"Total tax collections in the U.S. are expected to be $2,667,000,000,000 in 1998. This represents 35.4% of the country's total income. In comparison, medieval serfs paid an effective tax rate of 33.3 percent." (Source: Just Facts)
|
"Total tax collections in the U.S. are expected to be $2,667,000,000,000 in 1998. This represents 35.4% of the country's total income. In comparison, medieval serfs paid an effective tax rate of 33.3 percent." (Source: Just Facts) |
|---|
Dedicated to the wise use of local tax dollars
Index, Newsletter, Newsmedia, Press Releases, Letters To The Editor, Myths About Us, Myths About The Budget, Highlights Of The Current Budget, Contact Us
10/26/99
Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor announces the results of their Candidate Pledge
Initiative. The Initiative offers taxpayer-friendly candidates an opportunity
to identify themselves as such by allowing them to pledge a specific and unequivocal
stand on tax and spending increases. All candidates for Town Council and Board
of Education were sent a copy of the pledge and a return envelope.
Responses were received from the Republican candidates as a bloc, with an additional
comment from Republican Board of Education Candidate Paul Panos, and from Democrat
candidate for Town Council Tim Curtis. The remainder did not return their pledges
or make a statement by the 10/20 deadline.
Republican candidates declined the pledge. Their comments, in part, stated "We are confident, however, that any budget we would present to the voters, would be significantly lower than what a Democrat majority would present. For example, the FY 2000 budget represents a spending increase of about 5.4% over FY 1999 (and a mil rate increase of about 2.7%). For next year, the "new Democrats" would likely vote a budget increase in the range of 6-7%, whereas the Republicans as a majority would look to keep the spending increase well below this year's 5.4%."
Democrat candidate Tim Curtis stated, in part, "I would work with town staff and state officials to meet those needs in a manner that would put the least direct impact on personal property taxes (reallocation of current resources, volunteer efforts, private donor and business contributions, town matching grant program, state and federal grants, property taxes)."
Mark Cashman, President of the Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor, stated "Political candidates often claim a need for greater accountability from government employees. Clearly they are not terribly comfortable with taking unambiguous stands which would create the same accountability for themselves. Nevertheless, even the limited degree to which some candidates have made their stand on taxes and spending clear is a step in the right direction, and we applaud those who were willing to go on the record. The complete text of the pledge responses can be found at the CTW website http://www.temporaldoorway.com/ctw/index.htm"
Not responding (and implicitly declining to pledge or specify a position) were:
Democrat Town Council candidates Mary B. Hogan, 464 Broad St; Donald S. Trinks, 141 Grove St; Paul G. Broxterman, 29 Box Turtle Ln; Alan J. Simon, 49 Gloria St
Democrat Board of Education Candidates Elizabeth B. Kenneson, 71 Tobey Ave; Phyllis D. Harden, 4 Dorchester Dr; Fidelia A. Lane, 406 Candlemaker; Ina A. Forman, 75 River St; William H. Herzfeld, 1031 Windsor Ave
and Whig candidate for Board Of Education Adam Gutcheon, 49 Pierce Blvd.
Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor is a non-partisan budget watchdog group focused on controlling government spending and tax increases in the Town of Windsor, and is a member of the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations. Their membership includes Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Greens, Reform Party members, and many others. All are united in their desire to see town spending controlled, and taxpayer funds spent wisely.
Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor announces their Candidate Pledge Initiative. The Initiative offers taxpayer-friendly candidates an opportunity to identify themselves as such to their members and to the public. It does so by allowing them to pledge a specific and unequivocal stand on tax and spending increases. Their willingness to pledge (or lack thereof) will be shared with our members and the public through a press release and at our website prior to the election.
All candidates for Town Council and Board of Education have been sent a copy of the pledge and a return envelope. The deadline for arrival of the pledge in our hands is 10/20/99.
Mark Cashman, President of the Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor, stated "The Initiative has three levels of commitment. At the first level, the candidate pledges to vote against any budget that increases spending. Obviously, we hope candidates will pledge that - especially given that the cost of government is higher than ever and still growing. But they can also pledge to vote against a budget which increases taxes for any taxpayer - in that case, the budget can grow to the extent there are more taxpayers on the rolls. Or they can pledge to vote against any budget whose increase exceeds the inflation rate."
Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor is a non-partisan budget watchdog group focused on controlling government spending and tax increases in the Town of Windsor, and is a member of the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations. Their membership includes Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Greens, Reform Party members, and many others. All are united in their desire to see town spending controlled, and taxpayer funds spent wisely.
Mark Cashman, President of Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor (CTW), announced the organization's opposition to the budget accepted by the Town Council.
