« Le Conseil de l’éducation: D’où vient tout cet argent?

Decision Time

07May17

We are back for a special guest appearance. Thank you, Madame, for the space.

The time has come for our elected representatives to set our tax rates again. As we have said so many times in the past, nothing effects your life and property as much as local taxes do. The Council will be literally adjusting your monthly mortgage payment next week. So pay attention willya? This is kinda important.

This year is the first time (at least since we have been writing this blog) that we have seen a Councilman use actual data to determine our taxes. We are, of course, talking about Greg Cann. We have watched quietly as he has taken on the responsibility of actually understanding what the numbers mean. We have heard about no side deals or secret understandings going on with Mr. Cann and anyone else. In fact we can discern no hidden agendas with this gentleman at all. He seems to be relying completely on reality. Go figure.

We understand that anytime the Board of Education doesn’t get more than they ask for we are depriving children of their education. Of course there is no reality to this. No one has ever determined the effect of an administrator’s salary and benefits on a child’s education. But there will be layoffs they say. How many administrators will be laid off? Any? Do administrators teach children? Apparently our administrators can’t even create a readable budget. Will we notice if any of them are gone?

We urge all of of Council members to follow Mr. Cann’s lead. It is time to make the Town responsible to the people they are supposed to serve. It has been turned the wrong way for too long. The taxpayers do not serve the Town departments or BOE. It is they who serve us. And they are not minding the store. It is time the think about making this town livable for it’s residents and not for the employees who flee to other towns with lower taxes.

Mr. Cann’s numbers are unlike those we have become accustomed to. They are real and reflect actual costs. It is ludicrous to ask for a 2.75% increase if you have no idea how the last increase got spent. For someone who has the responsibility of chairing the entire Council, Ms. Daponte should know better than to make ridiculous statements like that. There may be a Council person or two that is still dumb enough to believe her.


Filed under: Stratford Political Theater   |  5 Comments

5 Responses to “Decision Time”

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  1. 1 MadameDefarge on May 7, 2017 said:

    Mon plaisir Mademoiselle Jezebel. So nice to have you back. I keep falling asleep at my knitting table and then ze Facebook pages have so many posts and comments to read and catch up about ze budget. Its, how you say, très fatigant pour moi. Jamais l’esprit. Je vais continuer.

    You are correct about Monsieur Cann. Does he realize they named a dance after him here is Paris?
    The Cancan Dance
    Quelle que soit. C’est magnifique!!

    “As we have said so many times in the past, nothing effects your life and property as much as local taxes do.”
    Perhaps someone needs to tell that to the good Doctor Daponte. She keeps saying how important it is for our property values to have a good schools. But as everyone has been saying the past few weeks and at the hearings, Stratford already has very good schools. What she fails to say is that the real drag on property values these past few years is the property taxes. They are too high and everyone looking to move here (it is quite the value compared to the neighboring towns). Ask a realtor what the problem is – they know. But Doctor 2.75 would have you believe otherwise. I wonder if she printed the green 2.75 signs herself that were seen last week at the hearings. Qui sait?

  2. 2 kildbytaxes on May 9, 2017 said:

    It looks like this Council whiffed the ball last night. We have one more chance for seven members of this Council to stand up for the people who actually pay for this Town and do the right thing. We’ve had quite enough of highly paid Town employees, directors, chiefs and superintendents telling us that more money in their pockets will solve every problem in this Town and make our children’s lives better. That is just not true. They just take our money and live very well in other towns with much lower property taxes.

    C’mon, Council! For once do the right thing. You’ve got one more chance on Wednesday. Don’t blow it.

  3. 3 kildbytaxes on May 16, 2017 said:

    I understand why Harkins doesn’t want to answer Cann’s questions about transferring funds from every enterprise fund he could get his hands on. Stealing from EMS ( and therefore sick and injured citizens) is a bit over the line though.

    What I don’t understand is Harden pandering to high school kids who can’t vote and don’t pay taxes. Especially when he is fully aware that no one at the BOE can explain where the last $107 million went. Maybe Harden can explain to these kids how raising administrators pay improves their education. No, it’s not about the books, sports or music is it? Harden knows better. He knows that the BOE budget is a fairytale. So is it really about the kids? I suppose Harden just doesn’t care how high his constituents rents or mortgages are. At least kids out of his district like him.

    The Republicans who want to raise your mortgage payments are doing their best to make sure we don’t have a Republican mayor for a very long time by sticking with Harkins.

  4. 4 kildbytaxes on May 27, 2017 said:

    Can someone explain to me how increasing the BOE budget by over $1 million “decimates” the education of our children?

    And, oh by the way, how a veto which yields a zero increase helps our children’s education?

  5. 5 kildbytaxes on July 6, 2017 said:

    Can we make an attempt to at least describe participants correctly?

    When you’re in a minority (like, say, a mayor) and you refuse to change a single item in your $200+ million budget, that makes you the “hardliner”.

    The rest (like, say, 6 members of the Council) is called a “majority” or maybe even “bipartisan consensus”.

    Can someone please explain this to the Star &/or Post?


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