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I have to say I was disgusted as I read the Warrant for Town Meeting the
other day. It seems like most of the items are about spending for this and
spending for that, spend spend, spend... It is a weekly struggle for me to
make ends meet; I live from paycheck to paycheck and that is just the way it
is. We all are living in a failing economy where mortgage rates are going
up while house values are declining, gasoline is going up, heating oil is
going up, food is going up, college is going up. everything is going up
faster than my paycheck. Across America, everybody is hunkering down for
what may be a really nasty ride and making do with what they have. There IS
no more "discretionary" income for most of us (as if there ever was.).
It seems like the entire 1st half of this year's Warrant (that's where I
started flipping pages in disgust) is comprised of item after item to form
and finance new committees to figure out new and exciting ways to spend yet
more money. STOP IT! How about we just save our money for a change (or pay
off our loans early, or even fund our schools)? Reading the Warrant is like
watching a bunch of kids scrambling for candy. Who's in charge here?
(answer: YOU are).
Please remember that as our house values decline, so too will the revenue
from our property taxes as increasing abatement requests from over-appraised
homeowners flood the town hall. We will not be able to continue to fund and
maintain these existing and proposed projects. However, you can bet your
sweet bippy we'll be facing more appeals to fund overrides when the well
starts to go dry.
I am embarrassed to be living in a town where they just don't seem to get
it. But this is where I live and I will speak my mind. Stop spending money
and start learning to make do. Tighten your belt buckle and eliminate all
spending that is not absolutely essential, just like our parents had to.
Just repair the school without spending tons of money on committees,
architects, reviews and lawyers. Don't raze it, repair it! Get by with the
firehouse, ambulances, cruisers, plows, etc., as-is! Make do with what we
have; just like I do.
The way this Town has lavished itself with fancy new this and that is
criminal. I have said it before and I'll say it again, we don't need fancy
brick inlay, cut granite curbs, fancy street lights that blind you,
ridiculous and expensive clock towers, cavernous Town Halls, labyrinthic
libraries, etc. I am sick and tired of seeing my hard-earned and exorbitant
tax dollars squandered on such frivolous and unnecessary niceties.
Unfortunately, I see no shift in sight. I feel these expenditures stem from
a lavish and self-indulgent (read "spoiled") mentality that pervades the
community. It sets a bad example for our children; to be so wasteful,
irresponsible and decadent - especially in a time of such difficult economic
stress and uncertainty - that we can spend the way we have been and still
have the gall to consider letting teachers go. it's downright shameful.
Even my 13-year-old son comments on the street lights, he asks: "Why did
they put up twice as many as they needed in the first place? That probably
could have paid for an extra teacher or two, right Dad?" "Right, son!
That, and then some", I tell him. And it's the truth.
How refreshing it would be to see a warrant that simply said: "No New
Spending". Norfolk needs to show more fiscal responsibility and live by the
same standards as its citizens. We are in a recession and we don't know how
much worse it's going to get. but rest assured, it IS going to get worse.
Gas WILL hit $4-5/gal this year and heating oil WILL hit $5-6/gallon come
fall, and neither will ever come down again. Rice is ALREADY being rationed
and those abatement filings WILL be coming in.
It is past time to shift our Town's priorities towards the kind of
conservatism that most of us have already instituted at home. Please stop
spending simply because it seems that at this particular point in time you
think we have the funds - they are depreciating faster than even Norfolk can
spend them. Please go to Town Meeting on May 13th and stop the spending.
Tell them now is not the time and they will just have to make do, like the
rest of us. Tell them what we tell our own children. we just can't afford
that right now.
Thanks for listening.
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