Tag: Rocky Hill

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.