Residents can only hope that those who get elected to serve on the Town Council will stop skirting around the Town’s forecasted five-year, $5.9 million revenue shortfall and come to grip with some quantifiable solutions.

During the campaign panacea statements were made about how sales tax revenues are going to make the Town solvent; new residents will be attracted to Town with the 400 apartments in Park Place; the State Trust Land will be a godsend because it could be used for affordable housing and high-tech businesses; how street maintenance will be restored because $1 million was added to the program last year; how problems in Fountain Park and the lake will be solved; how stopping commercial leakage will bring millions of new revenues to Town; and how public safety services could be restructured to reduce the 52 percent impact on operations.

The fact is the Town receives about $4.6 million per year in sales taxes from retail, groceries, restaurants and bars, which equals about $200/year per person. Should 400 new full-time residents move to Town, $80,000 in new revenues might be realized.

The fact is, should sales tax receipts from all sources increase two percent per year, new revenues will be just $180,000.

The fact is long-term apartment rentals pay a 1.6 percent tax, so 400 new apartments with an average rental of $1,000/month will generate less than $80,000/year in new revenues.

The fact is the shortfall analysis already assumes a population increase of 400 residents per year, plus additional construction-related sales tax revenues. If these increases do not happen, the shortfall will be greater than $5.9 million.

These facts are real. The time has come for the Council to quit living in a dream world, face reality, and agree on solutions that will sustain our awesome community.