Pinocchio Gahan never stops doubling down on his deceptive "balanced budget" boasts and financial rating fudges.

Well, an emperor's pants can't be on fire from lying when he's not wearing clothes to begin with. Bluegill helpfully explains.

"New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan keeps sending extremely misleading messages to the public, crediting himself for a balanced budget and an A+ financial rating.

"What he doesn’t explain, of course, is that state law demands a balanced budget from every mayor and that, when one views the financial rating system on the whole, an A+ actually ranks as fair to middling. Each time a citizen intervenes to explain the above so the public actually understands what they’re looking at, their 100% factually accurate comments are deleted.

"Gahan not only lies but works hard at keeping others from telling the truth. Those of you who vote for him are voting for that. Here’s to hoping you get to experience a lot of similar behavior in your professional and personal lives. After all, that’s what you want, isn’t it?"

He also reminds us that partial truths reveal Gahan's lack of ethical bearing, just as much as outright honking whoppers.

"For anyone interested in understanding/refuting Gahan campaign lies, here’s a handy reference chart showing the actual bond/credit rating system. It runs not from A to F as most people are familiar but from AAA to AA to A to BBB. An A+ is a much lower grade than people are being led to believe."

In fact, we're only a step above "speculative grade." Ouch.

Long-Term Investment Grade Credit Ratings (Standard and Poor's)

Borrowers are rated by S&P on a scale from ‘AAA’ to ‘D’. Investment grade ratings are securities with higher ratings of ‘AAA’ (highest) to ‘BBB-‘. These represent bonds with the highest creditworthiness.

Speculative grade bonds, also known as non-investment grade, represent securities with lower ratings from the S&P (‘BB+’ to ‘D’).

Below is an outline of each grade and what it means in terms of financial commitments and credit viability.

AAA

AA

A
Debtors with an ‘A’ municipal bond rating have a strong ability to meet their financial obligations. However, they are more vulnerable to economic and circumstantial changes that could affect their overall repayment strength.

‘A+’ debtors are upper-medium grade with a low credit risk. Their susceptibility to economic changes keeps their ratings from the ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ ratings. ‘A’ debtors also represent a strong ability to repay short-term debt but lack the same strength in long-term obligations.

I asked Bluegill if there was a ready definition for "economic changes."

"I’ve never seen anything that specifically defines them, though it would depend on how the debt and repayment are structured. Since our debt is mostly TIF based, anything that could negatively impact property tax assessments or projected increases in assessments would be a factor, especially since we live in a state with property tax rate caps."

Something like another recession? it would be interesting to see how we shape up today interms of overall debt and exposure versus 2008.

Pinocchio Gahan doubles down on his deceptive "balanced budget" boasts and financial rating fudges.

Bluegill helpfully explains.

"New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan keeps sending extremely misleading messages to the public, crediting himself for a balanced budget and an A+ financial rating.

"What he doesn’t explain, of course, is that state law demands a balanced budget from every mayor and that, when one views the financial rating system on the whole, an A+ actually ranks as fair to middling. Each time a citizen intervenes to explain the above so the public actually understands what they’re looking at, their 100% factually accurate comments are deleted.

"Gahan not only lies but works hard at keeping others from telling the truth. Those of you who vote for him are voting for that. Here’s to hoping you get to experience a lot of similar behavior in your professional and personal lives. After all, that’s what you want, isn’t it?"

He also reminds us that partial truths reveal Gahan's lack of ethical bearing, just as much as outright honking whoppers.

"For anyone interested in understanding/refuting Gahan campaign lies, here’s a handy reference chart showing the actual bond/credit rating system. It runs not from A to F as most people are familiar but from AAA to AA to A to BBB. An A+ is a much lower grade than people are being led to believe."

In fact, we're only a step above "speculative grade." Ouch.

Long-Term Investment Grade Credit Ratings (Standard and Poor's)

Borrowers are rated by S&P on a scale from ‘AAA’ to ‘D’. Investment grade ratings are securities with higher ratings of ‘AAA’ (highest) to ‘BBB-‘. These represent bonds with the highest creditworthiness.

Speculative grade bonds, also known as non-investment grade, represent securities with lower ratings from the S&P (‘BB+’ to ‘D’).

Below is an outline of each grade and what it means in terms of financial commitments and credit viability.

AAA

AA

A
Debtors with an ‘A’ municipal bond rating have a strong ability to meet their financial obligations. However, they are more vulnerable to economic and circumstantial changes that could affect their overall repayment strength.

‘A+’ debtors are upper-medium grade with a low credit risk. Their susceptibility to economic changes keeps their ratings from the ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ ratings. ‘A’ debtors also represent a strong ability to repay short-term debt but lack the same strength in long-term obligations.

I asked Bluegill if there was a ready definition for "economic changes."

"I’ve never seen anything that specifically defines them, though it would depend on how the debt and repayment are structured. Since our debt is mostly TIF based, anything that could negatively impact property tax assessments or projected increases in assessments would be a factor, especially since we live in a state with property tax rate caps."

Something like another recession? it would be interesting to see how we shape up today interms of overall debt and exposure versus 2008.

Cha-ching: Wheelbarrows of someone else's money to Gahan for bright shiny objects, so let's hope them people don't get in the way.

On March 28, we surveyed the state of luxurious riverside improvements in the wake of the Horseshoe Foundation's "just give him some money and maybe he'll leave us alone" gift to City Hall.

City Hall describes the four major projects to be funded (in part?) through the Horseshoe Foundation's $5 million gift.

The gift is to help fund projects in downtown New Albany and along the Ohio River Greenway. Four major projects will be funded through this generous gift from the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County.

Greenway construction has proceeded throughout the year on the New Albany side of Silver Creek, and Jeff Gahan's deep-seated desire to make the waterfront safe for normal folks just like him was revealed when his original public housing putsch plans called for the demolition of Riverside Terrace ... after all, do suburban bicyclists really want to gaze down upon the impoverished and their tawdry clotheslines?

