The Explorer notes that the Oro Valley Council will consider raising the price for using our parks. If implemented,this will certainly negatively impact many of us, especially the Little Leagues whose fees will almost double.
We can understand that the town needs to generate more revenue, and this is one way.
What we can't understand is this:
Loomis and his cronies just voted to give tens of thousands of OUR dollars to the likes of TREO----Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities.
Why is that bad? We'll tell you why.
Loomis is on their Board of Directors. Loomis and his cronies recently voted to give TREO $40,000 of OUR money.
Loomis, Carter & Abbott just took a nice trip to Albuquerque. TREO paid for Loomis and half for Carter & Abbott. Talk about a quid pro quo!
Give TREO money. Take trips. Charge the kids an exorbitant amount of money to use OUR parks.
"Now is the time when it's necessary," said Oro Valley Mayor Paul Loomis. "Because we don't have the general fund dollars that we did last year or the year before."
We don't have the money because Loomis and his cronies, Abbott, Carter & Kunisch show no fiscal responsibility.
It's not only not smart. It's despicable!
Read the article here.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/11/04/news/doc4af0b7cd015b5153099663.txt
12 comments:
While pondering the possibility of new fees, it might be beneficial for current and potential council members to reflect on some numbers derived from the 2007 financial statements. I have some thoughts and observations myself, but am curious what other bloggers can surmise....
Department Total Salary FTE Average Salary (Total Salary/FTE)
Town Council 75,767 7.00 10,824
Town Clerk 282,804 4.60 61,479
Town Manager 751,840 8.00 93,980
Economic Development 174,138 2.25 77,395
Finance 715,399 9.00 79,489
Information Technology 637,426 8.00 79,678
Police 10,273,452 142.00 72,348
Magistrate Court 592,091 8.50 69,658
Legal 823,775 10.25 80,368
Planning & Zoning 1,062,018 16.00 66,376
Building Safety 1,254,891 18.00 69,716
Library 837,749 19.30 43,407
Parks & Recreation 1,193,677 27.00 44,210
Public Works - Highway 2,327,205 35.50 65,555
Public Works - Development Review Division 500,464 6.00 83,411
Public Works - Transit Division 530,161 11.60 45,704
Public Works - Stormwater Utility 152,468 2.00 76,234
Custodial & Facilities Maintenance 55,069 1.00 55,069
Water Utility 2,365,664 35.50 66,638
Total Employees 371.50
Total Salary/Compensation 24,606,058
Average Salary/Compensation Including Town Council 65,344
Average Salary/Compensation Excluding Town Council 68,373
Average Salary/Compensation Excluding Town Council,
Library, Parks & Rec, and Transit 73,160
Note: the third average above is probably most meaningful in that the four excluded
departments skew the averages in a significantly downward direction. The town council
due to the obviously lower salaries, and the other three due to a disproportional
percentage of part-time employees.
Hello Christopher,
We're having trouble understanding what you posted. The numbers run together even thought there are three columns.
And we don't have the luxury of posting lots of tables and stuff in the comment section of the blog.
Better for you to make your observation, supported with facts, so that we can all comment.
Mr. Fox,
If I understand your post, we are spending a lot of money on personnel.
Do you think a reduction in force (RIF) is required for Oro Valley employees?
NW
The four columns, in order, ae
1. Department:
mostly self-explanatory
2. Total Salary/Compensation:
per department
3. FTE
number of Full-Time
Equivalent positions
within given dept.
4. Average Salary
FTE positions divided
by total salary/
compensation per
department
More later...
Correction:
Column 4 - Average Salary:
Is backwards; should be:
total salary/compensation per
department divided by FTE positions
I honestly have not applied full concentration to the management of The Town of Oro Valley on a consistent basis, but when it was published that the town manager's salary was going to increase to $180,000 plus per year, I delved into the financial statements for 2007.
The data I have posted is the best I could do given the obscurity of the raw reports themselves. While I did this mostly out of frustration, I could not help but wonder at the time, and still wonder, why the town's financial statements present data in such an obfuscating manner.
I think it is a symptom of one of the inherent fallibilities of government: bureaucracies inevitably gain a life of their own, departing from the exigencies which necessitated their creation in the first place.
Recognizing that I do not know enough about the mechanics of managing a town of roughly 40,000 people, I would hesitate to proffer any any specific course of action, Nombe, but in general, I think that Oro Valley is similar to an aging couple, empty-nesters. We no longer need a 5 bedroom, 4 bath house.
So, I think that one course of action that the new (or even current) council could embark upon would be to direct staff to compare some of the demographics of Oro Valley with similar sized communities. I have tried to find data on such things as per capita spending on like-sized towns, to no avail, unfortunately. I would also like to know what comparable communities spend on Planning and Zoning, Building Safety, Public Works, etc., with 'comparable' including percentage/level of build-out. Maybe some of these staffing levels could be adjusted, as the demand for their services may have moderated. Difficult decisions to make if justified? Certainly. To be relegated to 'maybe later' status? I think not, which is why we need to elect some folks that have courage and integrity.
Another inherent flaw with the government/bureaucracy relationship is the level of courage required of elected officials to direct the bureaucracy to implement obviously necessary actions, especially when those actions serve to realign the actual distribution of decision-making power in a manner more reflective of the needs of the community itself, rather than those of the folks in the decision-making positions.
Just a few thoughts....
Christopher Fox
CF,
Thanks for starting this thread. One thing that jumped out at me was the percentage of payroll for each department. When you look at it this way, it becomes pretty obvious where the cuts need to come:
Police 41.75%
Water Utility 9.61%
Public Works-Highway 9.46%
Building Safety 5.09%
Parks & Recreation 4.85%
Planning & Zoning 4.31%
Library 3.40%
Legal 3.34%
Town Manager 3.05%
Finance 2.91%
Information Technology 2.59%
Magistrate Court 2.41%
Public Works-Transit Division 2.15%
Public Works-Development Review Division 2.03%
Town Clerk 1.15%
Economic Development 0.71%
Public Works-Stormwater Utility 0.62%
Town Council 0.31%
Custodial & Facilities Maintenance 0.22%
Look at the meager economic development budget. If we want businesses to locate and prosper here, we need to put our money where our mouth is .
Chuck Davis,
Do you want all businesses to prosper? Does this include the Oro Valley Marketplace? Yes or No.
dear Ganda--
I would never have voted for the OV Marketplace sharing of tax revenue and I am truly disappointed by what was built vs. what i was lead to believe was going to be built ( the vision that was communicated was a La Encantada).
Having said that, the OV marketplace exist and regardless of my feelings, the businesses deserve the same right to suceed or fail as any other business. They have taken the risk of establishing the business in a lawful way.
AGAIN, I would not have voted for the package that they received, but I refuse to be like the sore loser that takes his football home so nobody can play.
Chuck Davis,
Thank you for such a reasonable response.
Be good to stay on topic: "Potential Oro Valley Park Management Fees".
If you would like, we could start a posting on Oro Valley salary structures and salary levels. Then, you could "have at it." Might be fun.
Please let us know if you want us to create a posting /discussion thread for this.
:-)
Zee Man,
I think it would be immensely beneficial to have regular thread didicated to JUST financial issues, compmensation, staffing, demographic comparisons, etc. It the challenges facing Oro Valley need to be addressed and resolved using facts, this would be a great way to generate some facts. It might be that some town staffers may even begin to post facts, as was just done recently. Hopefull the council/administaration would not shut such a thing down. Hard decicision need to be made, and only an informed citizenry can make intelligent choices in the next election cycle.
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