Over the past few years our town government—through caution and a much-needed conservative fiscal approach—has done an admirable job in controlling town expenses, as evidenced by the town’s recently announced $1,005,556 in free cash. And this occurred with no recent override, which proves it’s possible with forward-thinking leadership, even during a recession. However, one can almost hear the faint cries for ways to spend, even before certification of this free cash by the state.
One can never be too certain as to what the state’s next move will be. Our state’s budget this year, we are told, is around $2 billion in the red. There will be no tax cut or decrease in spending this next year! In addition, the job market has shown no improvement in the past two years; our nation’s debt has gone from about $5 trillion in 2000 to about $13 trillion at present; and the TARP monies of more than $700 billion will be gone in the near future, especially if there’s no more improvement than we’ve seen since this recession started. And it’s not all the fault of our present administration.
The important question now is: where will we be this time next year? Let’s not spend away our solution to possible future problems, especially when no one appears to have a clear view of what next year will bring.
Alcon H. Chadwick
Woodside Road