I mean, can't they afford the laundromat? Rest assured, Deaf Gahan feels your pain, appropriately perfumed (and gated) community residents, and by golly, he'll queue the cattle cars if that's what it takes to be re-elected.

One of the lingering questions about New Albany's patch of Greenway has to do with the disposition of the New Albany Boat Club. It's another of those queries rudely handled by Gahan's team of spin doctors, whose dismissive reticence is the best reason to believe chicanery has been at play all along.

Our most recent update came on January 26, 2017.

In New Gahania, only the riverside squatters survive.

Then there's the New Albany Boat Club. It clearly was squatting for decades (see links below), but was given an 11th-hour reprieve when City Hall exercised eminent domain against a property owner who'd only just emerged victorious in a lengthy court fight against the squatters -- who were given back the property, which hadn't been theirs in the first place, by a City Hall that operates by divine decree, and not rule of law.

All of which leads to the most recent heroic announcement in a series of North Korean-intensity screeds, as the tourism bureau now joins the casino foundation in paying Gahan to please-just-go-away.

It's free money, says City Hall -- just avert your eyes while we displace public housing populations; then, as the champagne corks bounce off the drop ceilings, we all can still pretend we're letter-perfect, Greg Fischer-style Democrats.

Gahan must play trombone, too, as he seems to have mastered slide lubricant.

City Council to Vote on Capital Development Bond with Clark/Floyd Counties Convention Tourism Bureau Mike Hall Press Agency)

At their meeting this Thursday, the city council is set to discuss a capital development bond for the Clark/Floyd Counties Convention Tourism Bureau. In June of 2017, the city, in partnership with the Culbertson Mansion, applied and was awarded $825,000 from the Tourism Bureau for the New Albany Visitor and Historic Generator Project. The Culbertson Mansion is currently undergoing many restoration projects, including a full restoration of the home’s original cast iron. As part of the $825,000 award, approximately $231,000 will be applied to the cast iron restoration at the Mansion.

The City is aiming to help promote tourism through several additions, including a new boat ramp, additional picnic areas, boat docks, increased walking and running trails, and more along the Ohio River, including updates to the scenic and historic Loop Island Wetlands.

The capital development bond will be paid for through the $825,000 grant awarded to the City. There is no financial obligation for repayment of the bond from the city – the Tourism Buereau is responsible and obligated to pay the bond.

“This generous gift from the Tourism Bureau will help restore one of our most historic properties, the Culberston Mansion,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan. “In addition, the city will continue working towards connecting our citizenry back to our river heritage, and will provide opportunities for everyone to enjoy our Riverfront Greenway.”

City Takes Steps to Save $220,000 Per Year Through Refinancing

At today’s New Albany Redevelopment Commission meeting, the board moved forward with refinancing three outstanding bonds in order to save approximately $220,000 per year. The refinancing proposal will not increase the original term length of financing, and lowers interest rates significantly.

The three outstanding bonds have a current rate of 4.125%, 4.870%, and 5.700%. Under the refinancing package approved at today’s meeting, the rate is 2.500% for all three outstanding bonds, saving approximately $220,000 per year.

“I’m pleased that we are able to refinance these obligations at a much lower rate,” stated Mayor Gahan. “This end of year action will net savings for the citizens of New Albany.”

The proposal will now move to the New Albany City Council for approval at their Thursday meeting.

"10 Steps to Fix a City," including axing anyone on staff who believes the fixes are unworkable.

Imagine you attend a meeting of City Council, the Redevelopment Commission or the Board of Public Works and Safety, and as you're sitting there, expecting the same ol' same ol', an elected representative or appointed official begins explaining what he or she read at Strong Towns.

It's an old link, one worth viewing again.

It's also a list for comparing platforms in 2019. I've included explanations for some, though not all of the precepts. Give the website a click, and by doing so, pole vault to the head of the queue.

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10 STEPS TO FIX A CITY, by Andrew Burleson (Strong Towns)

1. Don't issue any new bonds until the city's current debts are fully paid off.

2. Don't accept unfunded maintenance obligations.

3. Throw out your parking ordinances.

No parking ordinance is better than no parking ordinances. Allow on-street parking everywhere, and use parking meters as needed to limit on-street congestion in high-demand areas. Let the market figure out the off-street supply and demand balance.

4. Don't permit greenfield development when existing infrastructure is highly underutilized.

Almost every city has a section of town with streets and sewers surrounded by vacant lots or abandoned buildings. As long as there are big chunks of your town like this, there’s no reason to issue building permits for new infrastructure. 

5. Require buildings to front the street.

That means no parking lots in front of buildings. The ground floor has to be inhabitable, parking can be beside or behind the building, but there has to be a “front door” that lets pedestrians enter the building directly from the street / sidewalk. 

6. Dramatically simplify your zoning.

First, just throw out your entire zoning ordinance because it’s surely horrible. Then try replacing it with just four zones: Heavy Industrial, Mixed-Use, Restricted Residential, and Restricted Agricultural / Natural. Read more about zoning.

7. Dramatically simplify your traffic hierarchy.

8. Stop building stroads.

In fact, it would be ideal if you could stop building any new roads until we, as a nation, came up with a better system for funding them. 

9. Set a maximum block perimeter of 2000' and enforce it.

10. Fire anyone on staff who believes the above is unworkable.

In today’s municipal world the professionals are a big part of the problem. There are plenty of good people out there who could work well within the constraints above. If the people in your city staff don’t think that’s possible, then the city needs new staff.

Here's your city council agenda for Monday evening.

Owing to prior commitments, as well as the preservation of what's left of my sanity, I'll be unable to attend the two April council meetings.

Tonight's scorecard is here:

The council packet for tonight's meeting runs to a whopping 125 pages in PDF format, most of which is devoted to mind-numbing legalese defining the parameters of G-17-04.

