To the editor:
As a resident of Rindge, I recently attended the public hearing to accept a federal grant that would fund a portion of the cost for an additional police officer to be added to the department roster. First, it (the grant) appears to be fairly straight forward and any time we can get some of our federal tax money back from Washington that’s a good thing. After all, it is our money. Second, I am not opposing or advocating for the hiring of an additional officer in the department.
The issue at hand is that the addition of an officer to the department is an enlargement of the department. Essentially, an increase in the size of government. Rindge taxpayers pay for that government. This enlargement would require additional and ongoing tax revenue, which is paid by the residents through their town taxes. The selectmen have been elected to manage the “prudential” affairs of the town. In essence, to manage the revenues appropriated by the tax payers for their intended purpose. And that in part is the decision to accept or reject the grant at hand.
The grant at hand is being described as unanticipated revenue, which it may be. However, it requires additional funding to be voted and appropriated by the taxpayers as a requirement. I don’t recall a vote of the townspeople instructing the selectmen to make decisions for the taxpayers that will increase their tax burden. It seems a bit suspect that as a part of accepting the grant the selectmen will in essence be making an active decision to increase the size of the Police Department. Thus increasing the tax burden placed upon the Rindge taxpayers.
The taxpayers should make the decision to increase the size of the Police Department by adding an additional officer, not the selectmen. They (the taxpayers) should decide if they want to fund in part the roughly $40,000 or more in salary and an additional $38,000 or so in benefits that go along with just the first year of the position.
As previously stated, I am not opposing nor am I advocating for the grant or the increase in the size of the town government. The taxpayers of Rindge who pay the bill for these types of decisions should be asked to vote first. Do they want to add a new position to the Police Department? Or any other department for that matter? Are they willing to shoulder any additional costs related to a new position in their tax bills? It should be a ballot vote, up to the taxpayers to decide, not the selectmen.
Tom Coneys
Rindge