...town by town

Argie's Wife · 09-26-2010, 08:09 AM

I agree with your post 100%.

As utilities and good increase in cost it becomes more challenging to present a budget to the voters that they will accept. The town presented a level-funded budget last year and the school presented a budget -6% below the previous years' budget. The school returned over $150,000 in unused funds to the town to offset this years' tax rate.

By presenting a cut budget or even a level-funded one, it means that projects, repairs, and upgrades have to wait. The longer those items wait, the more expensive they can become.

An upgrade to plumbing in a bathroom or replacing a roof will cost more two, three, or four years later down the road; not taking into account if those items (roof or plumbing) should fail at some point, causing for emergency repairs.

My point is that you can only run on a level-funded budget or cut budget for so long, when at some point you may have to ask for more money to take care of what the tax-payers have already paid for and trust you to manage.

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09-26-2010, 08:09 AM	#17
Argie's Wife Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Alton Posts: 1,908 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 533 Thanked 579 Times in 260 Posts	I agree with your post 100%. As utilities and good increase in cost it becomes more challenging to present a budget to the voters that they will accept. The town presented a level-funded budget last year and the school presented a budget -6% below the previous years' budget. The school returned over $150,000 in unused funds to the town to offset this years' tax rate. By presenting a cut budget or even a level-funded one, it means that projects, repairs, and upgrades have to wait. The longer those items wait, the more expensive they can become. An upgrade to plumbing in a bathroom or replacing a roof will cost more two, three, or four years later down the road; not taking into account if those items (roof or plumbing) should fail at some point, causing for emergency repairs. My point is that you can only run on a level-funded budget or cut budget for so long, when at some point you may have to ask for more money to take care of what the tax-payers have already paid for and trust you to manage.