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05/30/2018 08:00 AMWhether one is a “Yes” voter or a “No” voter, the annual budget fight in Clinton is getting old. People ask me what it would take to put an end to this once and for all. The answer is very simple, but not easy to achieve.
Here is that formula: Increase spending no more than the real increase in the tax base (Grand List excluding revaluation distortions) and increase taxes no more than the consumer price index. If the boards of Education, Selectmen, and Finance achieved that through a top-down budget process, taxpayers would have little to complain about.
Clearly, the vote-yes-no-matter-what constituency is shrinking as school enrollment drops, while the vote-no-no-matter-what constituency is growing as more empty-nesters and non-residents become more populated and animated.
It is time to come to terms with this political reality and with the taxpayers who have the stamina to defeat budgets until increases are reasonable and elected officials are empathetic and responsive.
What has been learned from two referendums in which both budgets were soundly defeated? Thinly peeling the budget onion does not pass muster. So if a less than one percent cut failed, how is another 0.5 percent cut expected to succeed? Such disrespect for the voters is doomed.
Remember the proposed 2.5 percent tax increase compounds this year’s 10 percent tax increase and is on top of a projected $1 million surplus in the town budget. Taxpayers have earned a tax increase holiday this year.
The next opportunity for taxpayers to drive home this message is on June 6. All who have voted “No” on May 9 and 23 must do so once again on June 6 to make those votes count for something more than another token cut.
Kirk Carr
Clinton
Kirk Carr (R) serves as an alternate on the Board of Finance.