Public Meeting on the Budget

The final public meeting on the proposed budget will be held at City hall on Monday at 6:00pm. Make sure any and all questions are answered before you vote on Tuesday! Any updates will be posted here before Tuesday. Also the election results will be posted here on Tuesday's results as soon they are available.

Questions about the flyer?

Any questions regarding the flyer being distributed by the Coalition of Rutland City Public Employees? You can email: cgodbout@rutlandhs.k12.vt.us

Please ask specific questions regarding why they are against saving taxpayers money and against paying below the average employee contribution within the state.

State average is 26%, with a health insurance plan of $13,000, while the city plan currently is a 7% (with a 4% of base salary cap) and a plan of $23,500. Does this sound fair to the struggling taxpayers of Rutland City?

PS - contacts for their organization don't even live in the city, big surprise!

Vermont Yankee Senate Vote

Pathetic State we live in!

The list below is the vote in the Senate to keep Vermont Yankee operating:

Below is a listing of votes for the final floor vote. A yes vote indicates support of Vermont Yankee continue to operate.

Senators voting Yes:

Robert Starr - Essex-Orleans District
Richard Mazza - Grand Isle District
Margaret Flory - Rutland District
Philip Scott - Washington District

Senators voting No:

Claire Ayer - Addison District
Harold Giard - Addison District
Robert Hartwell - Bennington District
Richard Sears - Bennington District
Matthew Choate - Caledonia District
Jane Kitchel - Caledonia District
Timothy Ashe - Chittenden District
Edward Flanagan - Chittenden District
Virginia Lyons - Chittenden District
Hinda Miller - Chittenden District
Douglas Racine - Chittenden District
Diane Snelling - Chittenden District
Vincent Illuzzi - Essex-Orleans District
Randolph Brock - Franklin District
Sara Kittell - Franklin District
Susan Bartlett - Lamoille District
Mark MacDonald - Orange District
William Carris - Rutland District
Kevin Mullin - Rutland District
Ann Cummings - Washington District
William Doyle - Washington District
Peter Shumlin - Windham District
Jeanette White - Windham District
John Campbell - Windsor District
Richard McCormack - Windsor District
Alice Nitka - Windsor District

Health Insurance Premium Facts

The link below will help explain why Article 3 & 4 are within reason to ask city employees to pay their fair share of their health insurance premiums. Article 3 & 4, if approved, will require teachers and city employees to pay 20% of their health insurance premiums. Currently the police pay nothing, teachers pay 10% and the rest pay 7% up to 4% of their base salary. This will save the City taxpayers $927,287 per year according to City Treasurer and the Chief Financial Officer of the schools.

The link explains the average within the State of Vermont for a single plan is 20% co-pay and the total of the plan is $4900.00.

The average for a family plan is a 26% co-pay towards premiums and a total policy of $13.091.00 per year. The city currently offers family plan policies exceeding a total benefit plan of $23,000. These stats provide information about how much the city taxpayers are exceeding the state average for the benefits employees currently enjoy. We realize many city employees will not like these changes, but what is best for the community?

Please click below for the stats:
Health Costs & Budgets - Vermont - Kaiser State Health Facts

Click here for a map of the us and these average levels: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=270&cat=5&sub=67&yr=63&typ=2&rgnhl=47

Article 3 and 4 truths

The attached document is a flyer distributed on Saturday by the Coalition of Rutland City Public Employees. This flyer is full of lies, deceit and scare tactics. Please see the Treasurer's Report for actual projected savings of voting "YES" on these two articles. Total savings will be $927,278 per year. If these articles are approved we will enjoy the same level of city services and a reduction in the tax rate of $103.00 per year per average household. Please click here for the treasurer's report - then scroll down to the bottom where it lists Charter Articles.

Voting Yes on Article 3 & 4 will require all city employees to pay a minimum of 20% of the health insurance premiums. Currently Police Department pay nothing, teachers pay 10%, other municipals employees pay 7% up to 4% of their salary. THIS WILL SAVE TAXPAYERS MONEY, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. This will also align all municipal worker with the same percentage amount they pay towards their premiums.

REMINDER

Two meeting will be held on Thursday, February 18th.

The first meeting will be the Police Commission at City Hall at 6:00pm. The meeting will provide public comment about the porn scandal surrounding the Police Department.

The second meeting will be the Rutland Recreation & Parks Department at Dana School at 7:00pm. The meeting will provide information and questions about the proposed $4,725,000 bond placed on the March Article for the construction of a Recreational Center. The business plan for this facility is expected to be released at this meeting. 13 days till Town Meeting Day and the business plan will finally be available for view and questions. For more information provided by the Recreation Department, please visit: http://www.centforcenter.org/

RTU will be providing more information regarding this issue as it becomes available. Please check back soon!

