Wednesday, January 19, 2011

WHEN A BUDGET CUT IS NOT A BUDGET CUT!!!

At a public selectman’s meeting several weeks ago Matt asked the other selectman to come up with proposals for a 2, 5 and 7 % budget cut proposals to see how that would impact the town services and departments; keeping in mind that public safety, Fire and Police, major emphasis on Fire to keep as much services as they can in tack. The other selectman said that it was too early to do that and they needed to wait until the budget reached the selectman.

When the budget reached the board, the selectmen were talking about at least level funding. Matt voted responsibly against most spending increases and proposed spending proposals only to find that they couldn’t even level fund the budget and appeared to make cuts to the spending proposals and not to the budget. As a point of reference and discussion he made a motion for a 7% budget cut. Some of the selectmen acted like rats fighting over cheese accusing him of not saying anything before this, etc, etc and etc.

Well he did and waited to see if the board was serious about making any cuts to the BUDGET and not just providing lip service to the process. As they came to realize Matt is quiet but committed to do what he says.

It was also good to see members of the audience support him in his quest to reduce our taxes with positive suggestions for cuts. I was truly pleased to see that and not just complaining. I hope those who like to go to the selectman’s meetings will continue to provide positive input, it will benefit the town and hopefully save us money.

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