Twelve pages of the Town Operating Budget have been posted in succession. The title list is at the top of the right sidebar. Just click on the title to see that page of the budget.
by John
The proposed Woodstock town operation budget increases expenses by 3 percent for 2009-2010. For people who do not read through to page 29 of the proposed budget, the announcement in the Villager (April 3rd) that the Town Hall had submitted a flat budget with no increase for the coming fiscal year sounded laudable.
This is especially so given that the Town Hall staff will not receive raises in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. But, it is difficult to forget that many of these staff received 9-10 percent raises in Ms. Wholean’s final year. So by not taking raises this coming year, these staff are still benefiting from inappropriate raises given two years ago (who else in Woodstock got 9-10 percent raises that year?). This was self-awarded merit pay I suppose. But Ms. Wholean said on WINY that she needed to jack up her salary so that the Town would eventually be able to afford a Town Administrator 
.
The 3 percent increase in the Town Operating Budget is apparently justified because debt service will diminish by that amount or by about $135,134. This appears to be how the Town grows the budget transparently (it’s transparent to the taxpayer that this is how the zero increase was achieved). It’s sort of like a Ponzi Scheme perpetrated on the taxpayer. It’s clearly a scheme; otherwise town officials would explain this calculation. I doubt that many taxpayers actually read through the proposed budget. Instead, they accept what the Villager tells them; and they are oblivious of what the Villager doesn’t tell them. I doubt that the reporter Sanderson actually read the budget. Read the rest of this entry »
