We are about to enter everyone's least favorite time of the year (and NOT coincidentally why we elect a City Council every two years): the creation of the City of Norwich Annual Budget. The only numbers higher than the ones in any proposed budget usually are the blood pressure readings of so many of our residents and homeowners when they see the budget's impact on their property taxes.
For years I attended all the Department hearings that are scheduled so that the City Council members have some idea as to what tax dollars buy and what they are worth in terms of goods and services.
Far too often, I was one of about four folks who showed up in chambers to watch the presentations to the Council. Now, I can view them all from the comfort of my own home via the city's website. Here's the schedule for this year's and they're starting sooner than you might think.
However, and I know this because I've watched this movie FOR DECADES, no one pays any attention to the presentations that the City Manager, Mayor, and City Council use to develop a budget. Instead, they wait until the first public hearing on the proposed budget and howl loud and long, making up in volume for what they lack in knowledge and understanding.
Maybe, just maybe, I can persuade you to try something a little different this time around? Here goes: Not a cheat sheet, not a magic wand, but a serious read that will help make you better informed as a shareholder in this 160-million-dollar enterprise we call Norwich.
Get comfortable with Sustainability, Flexibility, and Vulnerability.
Without understanding the relationship of all three to one another, all we're going to do again this budget season is 'stab it with our steely knives but we just can't kill the beast.' Are you ready? Here goes nothing, or hopefully, something.
-bill kenny
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