This measure appears to be a refinancing of redevelopment bonds downtown to free up money to use in conjunction with last week's Horseshoe Foundation tithe, so as to facilitate implementation of the beloved Conducator's plans for improvements in his own suburban Disneyesque image.

City Hall describes the four major projects to be funded (in part?) through the Horseshoe Foundation's $5 million gift.

In short, if the fix is in, it's time to pop a few corks, kick back, and enjoy the pervasive banality.

ON THE AVENUES: Our great and noble leader is here to stay, so let's break out the țuică and make a joyful noise.

By the way, thanks to Matt Nash for his kind words at the last meeting in March. They are appreciated.

TONIGHT: Public hearing to discuss the sewer rate increase (and yes, it is an increase).

The city council agenda and packet was released last week, and the public hearing to discuss the sewer rate increase is tonight at 6:30 p.m.

Council president Pat McLaughlin has scheduled a second public hearing (the Blessings in a Backpack appropriation) for 6:45 p.m., with the regularly scheduled council meeting at 7. It isn't clear whether this is a provocation or poor time management, so consider coming out tonight and contributing your thoughts, and we'll make the hearing last.

Previously ...

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Not only that, but shouldn't Gahan answer questions, too?

Shouldn't he attend and answer questions, of his own accord, springing from a deeply held desire for transparency and the exchange of information, and not being dragged to the meeting kicking and screaming, like a child seeking to avoid the dentist?

Sadly, we already know the answer. Maybe he'll come, anyway.

My biggest question is this: Seeing as one of the stated aims of these sewer rate increases is the city's ability to remove EPA limitations, thus allowing supposedly vital development projects, can we learn a little more about what these development projects entail?

What are they, and why the hurry?

Are they industrial? Retail? Luxury bocce-equipped housing?

Where are they to be located?

Finally: Why are the answers to such questions forever regarded as tantamount to state secrets, hidden so far underground that stacks of Bob Caesar's unsold Bicentennial books probably are being used like sandbag paperweights?

I urge readers to attend and to speak, whether Gahan shows his hide or not.

New Albany city council public hearing regarding wastewater rate change and the implementation of consumer price index is February 6.

NEW ALBANY CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING WASTEWATER RATE CHANGE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

The New Albany City Council will conduct a Public hearing February 6, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. at 311 Hauss Square, 3rd Floor, Assembly Room 330, New Albany, Indiana at which persons may be heard concerning the proposed changes to rates, charges, and implementation of a consumer price index for the sewer utility user fees. The City Council will consider an increase in wastewater rates and charges effective July 1, 2017 or at a date set upon adoption of the rates and yearly thereafter. The proposed rates and charges are as follows: 3% increase in the monthly charges for all consumer categories and the implementation of a consumer price index yearly thereafter. Users of the sewage works for service of property located outside corporate boundaries may be entitled to petition the commission under section IC 8-1.5-3-8.3 et seq. to review and adjust the rates and charges imposed on the users if a petition under IC 8-1.5-3-8.2 or under IC 36-9-23-26.1 with respect to the same rate ordinance has not been filed.

Jeff Gahan pays himself around $11,000 each year to head up the sewer board. Shouldn't Gahan attend the city council rate increase hearing on February 6 and listen to public comments?

Not only that, but shouldn't Gahan answer questions, too?

Shouldn't he attend and answer questions, of his own accord, springing from a deeply held desire for transparency and the exchange of information, and not being dragged to the meeting kicking and screaming, like a child seeking to avoid the dentist?

Sadly, we already know the answer. Maybe he'll come, anyway.

My biggest question is this: Seeing as one of the stated aims of these sewer rate increases is the city's ability to remove EPA limitations, thus allowing supposedly vital development projects, can we learn a little more about what these development projects entail?

What are they, and why the hurry?

Are they industrial? Retail? Luxury bocce-equipped housing?

Where are they to be located?

Finally: Why are the answers to such questions forever regarded as tantamount to state secrets, hidden so far underground that stacks of Bob Caesar's unsold Bicentennial books probably are being used like sandbag paperweights?

I urge readers to attend and to speak, whether Gahan shows his hide or not.

New Albany city council public hearing regarding wastewater rate change and the implementation of consumer price index is February 6.

NEW ALBANY CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING WASTEWATER RATE CHANGE AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

The New Albany City Council will conduct a Public hearing February 6, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. at 311 Hauss Square, 3rd Floor, Assembly Room 330, New Albany, Indiana at which persons may be heard concerning the proposed changes to rates, charges, and implementation of a consumer price index for the sewer utility user fees. The City Council will consider an increase in wastewater rates and charges effective July 1, 2017 or at a date set upon adoption of the rates and yearly thereafter. The proposed rates and charges are as follows: 3% increase in the monthly charges for all consumer categories and the implementation of a consumer price index yearly thereafter. Users of the sewage works for service of property located outside corporate boundaries may be entitled to petition the commission under section IC 8-1.5-3-8.3 et seq. to review and adjust the rates and charges imposed on the users if a petition under IC 8-1.5-3-8.2 or under IC 36-9-23-26.1 with respect to the same rate ordinance has not been filed.

New Albany city council public hearing regarding wastewater rate change and the implementation of consumer price index is February 6.

Here's the announcement sans satire.

Yes, Virginia, it is a sewer rate INCREASE, in spite of what you may have read elsewhere.

Yes, Virginia, it is a sewer rate INCREASE, in spite of what you may have read elsewhere.

The Courier-Journal came a bit late to coverage of New Albany's eleventh hour sewer ordinance, but once fully engaged, the Louisville newspaper correctly grasped the obvious.

Plain, simple, and in keeping with the real-world definition of the word "increase": To make greater, as in number, size, strength, or quality; augment; add to.

C-J reporter Madeleine Winer did not become immersed in semantics.

New Albany City Council approved increasing sewer rates for the third time in the last six years Tuesday night.

