The Abington Township 2022 Budget
Please feel free to
send
your information to us and please be sure
to contact us
about any information you believe to be
incorrect
WHERE TO FIND THE PROPOSED 2022 BUDGET
https://stories.opengov.com/abingtonpa/published/bO3Q3bhQH
( or
www.abingtonPA.gov/budget
)
Which includes an 856 page pdf that we finally got them to number .
What used to be a 3-400 page budget
has more than doubled - just to confuse. No other reason.
The actual necessary figures
are written so tiny you can't read them.
For those of us who
need to work with a paper copy, it has been tragic - they have
been unwilling to help
NEXT
MEETING
12-9-21
Special Meeting to consider the 22% tax hike & where they expect to pass this totally unvetted budget
with so many problems
Some of the most concerning
things in this budget :
1) Perhaps the
greatest concern comes in the seeing a brand-new employee,
Kimberly Hamm, here just a year or two, and with zero experience
in zoning, code enforcement, contracting, building, or any
related field - put in charge of something she has NO
expertise in and which is a highly technical field that
would take years and years to learn. You can look her up on
Linked-In to see what she has done, and the very short amount of
time she was at each job. It is perhaps the most
important department of all at this time of so many zoning
challenges and with a Manager who wants to picture density
everywhere and then zone to accommodate it. She is ...are you
ready for this ....DIRECTOR of not just Community
Development - a large undertaking in and of itself for someone
so new, but also DIRECTOR of Zoning, Code
Enforcement , Subdivision and Land Development, inspections,
plumbing, electrical, mechanical, accessibility, energy and
property maintenance.
First
of all the blending of those 2 departments together makes no
sense . I believe, again, this is to thwart transparency, put a
halt to any continuity, prevent year to year comparisons, and
create a kind of chaos that no one can organize well enough to
oversee. This is a department where people's LIVES are at
risk when the job is not done right . Negligence in this
departmant affected my family deeply and Abington has a
horrible history in just this area. Hundreds (thousands, I'm
sure) of lives have been
affected - years of suffering and financial loss, people forced
to leave their homes, etc. So this
decision makes no sense and seems extremely irresponsible to me.
I have little doubt that someone so new, with little knowledge
of what SHOULD be done, would not be quite easily
manipulated by somene more experienced or ....by her boss or by
someone who was, perhaps, both of those things. Every
developer requesting a permit or inspection would understand the
nuanes of the many laws far better than she would. It
just doesn't seem right and it defies the statement that
Manfredi made
that he would be putting professionals in all the positions and
training his staff properly.
Given all the zoning challenges we are facing and a Manager who
wants to open up our zoning code to amend it as he sees fit, I
can only hope that others of you will speak up about this
action. It also concerned me that right around the time
that Kimberly was hired she set up a consulting nonprofit. I
think these things are important to know. And to look further
into....
2) As mentioned already, projects that are
going to the firms of a Commissioner are also of great concern.
I was told that proper procedures would be followed when
it is ready to get underway - but I already have concerns with
how Ward 6 Mike Thompson's firm got chosen to consult on the
"estimate". It certainly was not done in public -even though
they've had the funds since May and there have been plenty
opportunities to do the public vetting. No $3.5 million job
should be on any agenda for passage without a proper vetting
before the public. This may be Comr Thompson's 4th or 5th
project in Abington Township - big ones, too - like the Penn
State Academic Building - and before he came I don't recall ever
seeing KCBA Architects. Seems he is a favored
son. Conflict of interest is the only phrase that comes to mind
for me. Please also note he is the head of the Comprehensive
Plan Team drawing the little Grey and Dotted Circles around your
homes (the Grey circles now replaced by solid blue line circles
that are reduced to 1/4 mi - so I doubt there will be a shortage of jobs for
KCBA going forward.
3) The Engineer submitted paperwork for a
streambank MS4 -- project--- in a park that doesn't have a
stream. That will give you some idea of the level of care that
is being taken. He does not have a certification - so we need to
send out for all of that work -- I cannot see the cost of it
clearly retrieveable.
4) The Tax Office is again clear as
mud in the budget. It appears the Tax office and Treas.'s office
seem to be joined together, whereas the tax office is a separate
entity and all their charges should be separate. They should not
be co-mingling everything. But again I can't read the version in
the tiny print and the digital version is completely
uncooperative in seeing things like that, which you should be
able to see in a budget.
5) Mr. Manfredi has allowed $150,000
available to him to spend at his discretion - no plan, no limits
in sight for things that come
up. I would contend that $150,000 should stay in the fund
balance, and if things come up, then they should be
taken properly from the fund balance with a proper note about it.
