Laugh Or Cry?

To the Editor:

If it weren’t so serious, it would be amusing. No matter on which side of the budget debate you fall, you must agree that our schools are in need of some serious help. Not only are they bursting at the seams, possibly all are in need of major repair. So where does the money come from? The only source, of course.

So what is so amusing? Each week in The Bee, usually on the front page, I read about the proposed 23-unit complex being considered for Church Hill Road. Let me see if I’ve got this straight: Our schools are overcrowded, there isn’t enough money to go around to pay for the programs, the salaries, more classes, a new high school, the books, the sports, the band, the chalk etc. But we’re considering further burdening the system by adding 23 units of mixed income housing? Am I the only one who sees the new “units” as an additional drain on our resources? Certainly these “units” will attract families to our town, families with school-age children. Great idea, add students but make sure we collect less in taxes by creating a new housing zone. Why not go a step further? I propose we allow the new zone, collect no tax from our new neighbors, allow their relatives to attend our schools and construct Mr Dauti a Penthouse Suite on top of Edmond Town Hall. Let’s make him first selectman for doing such a great job for us. Wait, let’s let Mr Dauti construct 46 units. Surely if 23 are good for us, wouldn’t 46 be better? What about 78? Never mind the traffic, the water supply necessary, the traffic, the waste treatment, the traffic, the noise and air pollution, the traffic, the risk to the Pootatuck, the traffic…

Maybe the answer to our annual budget quandary is to limit construction. Maybe property values will continue to increase by limiting supply, in turn increasing revenue to the town. Maybe our schools could reach a plateau in enrollment so the taxpayers can “catch up” gradually instead of at the rate seven percent per year. Maybe the regular property revaluations should be the only “shock” to our individual tax liabilities. Maybe the town could buy Mr Dauti’s lot instead of three acres worth of unbuildable cliffside on Lake Zoar. Maybe I could go on all day....

Joe Duffy

5 Thomas Circle, Sandy Hook    May 26, 2006