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Shifted That Burden

It is predictable that as the Clinton budget referendum date nears, there will be letters to the editor urging voters to support one of or both the education and town budgets. There will be signs asking us to vote as if our grandkids lived here.

But as school enrollment continues to decline and the senior population increases, the chances are greater that grandparents live here than do grandchildren. And, speaking from personal experience, as a senior, I can attest to the hardship caused by large, unmanageable tax increases, even after voters have defeated one or both budgets repeatedly eight of the last nine years.

The loss of state aid, the exodus of commercial and industrial taxpayers, and the failure to develop the abandoned Morgan site has shifted more of that burden to residential property taxpayers. And property tax increases fall disproportionately on low-, middle-, and fixed-income households.

Common sense should prompt voters to say “No” to budgets and spending that threaten to increase property taxes even more. That is why I am voting “No” on both budgets and the bonding appropriation at the referendum on May 8. I encourage your readers to join me!

Harriet Stein

Clinton