Ex Town Employees come forward

In case you have not read the following article we encourage everyone to do so. This is exactly why the Citizens for a better Buckeye are making the demands they are. The following is the exact article which was reported by Westvalley News uckeye Reporter Robin Clayton on March 20, 2009.

Former town tax auditor questions wisdom of Buckeye budget cuts

Despite possibly facing even more budget cuts in the near future, Buckeye has laid off revenue-generating positions, filled positions it previously eliminated and paid $24,115 in tuition reimbursement to employees. OK, 39 of you must goLast November, 39 employees were laid off and 31 unfilled positions eliminated from the budget in the face of a $6.9 million projected shortfall.

Finance Director Gail Reese has since suggested even more cuts need to be made in next year's budget.

Among the eliminated positions were revenue- and business-generating positions, such as tax auditors and economic development employees. However, since those positions were cut, Buckeye has posted job openings for positions such as lifeguards, seasonal recreational aides, a budget manager, librarian, recreational specialists, neighborhood services coordinator and accounting clerk as well as police dispatchers.

The librarian position was listed as eliminated in the November cuts, but has since been filled again. During those lay-offs, the tax collection division was basically dissolved, said Debbie Nunley, former tax audit manager.

The tax division was a revenue-generating division for the town, according to a memo Nunley sent to Reese, Assistant Finance Director Gilberto Villegas and consultant Pat Walker. In just the first four and a half months of the fiscal year, the tax division had collected more than $223,000 in revenue recoveries and issued more than $456,000 in audit assessments for the town, according to the memo.

Nunley also worked with the state to correct errors in taxes, and had so far this fiscal year corrected $27,674 and was working on correcting another $81,000, she wrote in her memo.

"This is money that Buckeye would not get if I were not monitoring the state's tax system and working with ADOR to correct errors. This is a continuous task that must be done on an on-going basis," Nunley wrote. Nunley, Villegas and another tax division employee, Dorothy Kreps, were among those laid off.

Read the entire memo here

Looking for places to cutAfter Reese told the Town Council more cuts were likely in the near future, Councilman Dave Rioux said he would like to see any more cuts come from upper-level positions.

As a result of Rioux's statements, Assistant Town Manager Scott Rounds filed a harassment complaint, in which he said he was seeking medical attention because of Rioux's behavior.

Since the town laid off 39 employees, it made sense that the fewer employees there are to manage, the less need there is for management positions, Rioux said.

Rounds also alleged in the complaint that Rioux said he "intended to cut tuition reimbursement for the PhD employee," which, according to Rounds, singled him out.

Rioux denies making the statement regarding Rounds' tuition reimbursement.

A records request for employee tuition and higher education reimbursements shows that Buckeye reimbursed 23 employees a total of $24,115.86 in education costs over the 2008-09 fiscal year.Of that, Rounds received $2,160.

Employees who received more than Rounds include former Community Development employee Teresa Ford, $3,464; former Information Technology employee Brandy Severson, $3,120; and permit technician Kim Price, $3,414. Severson and Ford were laid off last November. Sara Guy, Guy's daughter-in-law, was reimbursed $1,101 for education expenses.