Not on the Manager's whim & without public and Commissioner
approval . He also
has obtained $75,000 for a consultant that basically is to do
what we hired him to do ----see that the Township is operating on
mission and vision. That clearly is the job of the Township
manager. But if he hires someone else to do that it frees him up
to work with contractors and other people, which he prefers
to be doing. It's like a $75,000 raise for him. There
is also $50,000 in there for " economic development."
Just like the $100,000 for the "construction services team
" in a prior budget (that I could READ - might be in this
one, too) a pile of money without a project is nothing
more than a slush fund . There may be lots of these in there -
but the digital layout prevents you finding them. If any of
these fund "finds" came with specifics, we can't see them
- there is no notation on the line and there is no
access to any further documentation. You can't oversee what you can't
oversee.
The new meetings
policy also calls for "experts " to be hired to do the work of
the committees -- I'm sorry Mr Manfredi - that's exactly what
your STAFF is for . If they aren't experts, then please replace
them with people who ARE. You hired an ARPA consultant - but
that's what your finance team was supposed to do. If they can't
read and follow regulations, then they are not a proper finance
team. A question I have is where is the funding for these
"experts" in this budget. Also hiding? Or did I just
miss them because of the timy print.
In a recent prior year, the money that Mr. Manfredi could spend
at his discretion was $450,000 . When I asked about it, I was told it was
some kind of contract or bargaining agreement he was expecting
-- ( yes that should have been in the fund balance -
"restricted" - not in his "pocket" to
use on his whim. ) You cannot
believe how hard it was to get ANY information about it in the
end - but apparently a great deal of it went for
to the Solicitor's office . That is a lot of $ to have
approved for legal fees OUT of the public purview. ....
Again, not in the public sunlight. And to this day the specifics
have been withheld. I had heard a rumor, unverifiable, that the
Solicitor had asked to have fees reimbursed that had been turned
down by our prior manager. I was told it would not be legal to
reimburse them now. So this is something that should be ferreted
out - ---- where the $50K went exactly.
So this is not how these things
are supposed to be done. And Mr. Manfredi has become a master at
funding what he wants in this manner, out of the public view.
If there's $50,000 that Mr. Manfredi can use for economic
development I'd like to know how that is targeted to be used.
Wouldn't you? $50,000 should have an end goal that is on the
same line as the amount is listed. In good size print.
6) The
salaries are not arranged by department so the figures are
almost useless. They are splayed out all over the place.
Ie: Admin people are under C
for clerical, T for Township manager, E for executive assistant----
if you are just looking for one department you'd be all over the
alphabet and that they know that that makes it an impossible
job. Those salareies should be posted WITH the department
where the overall is - or the list should be interactive
by department . You can ALSO post a big list
The salaries are pretty darn important
- they are our biggest expense --- Our police
salaries deserve a look by all of you, as they appear to be
double what surrounding communities ( based on a very tiny survey
of nearby towns) seem to be
offering . And our manager is very, very well-paid for a guy who's not
accessible. I'm also concerned that when he arrived he had his
own consulting nonprofit. I would like to know how many hours he
spends on that-- and does he list the clients he has on his
financial conflict of interest form with the Township?
7) The manager's new Meeting Rules and Public Policy
initiative allows for experts to be hired to supposedly do the
business of the committees. We gave Mr. Manfredi a staff of 175
or more to do the business of the committees and he is supposed
to be managing those people - hiring people who are competent
which if you look at the code enforcement zoning etc. he is not
doing -- and then having the commissioners who have the ear of
the residents tell the manager what those staff members should
be doing. I have not found all the other places where these
experts will be hired but there is obviously money stashed in
the budget somewhere or out of sight for the experts that will
be hired. We don't need experts telling our commissioners what
they would like to see. The commissioners were elected to tell
the staff what we would like to see. Mr. Manfredi is turning
everything on its ear in this Township -- and making it so
chaotic that nobody really understands what he's doing, or where
he's getting the money from. All those monies are actually more
personnel that are hidden from sight in the budget. He hired Ed
Micciolo to run public works and do other things when he put the
finance director in charge of public works. A lawsuit followed
neither the money for the lawsuit nor the money for Ed Micciolo
showed up when I did a right to know for Township staff and
personnel. We don't have a certified engineer so
engineering needs to go out to get that work done. But where do
we see that in the budget. Again, too tiny to read so who
knows if it might be there somewhere but it certainly is not
obvious and not under personnel.
