Publius: New article submission
MY FELLOW ATKINSON TAXPAYERS:
We are pleased to introduce the Atkinson Taxpayers Association, http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/
We've been watching property taxes and town budgets skyrocket in recent years and felt we could no longer afford to sit by and allow the "Tax & Spend" policies of our Selectmen to continue. We are particularly concerned about the lack of "Truth in Budgeting", fiscal mismanagement and professional misconduct demonstrated by town officials. Please read the following which are just a FEW examples. You can view all the actual, supporting documents on the Atkinson Taxpayers Association website.
DID YOU KNOW......WE LACK TRUTH IN BUDGETING?
Did you know the 2002-2007 budget summary given to taxpayers does not accurately reflect the true police dept budget of $902,000? It indicates the 2007 Atkinson PD budget cost taxpayers $752,892. NOT TRUE!! A "new" practice began in 2005 where line items like Police Dispatch and PD Insurance were moved off of the "Police Dept" budget which gave taxpayers the appearance the PD budget was not increasing when in fact, it was. This practice was repeated in 2006 & 2007. See the budget summary document at: http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/pdf/BudgetFY02-07.pdf
The actual 2007 PD budget of $902,000 represents an increase of
$356,000, or 70% since 2002!! We need Truth in Budgeting to see the
actual costs we pay! Why "move" these increases? Crime statistics
from our own PD do not support an increased workload since 2002 to
require 12 police vehicles and all the supporting staff. See the PD
statistics 2002-2005 at: http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/pdf/PDStats2002-Oct2005.pdf
Someone needs to explain to us the need for all these costs which
are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than all surrounding towns.
DID YOU KNOW.....THE ATKINSON COMMUNITY CENTER IS AT RISK?
WHY WOULD ANYONE RISK A TOWN ASSET WITH AN ESTIMATED REPLACEMENT COST OF OVER $1 MILLION!!
Did you know our Selectmen and ZBA put our own Community Center at risk by authorizing a commercial sign on Town Conservation Land where it is located. This violated deed restrictions (a right of re-entry for condition broken) which empowers the SOCIETY FOR PROTECTION OF NH FORESTS to take the property back. Skeptical? I hope you will read the documents at:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/ZBA
Atkinson resident Leigh Komornick tried to bring the issue to light at a Selectmen's meeting but was rebuffed by Selectman Jack Sapia for numerous reasons that defy logic, many of which were inaccurate. She was also treated rudely by our Town Administrator, Russ McAllistor during the meeting. The video of the Selectmen's meeting is available at the Library. I hope you are skeptical enough to watch it. Stand by on this matter in coming weeks. Hopefully, we are not too late to lose this valuable town asset.
DID YOU KNOW......OUR LEGAL FEES HAVE TRIPLED?
Did you know our town has been sued so many times it is costing taxpayers a fortune in additional legal fees - and the cost of our town liability insurance increases with every additional
lawsuit. In fact, the retainer we now pay town counsel TRIPLED to
$42,000 because of the additional legal work (it used to be
$14,000). Legal costs (for court time above the retainer)
dramatically increased as well. See some of the court case
documents against our town officials at:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/lawsuits
(more documents to be posted in the near future)
DID YOU KNOW.....THE OVERLAY BUDGET IS A MYSTERY TO OUR OWN BUDGET COMMITTEE?
Did you know there is a budget known as the "Overlay Budget" that is not overseen by the Budget Committee? Apparently, the oversight is by the Selectmen who apply a mysterious budgeting process for annual abatements. In 2006, the town UNDERESTIMATED this budget by $51,000. How will this shortfall be paid?? See the Overlay budget info at: http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/spending
DID YOU KNOW....SELECTMEN INCREASED RISKS TO THE TOWN WITH
THE RECENT ASSESSMENT CONTRACT?
Did you know our Selectmen did not require a bond for this work in the
latest round of contracts? They made these contracts less stringent
than past Selectmen. Why should taxpayers be assuming more risk for
such a critical service? See the ASSESSMENTS analysis at: http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/pdf/PurvisYearly.pdf
DID YOU KNOW.....PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT IS TOLERATED BY OUR SELECTMEN IN ATKINSON?
