A (sad) tale of two Larry's

Okay so I guess there was a third option to yesterday’s puff piece in the Springfield Republican on the cheery Cherry Hill golf report where the Town Manager crowed: “the course didn’t have to draw on tax support to help off set costs”.

Because $24,000 in tax money was most definitely required (just ask the Finance Committee) this angry Irish blogger, wrote yesterday the Town Manager either lied or the reporter was incompetent and misquoted him (highly unlikely since she has been covering Amherst for seven years--but doesn’t use a tape recorder, so it would be easy to claim misquotation)

Well, after last night’s Select board meeting I have a third option: Town Manager Larry Shaffer is incompetent.

So I bent the rules and during the 6:30 Question-The-Illustrious-SelectBoard Agenda item I instead questioned the Town Manger: “Did you really tell a reporter yesterday that no tax money was involved in Cherry Hill for FY07?” And I, of course, stated it with a voice dripping in incredulity.

Not only did he confirm it, but also he went on to repeat it. Yikes!

And when I pointed out that FY07’s $219,440 was comparatively poor citing FY02 (when a dollar was worth 15% more due to inflation) revenue total: $245,000. Shaffer then erroneously stuttered that $50,000 or $60,000 of that was taxpayer’s subsidy so this past year business was better. Hmmm…

Well yes, in FY02 Cherry Hill did require $82,650 in tax support (sandwiched between $136,417 required the year before and $127,210 the following year) but the $245,932 in total revenues still far outpaced FY07’s $219,440. In FY02 Cherry Hill, as an Enterprise Fund, showed ALL expenditures and that year they spent $328,582, thus requiring the $82,550 in subsidy. But they still took in $245,932 in golf related revenue.

Interestingly in FY02 Cherry Hill generated $8,767 in “food sales” and $23,707 in “beverage sales” (Mmmm, beer) for a grand total of $32,474 compared to last years’ pathetic total of $5,336. In fact, that difference alone would have neutralized the $24,000 subsidy approved by the Finance Committee on July 11.

Considering this “new and improved management” the Town Manager is trumpeting consists of one Leisure Services and Supplemental Education (fancy term for Recreation Department) employee working TEN hours per week (the other thirty spent running the Leisure Services empire) perhaps she should be bumped up to, oh say, 20 hours per week at the terminally ill golf business.

Or far better yet, take the Niblik private management deal for a guaranteed $30,000 return.