The Mayor either has a short memory or thinks you do. The City Auditor met with the State Auditor in February and the State said we were not in a fiscal emergency. (Click here for the story.)
So once again we are faced with the same old dilemma. Who do we believe? Jane Murray or the State Auditor? ...or the EPA? ...or ODOT? ...or OVRDC? ...or the FOP, AFSCME, or IAFF?
The State Auditor is right. There is no emergency.There are a dozen people in Portsmouth who could put together a balanced, austere budget, that would cause a minimal amount of hardship for Portsmouth. But not Mayor Murray, who is foolishly holding on to the truly bizarre position that NO CHARGE-OFFS will be made to Enterprise Funds (water, sewer, sanitation), even though the offices of the Mayor, Auditor, City Council, Service Department (Garage) and other departments, provide numerous services to Enterprise Fund divisions. Services such as accounting, payroll, personnel, legal, vehicle maintenance are all legitimate expenses that SHOULD be charged off to funds that generate revenue. Most cities, probably all cities, in Ohio that have city-owned utilities charge-off a fair and reasonable amount of their "overhead" to water and sewer fees. Otherwise what you actually have is the City's general fund SUBSIDIZING the water and sewer departments, including water and seweer customers in Rosemount, New Boston, West Portsmouth, and even Wheelersburg!
The City is audited every year and the State consistently approves of the level of charge-off to utility accounts.
But Murray, the Madam, won't do it, despite the revenue shortage in the general fund. Why?
1) Even before the election, Murray confided to several individuals that she intended to go after fiscal emergency status, "just like the County." In her mind, not utilizing charge-offs, will make it easier to do that.
2) By not making legitimate charge-offs to enterprise funds, so believes she will not have to raise water, sewer, and sanitation fees, and she will be a hero to the CAVE People.
3) She thinks that fiscal emergency status would allow her to open the contacts of all the City's Unions. That way no one can stand in her way!! (BWA-HA-HA)
4) Or maybe she's just TOTALLY INSANE.
For the level of insanity that Mayor Ma'am is displaying, the words "batshit crazy" comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteHow soon can you all recall her?
As a guy with connections.....Portsmouth needs the MOB to step in and fix this mess! I even heard the "Mayor" Jane tried to push a table into a councilman during a meeting! Can she be removed because she's a Bully.....or maybe Mental instability???
ReplyDeleteAs the City "Madame" she considers all of the citizens her personal "tricks" with one notable difference. She is at liberty now to "screw" with everybody! She has told too many people that her plan from the beginning was to "shut the city down." Not having a clue on how to manage her life, let alone a city, she would not be the one in the direct line of fire as outside entities would be calling the shots. By putting the city of Portsmouth in a state of fiscal emergency, her hieness would then be the "overseer" of the calamity at hand with even more percieved power to lord over. This isn't personal opinion, this is just a fact. Trust me!
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell us how she can demand being called Madam mayor? How ridiculous!!!!!!!!!! I would consider my-damn-mayor, sounds close enough to me, definately more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteHer $2,000,000 suit against the city is still an unbelievable scandal of epic proportions and she shouldn't be allowed in the position as mayor by any name until it's dropped.
Does the phrase "fundamentally change" sound familiar? She has changed the tone in city council meetings and every other meeting with city departments. Every one has been a fiasco created by her arrogance plus a lack of cooperation and understanding, something she has blamed everyone else for.
Sadly, so far nothing good has come to Portsmouth since her election and there is little to no hope until she is long gone.
She has definitely lowered the bar of the mayor’s office. Unfortunately she seems to be determined to lower it even further
Misfeasance, Malfeasance.......need I say more??
ReplyDeleteThank goodness we have some people in there (Basham, Haas, Jones, police and fire) who aren't willing to let her destroy this town. We need to get her out of there, and then heal this city from the damage she has done. She is not worthy of one iota of respect- she is a completely opportunistic, unprofessional wack job, and probably a criminal to boot.
ReplyDelete