Hi All,
Please... send this on to others in the township ASAP. Thank you.
MEETING @ 11am.. tomorrow, Wed. June 1
Hi All,
This is it. $50,000 was paid for the PDF report attached (sorry, cannot attach the pdf in this blog, I can email it or you can FOIA it from the township) and the $50,000 price included a 2 hour public meeting at the township (Friday, May 20, 2016). That meeting ended at noon because Supervisor Savoie said it would. Township offices are normally closed on that day and Savoie came to the meeting wearing his golf shirt. Graystone Consulting was rushed through their presentation and the Trustees appeared to have more questions. Didn't matter. Meeting ended at noon.
So... what to do about the Prudential Defined Benefit Plan...... ????
The Township Financial Sustainability Committee meets @ 11 am on June 1, 2016 to discuss the report, without Graystone Consulting in attendance and without the members of the Board of Trustees. Oh joy. Wonder what the predetermined outcome of this meeting will be? I'll bet you it involves spending more money.
A history... incomplete... but... can't explain everything...
This current story of the Prudential Defined Benefit Pension "unsustainability" plan begins with READING minutes/ and board packets from study sessions:
(I didn't list the REGULAR board of trustees meetings... but a lot of important information there ... find a treasure trove of info. in the Board Packet -972 pages- Board of Trustees from: Nov. 23, 2015)
I highly recommend watching the archived audio/video of the regular meetings . The entire discussion and the public comments are never part of the printed minutes. I often say the written minutes are only what they want you to know...
Use the links and read what was said in these meetings.. found in the board packets ..or on video:
1. David Payne's Special Study Session meeting of 7/7/11 when he announced he was retiring... and while he said he is neutral on the next Supervisor, the room was full of Leo Savoie supporters ... the "appointed" one.
2. Corinne Khederian is appointed Trustee to replace Leo Savoie / now Supervisor Sept?, 2011
3. February 9, 2012 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review..... Trustee Brian Kepes/ ABSENT
4. November 13, 2012 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review ... newly appointed Trustee Corinne Khederian/ ABSENT
5. April 22, 2013 Special Study Session: Defined Benefit Plan & Pension Obligation ABSENT AGAIN.... newly appointed Trustee Corinne Khederian
6. May 13, 2013 Special Study Session: Defined Benefit Plan & Pension Obligation
7. June 26, 2013 Town Hall meeting minutes/ before Bonds purchased
8. July 9, 2013 Town Hall meeting round 2/ before Bonds purchased
9. November 11, 2013 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review and Recommended Investment Allocation of Pension Obligation Bonds Proceeds
10. January 30, 2014 Special Study Session: Defined Benefit Cost and Comparisons ABSENT: Trustees Neal Barnett and Corinne Khederian
11. August 7, 2014 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review ABSENT: Supervisor Leo Savoie
12. September 15, 2014 Special Study Session: Public Act 347 Pay to play.. etc
13. December 2, 2014 Special Study Session: Defined Benefit Plan Sustainability Year 1 Review ABSENT: Trustee Brian Kepes 1 hour late: Trustee Corinne Khederian
14. March 10, 2015 Special Study Session: Presentation by Prudential RE: Defined Benefit Pension Plan & chart w/ retiree to date monthly benefit/ ABSENT: C.Khederian
15. May 28, 2015 Special Study Session: Appoint Financial Sustainability Candidates/
Came late 15 min: Brian Kepes and Came later 35 min.: Corinne Khederian
16. July 14, 2015 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review/ meeting included the Financial Sustainability committee members: ABSENT: Ken Hudson (FSC member)
17. November 9, 2015 REGULAR meeting of the Board of Trustees:
The meeting where the vote to hire which company will do financial sustainability report: ABSENT: Supervisor Leo Savoie,
ABSENT : Trustee: C. Khederian, and Finance Director: Jason Theis, a member of the Financial Sustainability Committee
18. February 22, 2016 Special Study Session: Fiduciary Review/ meeting included the Financial Sustainability committee members
19. May 20, 2016 Special Study Session: $50,000 report by Graystone Consulting ( a division of Morgan Stanley) about the DB Pension Plan/ ABSENT: C. Khederian AGAIN
20. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MINUTES
Financial Sustainability Committee Meeting Minutes October 06, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Meeting Minutes September 09, 2015
ABSENT: Supervisor Leo Savoie and Finance Director Jason Theis/ @interviews of the companies bidding to do the financial sustainability study and report
Financial Sustainability Committee Meeting Minutes July 14, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Meeting Minutes February 24, 2015
21. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE PACKETS PACKETS
Financial Sustainability Committee Packet October 28, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Packet October 06, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Packet September 09, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Packet July 14, 2015
Financial Sustainability Committee Packet February 24, 2015
My opinions:
As you can plainly see: Trustees Brian Kepes and Corinne Khederian missed some very important meetings. This is just the STUDY session meetings missed. There are many more.
