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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
Presenting the budget …
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Locally annual budget review and approval process is one of the two prime annual local political events and thus Quincy Quarry is proud to looking to be the first to exposé Mayor Thomas Koch’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget to the public.
Prime among the annual sport is playing a manner of fiscal Where’s Waldo meets seeing through the koch and mirrors with what is foisted.
While Quincy Quincy News experts on its Financial and other affairs desk are only just beginning to follow the money, problems have already been spotted.
Following the money
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For starters, the mayor’s claim of a but 2.9% spending increase on the record statement is actually 3% given a rounding error surely but coincidentally favorable to the Koch Maladministration.
Up in smoke
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On the other hand, the Quarry’s financial quants would argue that Mayor Koch’s proposed FY 2027 spending increase is better seen as running at 4.23% or 4.43% depending on how one expects unspent budgeted funds will be reallocated to cover overspending on other budget items.
For example, covering the cost of running $5 million over budget on snow removal last winter as well as a currently projected to run close a million and a half over budget in spending by the Quincy Fire Department given that fire department continues to run overbudget by upwards of around 5% on average.
Mayor Koch’s performance at the City Council was a masterclass in condescension. Council President Mahoney almost called the Fire Department to extract Noel DiBona’s head from the Mayor’s backside — although the Jaws of Life might have slipped on all the BS being shoveled.
Koch pitched the Eastern Nazarene acquisition like he was Walt Disney building the Magic Kingdom, but it was giving me more “Barney the Dinosaur” vibes.
Of course, every “magic” project he touches miraculously turns into gold for his developers and jobs for his donor-filled family tree. How many saint statues will one campus need, anyway?If you want a monument to his ego, look no further than the “General’s Bridge” — a multi-million-dollar tax-funded “thank you for your service” that conveniently terminates at a Burger King drive-thru and Tom looks like he has been through that drive thru more than just a few times.
He even tried to claim our lower fire insurance rates are due to “manpower,” ignoring minor details like smoke detectors and sprinkler laws. It turns out sending a four-man crew on a massive Mack truck for a medical call about diarrhea is less about “public safety” and more about inflating stats to justify promoting more donors.
In the meanwhile, the city’s bond rating is tanking and the city’s finances are in the gutter — but not to worry: Tommy and his minions will keep you distracted with plenty of “free” parades and concerts while the ship sinks.
Tommy’s dog and pony show looked like a script provided by Flynn Flam Dan. I’m sure he is also consulting. Our finances are in terrible shape and Tommy has decided to go for broke. I hope the Council stops him.
And Boner has sealed his fate. He is now a target for anyone who wants to run. Hell, just put a clip together of all his a$$-kissing of Mayor Koch. He does not learn well and cannot read the writing on the wall.
Hinds also made a fool of himself and Anne knifed him with “your car, stored in the City’s garage (Greenleaf St.), every winter”. No wonder he does not want to finish that job (5+ years and counting). He gets to store his Mustang there for free. Can we all use City property as it were our own? Maybe I can use the garage to store my snowmobiles for the summer while Hinds is cruising to P-town in his Mustang.
Watching the chief of staph(sp?) get all doe eyed watching and listening to the burgomaster of BS was nauseating.
Then there was all the department heads back slapping each other like extras from The Sopranos, I was waiting for ‘ Ooooo… fuggedaboutit…’
Noel, “Clint Eastwood”, the card slinger from another municipality, ‘the kid from Quincy-who’d a thought’, campy entertainment.
So the reason, reasons, reasoning, for purchasing the Munroe Building continues to change.
And how convenient that after purchasing it with COVID funds, with the stated intent of tearing it down to build a new city hall and/or offices, and/or a Quincy College facility, numerous non-profits have been allowed to squat there pretty much rent-free.
Conversely, paying tenants have left for various reasons with some of the space remains vacant.
How much has it cost the taxpayers to build-out certain sections of the building to accommodate non-rent paying entities? And who pays the utilities? One could even suspect that the only reason the nonprofits are there was and still is to justify using COVID funds for “cultural and civic” purposes — an ass-covering afterthought by the Lord Mayor.
The NPs are merely there as a convenience and though I have no squabble with them taking advantage of the opportunity, they’re being used as cover — a smokescreen — for a Koch boondoggle.
The Quincy Grift: Gas, Gear, and Guzzlers
It’s heartwarming to know that while we’re all sweating at the gas pump, Quincy’s elite are enjoying the “free car and gas” lifestyle. Mayor Koch cruises in a $60,000-plus Tahoe —- a vehicle so sophisticated that he occasionally needs a taxpayer-funded police chauffeur to help him navigate it. Presumably, this is because the city is so “safe” he requires an armed escort to drive him to City Hall.
The sense of entitlement doesn’t stop at the top. We’ve got public safety officials using city-owned vehicles as personal minivans, swapping out car seats and running the school pick-up line on our dime. Apparently, a massive salary and a golden pension aren’t enough; we also have to subsidize their toddlers’ commutes and the maintenance on their gas-guzzlers.