The council voted to hike sewer rates by three percent in a 7-1 vote Tuesday night. The rate increase would cover the city’s ongoing improvements to its sewer system and equipment costs as well as the debt it owes on bonds it has used for improvements in the past, city officials said.

The vote is still subject to review by the public and wouldn’t go into effect until next July if passed again by the council.

Bizarrely, almost to the very last gasp, the Jeffersonville News and Tribune -- which entirely missed the sewer ordinance's first reading, and apparently still operates with a bare minimum of editorial supervision -- continued its preference for obfuscating the increase with a series of euphemisms (settle down, Shane: "The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.")

That's right: An increase as structure change in large face, with "rates raised" coming in small print, although by this point, the ordinance had passed muster and it mattered very little.

Fascinatingly, for a while there, it was almost as though we were witnessing a wordplay competition among current and former newspaper staff members. How many different words can be substituted for the best and most obvious one, increase?

It is to the reporter Beilman's credit that she at least tried to explain. Have you noticed that the News and Tribune's upper management almost never participates in such exchanges on social media, though reporters invariably do?

A knight in shining armor rode to the rescue.

Tweeting on meeting night, reality began seeping into Beilman's dispatches, as it was revealed that the rolling CPI average could be 4% or higher on monthly bills; then again, "bump" and "nudge" are absent numerical thresholds.

Again to Beilman's credit, by the time the article was written, the euphemisms were dead and buried.

I remain bewildered. If the objective of a headline is to grab the reader's attention, then doesn't using the most accurate word (increase) achieve this at the bare expense of four additional letters (bump) and an added word (structure changes)?

In closing, here's a concise introduction to the relationship between journalists and politicians.

What is clear is that the relationship between journalists and politicians can have a significant impact on the functioning of a fair and just society. Politicians make decisions and take action on behalf of the public. Journalists scrutinise those decisions and report the implications to the public.

Bump? Hike? If sewer rates are higher, then that's an increase, by definition.

Tolling is about to begin. Interest rates are going up. Rental property registration and eventual inspection will provide a convenient pretext for property owners to raise prices.

So will sewer rate increases, however justified, even if they're modest, and whether or not they're tied to annual consumer price indexing, or established by the city council, which now proposes to abdicate its rate-setting responsibility via CPI mechanism.

The result will be more out-of-pocket costs for those least able to pay, something so consistently ignored by this top-down "beautiful people's" mayor that it's more difficult than ever to explain how he can continue to pretend being a Democrat.

We remain a city with many citizens living at or below the poverty line, a fact that dog parks and subsidized luxury housing does nothing to dispel.

The newspaper can't be bothered; the publisher (not newsman) is waging weird personal jihad on behalf of his foundation sinecure, and of course, there are more clicks to be derived from True Crime than sewer semantics.

There are numerous distractions elsewhere, but in the face of an effort by the mayor and his council allies to sneak through a sewer rate increase obscured by 40 pages of bonding legalese by means of two quick votes just before Christmas in the aftermath of Trump trauma ... well, it's too much for me.

Someone's got to be the adult dissident around here.

I remember when the self-described Potty Police would be on hand for meetings at the slightest suggestion of a rate hike, and yes, at the time I thought they often were crazed. However, there's no point in living without learning, and it makes sense to me now.

I've done my best to do what they'd have done, and try to spread the word about something that shouldn't be rushed this way. It isn't so much the amount of the rate change. It's the Gahanesque arrogance in the manner of passage, and the simple fact that the city council should be reviewing these rates on a consistent basis, yearly, not acquiescing in convenient last-minute ways to absolve themselves of responsibility.

When Gahan was a councilman, he'd have been out in front with denunciations. Now he's not just the mayor, but he's the salaried sewer board chieftain, too -- and if last week's meeting is any indication, Dan Coffey's back on the mayoral payroll. In 2008, Coffey would have been on full filibuster with a Bic ready to flick.

To repeat: The city council meets this Thursday (December 15) at 7:00 p.m. in the Romper Room on the third floor of the City County Building. At last week's meeting, administration and council proponents were not able to provide any concrete details as to the workings of this proposed CPI mechanism, and this is reason enough to detach it from the ordinance and submit it separately once these relevant details have been provided. 

Following are links to recent NAC articles, followed by contact information for city councilmen. Please make your views known to them.

Don't forget: Back door New Albany sewer rate increases are on tap at city council this Thursday. Are you down with this?

In a major victory for practical stenography, chain newspaper belatedly gets wind of sewer rate increases, helpfully regurgitates Jeff Gahan's talking points, reinforces status quo. Um, thanks.

Ooh, ooh that SMELL: Jeff Gahan proposes arbitrary CPI pegs to raise sewer rates annually, when sewer rates already are illegally subsidized.

Sudden stealth sewer rate hikes reveal the breathtaking extent of Jeff Gahan's intellectual dishonesty. Isn't it time to hold Team Gahan and its toadies accountable?

Council Crackers: Final victory over Nawbany's EPA sewer nemesis is so crucial that Jeff Gahan stayed home and watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" reruns on DVD.

If Mayor Gahan's new sewer rate initiative is as vital as his press release says, will he actually attend tonight's council meeting to take ownership of it?

Contact your council representatives before it's too late.

At-Large – David Aebersold (R), Voted FOR
(812) 944-9823, daebersold@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – David C. Barksdale (R), Voted FOR
(812) 945-1839, dbarksdale@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – Al Knable, MD (R), Voted AGAINST
(502) 386-5051, aknable@cityofnewalbany.com

1st District – Dan Coffey (I-D), Voted FOR
(502) 797-8347, dcoffey@cityofnewalbany.com

2nd District – Robert Caesar (D), Voted FOR
(812) 945-8744, rcaesar@cityofnewalbany.com

3rd District – Greg Phipps (D), Voted FOR
(812) 949-8317, gphipps@cityofnewalbany.com

4th District – Patrick McLaughlin (D),Voted FOR
(812) 949-9140, pmclaughlin@cityofnewalbany.com

5th District – Matt Nash (D), Voted FOR
(502) 718-4986, mnash@cityofnewalbany.com

6th District – Scott Blair (I), Voted AGAINST
(812) 697-0128, sblair@cityofnewalbany.com

Don't forget: Back door New Albany sewer rate increases are on tap at city council this Thursday. Are you down with this?

