Spend, Spend, Spend

There are some big spending issues facing the town.

The school budget, and the related proposed school closings, are really causing heat. There can be no doubt that closing the three outlying schools will save money. Is it worth $330,000 (or whatever the "right" number is) to keep them open? The school budget is about 40% of the entire town budget, so we should be very careful about making decisions that will have big financial impacts for a long time.

The police building committee keeps lumbering along. I have no idea if that committee will be able to produce plans for a building that will be within budget. But I do know it's a BIG number. We voted at the special town meeting to go ahead in a moment of passion (or were we just smoking something), but why shouldn't we reconsider that decision at the May meeting? I've complained for years about pushing through expensive projects with inadequate vetting at a special town meeting. Why not give everyone a meaningful chance to decide? It's not too late to stop.

The water department study committee has submitted its report and it smacks of whitewash. (I was on the committee and dissented via a minority report.) The town's subsidy just grows and grows. I suggest you read the reports carefully and then ask lots of pointed questions.

The voters may be asked in May to appropriate money to acquire the Egremont Inn property. How much is it worth to get that property? Personally, I think the property should be used to provide some affordable housing, whether the town does it or someone else. But how much should the town spend?

Please come to the town meeting. When you add these things up, it's real money. And if you really support a particular one of them, you have to think about opposing the others. Do your homework. As Craig Elliott has often said, make spending decisions as if it were your own money, because it is.