Did you know about all of the complaints and lawsuits against Chief Consentino? There is a long and documented history distinct showing a pattern of harassment, intimidation and coercion. But don't take our word for it. Read the Police Labor Union complaints and those from other residents - and don't forget the lawsuits! Indeed, the Peak Vs. Consentino case reads stranger than ficition. The final settlement paid by the town to Wayne Peak was so large it is sealed under a non-disclosure agreement. See the Initial Pleading at: http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/pdf/peakvcons_initialC-836-84.pdf
Read the complaints at:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/complaints/
Read the news articles (about 50) section at:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/news/
Either a large number of people all conspired against this man with very similar allegations....or they are all telling the truth. There is no middle ground, here.
DID YOU KNOW.......OUR SELECTMEN DO NOT HEED THE WILL OF ATKINSON VOTERS?
Did you know the Vietnam Memorial was approved by voters two years ago? Town Counsel issued a written opinion that the warrant article was clearly written, yet it took a second, special town vote to get Selectmen to finally act after two+ years. This cost taxpayers significant legal fees and the cost to conduct a special town vote to finally get the memorial put in place. WHY??
Read Town Counsel opinion at:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/atkinson/category/vietnam-memorial/
Read why Consentino opposed it as Selectman Chair:
http://www.atkinsontaxpayers.org/pdf/ConsentinoBlocksVietnamHonor08-2005.pdf
We only ask that you, as a fellow taxpayer, read the facts in these publicly available documents and judge for yourselves. Like many of you, we have bills to pay and my property taxes are the highest ever - as are town budgets. We are asking you to join us in our efforts to bring fiscal sanity back to Atkinson. The Tax & Spend policies of our current town government, fiscal mismanagement and tolerance of professional misconduct must end. Please sign up for our newsletter and you may also submit documents to post on the website.
MORE ISSUES WE ARE TRACKING:
We predict the following spending bills will be proposed and recommended by the Selectmen and Budget Committee at the 2008 town meeting.
1) Addition to the town hall
2) Renovations to the police department building
3) New Communications tower
AT WHAT COST? After we just spent $2.7 Million on a new library, this
town owned (library) space needs to be better utilized to avoid an unnecessary addition to the town hall. Police spending must be brought under control before we should consider spending another DIME. Our prediction is the new Communications Tower will be proposed to be built on Hog Hill. At the October, 2007 Selectmen's meeting where the "independent consultant" contract was signed and hired to provide an "objective recommendation" to solve the town's alleged communication gaps, an eye witness saw Chief Consentino tell an associate "It's going up on Hog Hill" (inferring a new communications tower on Hog Hill was a foregone conclusion). So much for the $15K taxpayers just spent on said "independent" consult's impartial and objective opinion. And yes, the witness will testify to this fact.
Other Issues for upcoming newsletters
1) Problems with over assessments and the assessment process
2) Tax Rate shuffle and the General Fund (or is it the Revolving Surplus Fund?)this misleading tax rate number is another reason we need "Truth in Budgeting"
3) Town Liability Insurance cost increases
4) How town official's misconduct is related to fiscal mismagement
5) More on resident complaints and lawsuits
6) More documents and how you can help
7) More to come!
PLEASE, please forward this email to other Atkinson Taxpayers who care about their tax bills and this town. Please join us so that our voices will be heard LOUD and CLEAR from the Atkinson Taxpayers Association.
We thank you for your valuable time.
Sincerely,
Atkinson Taxpayers Association
"....a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...."
Thomas Paine
Feb. 14, 1776
Author of "Common Sense"
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Please copy and paste this article into an email and send it to all the Atkinson taxpayers you know. Please join our campaign to take back our town.
I feel depressed about all this. I know the assessors office has not been doing a good job also. Not only over assessing but under assessing! So many illegal remodeling going on and revaluation being guessed at instead of going inside properties like they should. The BOS ties the hands of our inspectors and code inforcement people at times.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we taxpayers got a HUGE job on our hands making people in town government accountable for their actions.