Do NOT elect them again.
Corinne Khederian should not be a Trustee.... she has missed WAY TOO MANY meetings since late 2011. She just doesn't understand some things.
Brian Kepes, currently a Trustee, is running for Treasurer on the Aug. 2 ballot... but is NOT qualified. Do NOT vote for him. Plus, if you could actually hear his questions and comments when he attends the meetings.. you would know what I am talking about.
I attend almost all of these Bloomfield Township meetings. The township refuses to audio/video all the public meetings... they just do the Board of Trustees.. and archive those meetings. The audio of other public meetings can be erased after the minutes are approved. The evidence of what REALLY was said is lost. Savoie claims transparency... but is not found under his leadership.
I am the "watchdog". I attend the meetings and witness what is happening. Thus my "Hi All" email notices morphed into my BloomfieldTownshipHappenings blog in 2011. My blog can be found on The Oakland Press website: news/blogs.
FYI:
Supervisor Savoie and Finance Director Jason Theis did NOT attend the meeting for the scheduled interviews for the candidates for this $50,000 study. They were no shows for the interviews. ( See the 3 proposals submitted in the Financials Sustainability Committee PACKET from 9/9/2015. )
Unbelievable! The Supervisor and the Finance Director on the committee hiring for a $50,000 study and they don't meet and interview the companies that submitted the RFP's !
Neither man showed up at the regular Board of Trustees meeting either where Supervisor Savoie had a vote on which company was awarded the $50,000 job. I was at the interviews and I thought Asset Strategies, Inc. was clearly the best choice to hire. However, another pre-determined outcome.
Now.... by not showing up at the Board of Trustees meeting( 11/9/15)... Savoie did not have to recuse himself from the vote and make that public knowledge that the company hired: Graystone Consulting, a Business of Morgan Stanley, that the Executive Director is a member of OHCC (Oakland Hills Country Club).... as is Supervisor Savoie and another FSC member, Ken Hudson.
However,... why didn't the Finance Director, Jason Theis show up? Orders from Savoie? Theis is a member of this Financial Sustainability Committee and he was the only one assigned to follow up on references for the 3 companies. That night (11/9/15) the trustees may have wanted to ask Theis some questions before they voted. So, why wasn't Theis at the meeting? Well, my theory is he is just the puppet... and Savoie wasn't there to control the strings. My opinion. Oh, and the other reason.... a predetermined outcome... as usual.
http://bloomfieldtwpmi.minutesondemand.com
for the agendas
for minutes of regular and study session Board of Trustees meetings
for the board packets of the regular and study session meetings
for other committees and boards/ ie; Financial Sustainability Committee
http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/cable/Videos/BoardOfTrusteeMeetings.asp
the audio-video of the regular board of trustees meetings archived on the web-site... tell the REAL STORY...and you can hear public comments and much more
http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/
my blog.... archived blogs from 2011- to the present. Go to the right side column... use the drop down menu for each year and month... read ! learn !
Marcia
REMEMBER TO VOTE AUGUST 2, 2016 ...... the November election is TOO LATE to vote... for this township local election.... because no Democrats or others filed for the positions so..... the winners in August ... are the next township leadership. We need to get this right in August!
