As a former elected official for the past decade, it’s a sad state of affairs when the dysfunction of Washington politics infects our small town government. As our Federal government shut down Tuesday, the impacts will be varied, many of them financial—all of them felt in the end by ordinary taxpayers who had nothing to do with the shenanigans of Congress. It’s a high-stakes game of chicken that a handful of very wealthy individuals are playing with our tax dollars and our economy. What a strange circumstance—those who clamor for reduced taxes the most have deliberately cost us all more out of pocket—not necessarily in taxes mind you, but by creating economic uncertainty, which increases our daily expenses that we encounter throughout our lives—gas, food, etc.
It is a flawed notion that government dysfunction is good for our political system. Over the past five years I have witnessed the periodic obstruction of our local democratic process. In particular, I’m referring to the act of creating roadblocks for the Town Hall renovation project—all done, mind you, on the premise that if we can kill the project it will somehow save the town money. As a reminder, this project has evolved in a very public process over many years, ratified by Town Meeting repeatedly along the way. It is hard to believe that the project has been delayed by almost a year due to the bureaucratic antics of a handful of citizens—the consequence of which I have stated at public meetings: “delay will certainly cost us all much more in the end.” I’m confounded by those who have participated in the efforts to stall the project (knowing full well delay will cause costs to escalate) when it is the same folks who are violently opposed to just about any public investment that doesn’t serve their personal interests regardless of the value or purpose.
If you haven’t noticed by now, we have officially MISSED the financial window of opportunity for a cost-effective solution to the problem of our crumbling Town Hall. I will say it again, a solution that was clearly supported by the Town Meeting and the voters on numerous occasions over the past four years. According to the project’s cost estimators, construction pricing over the past year has increased dramatically because the construction sector is in the midst of a strong recovery. Contractors are no longer desperate for work or gone out of business, tightening the bidding climate. Interest rates are poised to rise, and we all know they can only go up from here. Had we been able to move forward a year ago, not only would we have repaired our historic Town Hall and made it useful for the next 100 years, but we would have been able to do it in a timely fashion at a reduced cost. Finally we have the evidence that delay will indeed cost us more—much more.
Tim Clark
Bolton Road
