Archive for the ‘City Budget’ Category

Consultant: $2,000 to Appear Before Council

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Consultant Robert S. Tipton is reported to have demanded an additional $2,000 in consulting fees from the City of Loveland in order to appear before the City Council during an upcoming public meeting scheduled for July 20, 2010.

Tipton recently conducted a study at the hourly rate of $200 per hour to provide “Process Mapping and Recommendations” while Assistant City Manager Rod Wensing is said to be avoiding the public’s eye and willing to pay Tipton the extra $2,000 to shrug the burden of explaining the study to an inquisitive council in public.

Read the entire story.

Rod Wensing is among the top 3 internal candidates for City Manager but this type of disregard for the public’s money isn’t earning him friends among the more fiscally conservative members of Loveland’s City Council.

Wensing has been credited with saying it is best to stay out of the public’s eye because that way you don’t get blamed when things go wrong. Whether he really did say this or not is probably secondary to the point Assistant City Manager Rene Wheeler and Public Works Director Keith Reester are the ones willing to stand-up and be accountable for staff decisions and recommendations while Wensing is frequently absent from council meetings.

In the LovelandPolitics score book that gives both Wheeler and Reester points for accountability and competence while Wensing’s alleged cynical backdoor strategy of earning the top job earns him a big zero.

Any comments?

Posted in City Budget, City Council - General Issues, City Manager, City Manager Replacement | 4 Comments »

Investing Loveland City Reserves In Brazil?

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

On April 6, Loveland’s Executive Financial Adviser Alan Krcmarik told the city council that something the city needs to take a look at is investing in German and Brazilian government bonds. see story

Cities typically invest in U.S. Treasury Bonds as they have a AAA rating and represent the safest (although historically lower returns) than corporate bonds or other types of investments which cities also buy. However, recent news that the U.S. Government may lose that AAA rating has sent an alert to fund managers of municipalities and state governments whose investment policies require they keep some percentage of the portfolio in AAA bonds.

Unlike private investing, local governments cannot accept much risk to principle in exchange for higher returns. Local and state governments investment goals are quite modest when compared to individual investors and private entities but current economic forecasts may change the notion of what constitutes a risk. Krcmarik, who served previously as the city’s Finance Director, is concerned both about the potential for the U.S. Treasury rating to drop and the specter of future inflation that could substantially erode the value of city reserves if they are invested in low-yielding long-term bonds.

The excerpt from Bloomberg below describes what Krcmarik was alluding to when addressing the city council last week;

While Treasuries backed by the full faith and credit of the government typically yield less than corporate debt, the relationship has flipped as Moody’s Investors Service predicts the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K. America will use about 7 percent of taxes for debt payments in 2010 and almost 11 percent in 2013, moving “substantially” closer to losing its AAA rating, Moody’s said last week.

Whether Loveland’s Citizen Finance Advisory Committee (CFAC) will be consulted on any future decisions regarding a change in Loveland’s portfolio to include foreign debt remains to be seen. It is an odd circumstance in this country when municipalities don’t trust the backing of the U.S. Treasury as the safest place to invest public funds. When both the value of the dollar and credit worthiness of the U.S. Government are in potential jeopardy looking overseas may seem like a prudent step.

If you were advising the City of Loveland would you suggest placing some of the $191 million (mostly restricted) city reserves into German or Brazilian government bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries?

Any thoughts?

Posted in City Budget, City Council - Budget, City Council - General Issues | 12 Comments »

Klassen’s 2010 Agenda – Muzzle Taxpayer’s & Raise Taxes

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Memory can fade at 75 years of age but we don’t believe Councilman Daryle Klassen’s recent assault on city taxpayers in contradiction to his campaign rhetoric was due to any memory loss.

Four of the five agenda items he submitted for the city council’s annual retreat (scheduled for Jan. 15 & 16) involve either raising taxes on Loveland residents or muzzling their voices. Read the story

His first goal for 2010, taxing internet purchases on residents in Loveland also received support from newly elected Councilman Hugh McKean at first who has already earned the reputation of appearing to enjoy the sound of his own voice. Unable to make a coherent statement either for or against the proposal but unwilling to be silent, McKean announced he was in favor but also half against the internet sales tax idea during a December council meeting.

Only Councilman Kent Solt stated he was not in favor of the new tax proposal during the meeting.

Klassen’s agenda items eerily reflects the McWhinneycrat agenda for a stripmall developing retailer driven Loveland government and mimick the anti-resident rhetoric emanating from Loveland’s coin operated Chamber of Commerce. This is the same Chamber of Commerce that claims to be privately funded while operating out of a building erected from taxpayer subsidies and whose manicured lawns are maintained by Loveland taxpayers under the farce the chamber grounds are a “public park.”