My picks for a better township government:
David Thomas for Supervisor
Susie Kern for Clerk
Dan Devine for Treasurer
Trustees Vote for these 4
Jeff Axt
Kirk Brannock
David Buckley
Dani Walsh
Showing posts with label The Oakland Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Oakland Press. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Excessive Taxes... Vote NO on Bl. Twp. Four Millages
Hi All,
$98 Million in reserves, but Bloomfield Township wants to continue high tax rates. There is enough in reserves to retire the renewing 4 millages. (One millage doesn't even expire until 2016)
Of the 85 Townships within the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, The Charter Township of Bloomfield, with total expenditures of $76,366,077, places 2nd in terms of total expenditures for fiscal year 2013. The Township spent $1,859 per capita; $1,115 more than the Regional Average for Townships.
Bloomfield Township management continues to OVER SPEND.
WHY should management ask for 10 year millages... then BANK a lot of that previously collected money... and then continue to ask for more money for another 10 years claiming the township is broke? The Bloomfield Township AAA rating is because there is money in the bank.... and some of that money is in DEDICATED funds... meaning the money may only be spent for a specific department.
Recently, the local media has begun to weigh in on how the taxpayers should vote. They take the Township leadership spin position. I disagree with the Township spin. The media gives a mere mention that I disagree.
Recently, the author of an Oakland Press article wrote this:
"Robovitsky believes that the millage is unfair because even non-members
would have to pay it. She thinks a better solution is to charge each
member of the senior center $100 per year, including non-residents who
use the center."
That statement doesn't go far enough.
The "non-members" as the author wrote it.... are the Township residents... that are NOT OLD ENOUGH to be members of the Senior Center. Why should the younger generations have to pay the operating costs? Everyone in the township is obligated to pay the costs for the BOND for the Senior Center building construction.
There are other "non-members" who do NOT LIVE in the township, yet benefit from our tax dollars. At the present time, they only pay $10 extra to attend programs, classes, and trips. No millage tax payments, no construction bond payments. Why is our local government giving outsiders better deals than the taxpayers?
The Senior Center leadership says there are 11,000 "profiled" members. MY suggestion was to have a FEE/ or DUES for those 11,000 "profiled" members....say $100 annually. That fee would raise $1,100,000, which would be $300,000 MORE than the millage money would generate ($800,000). The "non-members" that do NOT live in Bloomfield Township should have a fee/dues at least twice that or be excluded altogether. They can always move and live in the Township and pay the high taxes.
Why hasn't this fee/dues plan been discussed by township leadership or the senior center leadership?
Perhaps the 11,000 "profiled" members... really don't attend the center. Perhaps part of that number is a lot of NON-residents. Perhaps the figure of 400-500 daily usage is not really correct. There has NEVER been, in the ten years of collecting millage money for this senior center, an ANNUAL REPORT. Why give another 10 years of millage money when there has been NO accounting to how the money has been spent for the last ten years? There is $2.4 MILLION CASH (saved from previous millage money) in the Senior Services Fund that can only be used for the senior center. The millage brings in approx. $800,000 a year. That means there is $2.4 Million currently SAVED to operate the senior center for the next 2 years WITHOUT the need to raise more cash via the August 5, 2014 "stealth" election.
FYI:
Article in Downtown Publications:
http://www.downtownpublications.com/Articles-election-c-2014-06-27-218564.112113-Our-endorsements-for-August-primary.html
Two articles from The Oakland Press about the millages:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/government-and-politics/20140624/bloomfield-township-safety-millage-renewals-critical-to-community
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20140623/bloomfield-township-senior-services-millage-allows-center-to-continue-normal-operation
$98 Million in reserves, but Bloomfield Township wants to continue high tax rates. There is enough in reserves to retire the renewing 4 millages. (One millage doesn't even expire until 2016)
Of the 85 Townships within the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, The Charter Township of Bloomfield, with total expenditures of $76,366,077, places 2nd in terms of total expenditures for fiscal year 2013. The Township spent $1,859 per capita; $1,115 more than the Regional Average for Townships.
