AGAINST A CONSOLIDATED BEAVER ISLAND TOWNSHIP

[Wkohls]

Rich . . .

1) I have been transparent and I have not questioned the motives of others. Trust me, I can die a happy man without serving another day as supervisor. Does anybody that knows me really think that I would sell out for a thankless, $16,000 a year job? (Really?)

2) I have not yet seen or heard a coherent (let alone a compelling) argument for consolidation. The proponents make unsupported claims, but are unable to back them up (and no longer try.)

3) I don't believe that it's in our mutual interest to have uninformed voters casting ballots on May 8th.

4) The numbers do not, cannot and will not support consolidation. To claim otherwise is a lie, but it will not stop proponents from making intellectually dishonest claims. (You don't need to consolidate to make irresponsible cuts to EMS and you can make irresponsible cuts to EMS even if you consolidate. So, it's silly to claim those savings as a result of consolidation. The same applies to selling township facilities.)

5) I am willing to defend my position(s) in a public venue, it's a shame that others will not.

[islandliving]

Good facts as always Bill, great job.

[islandliving]

Re: AGAINST A CONSOLIDATED BEAVER ISLAND TOWNSHIP
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Post by Gillespie » Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:10 am

Bill, there isn't a soul who doesn't know your end game! Or your wife's! Give it it a rest! You are messing with history here, your name will be on it and then we all will be gone! Grow up and realize this is about coming generations, not us, if you can! Dick Burris was being played, admitted that to me countless times, now it's you! Same players too!

[BMcCaw]

Liquor licenses are allocated at the township level. This may have been the concern referenced in Dick's letter.

[Wkohls]

Ken Taylor writes about the master plan on the "other" thread. A few thoughts for his consideration follows . . .

1) Ken might not be fully aware of the process utilized in the preparation of the master plan. For a number of reasons, most notably that the participants were self-selected, the survey cannot be considered statistically reliable and/or valid.
2) I doubt that participants in that survey were fully informed. For example, they were not aware that consolidation would result in A TAX INCREASE FOR PEAINE TOWNSHIP property owners, nor would they be aware of the proponents plans to SLASH FUNDING FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SERVICES BY MORE THAN 40%.
3) Finally, the “survey” that will be conducted on May 8th will be the survey that counts.

[Wkohls]

Responding to Maureen on the "other" thread . . .

Thanks for your post.

It’s important to consider the timing as well as the amount of the revenues. Property taxes are collected in arrears (during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.) As a result, EMS needs to maintain a sufficient cash balance to maintain operations during the first nine months of the fiscal year. Slashing property taxes in the current year would reduce the cash balance and jeopardize operations in the following year.

Furthermore, the operation of EMS will not be affected by the proposed consolidation and the illusory savings created by slashing its funding cannot be attributed to consolidation. You could slash funding for EMS without consolidating and, conversely, you do not have to slash funding even if you consolidate.

On page 1 of 7 of the proposed budget claims, the proponents claim they “avoid use of fund balances/surplus funds to balance budgets or fund services.” Nonetheless, the proposed budget would reduce the EMS fund by more than $130,000! (I’m trying to keep these folks honest!)

Equally important to note, the proponents’ budget actually anticipates a nominal increase in spending and I submit that the “savings” is nothing more than ink on a piece of paper.

Now . . . having said all of that . . . and all else being equal . . . taxes levied for EMS could be lower in the future if/when a sufficient cash balance is established that provides ample liquidity for contingencies as well as sustained cash flow for operations. (Note to others . . . don’t try to twist the meaning of this statement. This is not some sort of game of gotcha.)

[carolburton]

Thanks BMcCaw for your answer to my question. If they felt Peanie would grow to become a town on the South End it would have been a concern. I would assume now with no growth in that direction that it would not apply to current times. I would like to here what development plans Peaine has accomplished or what may be in the works that taxpayers don't know about.

[Andy's Grooming Barn]

Carol is just trying to post things differently so it doesn't look like they would slash EMS (reposting the same thing in a different manner doesn't make it better let alone accurate) but that is still their intent, also apparently they want to make sure there is no extra money in any accounts, god forbid something major breaks down or needs replaced in any area. We wouldn't run our household budgets that way but we would want to a township budget? A budget is just an estimate of what your yearly costs are but nobody know what will be the true costs until the year is over this is all common sense. Is your bank account empty at the end of the year, I would hope not.

