Dinner for Dickinson postponed

By Dave Moran
Record-Journal staff
dmoran@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

As published in the Record Journal Saturday January 30, 2010

Follow all the news directly on the Record Journal Website for the most up to date information. www.myrecordjournal.com

Write a letter to the editor letters@record-journal.com

WALLINGFORD — Organizers of a dinner to honor Mayor William W. Dick­inson Jr. say the event will be delayed at least a month, now that a complaint has been filed with the State Elections En­forcement Commission, “We’re giving the elections commission a chance to look at this,” said Craig Fish­bein, a Republican town councilor who spoke Friday on behalf of the organizers of the event but is not involved in plan­ning it.

“We don’t think we’re doing anything il­legal. We’re giving (the commission) a chance to look at this,” Fishbein said.

Democratic Town Chairman Vincent Avallone filed the complaint Tuesday be­cause he said the dinner violates a state law that bars testimonials for elected offi­cials while in office.

The organizers of the event, a handful of local Republicans, have repeatedly stated that any profits from the dinner would be donated to a local charity, but the organizers’ first choice to receive the money, the Wallingford Center for the Arts, was not registered as a nonprofit charity, complicating the issue.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Dickinson said of the postponement. “I think it’s a wise course, rather than have something occur with some cloud hanging over it.”

When informed of the postponement Friday, Avallone offered little comment.

“I did what I had to do, so I really don’t have any reaction to what they’ve done,” Avallone said. “I’m sure they felt they did what they had to do.”

The $40-a-ticket dinner was originally scheduled for Feb. 6 at Villa Capri on North Colony Road, but has now been postponed to March 13.

Fishbein said the new date was chosen because it was the first date that Villa Capri had available, but the event could be postponed again or canceled if the elec­tions commission has not ruled on the complaint.

“We don’t want to break the law, but we don’t think the event is illegal,” Fishbein said. “You allow the process to occur by law, but if they dismiss the complaint then we’re going to have a grand old time.”

Nancy Nicolescu, a spokeswoman for the elections commission, declined to dis­cuss the complaint Friday. When asked if the dinner’s outright cancellation would negate it, she said, “I don’t know what the commission would do.”

The commission investigates more than 200 complaints a year, according to its Web site, and imposes sanctions in about two thirds of those cases.

The potential fine, according to Nico­lescu, would be $2,000 per offense against any person the commission finds to be in violation, or twice the amount of any im­proper payment or political contribution, whichever is greater.

Technorati Tags: Wallingford,testimonial,statute,complaint

GRAND LIST - No-growth grand lists mean facing up to ‘sobering reality’

Wallingford’s inventory actually declines, a sign of hard times

WALLINGFORD — The town released its 2009 grand list Friday, showing a decrease of $1,676,759, or about 0.04 percent, in the value of the town’s taxable property and real estate.

Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. termed the surprising drop a “sobering reality” of the tough economic times the town, state and nation are facing.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this,” said Dickinson, who has held office since 1984. “I would say it’s a more troubled fiscal situation for the town go­ing into the 2011 budget than it was for the 2010 budget.”

The town’s current budget of $140.3 million grew by less than half a percent from the previous year, but from 2007 to 2008 the grand list grew 1.02 percent, giv­ing the town with an additional $1 million in tax revenue.

Dickinson said the new grand list, at $4.3 billion, means the town will enter the next budget year about $300,000 short in tax revenue, making an already tight budget even tighter.

“The bottom line is there will not be revenues generated beyond what we received in the current year for budget purposes,” Dickinson said. “So every budget that requests an increase, there is no new money generated to cover that increase ... there is no new money except for asking for higher taxes.”

Two of the list’s three categories, real estate and motor vehicles, actu­ally increased, at 0.62 percent and 0.95 percent, respectively; but per­sonal or business property saw a sharp decrease, of almost 8 percent. Assessor Shelby Jackson attributed the drop in personal property to two major factors: more businesses al­lowing equipment to depreciate without replacing it, and a new state law that exempts some machinery and equipment that had previously been taxable.

“It’s sort of like getting hit dou­ble,” Jackson said. “The assets are going down and we’re exempting more of what we would normally tax.”

