As much as I love numbers, I probably love graphs and charts even more. To me, numbers are the most perfect thing in the universe. There is nothing subjective about mathematics. Numbers are based on pure fact, not emotion. An equation only has one answer. See? Perfect!
Charts are also based on facts, but they can also be works of art. Take a budget, for example. The line items of income and expenditures tell a story to those who are willing to hunker down and study the facts and figures and comparisons. Anyone with the fortitude it takes to study a budget will be able to grasp a firm understanding of an entity’s financial viability.
But nothing beats the visual impact of a chart. Charts are especially wonderful for those of us with short attention spans or age onset dyslexia or lost reading glasses.
Take this lovely line graph with the nice blue line, for example.
I won’t pretend to understand this graph completely. What I do understand is that a utility the size of the North Miami Beach Water Department is supposed to have approximately $50 million in reserve for infrastructure improvements and repairs. I also understand that the City now has approximately only $2 million in reserve. What this means is that should the utility suffer a catastrophic failure at the plant or in the distribution system, we lack the funds necessary to address the problem.
I also understand that by not maintaining adequate reserves, the utility’s Fitch Rating (the ability to borrow money) was downgraded. Basically, by wiping out the reserves, the City of North Miami Beach has damaged the borrowing power it needs in case of emergency. In layman’s terms, we are screwed.
So, that’s the extent of my financial expertise. I won’t pretend to understand it in depth, and I’m sure reading a report won’t help me get a better grip on the situation.
What I do know about line graphs in general is that lines going up are good things and lines going down are bad things. Unless, of course, we’re looking at unemployment rates, but in this case I’m pretty sure that up is good, and down is not.
A closer look at this graph (click the image to enlarge it) will show you that the blue line, which starts in the middle of the year 2006, keeps going up, up, up, like a ski lift. In the middle of 2008, the line is still going up, but it starts to level off slightly. Then suddenly, right smack in the middle of 2009, the line makes a sharp downturn like a skier going down a really steep mountain.
Gee, what happened in the middle of 2008 that slowed the growth?
Oh, wait! I know! That’s exactly the time that former city manager, Kelvin Baker was hired!
And then what could have happened in the middle of 2009 that caused such a sudden reversal of fortune?
Oh, wait! I know! That’s exactly when the former mayor Myron Rosner took office!
How ’bout that?
Need I go any further or is this picture really is worth 50 million words?
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Ms. Kienzle, I have been reading your blogs and remained quietly until now. Living in this city and knowing it is going under, I have to say my bit.
You are an asset to this community, unlike some of those who think with you exposing the figures, you are not.
The boys and girls in blue are asking now to see the water revenues. They want to know if the city truly ran out of money or they can now take money from the water plant!
Well, they have been doing this all along anyhow. Not to say the water plant is not making money. It is making money like our Social Security, but funds are being diverted to pay exorbitant salaries in the police department and elsewhere, hence nothing is left for a rainy day.
Kelvin Baker. Never came across a spendrift like this guy.
If we do not cut cops salaries, and reduce their gluttonous pensions, North MB is doomed to fail.
I’m told that the financial report and proposed budget for the water department just came online. I have not looked at it yet, but it’s available for the public to view.
Thanks, Jack. May I call you Jack? All the city’s financials are online on the website. I have to navigate a bit to find some of the stuff, but it really is all there in plain view.
The fact that the Fitch Rating was downgraded is HUGE! I’m not sure if people realize the ramifications of this, but it’s the same thing as having a black mark on your personal credit rating. The Fitch standards rates utilities, and as I said above, this downgrade decreases the borrowing power of the water department.
In today’s Miami Herald, Broward County’s credit rating may be downgraded by Moody’s, another important financial indicator. Here is the article, Moody’s warns of Broward Credit downgrade as debt crisis worsens (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/28/2335807/moodys-warns-of-broward-credit.html)
This is really no joke. The fact that the NMB police department keeps claiming that there is plenty of money or that they have not been given the financial information they need is a complete fabrication. If I can find this stuff out, anyone can. The water department MUST beef up its reserves. There is no choice. The proposed budget, with all back up data, is all online for anyone to view.
The City of North Miami Beach must do something now to avert an economic crisis or it will go bankrupt. I have no idea why the financial urgency declaration was pulled from the agenda, and I am in the process of finding out. But in the meantime, all government agencies, from our city, to the post office, all the way up to the federal government is now paying the ultimate price for the out of control spending, borrowing, and spending some more that has been going on for years. If anyone doesn’t see this, they have been living under a rock. If anyone wants to pretend it’s not happening, they may as well be on drugs.
