Comments on: Washtenaw Co. Board Gets Budget Update

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:26:59 +0000

No worries, Rod. No doubt we all have illusions worth shedding.

My recollection, which I cannot document, is that the notion of separating juveniles from felons was brought up in council as a justification for the new court facility. In my mind, it was the mayor who mentioned this. It is possible that my memory fails me, but that’s what my memory is.

I admire those with the courage and integrity to acknowledge an over-reach. Not many can do this.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:22:08 +0000

That makes your case pretty well. I shouldn’t have presumed that shameless pandering was confined to one party!

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:56:55 +0000

@3 Alas, Mr. Johnson, I did not keep notes on this subject. However, a quick search of The Chron resulted in this letter from Chris Easthope. See his point #3.

http://annarborchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/EasthopeToCahill.pdf

The phrase Mr. Easthope uses is “…prisoners convicted of rape and murder”. While I understood Mr. Easthope to be a Democrat, perhaps he suspects that President Obama is vulnerable.

I will continue to search for additional references.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:59:51 +0000

John, do you have a cite for that? Hard to believe an official statement would use a melodramatic phrase like “hardened criminals.”*

*Republicans in a Presidential election year may be exempt from this statement.

By: john floyd

john floyd — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:56:21 +0000

Interesting that the county has moved juvinile court to the county courthouse. One of the rationals given for the new city courthouse was to seperate kids from “hardened criminals”. Guess the kids in county juviline court don’t need protecting.

By: Been There, Done That

Been There, Done That — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:27:58 +0000

Concerning the reported response from Dan Turner about layoffs: “His own workplace had layoffs in 2009, he said – one wave in June, and another in January. The people laid off in June were at least able to enjoy the summer and regroup.”

I’m sure they really enjoyed the summer wondering if they could pay the bills, chasing jobs that don’t exist, and contemplating a happy little home foreclosure. Sounds like an enjoyable summer to me.

By the way, I personally spent nearly 5 months “enjoying” a spring several years back following a layoff. THERE IS NO ENJOYMENT IN LOSSING YOU JOB! Its resumes, rejections, and huge emotional sh** storm for your family. There is no nice way to put it like “enjoying the summer”, at least if you want to be honest.

Regarding the County budget, property tax projections had been made some time ago and first benchmark showed a significant difference for the better (2011: -8.5% vs. -2.7%). Have the propery tax projections been reviewed for the current economic condition and trends which appear to be not as dark (not bright but not as bad)? The budget projections have been updated based on the current revenue data, but the projections for the future are as they were when originally presented at -5% for 2012. Why?

Yes, it could be characterized as a conservative approach but its also county services and peoples lives they are playing with – not simply numbers on a balance sheet to be added or subtracted.