Saturday, October 21, 2017

Are Gloucester County’s Budgets By Administrator Fedors As Spectacular As York District Supervisor Bazzani Claims?

During a recent Gloucester County candidate forum, York District Supervisor Phillip Bazzani touted his vast experience in creating and managing budgets involving substantial amounts of money. He further insisted he knows every aspect of Gloucester’s 2018 budget. Supervisor Bazzani has also repeatedly publicly asserted that County Administrator Brent Fedors’ budget documents are the best he has seen in the 34 years he has lived in Gloucester. Are these assertions true? Here is what we know to be true and factual.


When Mr. Fedors presented his first budget to the Board of Supervisors and the public, it lacked details that were present in budgets prepared by his predecessors. When we pointed this out to Mr. Fedors he said,

“While we are not planning to add that level of detail to the proposed budget book for FY17, we are preparing a supplemental information piece for Board Members that does. I will make sure you get a copy when it is ready.”

After receiving his response, we forwarded the email conversation with Mr. Fedors and the following statement to the Board of Supervisors.

“I and others find Mr. Fedors' budget proposal and last response disturbing for a number of reasons and hope the majority of you do as well. Foremost, Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include transparency; as the Code of Virginia requires the People to be presented information at the same time as the governing body. (Unless otherwise exempted by FOIA) Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include an acceptable level of transparency which has led to restricting the People from data that is necessary to evaluate how their tax dollars are being spent. I will not say much more at this time as I understand Mr. Fedors' is new to the government game. On the other hand, his staff certainly are not. One would hope they would guide their new boss in a better direction.”

Mr. Fedors provided us the information piece as he promised, but even after we expressed our concerns to him and the Board of Supervisors, his FY18 budget demonstrated the same lack of transparency. Again we contacted Mr. Fedors via email to request line item data, which the Finance Director provided.

What we find concerning is the fact that Mr. Bazzani publicly stated Mr. Fedors’ FY17 Budget was the most comprehensive budget document he has seen in all his years of managing budgets. How could anyone make such a statement about a budget document that lacks the amount of detail Mr. Fedors’ lacked? The FY17 budget email conversation we have shared below clearly demonstrates the Board of Supervisor did not have the necessary data to effectively scrutinize Mr. Fedors’ proposed budget until several days after Mr. Bazzani praised Mr. Fedors.

We have provided Slideshare presentations of both of Mr. Fedors’ budgets and the last budget his predecessor prepared. We have provided our email conversations with Mr. Fedors, the Finance Director and the Board of Supervisors, as well as Slideshare presentations of the data we were forced to request from Mr. Fedors. We have also provided some video clips for your enjoyment. Though there are numerous other transparency shortcomings and many wasteful spending practices that we have not touched on here, we ask you to take special notice of the difference in the amount of data provided for budgeted expenditures for each department. You will see that Mr. Fedors combined budgeted expenditures into three line items for each department, whereas his predecessor had many more line items for each department. What are they trying to hide??

Written comments may be emailed to Kennysr61@gmail.com
Supervisor Bazzani stating he knows every aspect of the budget


 

Supervisor Bazzani praising Mr. Fedors' FY17 budget even before Mr. Fedors' information piece with detailed data was provided.






FY16 Budget (General fund expenditures begin on Slideshare page 75)
FY18 Budget (General fund expenditures begin on Slideshare page 71)
FY17 info we were forced to requested from Mr. Fedors
FY18 info we were forced to requested from Mr. Fedors
Email conversation about FY17 budget

03/20/16 at 11:57 AM


Board Members,

I and others find Mr. Fedors' budget proposal and last response disturbing for a number of reasons and hope the majority of you do as well. Foremost, Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include transparency; as the Code of Virginia requires the People to be presented information at the same time as the governing body. (Unless otherwise exempted by FOIA) Mr. Fedors' budget process does not appear to include an acceptable level of transparency which has led to restricting the People from data that is necessary to evaluate how their tax dollars are being spent.

I will not say much more at this time as I understand Mr. Fedors' is new to the government game. On the other hand, his staff certainly are not. One would hope they would guide their new boss in a better direction.

