Shady budget should not be approved

Residents will have their chance to vote on the proposed 2014-15 town budget this Saturday, May 31, at Pearson Middle School.As part of the proposed budget, Mayor Marsha Sterling has said approximately $600,000 will go toward repairing roads.In The Winsted Journal’s editorial on May 9, we said that voters needed specifics on any plan to fix up town roads. As of press time, the board has not yet announced any specifics on what roads will be fixed and how they will be fixed.This is a major disappointment, especially considering how the selectmen talk about “transparency” over and over again.Even if a specific plan is announced by the time this paper sees print, residents will only have a few days before the vote to understand it. Any plan should have been announced when the selectmen approved the proposed budget on April 16.And even if a plan has been announced, as Selectman George Closson sought at the May 19 meeting, how far can $600,000 go in fixing roads?Any road-improvement plan will need funds for state construction permits, planning and materials. How much money will be left over to do the actual road work itself? Furthermore, residents should question recent comments made by Mayor Marsha Sterling, who said she is against any plan to renovate Whiting Street.If Sterling is against Whiting Street renovations, then what is stopping her from saying no to renovations for a majority of streets in Winsted?If this budget is approved, Sterling and the selectmen will be the ultimate judges and jury for any street in town, without any review of the streets and plans for them.Furthermore, if approved by voters, $500,000 will be placed in the selectmen’s contingency fund. That is $500,000 worth of expenditures that residents will not have any say over.How can anyone trust a board that does not come up with a plan for $600,000 for road improvements?How can anyone trust a board that is strongly against improvements of Whiting Street, which is the location of the American Mural Project and The Whiting Mills artist lofts?Our recommendation is to vote no on this proposed budget, since it leaves out details that should have been put forward at the beginning of the budget process.