“To the constituents it appears that town officials are serially incapable of sticking to the given budget and living within the town’s means.” “This example shows a lack of competence as well as a deficit in financial probity. When residents have trust in their elected officials, they are more likely to invest in their community. Paying a higher tax for the good of the town is much more palatable when residents are provided a clear explanation of what exactly their tax dollars are funding.”

These are not my words. These are quotes from David Spelich during his campaign. Last week we read a number of opinions from those Spelich supporters who agreed with his campaign position on taxes (aka “fees”) as “an overreach of government” but now seem to believe his awakening to our well-known revenue problems is to increase taxes/fees. “There is no more room to cut.” Seriously, you would have to be living under a rock not to know that fact.

I’ll wait to see more details before I make my final judgement on his plan but let’s be clear: fees are regressive, they cannot be fairly assessed, they are not tax deductible, there is no enforcement for those who do not pay, and there is no exception for those on limited or fixed income. And why sunset the fee? These ongoing maintenance, infrastructure and environmental expenses are not going away.

While we wait for this idea to fade or become a reality, I’d like to know whatever happened with Spelich’s priorities like “revitalization and growth of small business” and “rewriting public safety contracts?” I assume he also came to realize those efforts would not come close or soon enough to fix our revenue shortfall. Again, who did not know that?