Respectfully,

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Fedors, Brent" bfedors@gloucesterva.info

To: Kenny
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2016 10:41 AM
Subject: Re: 2017 Budget

Mr. Hogge -

While we are not planning to add that level of detail to the proposed budget book for FY17, we are preparing a supplemental information piece for Board Members that does.

I will make sure you get a copy when it is ready - likely Tuesday.

Brent

On Mar 17, 2016, at 9:22 AM, Kenny wrote:

Brent,

We are looking for a proposed budget document that contains at least as much information as the 2016 budget proposal which can be found at:  http://www.gloucesterva.info/Portals/0/finance/documents/FY16%20County%20Administrator's%20Proposed%20Budget.pdf?ver=2015-03-05-090048-737

A "general fund expenditure budget" as presented in the 2016 proposal is one example of the expanded data we would like to continue to see and are hoping the Supervisors are already assessing as they process the FY17 proposal. 

Kenny 

From: "Fedors, Brent" <bfedors@gloucesterva.info>
To: Kenny
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: 2017 Budget

Mr. Hogge -


There are also copies of the book available for public review at both libraries and in the County Administration office.

Please let me know if there are specific questions you have that I may be able to address - I'm glad to help in any way I can.

Brent

On Mar 16, 2016, at 9:55 AM, Kenny wrote:

Hello Mr. Fedors,

I would like to get a copy of the "2017 Budget Book" that has been provided to the Supervisors. The information posted on the County's website is not detailed enough for the People to do any sort of analysis of what is being proposed.

Thank you sir,


Email conversation about FY18 budget data


Mar 20 at 11:15 AM

To Kenny


Message body


 Attached is the information as requested.

 1st tab – General Fund by Expenditure Line Item

2nd tab – Provides information on the Total Transfers Out line item from the General Fund

3rd tab – Capital Projects

4th tab – External Agencies Funding Request and what is included in the Proposed Budget

Please let me know if you have questions or need anything further.

Thanks,

Stephanie


From: Fedors, Brent
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2017 2:06 PM
To: Kenny
Cc: Tinsley, Stephanie <stinsley@gloucesterva.info>; Lewis, Christi <clewis@gloucesterva.info>
Subject: Re: FY18 Budget Info Request

Mr. Hogge -

I am forwarding this to Ms. Tinsley who will coordinate our response.

Thank you for your inquiry,

Brent


On Mar 19, 2017, at 9:51 AM, Kenny wrote:

Hello Mr. Fedors,

Hope this finds you in good health and spirits.

Can I get a copy of the proposed FY18 line item budget and proposed capital improvement expenditures? If possible; I would also like something that reflects the name of all external agencies/nongovernmental organizations that are requesting FY18 funding and how much each is asking for. Electronic copies are preferred.

Thank you,

Kenny

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Gloucester County Employee Pay, A Response

It’s a bit disheartening to run as a change agent in 2013, and then read “Sounds like the same old empty promises that have fueled the waste of Gloucester County taxpayer dollars in other areas. Like renting our libraries and health department spaces instead of owning them and not creating a revenue stream from health department rent that is paid to Gloucester by the Commonwealth, not consolidating compatible school and county services, building more parks than our local government should ever be responsible for and numerous other wasteful practices.”

 We get elected on our own platforms, then get saddled with all the sins of previous Boards.  If voters vote for a change, and the change candidates win, why don’t we at least start with the premise that something’s changed.  I’ll be happy to address your outlined areas of concern at a later date, but right now, the only thing that relates to “promises” is that of a coming employee pay increase.

“Same old empty promises”?  The only time I believe you’ve heard this Board (certainly Phillip and I) state an intent to raise pay was in 2016.  And we did, with a 4% across the board raise.  Now you may certainly argue as to whether or not that was enough, but we did say we’d provide a pay raise, and we delivered.  Was that the “old empty promise” you were referring to?

The Board is saying that a raise is coming in FY18.  Based on previous experience with this Board, you should count on it.  Unless, of course, you have a NEW Board next year … they are also promising pay raises.  Only difference is, they haven’t delivered on a promise yet.

