Some aldermen donated salary after furloughs

Public Forum:

Regarding Linda Richter's and Mayor Jack Chiovatero's letters appearing in the May 20 edition of NOW regarding the "borrowing" from reserves being $1.8 million: Let's get the facts straight. The actual amount was $1,833,000. Comments state this borrowing shouldn't be happening. Well, the mayor's budget has consistently come from the same reserve fund therefore the only logical objection must be over the additional $833,000.

When council proposed this additional amount, the mayor vetoed council action. The mayor did not veto $1,833,000, he only vetoed $833,000 of that amount so any and all comments should be only regarding the $833,000 amount. Those are the facts. Check the minutes for the special common council meeting held on December 1, 2009 on the city's website for confirmation of my statements.

As for the mayor's comment about the staff furlough days approved by council which helped to further reduce budgetary constraints, he failed to mention that Aldermen Ron Seidl and Ted Wysocki joined Alderman David Ament in voluntarily donating an equivalent amount of their aldermanic salary back to the city coffers. Certain other elected public officials in other cities facing staff furlough days also voluntarily participated within their own communities.

There has never been any disclosure whether or not Mayor Chiovatero participated in donating part of his salary.

A question the electorate should be asking: Did Mayor Chiovatero support city staff by participating in this act of solidarity thereby further reducing our budget woes? We are, after all, all in this issue together - or we should be.

Shari Bosmans

New Berlin