Today across Norwich (and elsewhere) summer ends for those families with school-age children. Classes convene and the rite and rote of education commences for everyone from the enthusiastic beginner who struggles to see out the school bus window to the older, if not all that much wiser, youngster who already knows more about everything in this brave new world than we ever learned about when we were in school.
Our two are grown and gone, long removed from the crush and rush of anything to do with that first day of school but memories linger, some like Banquo's ghost, so good luck to you and yours as this day begins.
All this first day business and new beginnings (not just for those in and going to school but for all of us) got me to thinking as we start to close the books on the summer of 2017 and return to work-a-day and realize (perhaps with a shock) that we are still struggling with some of the concerns we had before the lazy, hazy sunny days, most especially a state budget.
Yeah, this is awkward. Technically, the new fiscal year has already begun (1 July and you didn't send a card, did you?) except we're all just a little light in the wallets right now in that we still don't have a state budget. Our city council, and leaders in municipalities all across the state know all too well no budget in Hartford means cautious and educated guesses, at best, here on the home front.
And that's frustrating (or should be) when you recall the struggles and warmth of the rhetoric we all lived through around here last spring into June regardless of which side you were on during those discussions. as work progressed on a 'living within our means' city budget.
Right now all of us are enduring what might be called "bowling without seeing the pins." We have the shoes and the shirts and are standing at the lane with the ball, but there's a curtain separating us from seeing the pins. Some of us go ahead and bowl. The ball hurtles down the lane, disappears under the curtain and eventually someone yells out "six" " and then "bowl again!"
Except what happened? Did we knock over six pins or miss six? Which ones? Come to think of it, how much is the state going to reimburse us for all this and how much of the tab is ours? Except for the part about the pins (I hope) that's exactly what local leaders are facing everyday (but we do get to keep the shoes, right?).
If I sound a little cranky about it, too, it might have something to do with the rush in the last week or more in our local papers by the folks we've sent to Hartford to, among other things, create a budget, telling all of us how it's not their fault there isn't one and lamenting how the other guys are responsible.
I read their explanations and I get it, except I still don't understand how the search for the guilty gets us a state budget so we can then also have a municipal budget (in case you thought/hoped the clock on property taxes was stopped). I don't care who put the hole in the boat except the part about getting it repaired, because we're all in the boat and I, for one, prefer my water on the outside and not in here with me.
Is anyone NOT aware that Connecticut is looking down a very long road with a rough ride whose outcome is not known. If the state budget fight is designed to sharpen our senses as we approach local elections in November, I think its working.
I'm hearing (and reading on line) from more and more of us about both expanding our pursuit of new businesses as well as being better at how we spend our tax revenue. I'm sure we'll have a state budget before Election Day (maybe) but I'm even more positive that this time around the ballot, we'll weigh where we are and how we got here as we decide on how we want to continue the journey.
Elections are when we should paint our masterpiece so it's high time to listen to the color of our dreams.
-bill kenny
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