Thanks for listening,

John Meyer

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

IRS Admits Most Americans NOT Responsible For Income Taxes




April 15th, that dreaded date every year is the last day of the year to file your 1040 tax return or it is considered late.  Many American's file early.  But what if you do not even have to file?  What if you should not even have any taxes taken from your wages to begin with?  We have been studying this information for some time now and we keep getting the same information over and over that there simply is no law that requires most American's to file and or have any money taken out of your wages for income tax purposes.  Most American's simply do not owe the IRS any money.

  Why do most people pay into the system then if they do not owe any money?  The IRS is not required to inform you as to whether or not you owe any money.  If you think you do, they are more than happy to allow you to pay them.  If you get the information wrong on your filing, then they can come after you even though you didn't owe the money.  You got the information wrong per their rules.  Can you just stop filing income taxes?  You want to do it in the correct manner because if you just stop, and having been paying into the system for years, then they believe you to be one of those folks who are required to pay income taxes.  You see, in their book, it is up to you to know the tax laws.  It is not up to them.

  Watch the video above, and if you are still not convinced, there are plenty more videos that feature IRS agents, Senators, Congressmen and lawyers who will take you through the law.  In fact, here is yet another video.




Do your own research and verify what you learn here.  It may be worth a fortune to you.  It's a raise that won't cost anyone anything.  The government won't go out of business if you stop paying.  That is also covered in these videos.  Take the time to learn something new.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Gloucester County At-Large School Board Candidate Brenda Mack's Campaign Flyer

This post does not signify our support for any candidate at this time. Just providing what is out there to our community.


The Black Budget And Gloucester, Virginia




Please take the time to watch this video.  It will give you the proper background for you to better understand the rest of the story I am about to present here. 

  What a strange ride the video is.  But, can it possibly be true?  One has to look at the backgrounds of those reporting on this subject.  One area of talks is trillions of dollars that the government is missing and can not account for, and this is all verifiable.  More keeps turning up missing every day.  How can this be?  Is it really happening?  Well, let me tell you of a recent story that is going on here in Gloucester and some very strange events.  I can not say this is a Black Budget situation, but it smells like it very well could be.

  SNAP.  Food benefits for those with incomes below a certain national average.  It starts from the Federal Government and is handled in each state by the state government and filters down to each locality.  So, many working families do get assistance for food if they qualify.  It's not a handout to those who are not willing to work only like so many people believe it is.  It is much needed by many as there are not that many good jobs left in this country. 

  Recently a family on SNAP had their benefits date altered and were not notified of this change.  Benefits were expected on the 1st of the month like they have always been but in September, those benefits were not there.  When the family inquired as to what was going on, they were told that because of the case number of that family fell on a certain number which meant that they were now scheduled for a new benefits date to begin on the 7th of each month. 

  Okay, no big deal except the family never received the notice.  I was informed of this and asked if SNAP was going to compensate the family for the week they were not receiving the usual benefits.  Answer?  They didn't really know.  In the past SNAP or Social Services did compensate for missing weeks.  So, I checked into the matter for them with a number of politicians I know and a few I have corresponded with in the past.  Here is what I learned.  From Social Services, the dates had to be offset as the food retailers gathered together and complained to our government that having benefits all start on the first of the month, the retailers could not properly manage the demand.  Rightfully so.  So the retailers asked for benefits to be staggered.  Rightfully so. 

  What I was looking at however, in the past Social Services compensated for any potential lost benefits in the past.  This time they are not.  Money is pooling somewhere on all of this.  The one family alone lost $125.00 for one week of lost benefits.  They were not complaining, but I wanted to know where that money is going.  $125.00 for one family.  This is happening to maybe one million families in this state alone.  If the average loss here is say $75.00 per family times 1 million families in the state of Virginia alone, that is a lot of money.  My first thought was this is all happening real close to election time.  Could someone be putting that money aside to try and rig the upcoming elections at the state level?  Stranger things have already happened folks.

