Opposition Forces
Budget season is over. Everyone in Town Hall and at the BOE are happy. Well, OK, not so happy if you’re a union member. But nonetheless all the non-union employees are happy. Soon the Council and WPCA (Sewer Plant) will negotiate a $5.2 million sale of Town property. Yes, we know. The WPCA and Town Council are the same people. But we are sure they will negotiate with themselves and come up with a fair amount to steal from taxpayers.
Of course the BOE remains somewhat of a mystery since they have yet to publish an approved budget. We suppose the Superintendent and Board of Education members feel that we have no business knowing how they are spending $97 MILLION of our money allocated by the Republican controlled Council. Maybe they are right? After all, it did not delay for a moment the mailing of tax bills nor did it extend the deadline to pay. The mayor’s opinion is “Just pay it. We’ll tell you later how we spent it…maybe.”
Is anyone protesting any of this? Extracting funds from the WPCA is clearly illegal according to State statute. Has the Attorney General’s office jumped on this? They have certainly been made aware of it. Nope. Not a word. Has anyone on the Council been struck by a stray ethical consideration? Apparently not. Surely the elected Board of Education members are aware that not a single taxpayer has any idea what is happening to nearly half of our yearly tax burden? Who knows?
Who’s fault is all of this? The answer is simple. It is our own fault. We choose to not vote. We choose to ignore budget debates. We choose to drive by Town Hall on our way to shop or desperately hunt for a legal parking space. We choose to skip over anything related to municipal government or education. So as you write your checks this month and place them in the blue envelopes remember that is our own fault that these bills are among the highest in Connecticut.