RTU Newsletter

Thanks to all the good citizens of Rutland who participated in the Rutland Taxpayer's first public info forum. Many voiced concerns regarding the impact on taxpayers of the budget being presented in March by the Mayor, Board and School District.
To further elaborate on the School Budget, the CFO for the school district has announced even if they level funded their budget, the Budget would still result in a 10% increase in costs to the taxpayer.
While the State’s Education formula is complex, Despite warnings from the State to keep local ed budgets low, the school's costs per student has risen to above $11K, at the same time the student population continues to decline, while the state's reimbursement will remain at barely above $8K.
Last year, we saw the School District ask and be approved for a multi-million dollar bond for energy efficiencies that would span a 10 or 15 year contract which was advertised at "no costs." I, for one, am for door/window replacements, insulation, tweaking the furnace for better performance, but what we have is a 10 year management contract that goes beyond these necessities and that is not free and the district has failed to meet the net neutral energy performance that was marketed to voters as "a savings to the taxpayers." to reach the "no costs" effect.
This year there is a school bond that is vague at best, does speak to Stafford as its objective but leaves the door open for other spending sprees once the bond is approved.
Let's face it, the State is looking at a $150K revenue shortfall or more. Mr. Ammons continues to muddy the water when asked about the School District's spending by focusing on Homestead Act charts. Only 50% of our homeowners receive a Homestead Refund. The State has publicly stated the average refund check for homeowners is $400 for their part of the Education Tax Formula. Rutland City residents are still facing a 14.9% increase in local education costs.
We are thankful to the residents who were able to attend the meeting. Hopefully it was worth your while. It was our intent to have free flowing dialogue among attendees. Please feel free to contact us at anytime. Our new and beautiful website developed by Shawn Pemrick is www.rutvt.blogspot.com enjoy casting your vote on some of the poll questions.
As there is still time till March 2, Rutland Taxpayers United is seeking volunteers to provide handouts to the public, family or friends in your neighborhood.
A reminder, the Recreation Department will hold its umpteenth public forum February 18. As of today, Ejay Bishop, Director has failed to produce one document speaking to yearly operational costs, definitive revenues, etc. to the public in support of this excessive spending plan while absentee ballots were available March 10. Contrary to his public statements, this will not costs .01 cent, it will not be for 30 years, and the Boys and Girls Club can only pay rent (if any) if they receive public funding. The "Bubble," project can never be modified once erected and the roof itself was said in the beginning to have a 10-15 year life span at today's costs of replacement around $1.5 million. In ten or fifteen years, will it be closer to a replacement costs of $5 million? There has been no attempt at "GRANTS." as usual. Mr. Bishop is not a resident of Rutland and will not be affected by the tax increase or any ramifications should the roof not meet expectations and must be replaced and has said he is not sure on the warranty aspect. Where do we find these people?
As my parents have always advise me, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. Without a fee structure how does Mr. Bishop intend to gather revenue in support of a massive structure. They have carried a $1.2 net loss last year. Not exactly a net neutral department as misspoken by Alderwoman Sharon Davis. In fact, the tax dollars spent on Giorgetti Rink in order to meet the needs of area hockey groups was suppose to pay for itself. Giorgetti saw a $100K net loss and the Concession Stand of all things had a $6K loss. How do you lose money renting ice skates and collecting user fees?
Since the Board of Aldermen seem to have washed their hands of any oversight thru the creation of Police Commissions, Development Boards, and the Downtown Partnership as way to exercise their "escape clause" "we have no control," of what goes on in our city departments, it may be time to review who else is running.

Only three Aldermen protested the municipal budget by voting "NO" David Dress, Robert Barrett and Joanne Slattery.

We have two residents who have thrown their hats into the Aldermanic Ring, Ed Larson at EDIN2010@msn.com and Dan White no email listed.

Vote your hearts out and let your voices be heard!

Thanks again, we welcome your feedback.

Nicole Breton 775-4808
Dawn Hance 775-4406

Press videos

Please click on the following links for news stories regarding the investigation within the Police Department:

WPTZ
WCAX
FOX 44

Police Commission to take public comment

The Rutland City Police commission will hold a public meeting on Thursday February 18th at City Hall. The meeting will be at 6:00pm and will allow the public to address the commission about the porn case ongoing within the Police Department.

Police Chief Grilled, finally?

