“The total attendance was 39 to a public hearing to discuss the combined town and school budgets for the town of Litchfield NH totaling nearly 25 Million-Dollars. From a community of nearly 8,700 people, a total of 5 citizens remained after subtracting out those who prepared the budget or were expected to run for office in the next election. Only 5 from a community of nearly 8,700 people.” says George Lambert – Selectman in Litchfield NH
When the members of the community ask where their tax dollars go, and who makes the decisions about how the dollars will be spent, the answer is those who show up to hear the explanation and ask the questions.
On Friday Jan 15th the citizens of Litchfield NH had an opportunity to come out and review the towns almost 25 million-dollar budget. I was thinking that I would like to personally thank all of the citizens that came out and got involved, and I will too – if they will identify themselves. There new not many, in-fact if you were to divide the towns entire spending by those who showed up to the public hearing – who were not part of the budget preparation or presentation process – that number would be 2.5 million dollars each. Yes, for the public review of the towns 25 million dollar budget – there were 10 people who showed up to hear it. There were more than 10 people in the room, there were 39 people who showed up in total. 15 Board Members who prepared and reviewed those budgets. There were 6 budget committee members, 5 school board members, 4 selectmen (one is also on the school board – totaling 5) , 4 other elected officials, 3 other department heads, 3 people representing warrant articles, 2 school officials, 2 cable people to see that the program aired, and my wife (who I think counts as a political insider – since I dragger her to hear the budget) for a total of 30 people.
It almost sounds like a song, 6-5-4-4-3-3-2-2-1
My notes have the roll call as follows:
6 Budget Committee Members
5 School Board Members
4 Selectmen plus one who is on the School Board
4 Other Elected Officials
1 Town Clerk
1 Fire Chief
1 Moderator
1 Road Agent
3 Department Heads
1 Police Chief
1 Building Inspector
1 Selectmen’s Assistant
2 School Officials
1 Superintendant
1 School Administrator
2 Cable Employees
2 People Representing Warrant Articles
1 Police Union Rep
1 Ethics Formation Committee Member
2 Recording Secretaries
of the 39 that I saw in the room – 30 of the 39 were there because they were “the usual suspects for running town affairs”.
Of the rest, one was a reporter, another was my wife, 3 were either running or considering running for office. This leaves only “5 citizen taxpayers” to show up to see how their money was being spent.
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