Residents urged to "do the math"
 on Town financial condition

(1/15 Concerns over the Town’s deteriorating financial condition, the subject of multiple comments made by residents at last month’s Council meeting struck David Williams, a 31-year resident of the town, to be serious enough for him to come to a town council meeting to warn the residents of the town to sit up, take notice, and "do the math" on what he perceived is a growing issue with the Town’s finances.

"I’m here to tell you that since getting word of the last meeting in the newspaper, I was very disturbed and upset. I’ve lived in Woodsboro for 31 years and I do not habitually come to these meetings because I have faith in my politicians that I vote for to respect me as a citizen of the town. And the reason I‘m here right now is I feel disrespected by the increase in taxes this year - not that I have any say in the process of how that occurred. I know very clearly why it occurred, but the decision to make that decision I think was premature, and not very thoughtful of me or any of the citizens of the town.

"I encourage every citizen of the town to do the math to know exactly what just happened. To know that our town’s tax rate is now higher than our closest neighbor to the south for the first time in history. We are now 4% higher than Walkersville. We have never been higher than Walkersville, ever.

"Now when I say 4%, I know that is a difference of verbiage that the town likes to use – you like to use pennies – four pennies higher. Well, I think that is a misnomer because the real money all the residents are paying is more than pennies. For me personally, I will be paying $175 more in taxes this year than last year and next year I’ll be paying that as well as an additional $55 and the year after that I will be paying another increment higher because every year the state has raised the tax assessment by 7.086%.

"There is no going backwards unless you plan on going backwards, and I believe as a citizen of the town that there are very viable financial ways of reversing this dramatic and acute trend.

"Again, I encourage what I am saying be circulated to all the residents of the town, and that every single resident of the town must do the math. You must know exactly what the Town is doing and, although we have assumed a mortgage of $800,000 for the new Town Hall, that will not be full cost, it comes with an additional interest cost for 30 years of $835,000 or $850,000, so you have just doubled the cost of the new Town Hall by going this route.

"I just don’t think it’s right for us to sit calmly still and allow it to continue. I think it can be turned around and we would turn it around as fast as possible."

William’s comments were greeted by a chorus of "Hear hears" by the residents attending the meeting.