Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor, from Sondra Thompson

Thursday, October 29, 2015

To the Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the voters of the Town of Bloomfield for taking the time to read this message that will give the real FACTS about the budgeting and finance of the Clerk-Treasurer's office. I want this campaign and election to be focused on knowledge and experience, and I feel as though my nearly twenty-years in office provide me with both. I hope that after reading this response to the comments made by my opponent that the voters in next Tuesday's election will focus on the important aspects of the position.

I feel that it is important to set the record straight concerning recent criticisms of the Bloomfield Town Hall, which have been made by my opponent via various media outlets. It is my belief that the position of Clerk-Treasurer of Bloomfield and the members of the Town Council hold the interests of the taxpayers of the Town of Bloomfield in great esteem. As you will read below, there have been figures and "assumptions as to the actual cost to the population of Bloomfield" released by my opponent that are simply not true.

CONCERNING THE HOURS OF OPERATION OF THE BLOOMFIELD TOWN HALL

When I was elected in 1995, the hours of operation for the Bloomfield Town Hall were set at 9AM - 4PM Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The Town Hall was only open 9AM - 12PM on Wednesdays. Immediately, I voluntarily expanded the hours of operation to 8AM - 4PM Monday through Friday. This allows the Town Hall to be open an additional 8 hours per week to accommodate the citizens of Bloomfield. My opponent has criticized the fact that the Town Hall is closed during lunch, but it has been a regular occurrence for us to utilize a "working lunch" with no accumulation of "comp time" or added expense to the tax payers.

Another aspect that my opponent failed to mention to the public is, that as a salaried employ of the Town of Bloomfield, there have been numerous times where I have worked 50-60 hours per week as well as taking work home with me, especially when annual budgets and other reports must be presented and reviewed. These additional hours were spent to make sure the budgets and additional reports for the Town of Bloomfield were accurate.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS OF CLERICAL STAFF

The current positions of sanitation clerk and parking meter/accounts payable personnel have been discussed by my opponent. She states that the employee salaries for 2014 included health insurance and other benefits. Had she researched this information in greater detail, she would have discovered that this is not the case and that these employees did not receive health care benefits provided by the Town of Bloomfield. Her figures are guesses based on estimates that have been made including figures that are not accurate (ex: cost to taxpayers of over $100,000 for clerical staff and $40 per person living in the Town of Bloomfield).

Also, if she had informed the public about the current figures of the salary of the parking meter/accounts payable position, then she would have informed them that this position is actually now only an 8 hour per week position that is paid from the parking meter fund that has a positive balance of over $76,000.

Therefore, what my opponent failed to inform the public is that we now have two full-time and one eight hour per week employee that are doing the work that three full-time employees were doing when I took office in 1995.

Another note is that both positions were hired by the previous Town Council and to this point the current council has never had any issues or complaints about either of these positions or the individuals filling the positions. THESE POSITIONS ARE NOT HIRED BY CLERK-TREASURER, BUT BY THE TOWN COUNCIL.

Making assumptions and reasonable guesses are not sound accounting practices, nor do they inform the public accurately. Looking figures up on the Indiana Gateway Employee Compensation Report and then making assumptions about benefits that employees did not receive is misinformation. It is especially important when it concerns tax dollars and grants that serve the people of Bloomfield that the Clerk-Treasurer not make decisions based on reasonable assumptions or guesses.

I believe that the voters of Bloomfield deserve black and white facts, not assumptions or reasonable guesses. For nearly twenty years, I have run a transparent office and I have always worked for the people of Bloomfield in all that I have done.

Again, I thank you for reading this letter. I also hope that you come out to support the candidates of your choice in the election next Tuesday. Remember that numbers can be put out there for the public to see, but it is important that public understand the real truth behind those numbers, and the FACTS behind the numbers are that...

THE TOWN OF BLOOMFIELD TOWN HALL IS OPEN 8 ADDITIONAL HOURS PER WEEK COMPARED TO WHEN I WAS FIRST ELECTED TO THE OFFICE OF CLERK-TREASURER IN 1995.

WE ARE RUNNING THE OFFICE WITH ONE FEWER FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE COMPARED TO WHEN I TOOK OFFICE IN 1995, WHICH IS ONE FEWER FULL-TIME SALARY AND ONE FEWER EMPLOYEE WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS FROM THE TOWN - SAVING TAXPAYERS MONEY!

THE CURRENT PARKING METER/ACCOUNTS PAYABLE POSITION IS ONLY AN 8-HOUR PER WEEK PART-TIME POSITION.

God Bless,

Sondra Thompson

Clerk-Treasurer, Town of Bloomfield

Bloomfield