December 4,
2009
EDITORIAL
Budget
increases are less than requested, but plenty to
get by on
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Yes, we're already hearing
the new propaganda around Goffstown about a
"reduction" that was made to the budgets of the
Public Works, Police and Fire departments by the Goffstown
Budget Committee this past Tuesday, and how those
"reductions" will result in decreased services
and unemployed workers.
But the fact is, absolutely
NO reductions were made to ANY of those budgets at
all. In fact, all three of those departments were
granted generous increases to their 2010 budgets by
the budget committee.
So why all the hubbub?
The answer is
"disinformation". Or at the very least,
"misinformation."
On Tuesday, the budget
committee granted generous increases over 2009
expenditures to the budgets of all six town departments
for 2010. Public works, police and fire were
included in that list, but none of those three received
the increases they requested. Subsequently,
those reductions in their requested increases are
now being called "cuts to their budgets".
Hence the cause of the
hubbub. And the source of the misinformation.
THE FACTS
A reduction to a requested
amount is not a "cut to a budget". Rather,
it is a cut to a request. Had any of their budgets been
really "cut", then these departments would have
less money to operate next year than they will spend this year
(or spent last year). But that's not the case. In
fact, they have much more.
How can DPW, having spent
an average of $4.1M per year over the last two years,
claim that their budget has been "cut" when, in
fact, it has been increased by the budget committee to
$4.5 million for next year?
How can the police
department, having spent an average of $3.6M per year over
the last two years, claim that their budget has been
"cut" when, in fact, it has been increased
by the budget committee to nearly $4.1 million for next
year?
And how can our fire
department, having spent an average of $1.9M per year over
the last two years, claim that their budget has been
"cut" when, in fact, it has been increased by
the budget committee to nearly $2.2 million for next year?
To us, those numbers speak
for themselves. The budget committee has been more
than generous in granting these increases, especially when
considering the current state of the economy and the
financial constraints our town - as well as its taxpayers
- are all facing.
Department heads in Goffstown may not have been granted
everything they asked for, but the increases they have
received are more than enough to get by on.
Let's hope they realize how
fortunate they are that their budgets weren't reduced
as has been the case with government, corporate and
household budgets around the country.
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