By Barb Buntin
So the good Dr. was saying that you don’t fix money problems with money. You have to find out why you are broke before you can fix the problem. What you don’t acknowledge you can’t fix.
So why does TOP have delayed/deferred and ongoing maintenance issues? As Mayor Higgins said at a meeting while campaigning last year, the “shiny things” are to blame. I was a little shocked to hear him admit that . Especially since he had been on the town council for 8 years .
I went to the town council work-study session on Facilities Conditions on 4/4.
Two things stuck out. 1- TOP will need a facilities manager and 2 – the splash pad is now pushing $1million.
There is an immense amount of deferred maintenance needed…town hall, the library, FD, PD, etc. These seemed to be the priorities.
No one can deny that these need to be fixed. But TOP easy/first solution is to raise taxes.
Now if TOP has been spending money on “shiny things” that strongly suggests that there is money someplace. One place to look is in the investment fund. According to the 2022 ACFR statement there is $10 million more that the previous years total. A good start while they look for other places they can borrow from. For instance, in order to find a spot on TOP land to build a pool and or community center, TOP found two funds to borrow $200,000 from to do yes wait for it a ….“study”.
To be continued…
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