The city council meets this Thursday (December 15) at 7:00 p.m. in the Romper Room on the third floor of the City County Building. Annual sewer rate hikes according to consumer price indexing were tacked at the last minute onto an otherwise reasonable sewer project bonding ordinance, and received approval on the first two of three readings at last week's council meeting.

At last week's meeting, administration and council proponents were not able to provide any concrete details as to the workings of this CPI mechanism, and this is reason enough to detach it from the ordinance and submit separately once these relevant details have been provided.  

Given the mayor's zeal in increasing expenditures, do you really want him saying "trust us, we'll figure it out later" on something as important as guaranteed annual sewer rate increases?

Following are links to recent NAC articles, followed by contact information for city councilmen. Please make your views known to them.

In a major victory for practical stenography, chain newspaper belatedly gets wind of sewer rate increases, helpfully regurgitates Jeff Gahan's talking points, reinforces status quo. Um, thanks.

Ooh, ooh that SMELL: Jeff Gahan proposes arbitrary CPI pegs to raise sewer rates annually, when sewer rates already are illegally subsidized.

Sudden stealth sewer rate hikes reveal the breathtaking extent of Jeff Gahan's intellectual dishonesty. Isn't it time to hold Team Gahan and its toadies accountable?

Council Crackers: Final victory over Nawbany's EPA sewer nemesis is so crucial that Jeff Gahan stayed home and watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" reruns on DVD.

If Mayor Gahan's new sewer rate initiative is as vital as his press release says, will he actually attend tonight's council meeting to take ownership of it?

Contact your council representatives before it's too late.

At-Large – David Aebersold (R), Voted FOR
(812) 944-9823, daebersold@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – David C. Barksdale (R), Voted FOR
(812) 945-1839, dbarksdale@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – Al Knable, MD (R), Voted AGAINST
(502) 386-5051, aknable@cityofnewalbany.com

1st District – Dan Coffey (I-D), Voted FOR
(502) 797-8347, dcoffey@cityofnewalbany.com

2nd District – Robert Caesar (D), Voted FOR
(812) 945-8744, rcaesar@cityofnewalbany.com

3rd District – Greg Phipps (D), Voted FOR
(812) 949-8317, gphipps@cityofnewalbany.com

4th District – Patrick McLaughlin (D),Voted FOR
(812) 949-9140, pmclaughlin@cityofnewalbany.com

5th District – Matt Nash (D), Voted FOR
(502) 718-4986, mnash@cityofnewalbany.com

6th District – Scott Blair (I), Voted AGAINST
(812) 697-0128, sblair@cityofnewalbany.com

In a major victory for practical stenography, chain newspaper belatedly gets wind of sewer rate increases, helpfully regurgitates Jeff Gahan's talking points, reinforces status quo. Um, thanks.

Sorry, but you can't convince me that the News and Tribune's persistently hands-off, forgiving attitude toward Jeff Gahan's pants-on-fire municipal edicts DOESN'T have something to do with the sheer volume of advertising revenue contributed by New Albany ratepayers to the 'Bama-based newspaper via Gahan's propaganda commissariat.

Does this make me a conspiracy theorist? Yawn, but so be it.

One thing is absolutely certain: If I were to expend the elbow grease necessary to file public information requests with the city so as to learn the exact amount of advertising revenue aimed at CNHI's coffers, as was suggested to me by a newspaper staffer (naturally, the rag has no intention of telling us), the odds that the New Albany corporate attorney would honestly honor my request are less than zero.

Earth to News and Tribune: See Dalton Trumbo's quote, above. Report back to me if and when you get it. Thanks.

New Albany City Council mulls CPI-based sewer rate bumps; Ordinance to fund remaining EPA mandate projects, by Elizabeth Beilman (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — The New Albany City Council will take a final vote Thursday on implementing annual automatic sewer rate increases in line with inflation.

The increases — measured by the urban consumer price index percentage change from year to year — are intended to prevent massive one-time bumps. If passed, the changes would be implemented in July.

"In the past, the rate has always been somewhat of a political negotiation," New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan said. "That's not healthy for anyone. Suddenly, the residents experience a huge increase in the rates. The CPI will act as a way to protect the residents from exorbitant or huge rate increases."

Ooh, ooh that SMELL: Jeff Gahan proposes arbitrary CPI pegs to raise sewer rates annually, when sewer rates already are illegally subsidized.

Jeff Gahan, who draws a salary as both mayor of New Albany and head of its sewer board, proposes that in the future, annual sewer rate increases are to be pegged to one or another variants of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in a formula yet to be identified.

This vague mechanism appeared from nowhere, as appended to a sewer bonding ordinance, and was approved 7-2 in its first two readings, with a final vote coming next Thursday (December 15). As in previous years, city officials are stampeding the vote at year's end, citing tremendous urgency in solving problems no one knew existed until December.

Returning to the concept of pegging sewer rate increases to CPI-something, there is an obvious question that must be answered first: Is the current sewer rate legal?

Many of us believe it isn't. Randy Smith wrote the following in the spring of 2015, and it remains a must read for anyone seeking to understand the year-to-year mishandling of New Albany's sewer utility -- and did I mention that the mayor appointed himself to "run" the sewer utility?

(Bold text added)

Sewer Utility Still Draining Tax Dollars

 ... I had thought the (illegal sewer rate subsidy) chicanery had finally ended when I read last year that the subsidy had been removed. But just to make sure, I perused the city’s 2015 budget. There, to my astonishment, was yet another transfer of $570,000 from the income tax fund (EDIT) to the sewer utility.