Why hasn’t the Council investigated switching to hybrids? There is literally no reason for the Mayor to be driving a tank unless he wants to lease one with his own money.
Tom wants a New York City Mayor’s salary despite having a resume that would barely qualify him to mow the grass at Lincoln Hancock. He wouldn’t last a minute in the private sector, but luckily for him, “crony politics” doesn’t require a degree—just a massive fleet of taxpayer-funded vehicles and a remarkably thin skin for someone so fond of the spotlight.
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## Tracking the “Benefit” (Our Expense). While the city remains tight-lipped on a full accounting, here is what we’re currently subsidizing for the “City Hall Car Club”:
* The Mayor’s Tahoe: Estimated at $65,000+. This gas-guzzling status symbol comes with free fuel and a part-time police driver.
* The Department Head Fleet: Take-home vehicles for high-salaried officials who seemingly can’t manage their own commutes without a city-funded perk.
* The “School Run” Specials: Unofficial personal use by public safety staff for transporting family members, with taxpayers picking up the tab for wear, tear, and fuel.
* The Chauffeur Service: The added cost of a police officer’s salary to act as the Mayor’s personal driver, even as he touts the city’s “manpower” and safety records.
Let’s help Tom Cut the budget! I bet we can get the budget down 20 percent easily!
Good job Carl.
As Deep Throat said to your partner, “FOLLOW THE MONEY” and finally the city council is starting to do just that.
I believe another precedent was set last night, where his honor the Mayor actually had to stand in front of our elected representatives and take questions about the budget that was brilliantly crafted by Mrs. Pickles nursery school on “crayon day.”
He hasn’t been that startled since his old man had to wake him behind the cemetery vaults at Mt Wollaston, during his hey day as “Dick’s Kid.”
Or even when the late Jim Sheets couldn’t even save him from being a U of Q dropout. The bloom is off the rose.
Unlike the last bunch of councilors – The Rubber Stampers, Councilor Devine ((D-Granite Links), “ ahhhh, make a motion to pass, no, no councilor — we have to talk about it, ask questions.”
Ahhh I’m good. Councilor DiBona: ahhh second.””
Oh yea — he’s still there!
Mr. Hough,
Personally, I am so looking forward to Boner calling out a “second” even though Devine is no longer around to motion for approval.
Councilor DiBona lecturing a councilor with a Ph.D. had to be the most entertaining skit of the night. DiBona continues to boast of his years on the council yet during last year’s meeting to set the Tax rate he was scolded for his lack of understanding the process. A process he has sat through for eight plus years. DiBona’s endorsement spiels for the mayor are becoming stall and non-constructive.
Also amusing was the mayor losing his composure throughout his sales pitch. Insulting a councilor who questioned his lack of ability to finish projects. Then not having the answers on fiscal matters his staff neglected to produce — again, he had no meaningful reply. As he walked away he looked like a beaten man with all of his own doing.
Howard,
Thanks for bringing up the tax rate setting diss of Boner!!!
IFFC wasn’t it former Council President Cain who dope slapped the dope and which would only adds to the weight of the diss?
$21 million for ENC. This is going to be “interesting”. Get the popcorn ready.
Marie,
Words to the wise: order early as my inventory is already running low whereas the cost of diesel is up to $6 a gallon, not to mention that unpropped popcorn keeps.
City Hall’s “Once in a Lifetime” Memory Loss has Koch back at it, calling the ENC land a “once in a lifetime” chance for the city to control its own destiny.
Apparently, his lifetime doesn’t include 2016. Remember the 15-acre Quincy Hospital site on Whitwell?
Back then, there was zero talk of the city buying the land to “protect” the neighborhood. Instead, we watched a $42 million asset handed to FoxRock for a cool $12 million. Residents of Hospital Hill got a “too bad” while all locals were sold a “Medical Center” in Quincy Square Apartment Land that’s really just a 9-to-5 office with an X-ray machine.
Now, Koch is spinning fairy tales about “55+ housing” and helping young families score a home.
We know the drill: those units won’t go to you; they’ll go to the same family and its friends as well as donors who always seem to be standing in the right place when the city starts handing out favors.
He thinks we’re stupid -—let’s prove him wrong. Better get your donations into his campaign account because if they utilize their “lottery system” donors seem to always have the most incredible “luck”.
When pimping a grift one has to keep upping the sizzle as there is no beef.
Why is the mayor’s sister (Fire Fighters Union President) living in subsidized housing at 75 Airport Road. This woman was a city employee for years now collecting a pension who sold her home and now is in aka public housing! How did that happen?
Correction Tom Bowes, President of the Quincy firefighters union local, is the son of Koch’s sister Linda and who is living in “affordable” public housing on Airport Road and is receiving an at the max rate pension from the city.
Howard,
Do I really have to explain to you that in Quincy the rules are more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules?
I wonder — is the Lord Mayor and real estate genius “planning” to give the fully-built-out ENC property the same treatment and apply the same “principles” as he’s done for the Munroe building?
Whatever the case may be, rest assured our taxes will be paying for it.
And paying, and paying, and paying . . .