Hold down Meredith's spending with SB2

We could use quarterback assistance to preserve the special qualities of Meredith, in preventing it from becoming a sprawling strip mall with billboards, massive debt and raising high property taxes, thus stealing the town's vitality and grit.

Our Town Manager, Carol Granfield, the queen sheikha, has a fondness for spending perhaps believing there is a giant oil field below Meredith providing unlimited wealth. I bet she wants a socially acceptable waiver from the Planning and Zoning Board for an oil drilling concession. She needs to remember that her relentless spending trend should end and recognize that we have struggling families living in Meredith. Her ultimate fantasy is to take center stage and announce that she has managed to exploit the hard working citizens of this oasis whose career consists of paying the bills, including mortgage payments, college tuition, health care costs and escalating property taxes. Her unwise spending can crack our nest eggs and threaten the loss of a home.

We lose our independence when the town borrows too much. Each year we borrow and bond for construction of another new public town building and grow our bureaucracy. Our queen sheikha is not fearful of the economic or political risks in borrowing. She is economically mismanaging our town and has abandoned prudent spending and therefore her commitments to the citizens she should be leading. She clings to denial and refuses to face fiscal reality. We need to be in control of our town's destiny. Long term unemployment is up and this is devastating to our citizens. She may not know the pain of not being able to pay taxes. Our citizens want a chance to do well but heavy tax burdens with no end in sight can be crushing.

Meredith is not a Gulf sheikhdom with enormous cash reserves. The Town Manager is spending at an alarming rate. Her budget increase this year is nearing 4%. Cuts should be made in public expenditures. She does not know how to cut costs. Our political leaders are bickering over where the cuts should fall. We are operating on borrowed money. Real leadership with a back of steel will hold down the budget so our citizens can pay their fuel bills. Arguments and haggling continue. Soon we will have to invite the sheik of Abu Dhabi, Zayhid Ibn Sultan to contribute funds from his oil revenues to secure our continuance of the benefits we derive from increasing budgets. What new inspirations does she have for us? How do we safeguard ourselves from her considerable irresponsible spending habits? The answer to some of our problems is to get more voters to offer their input and the best way to do this is to vote in Senate Bill #2 which will permit citizens to vote in secret in a voting both from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are obsessed with maintaining a strong democracy that avails itself to all citizens of Meredith, and has enduring positive qualities, then SB-2 should be discussed and considered.

Richard Gunnar Juve

Meredith