8) And yes, you should
be concerned about all the naming and renaming and merging
of departments and separation of departments ....... These kinds of
shenanigans and tricks in the budget go on and on and on. There
are ways of arranging the budget so that it can be read and
overseen by both commissioners and residents. But of course
there is no will to do that - certainly not with this Manager in
charge. Residents who would like to be part of a
project to reccommend better budget practices should contact me :
lel@abingtoncitizens.com. No amount of help is
too small to consider.
What do
you
want to see ?
We need people to speak up for what they DO want money spent on
1) I want to see all projects that are budgeted in this
Township vetted properly before the public. There is no way that
a $3.5 million project should appear and be passed in a budget
when it has never been vetted before the public so that they can
see what the need for that project is and so that they can have
input as to how the money is spent . They have a RIGHT to
comment - but that is being taken away by passing 856 pages in
one fell swoop. It is especially the case
with a project that seems to have had the proposal worked up
by the firm of a Commissioner - and almost makes it look like
you are passing his further involvement in the project. That is not the kind of project
that you want buried inside and 856 page document. If we need
this work done, we will understand that when it is properly
presented. The "estimate" kind of takes the thunder out of a
fiair bidding process going forward, doesn't it?
2) I
would like to see the website fixed - funds allotted so that it
is easy to use and everything can be found quickly and it uses
all the space effectively - no more 2 year long covid balls -
and no syncopated ads - use the front page to archve
properly all the navigation pathways . No going to 6
different pages to get what you need for a zoom.
3) I would like to see
all the trees that are being covered in vines tended to by
manpower, not by chemicals, so that the trees don't die and our
forests are saved
4) I would like to see the Boy Scout
preserve restored after it was taken down to the mud while a
public works guy was put in charge of parks
5) I would like
to see the phones answered by a real person and every question
that a resident has quickly and efficiently answered.
6) I would like to see the code enforcement department
funded enough to have more than 1 1/2 inspectors and to have all
the blighted and trashed areas in this Township cleaned up.
Property owners who are not cooperative should be fined, not
given special privileges and special circumstances to allow the
blight to continue.
7) What do YOU want ?
John Spiegelman wrote a long piece about how we absolutely
need to raise taxes. The only thing he was missing was... all
the real reasons and facts behind this tax hike ...........
https://abingtoncitizens.com/aaISSUES/Budget/WhereTheMoneyGoes.htm
DISRESPECT
AT EVERY TURN
Tom Hecker and John
Spiegelman have enabled this dangerous disrespect from Manager
Richard Manfredi for 4 years now. It is very nearly a rougue government
in my own opinion -- operating under the certainty that no one
can interfere with anything that they do. The Manager and
the enabling Commissioners are breaking any rule they care to.
They miss document deadlines, let projects go to meeting
after meeting with out getting questions answered for the
residents they're supposed to serve , withhold information , say
they will answer budget questions but wait a month to do it.
They
and their fellow Commissioner and the Manager are legislating
again and again to make illegal
things look legal. Any law they have repeatedly broken or want to break,
they simply legislate that they are only loosely
following, and that they have the right to use their discretion
in changing the rules whenever it moves them to do so. Naming rights, meeting behavior, our zoning code,
the Sunshine law, spot zoning laws. They are all rules for other
people. It is time for
eveyone to be concerned.
This budget is the poster child for showing how things are done
without public oversight or input. The budget is being
used to get a fast blanket approval on hundreds of projects and
line items that have never been brought before the public for
their vetting and approval. This is NOT how projects are
supposed to appear and be funded. Manager Manfredi never even
held a single solitary workshop on the budget. Unheard of in
Abington until he came.And he has had since May to include the
public in on the use of the generous ARPA funds.
There may be repetition below this line
__________________________________________________
THE 2022 BUDGET : GENERAL DISCUSSION
: A 22 % increase this year is just part 2 of
the 30% increase by the 2nd year of this Manager's tenure. Our Manager,
Richard Manfredi,
arrived in May 2017 - by May of 2019 he was already planning
a 30 % tax hike on Abington residents.
Worried about the reaction, he imposed just 1/3 of it in the
2020 Budget (9.9%) . The other 2/3, he made very
clear, was coming in 2021. But then the
pandemic hit and he was begged not to raise taxes for 2021
because so many were impacted. In 2020 he
covered our $5 Million dollar deficit by borrowing $5
million from the Fund Balance. He also
made dramatic cuts to personnel and programs which we understand
netted approx $2.4 million.
