreman (who by the way supposedly never passed the required civil service tests) and (check with some highway guys) Allen only stops in a few hours a day to direct them.
What a mess!
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