Care yes Jeff i care. This is my town which i pay taxes in and care how they get spent. I find it odd the people who step up to criticize and done pay taxes here. The fact on the waste oil burner is we save more than a person could imagine. It is true we have run out this very cold year but are still far better off on the cost to heat the highway barn. Our cost to heat when the burners are running is close to zero. We would need to send waste oil out at a cost to store and ship. Lets try this for a change Jeff. Give some good ideas and ways to better this town and not cut up what we have done effectively year after year. The plan may be a problem but without suggestions and ideas to save money without sacrificing safety it sound like bashing to me and others.
I suggest people read the line in bold high lite and think about it for a moment, critically! If you own property in Templeton (or any city or town) and you have a business on it or a home but you are a resident of another Town or city, you pay taxes in Templeton but you are not allowed to vote for the people who spend or control your tax money. You are not allowed to speak at Town meeting without a vote to allow you to speak. If you are a renter and you are a resident of Templeton and you register to vote, you are allowed to vote, to attend and speak at Town meeting without any vote.. You may not directly pay taxes to the Town but you have the right to vote on how tax money is spent. That is the system we live with and so far it has worked pretty well. That is one civic lesson that I hope everyone understands and thinks about, especially if they have or plan to run for elective office.
I recall one individual who attended a BOS meeting and was told by the Chairman of that board "you don't live in town I don't want any stuff out of you." Lost on the Chairman in that moment was the fact the individual owns property in Templeton with a business located on it so they did pay property taxes along with inspection and license fees. I think it was very correct and appropriate for that individual to question or comment on the spending of Town monies, others may disagree with me on that point. We must remember that 18 year olds have the right to vote and I suspect there are very few who own property in Templeton but if they live in Templeton and are registered to vote, they have the power, the right and the responsibility to speak on how taxpayer money is spent because it affects everyone who lives in Templeton.
Jeff Bennett
The situation the town is in and can't quite get out of, hurts everyone. Some more than others. We are paying for decisions made by others, some innocent, some on purpose. We will continue to go this route unless the town wins the lottery, or we learn to do business in a different way. I do believe Bud runs the Highway the best he can, with a bunch of junk, and little money. This Department has suffered emotionally from the loss of one of their men, and has learned to rely on each other. Dave is sticking up for his Department and knows first hand what it is like to be in the middle of a job, only to have your equipment break down. Jeff is right about a lot of things. He is right about the need to change the way we do business in this town. He was right about the need to regionalize the dispatcher's, but at that time no one wanted to listen. So who has decided to go along with plan to regionalize ?? Athol and Gardner !! Now, how about that !! I can honestly say, I would not have seen that coming in a million years. The reality of our situation stinks to high heaven, but I can't see it getting any better anytime soon. The dump truck could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, only if the camel's back was not broken already. For you that are not aware, the frame on the dump truck, the Highway uses broke. I don't think you can fix that, and be safe. So we are where we are, and we have to deal with it. People have a short memory, history shows us that. If we can dig our self out of this mess, we have to do more with less, or return to a bigger hole, the next time around. Dave and Jeff know there have to be changes made in more than one area, and it has been a long, long winter, that fact and five or six feet of snow on the ground does not help, anyone's disposition. We need a task force to develop a plan for the future running of the Town departments, one that can look seriously, and come up with a plan that will be used. Our debt level is too high, thank you Echo Hill, so we need to do things differently, just to survive. This is my opinion, Bev.
ReplyDeleteThe situation the town is in and can't quite get out of, hurts everyone. Some more than others. We are paying for decisions made by others, some innocent, some on purpose. We will continue to go this route unless the town wins the lottery, or we learn to do business in a different way. I do believe Bud runs the Highway the best he can, with a bunch of junk, and little money. This Department has suffered emotionally from the loss of one of their men, and has learned to rely on each other. Dave is sticking up for his Department and knows first hand what it is like to be in the middle of a job, only to have your equipment break down. Jeff is right about a lot of things. He is right about the need to change the way we do business in this town. He was right about the need to regionalize the dispatcher's, but at that time no one wanted to listen. So who has decided to go along with plan to regionalize ?? Athol and Gardner !! Now, how about that !! I can honestly say, I would not have seen that coming in a million years. The reality of our situation stinks to high heaven, but I can't see it getting any better anytime soon. The dump truck could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, only if the camel's back was not broken already. For you that are not aware, the frame on the dump truck, the Highway uses broke. I don't think you can fix that, and be safe. So we are where we are, and we have to deal with it. People have a short memory, history shows us that. If we can dig our self out of this mess, we have to do more with less, or return to a bigger hole, the next time around. Dave and Jeff know there have to be changes made in more than one area, and it has been a long, long winter, that fact and five or six feet of snow on the ground does not help, anyone's disposition. We need a task force to develop a plan for the future running of the Town departments, one that can look seriously, and come up with a plan that will be used. Our debt level is too high, thank you Echo Hill, so we need to do things differently, just to survive. This is my opinion, Bev.
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