March 29, 2024

My Two Cents

Posted

Well, here we go again. Another stupid flyer with lies, misinformation to try to disrupt the town. Doesn’t it have a familiar “feel” to it???? Of course, no one signed it …AGAIN! Cowards.

I’m going to break down this flyer…and maybe a have a little fun doing it. Let’s connect the dots.

First, “If passed, this will be the biggest tax increase in town’s history”. Really, how was the Highschool built and funded? How much did that cost? It was a DEBT EXCLUSION...when the debt is paid, YOUR property taxes go down. Using the word Tax increase and biggest in town’s history was meant to scare you.

Second, “There are many good reasons to consider relocating our Town Hall but not at a cost of more than $16,000,000 for proposed Rehoboth Mega Complex”. Again, meant to make you think they actually think a new town hall is a good thing but it’s the cost that is holding them back from supporting it...and then refer to it as a “Mega Complex”. Let me ask you a question, say you buy a house and it is selling for $300,000. You buy it for 300k and then get a mortgage for $200,000 for 30 years. At the end of the 30 years do you say you bought a house for $500,000 (including the cost of interest) or do you say you bought a house for $300,000? Again, meant to scare you. The reference of “Mega Complex” has an eerily familiar sound…similar to past reference of a proposed Police Station as the Taj Mahal ( notice it in the background of the picture of the Municipal Center). Keep connecting the dots.

Third, “households on fixed incomes will be ravaged by future tax increase”. Explain what ravaged means? Again scare tactic.

Fourth “Current ballot is a blank check to elected officials and their political appointees”. This is laughable. Okay Dumb A$%, TOWN MEETING VOTED FOR 9million debt exclusion. What you are voting for at the polls is if you agree to override prop 2 ½ with a debt exclusion to issue bonds to pay for the Municipal Center. The amount CAN NOT BE INCREASED above what was voted at Town Meeting. Anything beyond what was voted at town meeting would require a Town Meeting vote AND another ballot vote. No wonder they didn’t sign it….it’s embarrassing how stupid they are. I’m not sure how “political appointees” play into this? Who are they referencing? Since the board of selectman appoint everyone, and the board of selectman are elected officials is that what they mean by “political appointees” Again, another stupid comment …meant to scare you.

Fifth, “The proposed cost of the new complex is 9.5M before interest & maintenance cost” That’s a true statement. When you buy your house and get a mortgage is it interest free? Would you want to pay interest on maintenance cost or do you take care of yearly maintenance out of your paycheck each week to maintain the asset? So you are proposing we invest in a much needed new town hall and public safety building and not maintain it? Again, another stupid statement.

Six, “the estimated cost excluding future maintenance is 15,439,535 over 25 years”… looky there, finally a factual statement…I guess everyone once in awhile they has a lucid moment.

Seven, “Our local economy has still not fully recovered. The taxpayers have not been given adequate information or time to review this proposal and consider lower cost alternatives”. Here we go…pay attention you will start to connect the dots a little better. The proposed municipal center had a committee of key department managers to review all various proposals and come up with a plan that will work for the town now and into the future. We had SEVERAL meetings to go over the plans…ask questions. We had SEVERAL open houses to take a look inside both the central fire station, police station and town hall for anyone to walk thru and ask questions. So many opportunities to ask questions. They must have still been living under the rock. And…”consider low cost alternatives”. And we’re off. Gee, what lower cost alternatives could they be talking about? I’ll get to that in a minute.

Eight “Looting the solar Pilot monetary fund of up to 2,000,000 per year and disposing of valued town assets to fund questionable activities is outrageous” I laughed out loud at this one . Again, no wonder the moron didn’t sign their name. First using the word “looting” is once again trying to scare you. Since town meeting VOTES FOR EVERYTHING, are you saying town meeting is looting something? Stupid…again, meant to scare you. The solar pilot fund does NOT have 2,000,000 in it. Not even close. But again, they didn’t sign it, so you can’t call them out! The solar pilot program in the town in lieu of property taxes are put in a designated account that can ONLY be used for capital like items. This is a very fiscally responsible thing to do to take care of capital items and not affect the operating budget AND was voted on at town meeting. But the person who wrote the flyer is a dope. Love this line” and disposing of valued town assets to fund questionable activities is outrageous”. To take care of much needed capital items in town is a “questionable activity is outrageous” Dispose of what town assets???? Not sure what this person is smoking.

