Notes from the Old Noank Jail

To the Honorable Mayor Somers, Members of the Groton Town Council, Members of the Groton RTM, Town Manager, Town Clerk, Media and interested parties…..

This is in response to my review of recent RTM comments.

I totally agree with the proposal by Ms. Kotowski, and the support of same by Mr. Sebastian, for a Zero budget increase. The Town has indeed increased us well over the cost of living index for the past several years, and I have stated publicly that if it comes to a choice between raising taxes to the public or cutting services, then cut services and let’s have no more “Tax and Spend.”

I am not worrying whether anyone will be offended if we keep repeatedly complaining about past tax increases because I, as the taxpayer, am already myself offended when the Town does not present me with a zero increase in budget. I also feel that Town employees work for the taxpayers, not the other way around. Who pays the money? Who receives the money? Where is the respect for that process?

So, as taxpayers, most of us will probably keep right on “babbling” very noisily and very publicly until the Town of Groton stops the “Tax and Spend.” And if anyone would like some suggestions on where to cut the budgets, I will be willing to provide a list…as I have done previously.

And let us not forget the poor judgement by the School Superintendent on the ball field expenses. This is an example of a Town employee exceeding his authority in making a business decision that cost the taxpayers extra money. However, in a very real sense, this incident is really just the tip of the iceberg. Any decision by Town Employees, the Council and the RTM to have the Town raise mill rates or taxes to “meet” an estimated $7 million deficit also amounts to a business decision that will cost the taxpayers money.

Someone has raised the subject of operating according to the Town Charter. I would like to remind everyone that the Town Charter is defective in that does a very poor job of actually directly protecting the Groton taxpayer against excessive tax increases. If the Town Council and the RTM do not “hold the line” and actually represent the majority of taxpayers, there is currently no Referendum procedure to actually protect us from a budget increase. I have felt very insecure about this for a long time. Only in the past two years have I witnessed some improvement….but we need much more.

The Council and RTM…together…need to cooperate and hold the line this year. The Charter itself will need to be modified very soon in the future.

Thank you for your time.

Ed Johnson

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Edward R. Johnson, 87 Main Street, Groton, CT 06340 860 536 1589