LIVE BLOG of Tilghman’s State of the City Address

We’re trying a little experiment today. At 12 noon we’ll begin our first “Live Blog” event – of Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman’s “State of the City”. We all know the true state of the city, but it might be interesting to see how she’ll try to spin it.

You shouldn’t need to “refresh” your screen. Readers will be able to comment live (in the “CoverItLive Window), as well as read the transcript later and add your comments through the regular comment section.

Give it a try. If there aren’t any technical glitches and ya’ll think it’s worthwhile we’ll try to do more in the future.

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, Barrie Tilghman, Live Blog

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The House That Salisbury Taxpayers Paid For

At the last meeting of the Salisbury City Council one item on the agenda was appropriating more money for Salisbury City Attorney Paul Wilber. Small wonder. Wilber has a new $700,000 house to pay for.

While ordinary citizens and business owners have been forced to pay a tax increase, at least one Salisbury resident has benefited from Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman’s mismanagement of the city’s finances. While the ordinary Salisbury taxpayer can’t view Wilber’s work due to his practice of stamping “Privileged and Confidential” on almost everything short of toilet paper, Tilghman and her “council leadership” of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields seem sufficiently pleased with his work. It is my understanding that SAPOA, the city’s slumlord guild, is also extremely happy with Wilber’s work and plan on inducting him into their Hall of Fame. Read more

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First Annual March 32nd Coloring Contest

Following the late Friday afternoon announcement that the ill-conceived, overpriced, hard-to-reach parcel of land that his subordinates had tried to foist on the citizenry as the only spot of land on planet Earth that could possibly serve the burgeoning needs of an exponentially growing Westside populace comprised primarily of children who spring from the womb equipped with a bat, a ball glove and a ball cap, the County Executive raised his wetted finger into the wind and concluded the best time to ditch the deal and distance himself from a Major League faux pas was immediately prior to resumption of the peasants’ weekend long focus on March Madness. After expressing oblique chagrin that the rabble couldn’t see the wisdom of a closed selection process, a sale price Willie Sutton would have approved, and understand the trickle-down economic benefits that would accrue to the seller and whoever held their loan, he ran up the white flag and responded to the dinner bell. Read more

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Why the Wicomico Park Deal Smells of a Sweetheart Deal

IF the Wicomico County Council is truly serious about being good fiscal stewards then they can’t possibly vote for buying the Davis property for use as a park. I truly hope that our elected officials do take their responsibility seriously.

There are many excellent reasons for putting a new park on the west side of the Salisbury metro core. Those of us that were able to attend Tuesday night’s public hearing heard them. Unfortunately for the park proponents, they were unable to present any valid argument for the county putting the park on THAT PARTICULAR PIECE OF LAND. Instead, the proponents would gloss over the “appraisal problem” and go straight to “it’s for the children”.

Now I don’t mean to ridicule the proponents of the park. I’m the first to admit that I have an innate prejudice against such an argument due to eight years of Bill Clinton in the White House. I’m still waiting for Clinton to claim that he stained Monica Lewinsky’s dress because it was “for the children”.

Nevertheless, opponents of the park provided too many alternatives to putting a park on the sight advocated by County parks chief Gary Mackes. While I didn’t agree with all of the proposed alternatives (such as using a small, unobtrusive section of Pemberton Historical Park) these alternatives should be thoroughly explored. Since the vast majority of the park proponents want ball fields, one alternative seemed particularly interesting – a parcel that the county already owns just a few miles up Nanticoke Road. Read more

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Crooked Oak Proposal: Defending the Indefensible

A goodly number of citizens spent Tuesday evening at the Youth & Civic Center in a meeting that permitted proponents and opponents of the aptly named Crooked Oak land purchase to share their thoughts in front of the County Council and on PAC-14. The County Executive did not attend. Some spoke long, and some spoke short. Folks were polite and respectful to each other. The council members listened but made no comments.

Thanks are due to the council members for their presence and attention, and for providing the opportunity for all who wished to speak to do so.
Read more

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Did Bill McCain Violate Wicomico County Ethics Rules?