I just read the documents over on the atkinsontaxpayers.org website. I cant believe all of this information has been around town for over 30 years
ReplyDeleteGet rid of these people
The advantage of being a hypocrite is you can always justify your values and decisions.
ReplyDeletewhy are we funding all of this! What do WE get out of it that we couldnt get cheaper?
ReplyDeleteAnd where the hell is our budget committee, that is supposed to be looking at this, and reducing it if necesary?
Budget Committee has been stacked with Consentino Cronies. There is significant electioneering going on at every election. And coincidentally, Consentino cronies now hold important positions on Budget and in the Selectmen's office.
ReplyDeleteWith Sapia and Childs elected thanks to help from Consentino, and the Budget Committee has more of his cronies, they do what they want.
All you need is two selectman to take control of this town. If you want more of the same, then do nothing and let Sapia get re-elected. If you want a new selectman that may institute change, vote for ANYBODY but Sapia.
But the real key is for all of us to vote for only ONE person. Last year, 2 candidates got over 600 votes each (over 1200 votes for the two of them) while Childs only got 900. That was 1200 votes AGAINST Childs. But Childs still had the most at the end of the day.
Consentino will try to split the vote by entering multiple candidates again. But we must all throw our votes behind ONE and only ONE.
We need to direct as many people in town as possible to all those public documents on the atkinsontaxpayers.org website!
ReplyDeleteIf thee people knew about all of that stuff in its totality, they would be shocked!
I might have to ask the remaining family member in town to put op a sign directing people to the two web sites. The house is in a cent6ral location with a lot of town traffic.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sign could not be declared illegal by Consentino since it is a matter of free speech. The only risk is that he would have this family member followed and ticketed for going 0.5 miles of the speed limit.
As we know from the documents, Kojak has a long history of harassing those who dare tell the truth about him. He is no better than the Sherrif before Buford in "Walking Tall."
There is NO WAY that things will change in this town if the elderly continue to think that Consentino cares about the town. He cares about himself and, somehow, can still manipulate who gets elected. The elderly need to WAKE UP and vote for people who are NOT in Consentino'c camp. Otherwise, we're all spinning our wheels, wasting our tax dollars, and continuing to be the laughing stock of southern NH. I know (and Consentino knows) that the elderly have the most to do with what goes on in the town so they need to act like independent voters and citizens and NOT be influence by the 'kindness and caring' of Mr. Consentino. This small town government at its worst!
ReplyDeleteAtkinson, once herald as an all American town built on American family values, what happened?
ReplyDeleteWe are a small town, we have one gas station, one general store, a fire department, police department and a town hall; perhaps a poster child for the television show Mayberry RFD.
Now look at us. We are bleeding. There is injustice in our offices, spending like there is no tomorrow and less concern for our fellow country men. The politicians working for us are wolfs in sheep's clothing. They seem to care for us only to really care for themselves. What happened to their servant attitude when they were coming for election?
Now we need an update to the police station which is only opened during the day. We need more room at the town hall which is only over a decade old. Folks, this is not Windham, this is Atkinson! The selectman can do without the gold faucets and bidets in the bathroom, the time for the people to take back the foundation what our forefathers have built is now.
Just reading some of these comments makes me wonder what is going on. The selectman are out of control and are spending like they won the lottery. We have a cowboy police chief that does what he wants and depending upon where you fit in the insider "club" you can get away with it. In one blog someone mentioned that Peter Lewis is still dumping human sewage onto his field! There are others that get special treatment and are "under-assessed" during tax time.
All I asks as a citizen of Atkinson is please treatment fair.
It was once said, "with freedom comes great responsibility" and not "with responsibility comes great freedom". This is what is happening today.
If you could vote tomorrow, who would you vote for?
There must be some way to get a list of the elderly in town. We could do a mailing or call them to let them know we (residents) will always support them. We need to form a committee to gather donations so we can get the word out.
ReplyDelete