General Fund Workshop - 3-14-09

Thank you to all that braved the confines of Bainbridge Town Hall on a beautiful Saturday morning to listen to the Board discuss the merits of proposed purchases and projects in the township. I had hoped for more public participation on the various proposals that were presented by department heads or on the process itself, but it seemed there wasn't enough time allocated for that public input. For the part I played in that, I'm sorry.

The meeting was certainly long, and it was evident from the discussions there are a number of proposals for spending the Investment Fund (Frohring estate tax) dollars. My expectations for this meeting was for the board to work through the process by which decisions are made to spend the general fund dollars. Instead, we went line item by line item on each department's "wish list" of projects. An important piece of the process to be sure, but not before there is consensus on how decisions are based!

Laboriously, we discussed the items and occasionally, we were able to have dialog that considered the process before the project. It is my intention to continue to require the process for decisions be clearly articulated before too many tax dollars are spent on projects that, in my opinion, may or should not be warranted.

Feel free to stop by the Town Hall and request a copy of the project list, with dollar amounts identified. This is and should be available for every resident upon their request. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have re. this process.