Radiofree West Hartford -- The Crow's Nest by Tom Evers

THE CROW'S NEST

West Hartford Tax Referendum Update

By Tom Evers

May 19, 2004

I must say that this is the first time in quite awhile that I've received so much email on a topic. I'm glad to see that West Hartford Residents are finally waking up to the reality that they are in the process of being financially raped by the Democratically controlled West Hartford Town Council.

Some of what you read here might be old news, but let's get started with what I know and get everyone up to speed:

The West Hartford Taxpayers Association under the direction of Philip Meister has spent a significant amount of time gathering signatures for a town-wide referendum on the proposed 7% tax increase. Both Phil Meister and Bill O'Brien have worked tirelessly to gather the necessary number of signatures to force a town-wide referendum vote. For those of you who still wish to add your name to the list of dissatisfied residents, or would like to get involved, please contact Phil Meister via email at president@whta.org .

As many of you have read in the local papers, the Connecticut Senate has passed a bill that allows local townships and cities to delay re-evaluation for up to three years. Despite that fact that Democrats on the West Hartford Town Council have been aware that passage of this bill was certain, they opted to devote an unprecedented number of man-hours; spending nearly a million dollars in administrative costs to push ahead with their re-evaluation agenda. The passage of the bill was widely expected and yet the Council plodded away, wasting valuable tax dollars and time on this ridiculous and expensive initiative.

During a meeting with concerned residents last week, Phil Meister presented West Hartford citizens with the options of either waiting or postponing the push for referendum, or forging ahead with the filing of the votes - the town residents in an overwhelming majority requested that the referendum be held notwithstanding passage of the bill.

The West Hartford Taxpayers Association plans to file the signatures with the Town Hall today, Wednesday, May 19, or on Thursday, May 20th.

Also, in order to help enlighten West Hartford residents on the whole tax issue in greater detail, Meister will make two appearances on West Hartford Community Television (WHC-TV: Channel 5) programming.

Phil is set to attend a taping this Thursday on the show Make it Happen hosted by Dom Chlebowski. He is also invited to appear on the program Our Schools hosted by Kathy Wilson. Taping is scheduled for June 3rd. The Wilson program has also invited Bob Izzard, Head of the Conard Parents Association. This sets up a type of debate format, where Izzard will argue for continued tax hikes for the out of control school budget.

Regardless of the outcome of these debates, the referendum will be presented to the residents for a vote. This is a positive move, as residents will have the opportunity to participate in the process and determine the outcome what will comprise West Hartford taxation. Those campaigning against the referendum are in support of increased taxes and out of control spending. There would be no other reason to be against the referendum - against the people's right to decide the fate of the budget plan. Many of these people would be willing to hand Jonathan Harris and his gang a blank check regardless of the negative impact on West Hartford residents.

The simple fact is that under the Harris plan, the new mil rate would be approximately 43 mils; today the rate stands at 39.7 mils. This is particularly interesting in light of the huge disparity against other area towns. While neighboring Avon and Farmington remain in the 20-mil area, West Hartford stands to be about double the mil rate of our neighbors - driving middle class and lower income residents out of town.

Currently, the rate of inflation is approximately 2%. And the Democrats proposed tax increase is triple that of inflation, which is a huge disparity - particularly in light of increased spending.

One of the biggest concerns with the current and future plan is that the Democrats have no intention of reducing their run-away spending. Next year, the Middle School will be looking for additional expenditures, including more administrators, teaching staff, and renovation requests. The potential for an even higher tax rate is being considered - and with re-evaluation only delayed, this would certainly result in a double-digit increase on every town resident.

Much of this simply comes down to simple mismanagement of taxpayer funds.

The teacher salaries continue to be a question. The failed arbitration caused an increase of 4.7% to teacher salaries. This figure is astounding in that teachers work a mere 182-184 days a year, receive full benefits and paid vacation while making $50-70K a year. Teacher salaries in West Hartford exceed the average per capita income of your average resident. Jack Darci could have done a better job negotiating with the teacher's union on behalf of the town and its taxpayers.

A few notes on this year's budget that require some explanation include a whooping $850,000 expenditure for Leisure Services - when the current Leisure Service Budget is reportedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in deficit. There is also a $750,000 bill for town employee medical expenses, which are not "due" but instead are being put away for future expenditure. Moreover, according to the new rules set by the State Legislature, 40% of medical expense savings can be placed in the stock market for management. This seems to be an incredible gamble that the Democrats are willing to take with taxpayer dollars. Basically, they are asking residents to front hundreds of dollars that will be gambled with - they might as well take the money and go to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun.

Other kinds of unnecessary spending include replacing the phone system in the Town Hall. The current phone system apparently works, but yet through continued mismanagement, the town is apparently looking to fix that which is working fine.

While a lot of the press recently has centered on the West Hartford Taxpayers Association, one wonders what role the Republicans have been playing in this effort?

According to individuals working to gather referendum votes, Republican town officials have not been active participants. The members of the Republican Town Council have not attended the weekend sessions at Waldbaum's in order to show support for halting the tax increase. This is another example where Republicans are falling short in their attempt to solidify their positions and provide residents with a clear message.

This writer calls on new Republican political director, Carl Donatelli to fill what is obviously a leadership vacuum; become active and take the lead on issues of importance. Republicans need to be out in public and lead by example. All of this effort should not be simply left to the West Hartford Taxpayers Association, and a group of volunteers - many of who are disenfranchised Democrats.

If Republicans want to govern on behalf of West Hartford residents, they need to get involved in what is clearly the most important issue of 2004 - the budget battle. They need to organize and participate to affect change for West Hartford.

If the battle against the tax and spenders is won, Republicans will want to be seen as having been part of the solution - and not as silent bystanders, letting others do their work for them.

Residents should pick up the phone and ask the elected Republican leadership what they are doing to protect them from the tax increase - it had better be more than "words at a meeting!"

That's the view from here.

See you next time!