At
last night’s Town Council Workshop and Special Town Council
meeting, the taxpayers lost again. The Town Council minus Councilor
Dillon Pesce passed another budget that will raise our taxes for the
fourth year in a row.
I
want to commend Councilor Pesce for sticking to his beliefs and
putting the taxpayers first.
The Municipal Budget was penny for penny the same with the exception
of the Town Manager cutting $6,035.00 out of General Government. Two
Councilors who voted NO turned around and approved the budget last
night. So
what changed??????????
Whatever took
place behind the scenes worked.
Chairwoman
Ward continued her pressure on Councilors and denied the people the
opportunity to speak during the Workshop and the meeting prior to the
vote. This
maneuver is typical when you are desperate to protect your mentor’s
budget. Council
Lunt suggested not replacing any Police vehicles this year at a
previous meeting and was totally ignored by Chairwoman Ward. Other
suggestions for making cuts in the budget were also ignored by
Chairwoman Ward.
This action by Chairwoman Ward shows how far she would
go to protect the Municipal Budget.
Chairwoman Ward ordered that
the Audience Participation portion of the meeting come after
the
vote on the budget. Normally, Audience Participation comes prior to
the voting portion of the meeting. According to the Council Working
Rules, the people have a right to speak on agenda item before the
agenda item comes before the council for action. Now it does say
that the order of the agenda maybe changed by the Chair. But denying
the people the right to express their feeling to the council is wrong
on so many levels. The
fact she refused to allow the people to speak prior to the vote on
the budget is a violation of the town’s mission statement and is an
injustice to the people who elected her.
The people have a right to participate in local government and to
let their elected official know how they feel on issues before the
council votes on them.
This
is an abuse of position and Chairwoman Ward should be immediately
removed as Chairwoman of this council.
Larry
Fillmore
P.S.
I personally believe, after listening to the people, that the
approved Municipal budget has approximately $465,000.00 of excessive
spending in it. This is an entire .mil rate. Thank you Chief
Brooks!
The previous town council made changes to the Town Charter that make it more difficult to re-call a councilor.
ReplyDeleteThey were protecting their own, and it is protecting Lisa now. Not to worry. She is up for re-election in November.
Wonder if senior citizens will vote for this time?