It’s a rare occasion when I am able to attend a Wicomico County Council meeting. Although I try to watch the meetings on PAC-14, I was unable to watch the March 18, 2008 council meeting. Therefore, it was with great interest that I read a charge made by local blogger Bill Duvall that Wicomico Councilman Bill McCain (D – At-Large) had behaved unethically by performing an appraisal on property that a developer wanted an easement on.

A few days later, Duvall reaffirmed his charge, claiming that he had rechecked the issue. I’ve deliberately shied away from this issue because I had not been able to view the meeting. Well, I finally got a chance to view the meeting yesterday. Unfortunately, Duvall misstated what occurred. Read more

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Park Should Be Voted Down

Tonight Wicomico citizens have an opportunity to stand up and let their elected officials know that purchasing land for another park on the west side of Wicomico County is yet one more example of throwing tax dollars down the drain. I realize that there are people who sincerely want a new park. If I actually thought that this was the aim I probably wouldn’t oppose it. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that purchasing this land will accomplish anything more than lining the pockets of a few citizens while reducing the assessable tax base of this county.

Let’s look at the facts. Wicomico County already owns a sizable tract of land on the west side of the Wicomico River (the Pirate’s Wharf property) that was designated for a park. Nothing has been accomplished on building a park on that property to date. There are serious questions as to whether the taxpayers would be paying too much for the Crooked Oak Lane property currently under discussion. If the county goes through with the purchase, then the county’s tax base will be reduced. If the property is actually worth over $2 million, then that should lower county revenues by $1 million – $2 million per year. It’s my understanding that the property is not assessed at anything near the $2+ million that the county wants to pay. If not, why not? Read more

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The Paul Wilber Welfare Fund

Each year hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars go into the pocket of Salisbury City Attorney Paul Wilber. Last night, Mayor Barrie Tilghman’s “council leadership” added tens of thousands to the budget for Mr. Wilber’s pocket.

Where does all that money go? The taxpayers will never know.

Why? It seems that every document that comes from Mr. Wilber’s office is stamped “Privileged and Confidential”. Whenever a member of the public wants to find out about one of Wilber’s opinions they are denied. Whenever Coucilwomen Campbell or Cohen want to discuss it, they are denied.

At Monday’s meeting Debbie Campbell made an excellent point that the public should know how their money is being spent. Now remember, we’re not talking about items that are protected by the open meetings law. Taxpayers aren’t allowed to find out how a large percentage of city legal expenditures are being spent.

Instead, Barrie Tilghman simply pays out a great deal of tax money into the “Paul Wilber Welfare Fund”.

cross posted at Salisbury News

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Salisbury, politics, Salisbury politics, fiscal policy, taxation, Barrie Tilghman, Debbie Campbell, Terry Cohen

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Building Bridges? Or A Cash Conduit for Cronies?

The county is set to hear citizen input regarding the proposed purchase of a 130 +/- acre parcel of land on Crooked Oak Lane for prospective use as a park, as time and money eventually permit its development. Another ‘investment’ of this sort downriver has lain fallow for around a decade, so who can tell?

The idea of additional parkland within the county has some sense to it. But this parcel? At this time? Under these circumstances? The logical answers are no, No and NO!
Read more

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Comegys, Smith and Tilghman Want to Deny Taxpayers Information

Think back to the beginning of February. The Salisbury city audit had just come out. The audit communication read like a financial horror story. Over $10 million was misplaced.

If you listened to Salisbury Council members Louise Smith and Gary Comegys then, they were the friends of the taxpayers. They were going to make sure that the city’s Department of Internal Services (DIS) was going to start doing their jobs properly. Accounts would be reconciled on time.

What has really happened?

By their own admission, the only accounts that have been reconciled since the beginning of the fiscal year have been the cash and investment accounts. Those have only been reconciled through December. By their own admission, the city can’t balance its own checkbook. But according to Comegys, this doesn’t matter. According to Comegys the taxpayers of Salisbury should look forward and not back. Read more

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