Dear Editor,
Regarding recent Goodrich elections and support for Patty Wartella and the new council: The good old boy backers and relatives are up to their old tricks of trying to use the paper to mislead the residents of Goodrich.
Goodrich is a village of one square mile with about 600 homes and revenues of more than $1 million. Yet with revenues as high as $1.3 million yearly, why is it that the previous council, in five years? time, has not been able to have a balanced budget for five straight years and having to use more than half of 50 years? worth of savings for just five years?
The new council comes into a budget year halfway through the sixth straight deficit with a projection of close to $1,000 again. Somewhere a leader needs to step up and stop the bleeding and the village needs to work with the revenues received before it is broke like so many municipalities? state and nationwide.
Wartella is willing to look at ideas and make choices best for the majority to accomplish this task. Norm Bass and his supporters allege that the village saved $50,000 last year, but this is false. The village, for the fifth year running, operated on a deficit, and without dipping into past years? savings would have been bankrupt or had to borrow. Bass clearly is trying to decieve the public with his false accusations. Bass is clearly not an accountant and fails to tell the public that although the general fund (one of seven accounts) had a small increase, that was due to transfers from the villages? other six accounts (which all had decreases). When you total the balance from all seven accounts, the village had to use about $1,000,000 from past years? savings to get by and this can be confirmed by the village auditor Lewis & Knopf. They were hired yearly by past administrations only to report the books are correct and meet certain accounting standards, nothing to do with whether the village has poor spending habits or has to use past savings due to spending more than comes in.
Sidge and past council members will lead you to believe that his overspending is due to past planned projects, but fail to tell you that the village portion of all these projects would account for less than half of the six years? deficit, including this year. They will try to make you believe Wartella wants to consolidate the village, but will fail to tell you that the majority spoke on this issue five years ago and that she has accepted the result and moved forward and only wants the village spending to not out pace revenues.
Bass will fail to tell you that he, along with Pete Morey and David Lucik, all have in the past favored recalls and/or village consolidation when they did not like council actions. Wartella bringing in an attorney that she can work with and trust is no different than any good business person would do. The previous village attorney had to settle a number of recent lawsuits under the direction of the previous council that were brought on while the village was under their control and his advice, and the current pending lawsuit will undoubtedly be finished by the past village attorney, as is common in the practice of law. Please attend council meetings. This is your village.
Greg Tankersley