Chris Chiacchio takes a look at the finances of the 2019 budget.
The proposed 2019 budget was presented at the past council meeting. The draft budget proposed to raise taxes for our households by a staggering 5 percent. The proposed budget is just that, a proposal. There will be further debate over the merits and the final version may not look anything like the proposal. So I thought! It appears that the Democratic council members are in favor of raising your taxes. In fact Mayor Lisa Petriello said when speaking in favor of the tax hike, “This is what happens when you kick the can down the road,” and “This is the proposal we end up getting.” She inferred that past Councils did a poor job managing the Town’s affairs.
It’s worth a review of the record to see who kicked the can down the road:
– In 2016, Petriello voted “Yes” for the introduction of the Budget and “Yes” on the final budget.
– In 2017, Petriello voted “Yes” for the introduction of the budget and “Yes” on the final budget.
– In 2018, Petriello voted “Yes” for the introduction of the budget and “Yes” on the final Budget. I note that the 2018 budget included a tax decrease.
Not only did Petriello vote “Yes” for each budget for the past 3 years, you would be hard pressed to find any negative comments or push back from Petriello in the minutes of any meeting where the budgets were discussed.
Regarding the broad inferences by Mayor Petriello and Deputy Mayor Gillespie, that prior councils mismanaged the town’s affairs, the current council inherited from the past Republican led councils an $8.7 Million surplus and a AAA bond rating.
The surplus is your money! I challenge the council members that support this tax hike to explain to the working families of our town and those on fixed incomes the reason that taxes will be raised by 5 percent while sitting on a surplus of $8.7 million.
Our town’s “AAA” bond rating is the best rating a municipality can attain. Make no mistake, it’s not given out by chance and takes years of hard work and fiscal discipline to achieve. Blaming prior councils as the reason for a tax hike is nothing more than politics as usual. Don’t believe the rhetoric!
Chris Chiacchio