I have written at length in the past about the illegality of this transfer. To be brief, while a city in Indiana can own and operate a municipal utility, the finances of that utility must be completely separated from other city funds. That is, the utility must stand on its own, without subsidies of any kind.

With this budget year, Jeff Gahan has in 11 budget years (as a councilman and as mayor) approved more than $10 million in transfers from city taxes to prop up the utility.

One might be of the opinion that using tax dollars to fortify the sewers is a good thing, but none of us are entitled to an opinion on this matter. State law is extremely clear. It’s illegal. (It happens to be illegal in Louisville, too, under a different state’s laws – ref: MSD.)

This misfeasance on the part of the mayor and council subjects the utility itself to the jeopardy of a taxpayer lawsuit to recover these millions of dollars.

However, illegality has become normal in New Albany. It’s not just the law-breaking that New Albany voters need to be aware of as they go to the polls. This transfer is possibly the single dumbest way to divert tax money and demonstrates innumeracy and financial incompetence on the part of the mayor and his advisors.

Also from Randy Smith, this week:

SEWER RATE INCREASE imminent in New Albany. But instead of taking responsibility for setting a legal rate, the city council has voted to begin an automatic rate increase pegged to some version of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Final vote is on Thursday, December 15. That is not the legal way to set rates. CPI is not an economic variable - it's merely a statistic.

My information is that the wastewater utility needs a rate increase of $0.21 per billing unit, meaning even the lightest user would see a rate increase of about 2.8%. But no CPI will provide those funds, leading back to illegal tax subsidies for the heaviest users of the city-owned utility.

Contact your council representatives before it's too late.

At-Large – David Aebersold (R), Voted FOR
(812) 944-9823, daebersold@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – David C. Barksdale (R), Voted FOR
(812) 945-1839, dbarksdale@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – Al Knable, MD (R), Voted AGAINST
(502) 386-5051, aknable@cityofnewalbany.com

1st District – Dan Coffey (I-D), Voted FOR
(502) 797-8347, dcoffey@cityofnewalbany.com

2nd District – Robert Caesar (D), Voted FOR
(812) 945-8744, rcaesar@cityofnewalbany.com

3rd District – Greg Phipps (D), Voted FOR
(812) 949-8317, gphipps@cityofnewalbany.com

4th District – Patrick McLaughlin (D),Voted FOR
(812) 949-9140, pmclaughlin@cityofnewalbany.com

5th District – Matt Nash (D), Voted FOR
(502) 718-4986, mnash@cityofnewalbany.com

6th District – Scott Blair (I), Voted AGAINST
(812) 697-0128, sblair@cityofnewalbany.com

Sudden stealth sewer rate hikes reveal the breathtaking extent of Jeff Gahan's intellectual dishonesty. Isn't it time to hold Team Gahan and its toadies accountable?

Council Crackers: Final victory over Nawbany's EPA sewer nemesis is so crucial that Jeff Gahan stayed home and watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" reruns on DVD.

Sudden stealth sewer rate hikes reveal the breathtaking extent of Jeff Gahan's intellectual dishonesty. Isn't it time to hold Team Gahan and its toadies accountable?

As holder of salaried positions as mayor and head of the sewer board, shouldn't Jeff Gahan be the one -- THE ONLY ONE -- to explain why sewer rate increases have been artfully hidden in a rote bonding document ... why economic development concerns (and the city's inevitable subsidy of them) are at the heart of G-16-03 ... and why tender concern for the environment is the very last thing on the mind of a City Hall team that has cut more trees so far in 2016 than Weyerhaeuser?

Council Crackers: Final victory over Nawbany's EPA sewer nemesis is so crucial that Jeff Gahan stayed home and watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" reruns on DVD.

... Praised by its backers as one of the signal achievements of Gahanism in contemporary New Albany, the sewer ordinance came forward without the Genius of the Flood Plain present in the room to argue on behalf of its merits.

Significantly, Jeff Gahan is the mayor of this city. He appointed himself to the Sewer Board chair (a paid position), and also appoints the other members of the board, but if you were expecting leadership by example from Gahan -- something apart from the labored antics of subalterns, as with David Duggins' frat boy mugging or the vocabulary-deprived glowering of Shane Gibson -- then too bad for you.

On Monday it took an hour of desultory skirmishing before city officials finally conceded the central point, in that this desperate-haste-from-nowhere-ordinance is necessary because the existing EPA points cap will prevent planned developments in 2017.

Given that we all favor independence from the EPA, shouldn't we know more about the nature of these development plans?

As holder of salaried positions as mayor and head of the sewer board, shouldn't Jeff Gahan be the one to explain these plans, and why they matter?

Evidently not, because Gahan remained safely ensconced in the Down Low Bunker on Tuesday, as the city's Propaganda Commissariat went full frontal disingenuous (synonyms include insincere, dishonest, untruthful, false, deceitful, duplicitous, lying and mendacious):

At last evening’s City Council meeting, the City Council voted 7-2 in favor of bill G-16-03. If approved on final reading, this ordinance would authorize the construction of sanitary sewer projects that would eliminate the final remaining sanitary sewer overflows in the city.

As Bluegill succinctly observed with respect to the spin cycle:

And in today's City Hall PR announcement, not a single word about automatic annual sewer rate increases (or any rate increase at all).

To repeat: As holder of salaried positions as mayor and head of the sewer board, shouldn't Jeff Gahan be the one to explain these hastily inserted* CPI-pegged sewer rate increases?

Isn't it time at long last for Gahan to be held accountable? The Bookseller scores today's coda, and explains council's unfortunate culpability:

SEWER RATE INCREASE imminent in New Albany. But instead of taking responsibility for setting a legal rate, the city council has voted to begin an automatic rate increase pegged to some version of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Final vote is on Thursday, December 15. That is not the legal way to set rates. CPI is not an economic variable - it's merely a statistic.