On Tuesday members of the Board of Alderman and residents got their chance to ask questions about the most captivating scandal in recent years. A Police officer accused of child porn on his work computer and other damaging evidence found in his personal locker within the department. The Police Chief appeared at the Board of Alderman meeting to answer about what he did and when.

A timeline, starting back in July 2009, was given out at the meeting. This timeline was a press release put out by Chief Bossi. The timeline clearly states pornography was found on the computer. This in itself is against city policy, aside from the possible criminal offense. The timeline also states there was a 12 day gap between when the City Police received the computer in question back from the repair service and when they called the State Police for a child porn investigation. Why the twelve day delay? Why was the person in question not suspend for violation of city policy? Why was the police commission not notified? Why was the Mayor/City Attorney not notified? The questions go on and on.......

As a result of the mismanagement, not notifying proper officials and not following city policy has led to much speculation within the Police Department. This is not fair to the whole PD for the actions of the officer in question and the City Police Administration. The Board of Alderman need to take control of this situation and change the charter to require notification of any instance of violation of City Policy. Chief Bossi should be reprimanded, at the very least, for lying, failing to follow city policy, putting the city at a great risk of liability and creating mistrust within the department that has already had two different moral reports that point towards mismanagement by the Brass.

Moral Reports, what ever happened to those moral reports? Maybe this is a good time to take action and resolve the ongoing issues within the PD

Cent for the Center?

The Rutland Recreation and Parks department will hold an informational meeting about the proposed recreation center on February 18th. This meeting will start at 7:00pm and will be located in the Dana Recreational Center.

This meeting will be held due to the bond question on the ballot on March 2nd. The bond question is as follows:

Shall the bonds of the City of Rutland in an amount not to exceed $4,725,000 be issued for the purpose of upgrading Giorgetti Arena to house the Rutland Recreation and Parks Department and the Boys & Girls Club of Rutland County?

A business plan has been crafted and will hopefully be availble to the public at this meeting. There has been some discussion whether this project will cost one cent on the tax rate as it is being sold. This equates to $100,000 per year for the next 20 years.

Representative out of line?

Please read this email exchange between Representative Megan Smith and local business owner Stephen Sawyer.


I would like to take this chance to echo Jim's sentiment. A little over a year and half ago I was able to open a restaurant in downtown Rutland. The enthusiasm the community had for something like this was beyond my understanding. I was able to be a bright spot in a negative environment, instead of always talking about another storefront closed we were able to rally behind my bringing 40 JOBS TO DOWNTOWN RUTLAND! That's right, 40 jobs. Today I still carry a staff of 30 people, all of them getting 40 hours. If you continue to try and break the backs of the business community we are just going to put more and more people on the system!


We in the business community can't be expected to fix every problem ourselves. We didn't create them all, why is it our responsibility to fund each solution? We recognize and testified to the fact that we will see increases in Workmans Comp, UI, Catamount etc. It is irresponsible to propose such a political program as Paid Sick Leave. Even in the best of times I would struggle with this philosophically; but now it is down right insulting. What is the purpose of elected officials that ignore their constituents wishes?


Please listen to us, the small business community, as we are the solution moving forward. HELP us, so that we may invest in our communities and help create JOBS.


Thank you for listening,


Stephen Sawyer

AND HER RESPONSE:


Steve


this was a hearing in a committee that no one from Rutland County is even on. Many bills are considered every day in every committee that never have any action other than discussion. You need to be tracking the bills that are coming up for vote, not everything being discussed. I am a VERY frequent customer in your restaurant and you should consider that before you start sending all of us emails with this kind of insulting tone.


When I owned a restaurant (the Vermont Inn for 13 years) I NEVER got involved in politics because I didn't ever want to offend even one customer, It is a good approach since the Rutland County Democrats have been holding celebrations with you as they used to with me and it was very good business.


Megan Smith

2010 Sample Ballot

Please click on the ballot to zoom in on it. This is the ballot that will be in the polling places on March 2nd! Please read carefully and make sure you know what your voting on, make an informed decision. Any question please email us at: rutvt@live.com

Treasurer's Tax Estimates

Click on the spreadsheet to zoom in. The following is a spreadsheet provided by City Treasurer Wendy Wilton. This spreadsheet provides the amount taxes will go up if approved on Town Meeting Day. The document provides detailed information regarding the city budget, bonds, social programs and etc....

