As a community we are very good at analyzing specific problems and proposing remedies. A recent example is the excellent work by two groups to craft warrant articles 17 and 18 concerning use of municipal buildings. While these proposals have merit, they also bear long-term costs that may, in the end, defeat the shared goal of making our town a better place to live. Every capital expenditure brings with it a need for ongoing support in our operations budgets for years to come. For example, prior to building the new library, we budgeted for heat, maintenance, insurance, etc., to run the old library. Now we have the splendid new library, but the costs of the old library have not gone away, and may in fact increase. The military calls this “‘mission creep.”
Having recently become a senior citizen myself, I appreciate the role that Hildreth House serves in our town. However, the main threat to seniors is not that Hildreth renovations are voted down, but that taxes will rise to the point where seniors will be forced to move to some other town. When that happens, we will have lost the very group we sought to support. In a recent letter to the Press, Laura Andrews noted that on average our taxes since 2000 have gone up by 98 percent while the CPI has increased only 27 percent. How many town facilities can we afford?
Mark Van Baalen
Madigan Lane
