Capital Budget Update
Another nonelection year, another capital budget passed without any regard for the taxpayer.
It was a long meeting at just under 2 and a half hours. I encourage you to sit and watch through the questions from Mr. Heinbaugh, Mrs. Coyne, Mr. Sweet, Mr. Krug, and Mr. Paladoro. All of them are in favor of moving this township forward, but they also want it done responsibly.
When your municipal budget increases from $15,000,000 in 2001 to $65,000,000 in 2021 people should be able to ask questions. When the state gives the township $6,400,000 for infrastructure projects and the township chooses to take taxpayer money instead, the taxpayer should ask why. I’m guessing it’s going to pay for something next year since that’s an election year and they wouldn’t dare raise taxes during an election year.
When Sam asks how many $125,000 leaf collectors the township needs, it’s not because he’s against leaf collection. It’s just because he’s looked over the last several capital budgets and noticed we keep buying them. What’s the right amount of leaf collectors for our size township? Will we need another one next year? How long does one last? These aren’t terrible questions for YOU to be asking since YOU pay for them.
At the 1:27 mark in the video Sam asks about doing a cost analysis on things like copiers. Should we lease them or buy them was the question. The answer left us all wondering if they aren’t doing cost analysis for anything that how bad are they getting ripped off? In turn, how bad are WE getting ripped off?
Another question people seem to have that never really gets answered is, why does a playground like this….
Cost as much to replace as this?
The only answer we could come up with is that we use really awesome rubber under our play sets so kids don’t get hurt. If municipal playground sets cost anywhere from $8,000 to $55,000 and a full playground costs $200,000 than that’s some REALLY AWESOME rubber. The next time I need to replace my bed, I’m not going to get a Tempur-Pedic. I’m going to sneak into a GT playground and snag some of that playground rubber. Don’t judge, I paid for it!
Any positive takeaways from last night?
Yes! The room wasn’t empty. There were a few new faces in the audience and the return of a few folks that haven’t been involved for some time. The best part about this is that at the end of the night I found myself sitting at Skeeters with past council members and candidates from the 2017, 2019 and 2021 elections. Some of us even ran against each other in the 2021 election. The effort that GT Republican Club is putting forward to bring people together is exactly what this township needs. I’m especially grateful for having Sam Sweet and Joe Damico at my table sharing ideas rather than arguing about past elections. If you don’t know these guys personally than you probably don’t know how much hustle these guys have. Both of them own businesses and work non stop, while still staying involved in trying to advance their township.
The next person we need at the table is YOU.
Please check our calendar for upcoming events and meetings and come out. At the very least, I would love to shake the hand of everyone that came out and voted in 2021 for anyone other than the current administration.
On a side note, Andrea Stubbs who only attended 1/3 of all meetings over the last year was unable to attend again due to an illness.
I want to leave you with Paul Krug’s final statement and question for council. If the reaction from council doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will.
