Letters to the Editor
Resident speaks out for budget control

To the Editor:

The town of Westminster is in the process of appointing a committee to investigate the benefits and social impact of retail business development in Westminster. As a former member of the IDC (Industrial Development Commission), I generally favor commercial development and broadening of the tax base. That being said, we also need to be realistic about the tax benefits relative to spending.

A couple of years ago, a school override passed, which costs the town of Westminster an additional $900,000 or so per year. To put things in perspective, consider the potential Home Depot development example which was discussed last fall. Using the planning board figures, a Home Depot store would generate about $70,000 per year in property tax revenue. Using the developer's figures, it would generate about $250,000 per year in property tax revenue. If we had wanted to pay for that school override with revenue from commercial development, we would have had to build anywhere from four to thirteen Home Depot size stores just to cover the cost of that override. Now consider that all of that override money is gone already and the schools find themselves in financial difficulties once again. Would we build another four to thirteen buildings to cover the cost of the next override and do the same in three years again? We can make Rt. 2 look like a retail Disney Land and our local government will still outspend the revenues from it.

I support the notion that every dollar generated through commercial or industrial development is a dollar that doesn't have to come out of someone's family budget, but it is not the panacea for all of our financial challenges. There has to be a genuine commitment to budget reform in general and contract reform in particular if we ever plan to get a handle on the confiscatory costs of local government. Over the past ten years or so, our local government has increased spending at an annual rate of over 8% per year, while our family budgets have grown by less than half that rate. Although I believe in the benefits of commercial development, it is not going to be enough to substitute for responsible budgeting.

It is true that there are some costs which may be beyond government control but most of the costs are under local government control, labor costs in particular. Urge your local representatives and School Committee to bring their budgets under control. Insist on responsible budgets!

Keith Harding

Westminster