Amazed by the spending

Although I have been a Montpelier resident for over 12 years now, I confess to having stopped trying to figure out how the city conducts its business. I marvel every time I vote at the various proposals for ways to spend money that appear on the ballot. I wonder at a city that wants to spend money going into the heating business when the roads are full of potholes.

Don’t misunderstand me — Montpelier is a great city to live in and I do believe that government is the best method to provide services like roads, fire protection, etc. that no individual could afford but... it can not grow endlessly with the balance made up by raising taxes every year. When I decide what I will buy and what I can spend, I look at my checkbook balance. If the balance is $100 then the most I can spend is $100. I cannot go to my employer and say they must raise my salary again so that I can spend more — I must live within my means.

One councilor remarked that “all the chickens have come home to roost.” I’m guessing there are still plenty more in the air and it sounds like the city wants to continue to launch even more chickens with the assumption they can continue to keep raising taxes to pay for them. Montpelier already has the highest taxes in the state — how much higher can they go?

Of course there is one benefit to this: the housing shortage problem in Montpelier that made all the news a few years ago will continue to improve as people continue to move out of the city because they can no longer afford to live here. I’ve noticed lately that “For Sale” signs are sprouting on lawns like mushrooms after rain. Let’s stop adding new projects and bond items until we can pay for the ones we already have without raising the taxes every year!

Don Varney

Montpelier