"Every day, every taxpayer is faced with the choice of how to use their money, asking: 'Can I afford this grocery bill, this car payment, this mortgage payment? Can I afford this doctor for my sick wife? Can I help my child be able to move out and become independent?' Higher taxes keep making it harder and harder to say 'yes' to these questions, especially for seniors on fixed incomes, for young families starting out in their first home - but, indeed, for everyone. Connecticut residents will be forced to work 145 days this year to do nothing but pay the cost of local, state, and federal goverment. Only after that do they get to work for themselves and their families."
The Town Of Windsor just bonded for an expensive improvement of the high school - even in the best case, that increases town indebtedness by 27% and brings it within about 19% of the maximum debt it could incur. Indeed, debt service is already almost 4 million dollars of the current budget (the interest payments are nearly 2 million), and will be higher once the WHS bond begins to require repayment. The WHS architectural work alone, including a "more welcoming entryway" design, will cost about two million dollars, and it has already been suggested that these costs could mean that some of the planned improvements must be abandoned.
Despite per pupil spending at more than 70% of the highest-spending school districts in the state (whose academic records are nevertheless typically among the worst), Windsor mastery test scores remain dismal, suggesting that that the taxpayers are not getting value for their money - and this after several years of increases at more than twice the inflation rate. Claims that lower class sizes require more teachers, and will improve performance, are not supported by actual evidence - for instance, pupil-teacher ratios between 1950 and 1995 fell by 35%, yet even with "renorming" (i.e. inflation) of standardized test scores, no corresponding improvements have been seen. Nations which far outperform the United States on such comprehensively administered tests as the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics And Science Study) , and even American colleges, typically have class sizes at least in the 30s and 40s. Finally, Windsor's enrollment statistics suggest falling school populations over the next decade (a national trend), so staff increases cannot be justified.
Town spending for an assistant to an already over-assisted Town Manager and an added "planner" are certainly unnecessary. A quarter of a million for new town vehicles should also be foregone. MDC costs increased for the seventh year in a row, indicating that our participation in this organization is not bringing benefits to the town. Also, recycling will cost the town almost a third of a million dollars - and this is a "service" which should surely be handled by competing private businesses working directly with homeowners - an arrangement which would surely decrease costs for everyone. The Town should also not be in the business of providing over a quarter million in loans to homeowners for repairs, energy efficiency increases or handicapped access, and should not be providing nearly a half million in loans to business owners for facade improvements.
Despite claims of spending supporters, there has never been a cut in the Windsor budget, only a slowing of an unsustainable rate of growth. And there is plenty of spending which could be reduced without harm to core government responsibilities or education. Silly slogans like "community of choice" or "for the children" or "high-performance organization" are attempts to mask the greed of spending advocates for their neighbors' incomes, and the conviction of those spending advocates that they know better how to spend that income than those who earned it.
Budget watchdog group Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor today announced their opposition to the proposed Windsor High School bond issue, which will be up for a vote by town citizens on Tuesday, Feb 9. The bond issue, which would only partly be used to fund renovation of the facility is, in the opinion of the organization's Board of Directors, too expensive.
CTW Board member Mike Stamper, former member of the Windsor Board of Education stated "In 1996, the renovation was slated to cost 6.5 million dollars. By 1997 the cost was claimed to be 28.5 million dollars, and now the cost is estimated at 35 million dollars. Clearly, when the code compliance costs are only on the order of 7 million dollars, a proposal to spent five times that amount is extravagant."
"These big schools are expensive to maintain and difficult to administer," was the opinion of CTW Board Member Mark Cashman, former Minority Leader on the Windsor Board of Education. "It's one thing to maintain what we have, but it's another thing to make it even larger. Given the nearly flat enrollment trend in recent years, and census projections suggesting an aging population nationwide, with fewer children per family, expansion seems unwarranted. Also, our other schools are going to continue to require maintenance expenditures as they age, and tying up so much tax money in just one facility seems imprudent."
CTW believes that this bond issue will reduce resources available for other core town projects and for general operating costs at the schools and town facilities. In addition, the claimed state reimbursement also comes from the pockets of Windsor taxpayers, and will, through the income and sales taxes, reduce the money they have available to directly benefit their families.
CTW is also concerned about the impact of the resulting tax increase on senior citizens, whose fixed incomes continue to be reduced by tax increases at the town, state, and federal levels. Board member Cashman summarizes CTW's position: "We urge the voters to send a signal to the Board of Education that we want a smaller, more focused and controlled plan for keeping our high school in good condition. We can do better than this."
Content and Layout Copyright 1999 by Concerned Taxpayers of Windsor