Information Meeting

The meeting this afternoon went very good! Thanks to all who participated! Many people voiced concerns on why our government continues to operate without considering the impact on the taxpayers. A member of city government, left early because she did not want to listen to the "bitch fest" anymore. People are frustrated with the spending and the way our government operates, so yes people need to vent this frustration. It's very concerning that a member of city government does not want to listen to the concerns of their employers (the taxpayers). We cannot continue to keep doing what we've been doing.

Our hope is more people will become aware of what is going on in our city government and get involved to change the course of our city. Our quality of life, employment and families depend on it. If anyone would like to become more involved in the Rutland Taxpayers United, please email for more information.

Public Meeting

Rutland Taxpayers United will hold an informational meeting on Saturday, February 13th 2010. The meeting will be held at the Rutland Free Library from 1-3pm. The Fox Room is located upstairs and the meeting will be open to the public. The meeting will emphasize on the ballot initiatives, city budget and any other city issues citizens may want to discuss.

The Rutland Taxpayers United have succesfully place on the ballot this year three articles.

1. All school employees to pay a minimum of 20% of there basic health care insurance

2. All city employees to pay a minimum of 20% of there basic health insurance

3. Term limits on the office of Mayor and Board of Alderman not to exceed ten years total.

Any other issues can and will be discussed during the duration of the meeting. Future ballot intiatives can also be discussed.

Alderman Race Final

The list for candidates for the position of Alderman has been determined. The deadline to file for the position was on Monday at 5pm. There are five seats open this year and six people running for them. Four candidates (Allaire, Davis, Notte and Robinson) are returning incumbents. The two challengers this year will be Ed Larson and Daniel White.

Ed Larson is a retired police officer serving 27 years for the Rutland City Police Department. While Dan White is returning for his fourth attempt at getting a seat inside the rail.

One seat was vacated this year by Roy Thomas serving the last ten years on the Board of Alderman. RTU have successfully placed on the ballot this year an article that will limit the term of the Board of Alderman and the Mayor. This would place term limits into effect for these positions and cap them at serving for a total of ten years. Some have argued this is specifically targeting two members of the BOA, this charter change would target anybody running for these positions. It all depends on how long you have been in office. Alderman Thomas would have been subject to this article, but he has chosen not to run for re-election. This does not stop them from running for a different office within City Hall.

City Budget will be voted on as a Whole

The Rutland City Board of Alderman on Tuesday passed the City Budget funding article to be placed on the ballot as a whole. Meaning the voters would vote on the overall budget, instead of voting on a department by department basis. The latter would have allow the voters to decide which departments they support and which ones they may think are overinflated. The Board decided to vote as a whole so the voters would not pit one department against another.

The voters overwhelming supported allowing them to approve the city budget last year at town meeting day.

The voters should have the final say on which departments they would like to have their money spent on. This would not pit one department against another, it would pit the voters against a department or departments. After all, it is our money and should be able to decide where and how much we would like to spend.

The final budget number claimed by the Board of Alderman to be voted on will be $17,601,335.

Now this will not include all the bonds, special projects, school funding increases, etc..... It is projected if all theses projects are approved a household value of $150,000 could have their taxes increase by approx. $450.00 per year. The tax rate is the information that needs to be made public. Many people are unaware of by voting yes to these articles, how much there taxes will go up. Some very good questions to be asked at the Public informational meeting to be held in the near future by the Board of Alderman and Department heads.

Library pulls plug on Berwick Relocation

Months after the Library Board of Trustees, surprised the public and the Board of Alderman by exclaiming they needed to relocate, not have backed out of that idea. The Library was looking at teaming up with the Housing Trust of Rutland County and the Rutland Redevelopment Authority to make the move one block west because of problems with their current rent free building. The problem claim are mostly due to water and moisture issues, stemming from roof leakage and ground water seepage into the basement area.

Library Board of Trustees claimed they decided not to make the move because of purely financial reasons. They stated the Housing Trust led them to believe the cost would be manageable for them, well turns out that was not the case.

The Library does not pay rent for current location, which begs the question of why the City does not quit-claim deed the property to the Library. This would hold the Library accountable to do necessary repairs with the operating money received from the various towns.

The Board of Alderman approved on Tuesday the place in front of the voters an article asking for $500,000 loan not to be less than a 10 year term, not to exceed a 4.25% interest rate. This loan will go to pay for immediate repairs to alleviate water and moisture issues within the Library.

VEH Report presented to legislature

Vermonter's for Economic Health presented their statistics to the State Legislature, compiled from our state and national budgets. To view please click here - very scary! But we continue to spend, spend and spend here in the City.

