How The Long Term Debt Affects You

NOTE-6-LONG TERM DEBT The accompanying Schedule of Long-Term Debt (09) provides a listing of the outstanding debt of the City of Ferndale and summarizes the City of Ferndale’s debt transactions for 2010. Debt service requirements including interest are as follows:
Year(s)	General Obligation Bonds		Revenue Bonds		Other Debt		Total Debt
2010	$391,078		$1,063,048		$372,702		$1,826,828
2011	788,110		1,065,506		350,518		2,204,134
2012	779,747		1,076,540		346,022		2,202,309
2013	779,633		1,095,675		341,527		2,216,835
2014	707,581		1,115,747		149,531		1,972,859
2015-2019	3,089,007		3,060,841		700,856		6,850,704
2020-2024	2,867,463		0		622,455		3,489,918
2025-2029	2,489,605		0		210,792		2,700,397
2030-2034	361,362		0		0		361,362
Total Debt Service	$12,253,586		$8,477,357		$3,094,403		$23,825,346

 

Some of you may remember I posted a letter to the editor of the Ferndale Record Journal describing my dissatisfaction with the debt position that the current Mayor has gotten the City in, and laying out exactly how bad a position he has put us in as a community.

You may also remember the City Finance Director responding to the letter I submitted, in the Ferndale Record Journal the next week. He claimed that I did not have my numbers or my facts correct, despite explaining that the number that I used was in fact correct.

I would like to start by directing your attention to the data I used. This chart is from the City’s website, from the finance department, and represents what the total debt is in the community in 2010. These totals include principle and interest payments. The reason I choose to use these is that they represent the true cost to the residents of Ferndale, for the projects Mayor Jensen has done. The number in red is the number I quoted to show exactly how large a liability the current Mayor has put the City of Ferndale in.

If you would like to look at the City’s documents further the link is here http://www.cityofferndale.org/finance/annualReports/2010AnnualReport/2010AFRstatementF3.pdf on page 7.

I would also like to frame this number so that you all have a chance to see how it affects you directly. This next part is going to involve some mathematics, but if you stick with me I promise it is worth it and you will understand how this debt affects your pocket book.

According to Ferndale Finance Director Mark Peterson the Long term Debt service is at $23,825,346 for the end of 2010. According to the 2010 US Census the population of Ferndale is 11,415. So simply put every man, women, and child in the City of Ferndale is on the hook for $2087.20 ($23 million/population) for the cities Debt. But wait!!! Not every man women and child pay taxes and fees. It’s time to adjust the number to reflect how much those who are paying for the debt owe.

To get the population we are looking for we need to subtract out children who do not pay taxes. We start with the total population (11,415) and subtract children 0-19 years old (3664). We get 7751 people, but the City assumes a repayment window on the debt of 25 years. That means that people who are 70+ may not be around to pay the bill over the 25 years we need to pay the debt off. If we start with 7751 taxpayers and subtract the people who will no longer be with us for the next 25 years who are currently 70+ years old (849) we get 6902 taxpayers over the 25 year window. Our new adjusted number is $3,451.95, and since the repayment window is 25 years, this means that every year each taxpayer, in Ferndale, is on the hook for $138.07 for the next 25 years (assuming no new projects) just to service the long term debt.

Did anyone ask you if you are willing to pay $138.07 extra per year to the City for the next 25 years to service community debt? The answer is an overwhelming no. You were probably not even told how much it would cost. You were not asked your opinion, the Mayor simply asked the council to approve his debt request and you are left paying the bill for the next 25 years, long after the Mayor is gone.

If anyone wants to crunch the numbers on their own they are more than welcome to. Here is the link to the population info http://data.spokesman.com/census/2010/washington/cities/ferndale-wa/ . If you want to analyze the numbers yourself differently than I choose to I invite you to. This can be an immensely complicated calculation, so I hope my data gives you a good starting point. Enjoy the new info.

I am extremely satisfied to see that my comments promoted discussion about the state of the City’s finances. But talk will only get us nowhere without action. The big issues in this campaign will not be how the future Mayor will spend borrowed money and how he will put residents of Ferndale into more debt, but how the future Mayor will pay for the debt the current Mayor has accumulated. One of the defining issues concerning this campaign is who the community trusts to solve these problems.

Put your faith in Norbert Rojsza and you won’t be disappointed.

Why I'm Getting Involved

Over the last few years I have had the pleasure of working with some great people on different civic projects in the city of Ferndale. Every time I became involved I saw the possibility that my community could become what I know it has the potential to be. I had the chance to work with, and meet people, who cared about Ferndale, like I did and it inspired me, it motivated me, and yes it put a smile on my face to feel like I was giving back.

But make no mistake, participating takes a toll on people when they don't see the fruits of their labors grow. What started as an energetic and excited group of people, convinced that they had a partner in the current Mayor, turned into a group betrayed by the man they had believed in and trusted. I saw people grow weary, tired, apathetic and slowly withdraw their service to our community. The Economic Development Commission is no longer a city group for precisely this reason.

At about the same time the Jensen Administration recognized the opportunity to go full speed ahead with a spending spree, despite vocal opposition to both the manner and the details of his proposals. He was unmoved, and proceeded more convinced then ever of his great plan for the city with each additional mega project. Under his leadership alone we have gone from $14 million to $23 million in long term debt according to the cities 2007 and 2010 budget numbers. The 2011 budget numbers are sure to be worse because the council recently authorized $5 million for another of his city projects. At a time when the resident of Ferndale cut their budgets the Mayor went on a spending spree with our borrowed money. Here is the proof.

These last few years have been tough economically. As of February the unemployment rate is 9.5% in Whatcom County. Here is the proof. People have lost work, they have lost pride, and worst they have lost faith that tomorrow will be better than today. We live in tough times, we have lived through the worst crisis since the great depression and yet we are unconvinced that the worst is over.

But we are the authors of the future, and the future does not have to look like the past!
We don't need to settle for a Mayor that has discouraged civic participation. We cannot afford to keep a Mayor that spends his time building large expensive project with borrowed money while people are hurting financially. We will not tolerate a Mayor that puts us in danger by borrowing and spending our money recklessly.

I'm getting involved because I can see what others see; that we have been put on a collision course with the reality that you can't spend a city into prosperity, without spending a city into ruin. Come this August in the Primary, and November in the General Election we will have a choice of candidates. To some of you the choice is obvious, to others, stay tuned. There will be many opportunities to change your minds.

I'm going to do my part by running.

Will you do your part?


Candidate Norbert Rojsza

If you would like to get involved and participate or donate to my campaign, please email me at VoteNorbert@gmail.com

Welcome One and All!

Glad you could stop by!

Stay tuned as we work on getting this website ready. It should be to your liking soon.
Have a safe, happy Easter Sunday!

My deepest regards,

Candidate Norbert Rojsza