Posted by: jimfior02 on: June 2, 2008
Take home vehicles for employees are a small part of our budget, but a big part of our headaches. Here are some numbers:
a. We have a total of 230 vehicles in our fleet, including police cars, fire trucks, snow plows police cruisers, etc.
b. Of those, a total of 55 are take home vehicles. Most of the [...]
Posted by: jimfior02 on: March 25, 2008
Friends,
Tomorrow night at the city council I am unveiling my plans for performance oriented government. Since you are kind enough to read this blog, I thought I would give you a heads up.
Performance measures in government have been quite the rage for the past ten or 15 years, ever since the publication of “Reinventing Government.” [...]
Posted by: jimfior02 on: February 7, 2008
Monday night, I’ll be meeting with councilors to outline our budget problems, and to give some possible solutions.
I’ll first outline how this is a State wide problem, not a city one.
We are fortunate, in a way, that the steps we took earlier to reform health care (saving $1.5 million a year) and improve our tax [...]
Posted by: jimfior02 on: February 7, 2008
Yesterday, most of the Mayors throughout the State met with the Lt. Governor and several State finance officials concerning the Governor’s casino gambling proposal.
The numbers the Governor outlined to us were compelling: without licensing fees from casinos, State aid to cities and towns will tumble, with licensing fees, State aid will remain level funded, and [...]
Posted by: jimfior02 on: January 26, 2008
The Gamble on Local Aid
Under Proposition 2 and half, cities depend upon local aid to survive. State aid is based upon lottery receipts. This year, lottery receipts are down, meaning local aid may be in for a fall. If local aid is cut, cities and towns are forced to raise taxes or lay off employees.
The Governor [...]
Posted by: jimfior02 on: January 19, 2008
There has been a good deal of comment in the newspapers lately about
police details. Our police chief has been the subject of a good deal of criticism, most of it unjustified. I thought I would write and start a discussion about it.
Contrary to popular belief, no Massachusetts law, at least no law that we can [...]
