Dear Editor:
A very important Brandon Township Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled 7:30 p.m., Dec. 7. On the agenda is the public hearing for the 2010 township budget. This is a required hearing to take input from the taxpayers regarding the spending of their money.
The board (including the supervisor, treasurer and clerk) has spent many months and many recent weekly meetings reviewing and adjusting the budget to meet the required ‘balanced budget.? This has been an arduous job with no kudos. I commend the board for their dedication and long hours spent on this task. This budget has required cuts due to reduced income from the state shared revenues and from the declining property tax revenues. Unfortunately, these are likely to only be worse for 2011.
Unfortunately, this budget ‘process,? and I use this term loosely, was not conducted in what most financial professionals would consider a prudent process. Typically a budget is created to support the mission, goals, objectives and plans for the company, or in this case, for the township.
I have attended four of these special board meetings (usually 2-3 hours long). Not once has there been a discussion on what the overall plan is for our township. There has been no discussion of priorities in the spending of our money. I should mention here that the treasurer did ask for this discussion several times, but his request was not honored. There has been no justification for any line item expenditures. It is impossible for anyone but the individual department heads to know what items in the budget are necessary to support mandated services.
I am extremely disappointed in the overall process and most assuredly in the result. The proposed 2010 budget has been cobbled together, cutting $50 here and $1,000 there, not based on a plan, but simply trying to balance numbers to cover the shortfall in revenue.
What we need is an overall view of our priorities of services to the taxpayers and a long term plan for budgeting to pay for these priorities. It is too late to expect this for 2010. We can only hope that this process is considered for the 2011 budget.
One last issue. I question whether the board truly cares what the taxpayers want. They have scheduled the public hearing at the last possible date. Even if we attend and make suggestions, the board will have very limited time to make any changes. If any, they would only be minimal.
Please, share your views. It is your only opportunity. Maybe we can at least make improvements for the next budget.
Cheryl Gault