We have received $19 million in American Rescue Plan dollars
(Covid Relief). The first 9 million came in May 2021 and
the 2nd 9 million is due in May 2022. We also have $12 million
in the fund balance -- so we are in very good shape. The need for a tax increase should be
completely alleviated. However, Manager Manfredi has chosen to spend
the windfall- again - on wishlist items. Some of those
include building wooded trails and a parking lot directly across the
street from Alverthorpe park - which has ..... wooded trails and open
trails and many parking lots. For this, and other things like
it, your taxes are being raised. There are some
good things in there. Some great things for the kids, for
instance. But again they are unvetted - so we really
didn't get a chance to look at the pros and cons
A change in the assessed values of real estate have been blamed
for the need for a tax hike. But in fact right as manager
Manfredi arrived in Abington, the tax assessments went to
briefly sky high. He arrived in May 2017 and by 2018 we had a
$66 million or so increase in our assessments. The minute they
began to head just a tiny bit down, in 2019, manager Manfredi
was planning a 30% tax hike.
You need only ask the residents of Cheltenham what happens to
your house values when your taxes go up . Those
wanting to buy your house can afford less when taxes are high.
And you are aware that we are not over Covid. Right
? Many families are still struggling from lost jobs and
businesses and inflation is now hitting, too , So I don't
understand how we are allowing someone who cannot seem to find
someone to answer the phones when we call the Township building, or
to answer your emails, and who spends far too much time
with developers creating multiple projects now that are totally
against our interest. The PREIT/ Willow Grove Mall project and
the 1209 Rydal Rd. project - both offering dense development
where residents don't want it - are just 2 small examples
of things a little off - kilter.
Nonetheless Manager Manfredi has
proposed to impose MORE than the other 2/3 in 2022 anyway,
And it would be my recommendation to tell him to use the very
substantial Covid funds in the best ways possible and to let the
tax hike go till later-- because all of us have experienced
increases in our assessments and if the county's chooses to
reassess the Township will get plenty of fundswhile many families are
still struggling from job or
business losses due to Covid . (After the 9.9% in 2020 another
2/3 would be 20.1%.... but he is imposing 22% .And that is even
on the extra 9.9% he just added. )
A great deal has been made
about the fact that property assessments are less than they were
before because there have been appeals and some properties, most
notably the Willow Grove Mall, have claimed less revenue and one
their appeals. The problem is we have not yet found in the
budget where those figures are that show the property
assessments from last year and the year before and the year
before and show where they are this year after all those
appeals. How much tax revenue exactly have we lost that $19
million couldn't replace.
So if we really
needed that money that would be one thing ---- but there are 2
problems here
#1 We were just
given $19 million in Covid relief funds . So there
is no way in tarnation that we should need more - That is
equivalent to raising taxes more than 100% . Covid
guidelines allow funds to be used to : " Replace lost revenue
for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments
to strengthen support for vital public services
and help retain jobs " and a whole host of
other things ( scroll below) so the flexibility is
incredible.
#2 How is your money being used ?
On things that not only don't improve the lives of the residents
here - but actually make them worse . You decide if this
is why you want your taxes raised :
-- Our County
Planner ( yes also paid by us) spent a good deal of time
writing the Ordinance for PREIT violating our laws and
codes in the process. He created something that is opposed by
most all in Abington who understand the math and the
consequences.
--- Our Manager used your taxes to
dismantle the functional parts of the website and make
everything harder to find and access.
--- He used your funds
to repeatedly revamp the Public Comment Rules that
reduced your speaking rights further each time.
--- He
used the money we gave him to pay for lawsuits of his own
making- like installing the Finance Director
as head of Public Works and putting a Code Director
in the Refuse department and then having to hire "consultants"
because a Finance Manager knows nothing about Public Works, even
if you appoint him "Director" and put the words on a plaque on
his desk. They both sued as did others.
--
He used your money to shufflle and reshuffle all the
departments, department names, employee positions and even
the names of Committees ...... as though if you take the same
people and now call it Land Use instead of Code Enforcement and
Land Development you will get a better outcome. But you
will have more trouble following hte finances year to year.
---- He is spending gobs of time and money designed to keep you
out of your government, create confusion, lack of continuity,
constant flux and general chaos, which are some of the greatest
ways to thwart transparency that you can imagine. And you are
giving him your money to do it .
---- As the
disgruntled employees began to get the word out, he used
your $ to write a new rule for them about "gossipping - so
they would be in fear of losing their jobs if they were the
source of others finding out that all this was going on.
Are the things above how you want your money spent?
Every former budget before this
Manager came was superior to those he has produced.
