The decision to vote no for the budget was a very difficult one, especially during an election year when things can be twisted and used against me. I spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and recent spending decisions and below are some of the reasons I was compelled to vote no.
· Dozens of budget line items were moved, transferred or created as new, making it near impossible for anybody to track increases. The budget was also never posted for the public to see.
· Several new job positions were created since 2021 with no mention of budget constraints. This added more than $300k in salaries and benefits to the budget.
· Eleanor Park was practically given away for pennies on the dollar (one more park to maintain with no budget to do so).
· Police budget went up by over $450k since 2021.
· New budget line item for Economic Development department $150k
· We were told that a nearly $500k school mandate was the main reason for our budget shortfall but after further investigation I found that no new mandates were implemented by the state. We have always had a school cost share and the amount of money we paid the school was only up 4% from 2018.
· CB school board recently voted to add a $125k administrative position.
· New Parks and Rec department was created with $75k budget.
· It’s no secret that the current council has a five vote majority and in politics, the majority rules.
· I asked for a balanced budget option without a tax increase and none was offered.
· Free electricity is provided to food truck vendors which could have helped cover the 5% raise for public works.
· Recently Council voted to spend $20,000 for power hook up to accommodate a temporary food truck location.
· Town sold Dodson property for 60% of its actual value.
· The current budget shows almost $20,000 in new allocations for travel money.
· Council recently voted to reduce requirements on Dodson Development which will result in significantly less tax revenue
· In the past several months council advocated for a $1.2M bike path to Monroe’s birthplace, with zero mention of budget woes. The only reason the plan was tabled was the new price tag of $5M which appears to only be a minor deterrent.
· While I strongly believe the town employees deserved more than a 2% raise, I did not agree that the only way to get them that raise was to increase everyone’s taxes including theirs.
· Salary increases varied across different departments and the increases were from 2% to 20%+ in certain areas. Therefore, there is no visibility on who is receiving what money. How can you expect me to vote on something where there is no visibility?
· In October 2021 on the debate stage, I was asked if I would vote to raise taxes and I said NO.
You don’t have to agree with my decision but I have a finance and business background and I need to vote with the evidence and facts. I hope this explanation helps you better understand my position.
Sincerely,
Councilman Williams
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