how often does the letter "a" occur in:
middletown -- mayor sebastian n. giuliano offered a proposed $130.41 million budget thursday, a budget decrease -- if an accounting change is omitted -- of 0.15 percent, or a budget increase of 5.9 percent if that accounting change is included.
under his budget, the tax rate would go up by 1.8 mills from 25.5 to 27.3. the average taxpayer with a home assessed at $165,000 would see a $297 tax increase.
"my decisions are based on the most fiscally-responsible direction for the city," giuliano wrote in a nine-page budget address with several footnotes. "if an action is the right and responsible thing to do and there is no reasonable alternative, i will propose it, even when it means an increase in taxes."
the budget includes money for two more police officers and a grant writer, sets aside funds to automate city parking lots and allocates $800,000 to pay for non-recurring capital expenses.
the budget would require the board of education to trim its proposed $68 million budget by nearly $144,000.
as part of the mayor's proposed budget, non-state department of education-certified board of education employees, who include school secretaries and cafeteria workers, would be paid for out of the city budget rather than the board of education budget.
in addition to that change, $957,000 in cafeteria workers' salaries were included as an expense in the budget instead of as part of a separate fund, although they are paid with revenue from cafeteria sales, giuliano said. he said the change accounts for the seeming 5.9 percent increase and that those salaries would continue to be covered by school-lunch sales.
giuliano opened his budget message by paying tribute to city workers, praising their response to the kleen energy systems power plant explosion and their work organizing a fundraiser for the families of the six victims of the blast.
"these are the type of people that make up the city's workforce -- people who are public servants, care deeply about others, and love their community," he wrote.
last year, giuliano proposed a budget that was about $700,000 lower than the previous year in part because the city's four unions collectively offered up a concession package worth $800,000. the common council later decided not to accept the concessions because they thought the way they were structured was unfair.
giuliano asked the city unions this fiscal year to defer their 2010-11 wage increases by one year, but all four unions turned down his request, he said. in his budget message, giuliano predicts that he will be criticized for not being tougher on city unions, but adds, "the fact is that programs and services cost what they cost to deliver, and those who deliver them deserve a proper wage and fair benefits package."
he later wrote that by not pressing for concessions from unions whose givebacks were rejected by the common council, he believes he has put the city in a better position for future contract negotiations.
giuliano, a republican, chastises the democratically-controlled common council in his message for what he called budget "gimmicks" in order to not increase taxes, such as using one-time revenue sources like the sale of cucia park and dipping into the fund balance. he wrote that if his two previous budgets with modest tax increases had been adopted, the city would be in a much better financial position.
common council majority leader thomas serra, who said thursday he had not yet had an opportunity to review the mayor's budget, promised that council members would "scrutinize all the numbers and try to get best possible services for the least possible money."
he added, "our goal is to not make (the average tax burden) $297 -- to take at least some (money) off that."
the common council is set to hold budget workshops with department heads throughout april and must adopt a budget by may 15.
user
I found two hundred and forty-one "a"s in the provided passage.
assistant