Also keep in mind the insurance money that comes in to EMS is not stable, you make get a chunk this year and get hardly any in next year there is no way of knowing so you have to keep extra in that account to accommodate that flex, my understanding is that some of the insurance money that came in this year goes back to 3 years. Also you can not determine how many calls you will get year to year, this isn't money you can count on for every year as you are doing. Also remember if you want to keep getting these volunteers to do EMS you need to at least give them good equipment so you will have to have that in your budget as well.

[Wkohls]

Responding to Carol's post on the "other" thread . . .

Hey, Carol . . .

The amounts that you show as revenue includes the cash balance carried over from the prior year. As a result, revenues are WAY OVERSTATED!

As I wrote earlier, tax revenues are collected in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year.

Cash balances will be at their highest point at March 31st which is necessary to sustain operations for the subsequent months.

By including the cash balances, you are double counting the revenues . . . the cash balances at March 31st, plus the taxes to be collected in the fourth quarter . . . which skews your conclusion.

Responding to Carol's post above . . .

Dick's letter said that Peaine's SEV was $2 million greater that St. James. Peaine's taxable value (which by definition will be less than the SEV) is now about $20 million greater than St. James. Clearly, something has been happening in Peaine Township.

[Andy's Grooming Barn]

I totaled up what I believe is a correct number of what was overstated in their purposed budget, surprised we didn't notice it earlier, $888,550.00 that isn't accurate. You can not claim revenue of taxes twice in some cases when you only get them once. Since some of those taxes were already in the general fund in March but you also counted them as come in for the year as tax revenue. You need to redo your budget and get accurate numbers.

[meadefamily]

Thank you Andy!

This is another clear example as to why a disinterested THIRD party should have been hired prior to the petitioners filing. This is the route that other communities have used.

-------------------------------------

My observations:

Please understand I am not devaluing the hard work of the people that attended the "public community workshop" to create the budget. I think it was terribly unfair of the petitioners to ever have to put anyone in the situation where it was needed. Those numbers should have been done before.

So much time, energy and money has been wasted.

You can not put square pegs in round holes no matter how many times you try. Voting for consolidation at this point with the lack of accurate information would be tragic to the island. If it truly is what is best for the island, do the homework, hire the right people with the background and knowledge and then present it to the voters.

Some cry personal agendas...if that is the case then why did a group allow that to become an issue? It could have been corrected with proper research, transparency and solid facts. More importantly it could have been corrected with a third party involved.

If you believe that consolidation is best for the island then take time to do it the right way. Take the time to make sure NO ONE has a personal agenda. Seems fair and logical?

I am not trying to be negative, this is my observation on how this has played out.

[Wkohls]

Responding to a series of posts on the :other" thread . . .

I hope this will be helpful. The following table adjusts amounts provide by Carol by the cash balances inappropriately included in the current year revenues. Note: The source is the proponents' budget and I have not independently verified the amounts.

The table indicates that revenues were overstated by $888,549 and that current year revenues less expenditures is a loss of $113,759. That is, the budgets anticipate that the aggregate fund balances will be $113,759 lower at March 31, 2019.

[carolburton]

Bill

Maybe I don't have this right? If my numbers are that wrong, what you are saying is that right now, if we combined the townships AS IS Today... Revenue - Expenses = a Loss? So this year and next and so forth we are running our townships at a negative figure? How can we be running these townships with that kind of short coming? That doesn't seem right but if that is so what are the townships doing to proactively fix this deficit in our budgets?

Revenues $2,341,744 - Expenditures $2,428,503 = Loss $113,759 ?

Carol

Ps: This move back and forth of posts is hard to keep track of.

[Gillespie]

Bill, please answer a question on the thread it's placed on thanks!

[meadefamily]

Carol,

Thank you for your reply. Again, we can agree to disagree. The island is unique and that uniqueness should be respected. The "sale" of consolidation was based on saving money...now we see that may not be the case. Time to go back to the drawing board and come back with solid facts.This should have been a bullet proof proposal before starting the process. At the end of the day we all love the island and the passion and fierce independence is contagious. As my 11 year old daughter says, "beaver island is a magical and safe place".

Good luck to you this summer with your festival!

Kathe

PS... I agree, going back and forth of this format is confusing!