The very thought of getting up early tomorrow to be somewhere by 8:30 a.m. was so worrisome that I had to make an escape to Purseblog to settle my nerves. Their motto is "shallow obsessing strongly encouraged" and I did so with alacrity, swooning over a flower-embroidered raffia purse that I neither need nor can afford.
I had hoped to write a post about the June 12 agenda, but the items that interest me most are also unclear to me and, I would guess, any other layperson unfamiliar with fiscal terminology. For example, the $1.5 million in grant balances up for cancellation - does that mean the money goes back to the general fund? That might be a good offset for taxes if so. Some of the money in the Urban Enterprise Zone program has been sitting idle since 2002, including $600,000 tagged for "Senior Citizen Construction" and $300,000 for "Park Madison." Another six-figure item on the list is $125,000 for a "Community Retail Analysis" that dates back to 2005, but was never done. There is also $94,189 for a 2005 "North Avenue Storm Drain" project.
There are other UEZ grant balances, but I could not correlate them with the analysis of the UEZ grant account that was given out last month. Other unused grant money includes $60,000 for "Safe & Secure" from last year and two grants totaling $71,000 for the Special Improvement District.
Ooops! It is now past midnight! Gotta go! As a reporter I usually started late and stayed late, putting in many a 12-hour day. Catching a bus to Westfield at 7:55 a.m. Monday and later covering a 7 p.m. Democratic City Committee meeting is maybe even worse than the old days in the newsroom.
--Bernice
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Bernice - If you can stay on top of the unused UEZ funds please do so. If the money wasn't used then it should be formally returned to the active UEZ account and available for new projects. If the project was executed city money may have been fronted for the expense and UEZ funds never tapped for reimbursement to the city's coffers. Granted it's all Plainfield's money but you likely need it more in the municipal budget to cover day to day expenses.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was the Mayor's intended objective, confuse, confound and obfuscate the money trail?
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