At our first BOT Meeting as a new Board this past Wednesday, it was a true pleasure to not have the unnecessary drama and petty political agendas that have permeated far too many meetings in the past. However, as I said the night of the election, this does not mean we will all agree and our first order of business proved just that.On the agenda was the passage of our Capital Budget for 2009. Included in that $2.6 million ordinance was money for projects such as the Public Works garage, Crest Drive Firehouse, Athletic Field improvements, Parking Lot improvements, IT projects, Roadway improvements and Public Works trucks - all valid and necessary expenditures in order to maintain our Village's infrastructure and all costly projects that make sense to pay for over the many years of the useful life of these projects.
However, one element of this Capital Budget I disagree with (again) is to include $60,000 of the $265,000 SOPAC subsidy for Operating Expenses. Two years ago, during a challenging budget cycle, my colleagues agreed to allocate the entire $300k of operating expenses for SOPAC on the Capital Budget and I voted against it. Last year, in order to bring the Municipal increase to a "round number", a small portion of the SOPAC subsidy was put on the Capital Budget and I reluctantly agreed - thinking it was a one time situation. However, this year, that amount was carried forward to the Capital Budget again and I strongly disagree.
The subsidy for SOPAC Operating Expenses is to pay for salaries and other operational expenses that will be incurred THIS YEAR. To defer payment of those funds and spread them over 20 years simply does not make any sense to me. In my opinion, this is no different than buying a big house with a big mortgage and then realizing you cannot afford a fully loaded cable TV package, so you simply put your cable bill on your mortgage. If we cannot afford the SOPAC subsidy, we should address that simple fact. I would like to see where the final Municipal Budget winds up once we learn if we will be receiving any extraordinary aid from the State. At that point, if the Municipal increase is still to large, we should cut additional expenditures, including the SOPAC subsidy...not simply defer the expenditure to the future by "putting it on the credit card". I don't do that with my home finances and don't agree we should do it with YOUR tax dollars either.
The Capital Budget will be voted on a Second Reading on June 22. Let me know what you think.
2 comments:
I hope that you are able to get your point across as clearly in the meeting. I do remember when you brought this up in the past and i agree'd then as I do now. There is no reason that we should be subsidising SOPAC. Get shows people in town want to see so you sell tickets and make money. OR CLOSE. I am sure the movie theater will do fine without the rest.
I am a fan of the idea of having a performing arts center and I can understand that the town may want to participate to allow access for school programs or other community events. But I do not feel it should extend to the level of covering salaries. They are not town employee's and we should not be covering their expenses at that level. It is a business in the town.
Again, I hope that you are successful.
Michael G.
I totally agree with Mr. Graham. Any BOT member that votes to give SOPAC money should be removed from office ASAP.
Also, whoever is in charge of the rebuilding of the Fire House, (I forget, how many years now?), should be fired as well.
And cannot someone fix the broken street lamps in the NJ Transit parking lot. And how about cleaning up the pigeon crap in and around the gazebo
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