No police force should be costing any city 52% of their general budget! Period!
110 officers and they cart away $22 million from a $43 million budget? Totally insane.
Number 22, Christie Coffey claiming on TV she could be let go. She makes an incredulous sum of $150,000.00 plus, that includes a $75,000.00 pay check, a $55,000.00 pension and free gas, transportation, and equipment.
Her qualifications: a high school graduate and most importantly, HAVING MOMMY AND DADDY ON THE JOB.
Like Stephanie, I have the pleasure of knowing Officer Coffey personally and am disappointed that her appearance on the news has made her a target for spiteful individuals like yourself. Yes, her parents work for the department. But Christie volunteered with the department while still in high school, earned her job because she was qualified, and continues to be deserving of her position. Whether you want to attribute her initial hire to having an “in” in the department is your choice, I suppose, but since being hired, she has also been a part of the Special Response Unit (the NMB SWAT equivalent). I’m not sure how much clout you think her parents have just because they happen to work there, but I highly doubt that a specialty team like SWAT would admit her if there was even an inkling of doubt regarding her ability to do her job. I’m pretty sure that I heard that she was recently given a LEO award as well. These achievements don’t sound like the work of a slacker mooching off of her parents to me. You forget that all of the officers are paid comparably, yet Officer Coffey is bearing the brunt of the negative feedback. Though others have pointed out that the salary of NMB officers is about the same as officers in most other South Florida cities, a select few of you just can’t seem to let this go. If I had found out that a firefighter, for instance, made a whopping $80,000 a year, I wouldn’t whine and complain about how they are overpaid. Instead, I’d be kicking myself for going to school for education instead of enrolling in Fire College. After all, it is not the firefighter’s fault that I didn’t choose a more lucrative career path and he/she gets paid more than me as a result.
Will jobs need to be eliminated to fix this budget? Maybe. I’m not wishing for miracles and hoping that we can somehow save all 24 officers. I understand that the money isn’t just going to appear without having to make some sacrifices. But please, PLEASE, stop taking personal vendettas out on officers. Based on your comments, I’m going to venture a guess that you don’t know them. Don’t presume to know their life histories or their ability to successfully do their jobs. The city would be better served if your opinions tackled the facts surrounding the budget issue rather than “making examples” of specific individuals based on what you learned from a 2 minute CBS news segment.
Thank you for commenting. I have known Officer Coffey for many years, although not as well as I know one of her older sisters, who has been best friends with my son since they were five years old. I can tell you that Officer Coffey has always wanted to be a police officer and she is 100% dedicated to her job. I have never heard one complaint about her and I firmly believe she is a great asset to the police department. Our department needs more officers of her caliber and professionalism. I truly hate the thought that she might be terminated because of her lack of seniority. This is all the more reason I feel that the “union rules” stand in the way of making sure the best employees are retained in favor of employees that don’t pull their weight. Not just in police departments, but anywhere a union is involved. Whether you agree with me or not, this is one of the main problems I have with unions.
I also do not like to see individual police officers or general employees under fire in this blog. The financial crisis we are experiencing is not personal, and the employees did not cause it. Frankly, I’m happy that the “hate mail” I’ve received from a couple of cops is being sent anonymously because I really would not want to know which particular officer is angry with me. As long as I don’t know who they are, I can chalk it up to anger and frustration at this situation and not just my personal opinion even if they disagree with me. I will continue to treat every single police officer the same way I always have – with courtesy and respect. I certainly hope that when they see me in person they will do the same.
I am still of the opinion that the monetary problems, or at least most of them, could be resolved by starting at the top of the food chain. I am betting that a lot of fat could be taken out immediately by getting rid of some expensive dead wood. Of course, this won’t solve all the problems, but it might help save some of the more valuable employees from losing their jobs.
I was reminded that the police budget also includes code enforcement, which was moved over to the police department a year or two ago. This certainly does affect the percentage, making it lower than 52%, but I have no idea how much. I would have to try to figure out what percentage of the police budget is allocated to code enforcement. If I find out I’ll post the information.
The proposed Code Enforcement budget is $480,000, or 2.5 percent of the PD budget. $480k is after halving the staff and saving $168k in salaries. Should Code remain intact it would account for 3.5 percent of the PD budget. Thank goodness these calculations didn’t require the use of quadratic equations!