Mayor Claims No Knowledge of Lawsuit Filed by Father against City

On December 31st 2009, Downtown Landlord's filed suit against the City, State and Marble Valley Regional Transit District. The suit claims flooding, caused by the named defendants, damaged their property during storms in June 2008 and August 2009.

The suit does not state damages caused by the flooding during the storm of April 2007.

The suit claims negligently designing, building and maintaining infrastructure, including sewer and waste water lines, catch basins and the transit center itself, that contributed to the flooding in the basements of the buildings that abut the transit center.

One of the plaintiff's, Gus Louras (The Mayor's Father), commented on Friday stating "the Mayor has no connection to this lawsuit. "

Mayor Christopher Louras stated "he had absolutely no knowledge that Sam Frank Inc. was a party to a lawsuit and frankly, I had no idea that any suit was filed against the city on this matter. The city attorney has wisely kept me uninformed out of concern for ignorant individuals jumping to conclusions about any potential ties between me and Sam Frank Inc."

Listed on the Mayor's election website: "Upon returning to Rutland to raise his family, Chris joined his brother Nico, his sister Valerie Fothergill, and his father Gus in running Sam Frank Inc., a regional wholesale distributor of grocery, tobacco and candy products serving stores throughout central and southern Vermont. Here he has gained twelve years of invaluable experience with the day-to-day management, operation and oversight of a multi-million dollar business and learned how to relate those lessons-learned to running a municipality."

One chef downtown has stated the Mayor advised downtown business owners effected by the flood to sue the city?

Back in the April 2007 storm the city hired an outside service company to clean and removed all debris from the waste water drains. Hartigan, from Stowe VT, was hired to make sure all drains were clear from debris to alleviate flooding in the future. If the suit claims infrastructure was not properly maintained, this could be placed on the lap of his honor, Mayor Louras.

Now we will wait and see where this lawsuit goes, but one could expect a capital improvement project be annouced from the Mayor in the very near future. By incorporating a lawsuit he will try to scare the taxpayers into more bonding. Note: the wastewater projects due to be completed this year, do not have this project on the radar. Must not have been such a big concern, until now? Will those so-called ignorant people believe one more lie from this Mayor?

Alderman Vote Down Police Union Contract

The contract, which lays out the pay scale, benefits and other conditions for most of the department's uniformed and civilian employees, expired on June 30. Under the terms of the expired agreement, the department's union employees will continue to abide by the former contract until a new one is ratified.

But a proposed contract negotiated between the union and the city's administration failed to muster aldermanic approval when it came up for a vote at a recent meeting. After discussing the confidential contract during an executive session, the board returned to an open session to vote 6-2 against the contract.

Aldermen Robert Barrett, Kevin Coleman, Sharon Davis, Tom DePoy, David Dress and Christopher Robinson voted to reject the contract while Aldermen William Notte and Joe Tilden voted for it. Aldermen Joanne Slattery and Roy Thomas were not present for the vote.

RTU Explains Ballot Articles

Some members of The Rutland Taxpayers United attended the first public hearing of the articles to be placed on the ballot in March. Members explained why they supported the articles and what the intended results would be if passed.

"We estimate that if the changes were made, the city would save about $450,000 and on the school side the savings would be $600,000, " said Dawn Hance. "Add them together and we're talking about saving more than $1 million. That's one way to save money for the taxpayers."

We're often told we can't cut money from the budget without cutting city services. This is one way to do it. " added city resident Shawn Pemrick.

Presently, all city employees except for those in the police union pay either 10 percent of their premium or 4 percent of their base salary. Presently, city police pay no part of their health care expenses. However, the police contract is under negotiation.

Alderman Approve Mayor's Budget with Little Cuts

The final budget meeting was held by the Board of Alderman on Tuesday night. $74,000 out of a $18,000,000 budget was cut. Most of the Mayor's projects were approved, clearing way for the voters to have the final say on the budget in March. Copy of the article in the Herald can be found here. Some members of the Rutland Taxpayers United were on hand to discuss some budget items and new ways of providing current city services.

Health insurance seems to be the glaring current expediture that can be controlled easily. This year the taxpayers will have the vote if city employees should be required to pay a minimum of 20% of their health insurance. Please vote "YES" for this article to provide the same level of city services with reduced cost to the taxpayer.

During the meeting a comparison was done between the South Burlington and Rutland Fire & Police departments health insurance premiums. Resident and RTU member, Shawn Pemrick, stated South Burlington (same population as Rutland) health insurance premiums for the Fire Department were $500,000 less than Rutland's. The Police department was also $500,000 less than Rutland's as well. The Board of Alderman need to do their homework and start comparing what we spend and look for alternative cost control measures.