  Interesting news.  I get a call from one the the aids of one of our state representatives.  He has been stonewalled looking into this matter.  I have even sent inquires as high as Congressman Rob Wittman's office.  As of yet, no response from his office.  I just recently stumbled across the above video, looking at the people and credentials of these folks, I am seeing that there just might be something to this Black Budget despite it's insane underlying nature.  Maybe it's not all that far fetched.  There is a comment at the end of this video I really liked.  If you do not think conspiracies are real, try getting involved in one and see if you can disprove it first.  You may just learn more than you ever knew existed.  Yes, we are often considered a conspiracy theory site.  That is because conspiracies seem to actually exist everywhere.  Some are frosted with stupidity or some insanity, but there is usually still a good level of truth in most all of the far fetched conspiracies that you hear about. 

  So again, I can not say that state SNAP money that is not being accounted for is going to this Black Budget concept.  I can't say it isn't since those actually digging are getting stonewalled in their investigation.  You have to determine for yourself and do some research on your own and make up your own mind. 

Gloucester County Employees May Be Getting More Tax Dollars; But Is It The Right Type Of Pay Increase?


After publishing our story about Gloucester County’s Administrator and Attorney getting raises, we received numerous comments from Gloucester residents. It looks like there are a whole lot of people in Gloucester who do not agree with the Board of Supervisors repeatedly giving nice raises and increased hours of paid time off to our local government executives while our non-executive employees get little to nothing. In fact, there are employees who take home less pay now than they did ten and more years ago. This type of crony socialist practice in our local government should be considered unacceptable by anyone who has worked for a living.

Now there is talk of bonuses for county employees, (Imagine that, just before election time) but are bonus payments in the best interest of non-executive local government employees? Yes and no. If a person working for our local government has no intentions of ever retiring under the Virginia Retirement System (VRS), then yes, bonuses would likely be beneficial to them.

Bonuses are not in the best interest of non-executive employees who intend to make Virginia government service a career. Bonuses are not included as part of a Virginia government employee’s annual salary when determining how much their retirement check from VRS will be. VRS defines Annual Salary as:

An employee’s full compensation payable annually, not including overtime pay, extraordinary pay, bonus pay, nonpermanent shift differentials or termination pay for annual or sick leave.

The best way to compensate or reward our non-executive local government employees is with a real pay raise. Throwing a bonus to these employees is nothing more than an effort to get by with paying these hard-working people as little as possible. What the current and previous Boards of Supervisors don’t seem to get is, these employees are the ones who provide us with water and sewer, maintain our infrastructure, repair our government used vehicles and perform numerous other important functions and services. They don’t get the concept of investing in those employees at any level, but they will hand out tax dollars and paid time off to executive employees like it is candy. Some things need to change in Gloucester and the last four years have not produced those changes. 

Below are the contents of emails one Gloucester resident received from some Gloucester County Supervisors when she questioned our local government employees’ pay. Sounds like the same old empty promises that have fueled the waste of Gloucester County taxpayer dollars in other areas. Like renting our libraries and health department spaces instead of owning them and not creating a revenue stream from health department rent that is paid to Gloucester by the Commonwealth, not consolidating compatible school and county services, building more parks than our local government should ever be responsible for and numerous other wasteful practices.  

From Andy James:

“Thanks for sending your e-mail.  I totally agree, all our county employees deserve a substantial raise, and even though I am one of seven on the BOS, will fight for this raise when it comes up.  Please know that even though the funding is tight, we still greatly appreciate the great jobs that our employees do to make it all work.  Also, the raises that we gave to Mr. Fedors and Mr. Wilmot were much deserved, as well.

 Sincerely,

 Andy James, Ware Dist. Supervisor”

From Phillip Bazzani:

“Coming from private industry as a retired executive at Newport News Shipbuilding, we always paid employees for performance and results.

Having said that, I will tell you that for the upcoming budget, compensation for all County employees will be our first priority.  Because this Board has simplified ordinances stifling new business growth over the last few years, and the significant organizational initiatives Mr. Fedors has implemented, we will have the ability to address compensation.  This is due to the additional sales tax revenue from new businesses who recently set up shop here, and savings/cost avoidance we have experienced thus far thanks to Mr. Fedor’s leadership.

Compensation will be a top priority for me in my upcoming term for all employees.  Moreover, Mr. Fedors has not indicated that the County will not provide the additional compensation bonus to our employees which is scheduled to occur at the end of this year.  

