Sometimes when you vote, both choices are so noxious that you feel like holding your nose. It happened to me last week, when I cast my vote as a Rocky Hill Town Council member for the Town’s 2025-2026 budget.
If “kicking the can down the road” were an Olympic sport, this budget would be a gold-medal contender. The Town Manager’s proposed budget was already very lean, but the Republican majority assembled a list of cuts that included a $300,000 reduction for road maintenance, a $732,000 reduction from the Town’s recommended contribution to its pension fund, a $300,000 reduction to the Board of Education, and a $150,000 reduction to building improvements. This budget aims to hold the Town together with duct tape and zip ties.
So, why, you may ask, did I vote yes? I put my strong reservations on the record before I cast my vote. As I explained, I realize that many of our homeowners are still reeling from the heavy tax increase they suffered a year ago after the townwide property revaluation. People need another year to readjust. I understand that the overriding priority this year was to keep any tax increase to a bare minimum.
But as I also explained, we are setting ourselves up for a major course correction next year. We can’t repeatedly underfund our pension plan. We can’t indefinitely defer road maintenance and building improvements. We can’t maintain a virtual hiring freeze in a growing town with growing demand for Town services.
And we should not accept a zero-growth Grand List, which Rocky Hill has endured for at least four years now. When a town fails to add taxable property to its base year after year, the existing taxpayers get slammed.
So, weighing all of this, I held my nose and voted yes. But, speaking as a lifelong Mets fan, I can only say – wait till next year.
Opinion piece:This article reflects the position of the author and not necessarily those of the Democratic Town Committee.
