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Post by JudgeSmaels on Jul 1, 2005 21:04:42 GMT -5
Sy, I think our local politicians have learned from our Federal and State hacks, let's spend and tax.
Both parties are out of control (except in Conn. there isn't a Republican Party ). In CT when we have a $700 million surplus ( on paper ) and they raise taxes $ 700 million we have a problem, but "it's for the children".
We have nobody to blame but ourselves for being to lazy or not caring who we vote for and send these hacks back for more.
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AB
Bronze Member
Posts: 21
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Post by AB on Jul 2, 2005 13:15:56 GMT -5
Historically, taxes and spending in this town were too low and so problems ranging from road potholes to the Silas Deane to (lack of) economic development did not get addressed, and the town became a less desirable place to live and do business. We are now making up for years of penny-wise, pound foolish governance. rOne of the factors that has caused Wethersfieldrr
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Post by SenatorBlutarsky on Jul 4, 2005 21:26:15 GMT -5
AB, I wouldn't say spending has been to low, when we spend $10,000 per student I would say that's on the high end.
Our spending habits perhaps have been in the wrong places and in the past not maintaining our buildings and infrastructure have come back to haunt us.
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Post by oldetowne on Jul 6, 2005 16:00:43 GMT -5
It's impossible to identify only one or two specific things that led to the tax increases of the past two years. Here are a laundry list of things that I think factor into it:
1. Stagnant commercial property tax base
2. Relatively greater increases in residential property values than commercial
3. Only recently have union contracts been moving in the direction of lower increases and more copays
4. Artificially low tax increases in the past due to deferral of maintenance or major projects
5. Salary line items growing at the top end of the scales both in town and board side
6. Little effort to examine consolidation of services between town and board
7. Almost no effort to examine administrative hierarchies in town and board
8. No meaningful consideration of which services the town actually should be providing on its own (e.g., physical services and payroll being outsourced) and which ones should be self-sustaining
9. Reliance on bonding for capital repairs and improvements
10. No meaningful and systematic capital planning for future projects
OK, I will stop now. Fire away.
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