Regarding Town’s Reserve Fund(s)
Transparency and the truth. That’s what Americans want. And that’s certainly what the residents of Mount Airy want. It seems like the more we push for the truth, the more our Mayor and certain members of the Council and other Commissions push the other way.
I applaud Council Members Blais and Peters for having the courage to address the ramifications of balancing the budget with “reserve” funds has on the long term viability of the Town. As residents we should be questioning why the other council members aren’t doing the same.
Councilwoman Peters does a great job of responding to my friend Mr. Blatchford’s “Reserve funds needed for use ” Carroll County Times, May 24th. See Ms. Peters response.
The problem starts with referring to the Town’s “reserve” funds as a “savings” account. These funds aren’t just a simple “savings” account. These funds are primarily impact fees collected from developers during Mt. Airy’s boom plus interest earned over the past two decades. Real emergencies may constitute dipping into the funds, however compensating for a deficit in the budget due to raising salaries of Town employees doesn’t constitute an emergency, does it?
Council Members Peters and Blais repeatedly stressed they could not support dipping into “reserve” funds merely to balance the general operating budget with no long term plan to fix the deficit problem. What will we do next year if the deficit problem is not addressed? Instead of questioning council members Blais and Peters, perhaps we should be questioning the Mayor’s ability to manage the Town’s budget. Do we have a revenue problem, or a spending problem? And what is the Mayor doing to solve the problem?
No comments:
Post a Comment