You will hear more about compensation as the year goes on.  I would be glad to talk to you more about this issue, so please do not hesitate to call me at 757-262-8462 (cell).

Phillip

Chair, BOS” 

From John Meyer:

“It was a pleasure to talk to you at the Jubilee – I just thought I’d take the time to put into writing what we discussed.

On the road trip back from the Governor’s Rural Prosperity Summit last week, Mr Fedors and I talked at some length about employee compensation.  There are several factors – sustained low wage growth; increased cost-of-living (to include health insurance); an improving economy that offers employees options; and increased competition for talent from other counties – that lead to the conclusion that county pay must be increased.  Brent is currently working on the pay structure for next year to determine how much it should be and how it should be allocated.  But there is no doubt in my mind that an upward adjustment needs to and will be made.

As for the 1% bonus this year – this was based on using the unexpended fund balance from last year, and couldn’t be awarded until after the books were ‘closed’ for FY17 (ending Jun 30, 2017).  The review is nearly done and the numbers look good.  There is no reason not to expect the bonus in the very near future.

Finally, with regards to Mr Fedors and Mr Wilmot salary increases.  As Mr James pointed out, they have been doing exceptional work – and the Board wanted to recognize that.  But something to keep in mind is that they are on a different pay cycle than the rest of the employees.  The budget and employee compensation for this current fiscal year has to be set in April.  The Administrator and County Attorney have their reviews in late summer and their compensation adjustment is determined by the end of September, and they are paid starting in January.  This out-of- cycle pay adjustment means that you could either think of them as the only ones that got pay increases this year – or you could think of them as being the first ones to get pay raises for next year … and as a leading indicator for good things to come for all employees.

Thank you for writing,

John”

Friday, September 29, 2017

Governor McAuliffe Receives 2017 Virginia School Board Association’s Legislative Award of Excellence

Once you are done gagging on the self grandiose nature of this release from the governor's office, please watch the video below for the truth about public education.

 CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia School Board Association (VSBA) today honored Governor Terry McAuliffe with the 2017 Legislative Award of Excellence for his tireless advocacy for Virginia public education, through his work to help struggling school divisions, his continual commitment to funding for public schools, and his efforts to veto legislation which would have undermined the commonwealth’s public schools.

“Virginia’s economic prosperity is inextricably linked to our world-class public schools,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe. “I appreciate the Virginia School Boards Association’s continued partnership in improving student outcomes and investing in our future. Together, we are transforming the way we approach education in the 21st century and creating a foundation for long-term success.”

The annual VSBA Legislative Award of Excellence has recognized individuals’ work on behalf of public education and the VSBA since 1985.

“The VSBA is honored to present Governor McAuliffe with the VSBA Legislative Award of Excellence”, stated VSBA President Robert Hundley, Jr.“Governor McAuliffe has demonstrated his continued support of public education through legislative deference to Virginia’s local school divisions. His administration has partnered closely with VSBA creating innovative accountability measures, recognizing teaching excellence and providing an equitable allocation of resources allowing the students of the Commonwealth to receive a relevant and dynamic 21st Century public education.”

About the Virginia School Boards Association Virginia School Boards Association, a voluntary, nonpartisan organization of Virginia school boards, promotes excellence in public education through advocacy, training and services. The Association offers conferences, information, training, and counseling designed to meet the needs of the Commonwealth’s educational leaders.




Normally we stay away from Info Wars videos, but this one is an accurate presentation of our present educational system.  Or, what is being called education.  I have nothing against the teachers who have and continue to be brainwashed into furthering the nasty agenda of the collectivist mindset, nor do I have anything against the folks at the local school board.  I am against what they are all forced to follow under and put forth .  It is not a locally run system.  It is a Federally run system and only has the guise of local control.

  I highly advocate for pulling your children out of this system as fast as possible.  No good is coming from it.  It is not education but instead, full indoctrination.  Sending your children to school is the full destruction of what remains of this nation now as we know it.  Do not be a willing part of this destruction.  Private schools are not a better choice nor is online education.  Start from scratch.  It's never to late to pull your children out.