Among the town’s top 10 taxpay­ers there was little movement, with Bristol-Myers Squibb far outpacing the other nine on the list with $126.95 million in taxable property and real estate.

The town’s seventh-highest taxpayer, Work­stage Connecti­cut, owners of the 325,000­ square foot Campus at Greenhill on Leigus Road, owes more than $750,000 in back taxes and is be­ing foreclosed on by the town. Comptroller James Bowes said it was wrong to as­sume that the town would not recoup that money. “The law office is all over it,” he said. Dickinson called the grand list a “critical tool” in fashioning the town’s annual budget, which by Town Charter he must complete by April 1.

“This is one of those indicators that really tells you what is going on with the economy and what will have a direct effect on our delivery of serv­ices,” Dickinson said, adding that it appears the town will have to face “a lot of tough decisions” in the coming months.

The grand list is not officially ac­cepted by the state until May 1. Be­fore that, the town’s Board of As­sessment Appeals will consider appeals from property owners who want to dispute assessments. The grand list will affect tax bills due in July 2010 and January 2011.

Technorati Tags: Wallingford,Grand List,taxes,budget

FROM WALLINGFORD - A cavalier attitude

JASON ZANDRI – FROM WALLINGFORD

Clearly, quite a bit of interest has spun up over the supporters of Mayor Bill Dickinson, wanting to honor his service to the town.

People that know me well enough know that I give the mayor his credit where it's due and have gone after him on issues where I feel he is not being open, objective and proactive with respect to our fine town.

It's also fair to say I do more of the latter than the former.

If the mayor's supporters wish to collectively pull together their own resources in order to have a testimonial for him and to celebrate his 25 years of service to the town, they should be allowed to do so - provided it is kept above board and does not consume tax dollars, I see no issue.

There is of course the matter of statute 9-609(b) that needs to be ruled on. (It can be found on my blog as cross-posted from the Connecticut General Assembly website.)

One lawyer has viewed it as not applicable to this testimonial and another has. As you can imagine, these views are not without the possibility of bias as one came from the Republican camp and one came from the Democrats.

Personal opinions on this abound, so we'll need an actual, legal ruling to be definitive.

My biggest concern comes from Robert Prentice, the chairman of the Republican Town Committee and his comments as quoted from the Record-Journal regarding cancelling the event:

"It would be very difficult to do that. Plus, the money we put out to Villa Capri already for down payments, that's money out of our own personal pockets," he said. "We got 200-plus tickets sold. You know what? We'll go through with it because what are they going to do to us, fine us?"

It concerns me when anyone is so full of bravado that they might willing disobey a law/statute/ordinance and boast of it in the newspaper.

To be fair, this hasn't been ruled on yet, so he may not be in violation of anything. If you read the quote, it certainly comes across as if it doesn't matter which side the ruling falls on. He's willing to move ahead, regardless.

People in a the place of public view such as celebrities, sports figures, politicians and so forth should understand that every-day Joe and Jane will hold them to at least an equal, if not higher, standard than themselves.

When they see this kind of cavalier attitude, how do you think they are going to respond? "If the law/statute/ordinance doesn't apply to them, why should it apply to me?"

Why should someone shovel their walk? "All they can do is fine me."

Why should they clean up their property? "The town doesn't self-police on the blight rules."

Why should they mind the parking regulations? "There are town cars illegally parked; they don't get ticketed so I don't expect to either."

I could go on, but my point is made.

You can't expect every-day people to follow laws/ordinances if public figures can't be bothered and are brazen enough to be quoted in the newspaper to that effect.

Laws, statutes and ordinances need apply to everyone equally.

There are two weeks to the testimonial; I would think a ruling could be had by then.

If the ruling on the statute shows that it does not apply, then the supporters should be able to have their event. If the ruling goes the other way, the event should be canceled. For all the difficulties in having to do that and some potentially lost monies, that is the right thing to do.

The mayor has been quoted as saying he is a reluctant participant to this event. I hope he doesn't end up in the category of "guilt by association."

Technorati Tags: Wallingford,testimonial,statute,complaint