Bruce Turner

Many of us tried to warn the voters last year that Bruce Turner might well be a big spender. Too bad people didn't listen. One of the warning signs last year was Turner's position that, since the town was close to paying off its past borrowings, it could "afford" to borrow more to pay for - among other things - a new police station. Now it looks like he meant it. At a recent selectboard meeting, he supported a proposal by the emergency management folks to look anew at a police station, and when the other two selectmen resisted, he proposed that the town spend $25,000 for yet another "needs assessment." That proposal is on hold, and before it gets a life of its own I suggest taxpayers make it clear to the selectboard - especially Bruce Turner - that that's a waste of money. Some years ago, the selectboard decided to annually raise the employees' share of the cost of health insurance until that share got up to a reasonable level. This year the share was to go up from 22% to 25%. When the selectboard recently voted to implement that scheduled increase, Turner objected, insisting that it should be accompanied by a raise in employee salaries. When the other two selectmen said no to that attempt, Turner voted against raising the employee contribution. Bruce Turner's positions likely stem from his having been a municipal employee for some time, so he's predisposed to favor increasing pay and benefits. I don't think those positions are in the taxpayers' interests. And Bruce is still clothed with that predisposition since he's now an employee of the school district. That fact alone should cause raised eyebrows. School expenses are almost half of the town's total budget, and Bruce must recuse himself from any discussions on school costs. So we have the equivalent of an absentee selectman regarding half of our budget, and one who's generally in favor of spending money regarding the other half. Is that what the voters want? I don't think so.