Bloomfield Township management continues to OVER SPEND.
WHY should management ask for 10 year millages... then BANK a lot of that previously collected money... and then continue to ask for more money for another 10 years claiming the township is broke? The Bloomfield Township AAA rating is because there is money in the bank.... and some of that money is in DEDICATED funds... meaning the money may only be spent for a specific department.
Recently, the local media has begun to weigh in on how the taxpayers should vote. They take the Township leadership spin position. I disagree with the Township spin. The media gives a mere mention that I disagree.
Recently, the author of an Oakland Press article wrote this:
"Robovitsky believes that the millage is unfair because even non-members
would have to pay it. She thinks a better solution is to charge each
member of the senior center $100 per year, including non-residents who
use the center."
That statement doesn't go far enough.
The "non-members" as the author wrote it.... are the Township residents... that are NOT OLD ENOUGH to be members of the Senior Center. Why should the younger generations have to pay the operating costs? Everyone in the township is obligated to pay the costs for the BOND for the Senior Center building construction.
There are other "non-members" who do NOT LIVE in the township, yet benefit from our tax dollars. At the present time, they only pay $10 extra to attend programs, classes, and trips. No millage tax payments, no construction bond payments. Why is our local government giving outsiders better deals than the taxpayers?
The Senior Center leadership says there are 11,000 "profiled" members. MY suggestion was to have a FEE/ or DUES for those 11,000 "profiled" members....say $100 annually. That fee would raise $1,100,000, which would be $300,000 MORE than the millage money would generate ($800,000). The "non-members" that do NOT live in Bloomfield Township should have a fee/dues at least twice that or be excluded altogether. They can always move and live in the Township and pay the high taxes.
Why hasn't this fee/dues plan been discussed by township leadership or the senior center leadership?
Perhaps the 11,000 "profiled" members... really don't attend the center. Perhaps part of that number is a lot of NON-residents. Perhaps the figure of 400-500 daily usage is not really correct. There has NEVER been, in the ten years of collecting millage money for this senior center, an ANNUAL REPORT. Why give another 10 years of millage money when there has been NO accounting to how the money has been spent for the last ten years? There is $2.4 MILLION CASH (saved from previous millage money) in the Senior Services Fund that can only be used for the senior center. The millage brings in approx. $800,000 a year. That means there is $2.4 Million currently SAVED to operate the senior center for the next 2 years WITHOUT the need to raise more cash via the August 5, 2014 "stealth" election.
- THINK !
- the township citizens should vote NO on this proposed millage on August 5, 2014
- Vote NO. The November 2016 election is the time for money issues to be on the ballot.
- the township leadership should demand an Annual Report from the Senior Service Dept.
- the township leadership should consider and discuss a FEE based policy to generate the approx. $800,000 revenue that is needed for employee wages/health benefits/pensions
- MUCH of the operation of the Senior Center is via grants/fee based classes/trips and volunteer generosity
- the taxpayers should not be burdened with this 10 year dedicated millage
- there is absolutely NO reason with the current funds in savings to shut down any part of this senior services for the next two years.... there is money in the bank
- Senior Service FUND balances on March 31 at the end of the fiscal year for the years 2013, 2014, and estimated 2015 numbers from a FOIA document I obtained:
- I recommend a NO VOTE on this and the other Bloomfield Township millages because Supervisor Savoie stated that IF all the millages fail... his 2014-2015 budget is good... no cuts needed... as I did find out with this FOIA document of approx. $98 MILLION In FUNDS at the township:
FYI:
Article in Downtown Publications:
http://www.downtownpublications.com/Articles-election-c-2014-06-27-218564.112113-Our-endorsements-for-August-primary.html
Two articles from The Oakland Press about the millages:
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/government-and-politics/20140624/bloomfield-township-safety-millage-renewals-critical-to-community
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20140623/bloomfield-township-senior-services-millage-allows-center-to-continue-normal-operation
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