My information is that the wastewater utility needs a rate increase of $0.21 per billing unit, meaning even the lightest user would see a rate increase of about 2.8%. But no CPI will provide those funds, leading back to illegal tax subsidies for the heaviest users of the city-owned utility.

Contact your council representatives before it's too late.

At-Large – David Aebersold (R), Voted FOR
(812) 944-9823, daebersold@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – David C. Barksdale (R), Voted FOR
(812) 945-1839, dbarksdale@cityofnewalbany.com

At-Large – Al Knable, MD (R), Voted AGAINST
(502) 386-5051, aknable@cityofnewalbany.com

1st District – Dan Coffey (I-D), Voted FOR
(502) 797-8347, dcoffey@cityofnewalbany.com

2nd District – Robert Caesar (D), Voted FOR
(812) 945-8744, rcaesar@cityofnewalbany.com

3rd District – Greg Phipps (D), Voted FOR
(812) 949-8317, gphipps@cityofnewalbany.com

4th District – Patrick McLaughlin (D),Voted FOR
(812) 949-9140, pmclaughlin@cityofnewalbany.com

5th District – Matt Nash (D), Voted FOR
(502) 718-4986, mnash@cityofnewalbany.com

6th District – Scott Blair (I), Voted AGAINST
(812) 697-0128, sblair@cityofnewalbany.com

* As forwarded in the council's Monday meeting packet, ordinance passages pertaining to the proposed sewer rate increases were pasted in an entirely different font.

Council Crackers: Final victory over Nawbany's EPA sewer nemesis is so crucial that Jeff Gahan stayed home and watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" reruns on DVD.

(ASK THE BORED is off drinking this week, to return on the 12th of Never, or barring that, the 13th of December. Also, there are no links to local media coverage of Monday's council conclave, as no local media representatives attended.)

In a staged tableau achingly familiar to longtime council observers, an ordinance touted as the final heroic act in New Albany's quarter-century-long sewage control saga of "now we're complying, now we're not" (with federal regulatory edicts) was rushed pell-mell before council last night for two initial readings.

It was approved 7-2, and likely will receive final approval at next Thursday's second December meeting -- and by the way, apropos of nothing apart from Gahanesque imperatives of congenital secrecy, built into the ordinance is a mechanism for annual sewer rate increases tied to an as yet undisclosed sector of the Consumer Price Index, or CPI.

Praised by its backers as one of the signal achievements of Gahanism in contemporary New Albany, the sewer ordinance came forward without the Genius of the Flood Plain present in the room to argue on behalf of its merits.

Significantly, Jeff Gahan is the mayor of this city. He appointed himself to the Sewer Board chair (a paid position), and also appoints the other members of the board, but if you were expecting leadership by example from Gahan -- something apart from the labored antics of subalterns, as with David Duggins' frat boy mugging or the vocabulary-deprived glowering of Shane Gibson -- then too bad for you.

Here in New Albany, we're so very special.

Meanwhile, the 40-odd page ordinance has three central pillars.

1. It establishes bonding (up to $12.5 million) for a final phase of infrastructure initiatives that presumably will end the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) oversight of our sewage treatment network, and by doing so, free the city from remaining within a limit of yearly "points" allocated for various development projects (which were unidentified).

2. It refinances previous sewer bonds on more favorable terms to the city.

3. It establishes incremental annual sewer rate increases by tying these to the CPI, although the precise one of these indexes (there are many) or the mechanism itself is not stipulated.

As for the consumer price indexing, the best we can say is that it's a needlessly bureaucratic solution to a problem borne of political cowardice, in that it remains the council's responsibility to establish rates charged to the consumer, which will pay for the sewer system's operation without EDIT subsidies (although we still do this, illegally), and historically, this function has been the first can to be kicked down the road.

That's because in the past, any hint of a sewer rate increase would result in red-faced, pitchfork-wielding citizens clogging the 3rd floor corridor to the Down Low Bunker's safe haven.

However, in a supreme irony, the self-described Potty Police seem to have disbanded. Once an eagle, indeed. Not a single angry citizen attended last night's meeting to wag an ominous finger at impending rate increases. Of course, this might yet occur for the ordinance's final reading next Thursday, and if so, the Pee Party will face proud councilmen brandishing brand new magic shields: Don't blame us -- blame the CPI.

It isn't Remember the Alamo, but it will do in a pinch, while fleeing in abject terror.

Last night, kudos are due councilman Scott Blair, a banker, who commented at length on the complexity of the End of EPA sewer document, asking the necessary central questions: Why does something of this magnitude arise seemingly from nowhere, with implied urgency for approval during council's final two meetings of the year, without sufficient time to examine the details of the financial assumptions contained therein?

After all, amid various self-aggrandizing advertisements for his own essential role in the sewer system's victorious Long March, councilman Bob "Bicentennial Bookman" Caesar's introduction of the ordinance included repeated repetitive phrases of this general contradictory tone: There's no real hurry with this BUTDAMMITCAN'TWEMOVEANYFASTER?

The Green Mouse says: Caesar wants to be mayor someday -- and that'll make you move to Ireland quickerthanTrump.

It was only after an hour of debate that The Great Elongated and Exasperated Obfuscator, City Hall corporate attorney Shane Gibson, at last publicly conceded the precise reason for the urgency. It seems someone on Team Gahan finally looked at the needs of development projects slated for TIF-draining in 2017, and concluded that the city would not possess the necessary EPA sewer points even before the usual crony capitalism incentives are applied.

No points, no project ... and no project, no campaign finance beak-wetting. Something's up for 2017. We don't know exactly what, but it's why Caesar spent another evening carrying Gahan's jockstrap, and in turn, why Caesar's bicentennial shenanigans are being shielded by the oily operatives in Gahan's apparatus.

