23.03.2013 - 09:55   IP: logged |
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Terri, very sorry to hear that. One small solace is that there are many folks in the same sad sttiaiuon (the lifeboat is getting awful full, isn't it?).The gap between what the Council spends and what the Town can support has been growing for almost a decade now. The velocity it has grown has really ramped up since 2005.It will suck if we have to hit the wall before we change our ways.My biggest frustration is how the size of the current and looming fiscal problems we face could have been reduced or possibly eliminated by a bit of prudence over the last 5 years. Even if we had prepared for this completely foreseeable state of affairs, I would have still counseled against issuing $20.41M for the Library expansion and greenways projects to position the Town better to take advantage of the eventual upturn.RAM's sweet Lot #5 deal, even if the Town was flush with cash, is and always will be a terrible deal for the community.In any case, over the next 5 weeks the public is fairly restricted in the PUBLIC ways they can discuss the budget. There will be no PUBLIC venues to challenge Council and staff's assumptions, projections and plans. And, as Terri and most of the readers of CHW know, Council very rarely moves on a dime on the budget.It's a shame Oprah didn't bellyache about municipal budgets instead of using cellphones in the car. In that case, we might actually get Council to pay attention and hold an immediate forum |