Here are four of Klassen’s five contributions for Loveland in 2010;

1. Create a sales tax on internet purchases by any resident of Loveland
2. Restrict public comments at study sessions while allowing only special interests to speak
3. Shift property tax burdens from commercial to residential property owners
4. Direct staff to ignore “complainers” when they feel the issue was already decided (does that need council direction?)

Klassen, a self-described “conservative Republican,” has not proposed any budget cuts, tax cuts for residents, relaxing any regulation on business or greater access or transparency for citizens to the governmental process. In a nutshell, Klassen’s retreat agenda is the antithesis of everything he campaigned on and demonstrates a genuine mistrust not for government but instead his constituents.

Klassen’s December 12, 2009 email to his colleagues is the “let them eat cake” revelation of just how out of touch some local Republicans can become after being elected.

We believe the current McWhinneycrat candidate for Ward 1, Donna Rice (aka Donna McCrea), represents the same dishonest bait and switch back room political tactics of riding on a Republican label while only representing a narrow special interest. These insincere candidates terribly degrade the public’s trust in their elected officials and contribute to the apathy that allows them to get away with such brazen acts of voter betrayal.

What is your opinion?

Posted in City Budget, City Council - Budget | 15 Comments »

Loveland High School Lobbies for Pool Funding From City

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Hundreds of parents with children in the Thompson R2-J School District received recorded phone calls last week from Loveland High School Assistant Principal Devin Anderson encouraging them to attend the May 5, 2009 Loveland City Council meeting to support city funding of the renovation of LHS swimming pool. see story

While the issue of renovating the LHS pool is certainly important, the tactics used by public employees are regrettable. Using taxpayer funds to conduct a political lobby campaign against another government entity is certainly not illegal but it isn’t prudent either. Parents don’t expect the school automated notification system to be employed for such a purpose especially when there is not unanimous agreement within the school district itself. In addition, the decision whether or not taxpayer’s dollars should be used for this purpose really needs to be determined at the Board of Education level within the district.

We believe the pool needs to be re-opened and applaud the efforts of the Hansen family of The Group Inc. and the considerable private resources they contributed to achieve this goal. The support they have received in the community and the money already raised demonstrates the pool is an important public good the community supports. Whether Loveland’s City Council can find the >$1 million being requested from the city’s General Fund is another matter as city employee lay-offs may be just around the corner.

We suggest the city consider selling the 97 acres it purchased near the I-25 and 402 (story first reported by LovelandPolitics in Oct. 2007) for approximately $6 million. The pool restoration (especially since 20-30% of the time the public will have access) seems more important than the City of Loveland holding onto vacant land it doesn’t intend on using for any public purpose.

Another area of savings could be to reverse its recent decision to provide City Manager Don Williams and other senior city employees full-time employee health benefits if they decide to leave their position early for whatever reason until they qualify for medicare at age 65. One last opportunity to raise money for the general fund would be to sell the large boulders sitting in front of the Cattail Golf Course on 29th Street for the past 6 years. Those may have been intended for some public use but now appear to be abandon and create an eyesore in an otherwise nicely developed area of town.

The bottom line is the pool has many potential public uses not the least of which is the LHS dive and swim teams. Loveland should be able to find the money but it will require a little creative thinking and effort by the management. Given the opposition already coming from Parks & Recreation and the opposition from councilors Rousey and Johnson (at least behind the scenes) it doesn’t appear likely the council will approve the request tonight.

Nonetheless, people should attend and express their hope the City of Loveland does its part to renovate a public facility that has been sitting empty now for the past 7 years.

Posted in City Budget | 7 Comments »

Aug. 5, 2008 Loveland City Council Meeting

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

The Loveland City Council voted to waive the confidentiality requirements they imposed on themselves and members of the Open Lands Advisory Commission regarding two closed meeting held to discuss the possible acquisition of Staples Farm. The action was precipitated by requests from the commission members and councilors to discuss openly what was decided (or not) in private. City Manager Don Williams had informed the local press the City Council did not make any decision to buy Staples Farm. A number of commissioners and councilors felt this statement did not accurately reflect what was decided in the two private meetings and thus wanted permission to speak freely.

Four Council members also requested the “Golden Nest Egg” plan of employee health benefits for some employees be brought back to the council on August 19, 2008.

Assistant City Attorney Rene Wheeler committed a “crash and burn” in front of the City Council when they convened as the board of LURA (Loveland Renewal Authority). The Annual Report presented to council claimed the TIF (tax increment financing) was performing “as expected” despite poor performance. A number of councilors took issue with the conclusion and other comments throughout the report which they refused to endorse or accept. The report also contained a number of factual errors like which wards councilors represent and other factual or typographical errors.

Councilman Darryl Klassen deserves the kudos this week for standing-up for fiscal conservatism and not accepting inferior work or false conclusions by city staff. His tireless efforts to read AND UNDERSTAND what is before him is commendable.

Any comments by those who watched the meeting?

Posted in City Budget, City Council - Budget, City Council - General Issues | 9 Comments »