re: Questions about Consolidation Finance Committee Report, email sent to Dave Lent, chair of the committee
Dave,
I have a few questions about the consolidation finance committee reports and upcoming meetings.
1) At which meeting will you cover the overall methodology, e.g. the premise that using previous actuals are appropriate for predicting future savings, the standard (objective and subjective) criteria for identification of items as future savings (e.g will eliminate redundancy, will increase efficiency, will not have negative tax, safety, or service delivery impacts, etc), criteria for identifying that the change truly needs co-terminus consolidation to be implemented; the standard accounting principles utilized, etc. The methodology should clearly document that the science utilized is appropriate and valid for predicting future savings predicated on co-terminus consolidation.
2) When will the findings be organized and presented in an understandable, cohesive way for posting on the website, e.g. ONE document with narrative and tables/charts/graphs explaining the findings (with citations where need be), including an executive summary and methodology section? In my opinion, having five meetings without any supporting documentation available and posted on the web does not serve the community members who cannot come nor have the time to watch the videos. Citizens should not be expected to attend (or watch on video) that many meetings.
3) Will the final (next?) report include financial best practice case studies (and lessons learned) from other NYS municipalities who have successfully proceeded with co-terminus government?
4) Will the final (next?) report take into consideration the impacts identified on page 23 of the Fairweather report, "Impact on Budgets and Taxpayers"?
5) Will the final (next?) report include: impact on declining state and federal aid and grants; ineligibility for grants based on new demographics, land use, etc; scenarios that involve New Paltz not receiving Citizen Empowerment money, now or in the future; impact of transition to a workforce more reliant on part-time workers on productivity and response time; cost of legal fees to convert/combine village/town law, zoning code, etc?
Thank you for your service to New Paltz. Best regards,
kt
