The Joke’s on Us

The great American humorist Will Rogers once said, “I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.” After watching the final Board of Aldermen meeting of 2004, it would appear that the joke is on us.

It would be difficult to point to the most ridiculous statement of the evening, but it is safe to say that the majority of them were made by Ward 5 Alderman Robert Van Campen, who served as President of the Board during 2004, while giving the traditional farewell speech to his colleagues. His predecessors have generally “taken the high road” and used this opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of the Board during the year; Van Campen used his time at the microphone to recite a litany of complaints against the Ragucci administration.

Van Campen specifically referenced two points that are worth examining more closely. He:

1). accused the Mayor of “playing the blame game,” pointing to the December 13 meeting of the Board of Aldermen in which the Mayor discussed the financial condition of the City and the circumstances contributing to the many challenges faced in managing it.

2). attempted to defend the activities (or lack thereof) of the Finance Committee and the responsibility of its members to the taxpayers of the City.

Point #1: Among the contributing factors outlined by the Mayor at the December 13 meeting were the reductions in local aid, the increase in water rates, and overspending by the School Department. Van Campen and others may look at these factors as finger-pointing on the part of the Mayor, but it is also a reality that local aid has been cut, water rates have increased, and the School Department overspent its fiscal ’04 budget by half a million dollars.

The Mayor also referenced the fact that figures indicate that Everett does not receive its fair share of lottery reimbursement. Van Campen felt that the Mayor was using this fact as an instrument of blame as well; the reality is that the Mayor referenced this fact as he pointed out that one of the solutions to the financial challenges is to increase revenue and to ensure that Everett gets its fair share of what is available from state programs. The fact is that in the City of Everett, annual sales of the lottery in FY04 were $36 million; from this, the city received a reimbursement of only $3 million, while other cities and towns that spent far less, on a percentage basis, received larger reimbursements from the State. This is an issue that the Board of Aldermen should be embracing, fighting to get every dollar they can for the City, instead of using it as their own instrument of blame against the Administration.

Point #2: Perhaps the most ridiculous statement made by Alderman Van Campen came in his attempt to defend the Joint Finance Committee against an accusation made by the Mayor that the members of the Committee have not fulfilled their obligation to the taxpayers because they have failed to meet regularly to address the financial needs of the City. Van Campen’s defense is based on the fact that the Finance Committee has met 5 times in the past 18 months – five times in the past eighteen months. This, proclaimed Van Campen, indicates that the Finance Committee “has met its obligations.”

A closer look at reality is warranted here as well. The sitting Finance Committee of 2004 met twice this year – on March 4 and again on March 30. That the previous Committee met three times in the last six months of 2003 is a separate issue. It is the current Finance Committee that had the responsibility to review fiscal ’04 expenditures in order to properly prepare for the fiscal ’05 budget. It is the current Finance Committee that had the responsibility to operate proactively in anticipation of the revaluation process and subsequent increase in property taxes. Meeting twice in 12 months, when the City has been facing such difficult financial challenges, can hardly be considered meeting an obligation to the taxpayers, and any elected official who thinks that it does, is setting the bar very low. The voters of Everett deserve better.

The Board of Aldermen has proven in recent weeks that they have little interest in accepting responsibility or “going the extra mile” to do their job. They make constant references to their “part-time” status and point their own finger of blame at the administration while offering no solutions of their own to what they perceive as the financial mismanagement of the City. At least two members of the Board of Aldermen are rumored to have an eye on the corner office, and neither of them has much of a record to run on. It appears, instead, that they will use the unimaginative yet typical political tactic of tearing down their opposition.

Will Roger was right – and the joke is on us.