Again I posted under another blog but I asked questions that were not even answered or touched on. How can this City talk about laying anyone off including Officers when they are giving raises to other City Officials. If a City is broke then it is broke within the Police Department and the City (excluding the water plant). The Council members make 3,000.00 a year each, but have an expense account of about 24000.00 each. Isnt there a law regarding how much they can be paid? Also, the Officer getting paid 76,000.00 that is the top salary they do not get hired in making that much. If you compare a NMB Officers benefits with a comparable department they are making less for the amount of work they do. It seems as if everyone is jumping on the band wagon to cut NMB Officers. I keep seeing look at the budget well I did and I see PAY RAISES. Again how can you lay any one off in the City when others are getting raises? And dont get me started on the legal department the City Attorney, Attorney Assistants, Secretary, and Labor Attorney make up about 1 million if not more of the budget. If you get rid of the Officers I guess you will need to give the Attorneys more money for the law suits from the citizens. Next we have the City Manager and his many assistants. Maybe the officers should have assistants it seems everyone else in this City does. Lastly, HOW MUCH money was paid out in SEVERENCE packages for the two city managers and police chief that was fired???? That is not in the budget and probably accumulated up to 1 million as well.
Those are all very good questions. In fact, EXCELLENT ones! I don’t have all the answers. I will try to find out what I can, but hopefully someone else here can also respond.
I am not aware of any employees getting raises right now. What have you heard? What raises do you see? Please let me know and I’ll check it out!
As for the counsel, to my knowledge there is no State statute or law mandating caps on salaries, and the council passes its own ordinances regarding them. This is common practice in all municipalities. What I can tell you is that the amount they are now receiving was a decrease of a substantial amount of money from prior counsels. Before these compensation packages were passed, the city paid for each council member’s health insurance, which was the biggest item, and a host of other expenses (car and cell phone allowance, travel, etc.), all of which added up to quite a bit more. In addition, the city would reimburse council members for 100% of their UNLIMITED out-of-pocket medical expenses. This went on for years and cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The approximate $24,000.00 was in effect a reduction and a cap. They can spend this money for the health insurance coverage, car expenses, cell phones, or whatever they want to spend it on, but that is all they get. Once they run through it, they have to pay for any additional expenses on their own. It’s my opinion that some of the council members up their earn their paychecks and probably deserve much more, while a few others do not do anywhere near enough work for the city to deserve half that amount. If I could, I’d actually pay Phyllis to shut up.
It should not matter that their 30,000.00 is costing the city less then it did in past councils. Employees and citizens are going to suffer and the council should reduce their salaries to 10,000.00 each and stop the car allowance. Maybe that would be enough to save at least one position in the City. Remember leadership starts at the top.
Then you have every right to petition your government. If you feel they should reduce their salaries, I urge you to call and email the council, and also speak at the next council meeting.
I take it you don’t agree with them cutting their salaries.
I have mixed feelings, and I’ll tell you why. In this instance your opinion is just as valid as any I could come up with. Truth is I think some of them aren’t even worth half that. Maybe not even a quarter. While some of them are worth at least that, and others much more. Let’s put it this way, if you consider the actual amount of time a council person spends on city business, and then try to put a dollar amount on that time, some deserve it, some not. Unfortunately, since they’re not paid by the hour, I guess they should all get an equal amount. However, being an elected official is also supposed to be a public service and, while not quite on the level of volunteerism, it’s still not supposed to be a full time job. At least not here in NMB. Hence, my mixed emotions. Guess I’ll have to give this some more thought.
First of all, I laud the idea of a STFU Phyllis fund. I’m willing to bet that if you set up a PayPal account, the donations would come pouring in!
The budget does include the previously negotiated raise for AFSCME employees (this is year three of a three-year contract). I believe it is 4 or 4.5 percent.
IMHO, if the two respective unions really want the public’s support, they should 1) publish their contracts (including pay scales) and 2) publish their annual financial statements. Perhaps a civic-minded individual could reach out to the respective union presidents with this request. Or just make it a public records request, which will probably be more expeditious.
Sorry, but your math is not as good as you think!.
Only a firts order equation has one just one answer. A second order equation may have zero, one, or two answers.
Remember quadratic equations?
OMIGOD, for real? No, I do not remember quadratic equations! I’ll ask my son, the math genius, to explain that one to me. My basic math is very good, but that one is either so far in the corners of my ancient memory, or it’s above my pay grade. Neither would surprise me. 🙂