If Gahan could just tie sewer rates with paving contracts, and direct debit the contractors' creamy campaign finance rivulets -- then he really would be a genius, and I could have just stayed home and watched television, too.

Nostalgia.

Same referendum, same arguments. Same outcome?

Returning to a point we made last spring: Given the advent of early voting, the News and Tribune must move up the release of articles like this, as well as its General Election Voters Guide, so that they'll appear before ballots are cast.

On the other hand, the referendum is the perfect example of emotions outweighing logic. I suppose it doesn't matter, does it?

SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT: New Albany-Floyd County Schools try another referendum, by Jerod Clapp (News and Tribune)

FLOYD COUNTY — Taking a second shot at securing funding for upgrades and rebuilt schools, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. has an $87 million referendum on the ballot for Nov. 8.

In May of 2015, the measure failed in the primary, with the vote spread at 45 percent in support and 55 percent against it. Taking some lessons from the failure and regrouping, the district aims to win next month, but an opposition group still raises concerns about keeping taxes at the same level and whether the scope is too great on the projects.

In just more than two weeks, voters will decide whether to take an overall property tax decrease or to allow the district to issue the bonds to renovate or rebuild schools, but both sides argued their points.

Secrecy vs. transparency as "governments turn to bank loans rather than bonds."

You're right.

I need to stop giving his new ideas for borrowing and secrecy.

The Hidden Risks of a Growing Way to Pay for Infrastructure, by Lynnette Kelly (Governing)

More and more, governments are turning to bank loans rather than bonds. But too often the terms of the loans -- and who is first in line to collect -- are secret.

A perilous new financial risk may be hiding in the fine print of loan agreements in state capitals, county seats and city halls across the country. The cost could be high for millions of individuals whose investment dollars help finance the public schools, water systems, bridges and roads that we all rely on and which in many cases are in desperate need of repair.

Investment in the nation's infrastructure has long been a partnership between state and local governments and retail investors. State and local governments prioritize public projects, investment bankers provide products to help spread costs over the life of the project, investors buy in to earn reliable, often tax-free interest income, and then taxpayer dollars repay the bonds. Today, more and more communities are opting for alternatives to this traditional municipal-bond model in the form of direct loans from banks. Estimates are that the bank financing of public projects has ballooned to more than $155 billion with another $25-$30 billion being added each year.

Borrowing funds from a bank to build a bridge is not inherently problematic. The problems arise when the extent of the borrowing -- and the precise terms of the loans -- are a secret. For municipal-bond financings, states and communities have obligations under federal law to publicly disclose material information to investors at the outset. But no such disclosure requirements exist at the time they receive loans from banks. Investors who hold a city's outstanding bonds may have no idea that the city has taken on more debt or that the bank making the loan has made sure it will be first in line to collect if the city runs into financial troubles.

That's just what happened in Lawrence, Wis. The small town borrowed heavily from local banks, and it agreed to put the banks before the bondholders in the event it someday couldn't cover all of its financial obligations. When a major ratings agency learned of the unfavorable terms for bondholders, it quickly downgraded Lawrence's bonds to junk status. Bondholders who thought they were holding investment-grade paper are now left with a far riskier asset.

No one knows how many other Lawrences are out there ...

Mailer Wars '15: Gahan's card stock grows in inverse proportion to the shrinkage of his ideas.

Because the ultimate in "family-friendly" is when your grandchildren continue to pay for their childhood delights, even when they're grown and have kids of their own.

Allen: "They’ll induce the situation they say they have today on the Kennedy Bridge overnight on the Sherman Minton."

If there's to be over-capacity on the Sherman Minton, can we get our street grid under control before it happens (hint: pro-actively) and not after?

Tyler Allen: We’re building a billion-dollar downtown bridge, then incentivizing drivers not to use it, by Terry Boyd (Insider Louisville)

By tomorrow afternoon, it’s likely the final phases of financing the $800 million Downtown Bridge/Interstate-65 junction redesign will begin as the bi-state tolling body considers tolling recommendations.

But New Albanians should pay heed to the last paragraph.

If they proceed with all this, what’s your main concern? My main concern is, they end up with dramatic revenue shortfalls and can’t service the bonds a la KFC Yum! Center.

That is a big concern of mine. The other big concern of mine is, we will have built more than necessary and damaged this city in the process. Not only damaged it financially, but also damaged it from the development perspective.

When you toll this way…the public money from gas taxes is enough to build the East End corridor. The predictions were, you’d have 60,000 cars per day in a few years on the East End Bridge. Under this tolling regime, by 2030, you’ll only have 45,000 cars per day using the East End Bridge. The really scary part is, we’ve justified the downtown bridge … by saying the (Kennedy) bridge is over-capacity.

The minute they open these two new bridges, instantly, they’ll put the Sherman Minton bridge over capacity according to their own diversion numbers. People trying to avoid the tolls. They said we’ll go five years from now from 78,000 cars per day on the Sherman Minton … to 110,000 cars per day on the Sherman Minton. They’ll induce the situation they say they have today on the Kennedy Bridge overnight on the Sherman Minton.

Doesn’t that seem like bad policy?

Redevelopment approves placing all eggs in one basket.

It should be safe to say that we're well past the point of utter speechlessness.

Never before has such an expenditure sailed so cleanly through the usual network, and as I've already noted, even those previously disposed to fanatically oppose the  allegedly indisputable notion that quality of life as as defined MUST include water sports have been either silenced or are weirdly dispirited -- maybe both.

Even Professor Erika can do no better than trot out a few old bromides. The lighter fluid used to come out for 100K street improvement suggestions.

Once we were impoverished, now we're Jed Clampett. The only problem in the metaphorical sense is this: Is there REALLY water in our forthcoming cement pond?

Panel OK's pacts with firms for New Albany aquatic work, by Grace Schneider (C-J)

The New Albany Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved three agreements Tuesday for work on the city’s new aquatic center at the former Camille Wright Pool on Daisy Lane.