Nine, “the proponents of the new municipal complex have a history of advocating reckless expenditures without regard to how these expenditures affect the financial well being of the Rehoboth taxpayer” Huh?!? The Proponents….hmmmm again, it has a familiar ring to it.
Wait for it, wait for it…..

Ten, “ dateline 2005 – selectmen advocate building a 19,000 sq ft police station at cost of 8,000,000.” Just imagine, if it that had passed in 2005, it would have been 50% paid off and we would have SAVED thousands in the repairs we make to each year…out of the operating budget. And the proposed cost was 5.6Million not 8M, don’t’ know where they are getting that number, but its easy to make up crap when you don’t sign it and send it 3 days before the election so there is no rebuttal….must be including interest or made up. Sounds like that wasn’t such a smart idea voting it down.

Eleven” Dateline 2015 – the same group attempted to acquire the Red Brick House on the taxpayers dime for 2,700,000 instead of accepting the will of the people to renovate the former Anawan school for 1,000,000. As of this date the former Anawan school remains vacant and is wasting away” This is a good one….the dots are forming a line. First the purchase of the property next the police station for town hall would have cost the town 1.8M….1.2M to purchase and 600k to renovate. The 2.7M number must include interest, I’m assuming or they pulled it out of you know where. They were really smoking some funky stuff to think they could renovate the old anawan school for 1,000,000. And there was no will of the people to renovate it…they just made that up. By the way, the Anawan school will be developed and expanded to provide affordable apartments to seniors and veterans. Located next door the Senior Center… an ideal location. And the best part at NO COST TO THE TAXPAYERS. The town will be paid the equivalent of property taxes in the form of lease payments by the developer. I would say that was a pretty smart move. I think the author of the flyer is jealous…they were too dumb to come up with the plan. And I will take a page out of their book and say…we saved the taxpayers ONE MILLION Dollars.

Twelve “dateline 2017 – town of Rehoboth website – Tax Calculator coming soon…but not soon enough. As it could increase your taxes by over 1,000 per household per year” I guess there is some truth to it, if you live in the Taj Mahal…or house that is valued at 2.5M. Maybe the author does??? Again, meant to scare you.

Thirteen, “ a yes vote on this ballot guarantees neverending tax increases” Hmmm…it means you will get an increase that doesn’t compound until the bond is paid off. Again, stupid comment by a stupid person.

Fourteen, “ no vote on this ballot will allow you to keep more of your hard earned dollars” That is a true statement…finally! However, our town hall and public safety buildings are dumps. If we have to move town employee out and into trailers, the money would come out of the operating budget…meaning something will get cut. Interest rates are rising…its not going to cost less in the future…it will only cost more. (see the #10 & #11). 

The author is clearly misinformed or did they do it just to disrupt progress in taking care of our deplorable working conditions at the town hall and at the public safety building? So let’s do the math, if we had voted for the public safety building in 2005 and approved the purchase of the building on Anawan Street next to the public safety building, we would have spent 7.2 million. We had monies in a fund for foreclosed houses that could have been used to offset the town hall costs. We would have 50% of the public safety building paid off and probably 2/3 or all of the town hall paid off. Instead we were looking to build a municipal center to house our town office and public safety building for 9Million. That failed. Next time it will cost even more. Interest rates are rising…cost rise.

It’s so disheartening after all the time and effort…once again, a stupid flyer with idotic statements influenced the voters with false and misleading statements. Have you connected the dots? In my opinion, pretty straight line at this point. But the voters have spoken . If I didn’t care, it wouldn’t bother me…but I care and it bothers me.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

Share!
Truly local news delivered to every home in town