'Stop fluffing it up': City Council urged to trim the fat, not beef up city budget

City resident Rick Perrault urges city, school chief to leave if they can't do their job. (Video screenshot)

ROCHESTER - Tuesday's Public Hearing featured more anger and frustration from city residents concerned over steep increases in spending in the city's operating and capital expenditures during a year of hyperinflation and $6 a gallon heating oil costs that are putting a real crunch on family budgets.

Frequent critics of city spending Cliff Newton and Tom Kaczynski, both Rochester state reps, condemned the five-minute cap Mayor Paul Callaghan placed on public speaking, with City Councilor Steven Beaudoin also adding that the state statute allowed a cap on public speaking at meetings but not at public hearings.

City Attorney Terence O'Rourke argued that speaking about the five-minute limit wasn't allowed at all on Tuesday since "it wasn't on the agenda."

Kaczynski also spoke out about the danger of allowing the residential TIF at The Ridge, adding that Rochester taxpayer footing the bill for infrastructure surrounding residential condos or apartments made no sense at all.

"The only good thing about the present TIF there is that it's commercial," Kaczynski said. "Changing to a residential TIF is the worst of both worlds. You got no taxes on increase value coming into the general fund. So police, fire and school costs are going to be borne by taxpayers. It's unnatural to be subsidizing residential development. We don't need to be a sugar daddy to well-to-do developers."

Kaczynski also said this was a year that the city should tamp down on spending during inflationary times.

"This is not the time to be adding a burden to the taxpayers and yet what I see are spending increases and tax increases," he said. "And with the $29 million slush fund (unassigned fund balance), which is our money ... it came from us and it's unconscionable (to use it)."

He then took direct aim at what city taxpayers are paying to fund city government salaries.

"The median income of Rochester citizens is $32,000," he said. "The median income for Rochester city employees is $52,000. He added that 2020 benefits packages for city employees ranged from $30,000-$50,000.

"That's more than the private sector median income," he quipped. He noted that the city's overall personnel benefit increase went from $5.8-$7.32 million.

At that point Callaghan told Kaczynski his five-minute time limit was up.

"I'm not done," an irritated Kaczynski said.

"We got a five-minute,"Callaghan interrupted. "We're consistent, If you want to say something10 seconds I'll let you go."

"No, I want to read the rest of what I had. I spent time on this," Kaczynaki shot back in an impassioned plea. "I don't get paid to do this stuff here. In fact it's a big cost for me if you want to know the truth. I'd like to read this."

"Your five minutes are up," insisted Callaghan.

"So what happens if I keep reading, do I get arrested?"

"Let's move on," the mayor said.

Kaczynski was followed by a resident known as "Human," who referenced a power point presentation by City Staff on the unassigned fund balance last month as being "full of truths but peppered with lies."

City resident Rick Perrault was next to speak, remembering back when he was sweeping the hallways at Spaulding High as a 15-year-old and it was the budget season.

"I'd heard in there we need to created the budget, put a little fluff in there, cause they're gonna cut it back," Perrault recalled. "I don't think that's changed since I was 15. They put a little fluff in there because they're gonna cut it back."

After referencing 79e, the Rochester program that lets developers forego paying taxes on improved property for an average of seven years, Perrault said, "So here's what I want to know? We have a city manager, God bless him. Did somebody interview him. Did he know there was a tax and spending cap? Now when you have the new superintendent, did he know there was a tax cap?

"Now if they come here and they can't do the job, in other words we cannot produce a budget within that (tax cap), either they don't want to do it on purpose or they're inept. If you cannot do it, save face and go find a job somewhere else. We'll write you a nice recommendation!"

Perrault concluded his remarks by saying that Rochester citizens didn't want to have to come to City Council every year and remind them again and again Rochester is a tax cap city.

"Stop fluffing it up," he said.

It should be noted no one spoke in favor of the budget increases during Tuesday's public hearing.