I have them. I could show them to you. I compared them carefully
year to year to find noteworthy changes and the
explanations. We were working for more transparency - not
less. We got far, far less since his arrival and this year
I think it is fair to say that we have reached crisis level .
A manager who just got a windfall of $19 million dollars
wants to still tax you 22 % more to get another 3 million. That
is simply nonsense. Clearly NONE of the things on his list
is an emergency that we didn't already have funds to do.
Richard Manfredi has taken us to the Dark Ages....and is
spending your money to make sure that you can't follow how the
money is being spent.
No Workshops - not a single one
Not an ounce of public input in the creation of the
proposed budget -only from the manager and commissioners
All
decisions about the ARPA funds done without any proper public
input whatsoever
Documents withheld completely until AFTER
the first presentation - removing speaking opportunity
First presentation so late in the year - too little time for
questions / answers and changes to document.
Inadequate
question and time allotted when it was finally presented and
residents had documents
Teeny, tiny print on major budget
charts and important finance figures - unreadable . Unable to
work with sthers
Dark backgrounds on charts and narration
passages are unreadable in print (and suck up your ink
needlessly)
No properly navigable pdf available to be
printed - and it took work to get it numbered
$8
million of the first $9 million was already planned out without
any public comment or input
If Commissioners all had a say
then they are acting as a quorum in a way that improperly
excludes the public.
ARPA fund should have been used
to avoid taxes
Wasted funds to build trails and parking lot
across the street from trails and parking lots while imposing a
22 % increase
Here are
the
guidelines for the ARPA (Covid) $:
ARPA stans for American Rescure
Plan Act
Support urgent COVID-19 response
efforts to continue to decrease spread of the virus and bring
the pandemic under control
Replace lost revenue for eligible
state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments to strengthen
support for vital public services
and help retain jobs
Support immediate economic
stabilization for households and businesses
Address systemic public health
and economic challenges that have contributed to the inequal
impact of the pandemic
The
Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provide
substantial flexibility for each government to meet local
needs—including support for households, small businesses,
impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities
hardest hit by the crisis. These funds can also be used to make
necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband
infrastructure.
CHRONOLOGICALLY
1st MEETING 10-28-21
A special Budget meeting - Residents
had no documents making hte meeting useless and preventing any
informed comments. The manager said he would answer all
questions - he soon showed that was not true - as was the
case the year before and before that and before that . Did
not get the documents until 10-29-21, so the Board is expected
to change NOTHING significant at all, no matter what the
public says, because if they don't vote to advertize it
Nov 10, then it won't have time to have its HEARING.... you know
... right at
the holiday.... and pass in time for next year. This is how
Manager Manfredi keeps the public almost completely OUT of the
business he would like to transact by himself without our
annoying interference. The residents had ZERO input
on making his list of 8 million dollars woth
2nd MEETING 11-10-21 AT THE BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS MEETING
Yes, of course, we knew they were going to to pass it
forward to the hearing Dec 9th - But they way they listed it it
looked like it was to be a separate budget workshop that night
and that there would be ample time to address budget issues. It
actually had its own listing on the calendar page - just as
PennState was also on the agenda but had its own listing as well
- And they held a separate hearing for PSU . Even the chair of
the meeting John Spiegelman couldn't figure out where someone
was supposed to speak about budget matters. But they did not
hold a budget workshop. And when they found out that my
time to speak had been lost because I had expected to speak when
the workshop started, they still did not allow even 3 minutes.
They actually simply had it as an individual agenda item with 11
items altogether that they were allotting 3 minutes to speak on.
So 16 seconds is all they allotted to speak on an 856 page
budget. Even if you gave up all your rights to speak on any
other matter, you still would only have 3 minutes. Sunshine Law
says that is not an appropriate amount of time for a budget
Although this will be the first time the public has to speak
since they saw the documents on 10-29-21, the Board is expected
to change NOTHING significant at all, no matter what the
public says, because if they don't vote to advertize it
Nov 10, then it won't have time to have its HEARING right at
the holiday, and pass in time for next year. This is how
Manager Manfredi keeps the public almost completely OUT of the
business he would like to transact by himself without our
annoying interference. That's why this president of the
board should be stepping down. The public cannot have officials
that they elect that do not operate in their interest. So
yes, of course, they proved it for the hearing December 9 and
did not approve a single day for a workshop. Abington residents
should be outraged but they have made everything complicated
enough that very few understand what's being done. When they do
inquire they are lied to and that makes things difficult, too.
Please feel free to
send your information to us and please be sure
to tell us about any information you believe to be
incorrect -
just contact us
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