Dear Editor,
I’ve asked two simple questions. Killington Selectboard Chair Patty McGrath believes she’s answered them. As a voter, I do not.
To summarize my point: page 7 of our town report lists a Town of Killington Debt Summary, which does not include FEMA/flood debt. Since my questions regarding this, Patty, the Selectboard and management acknowledge in many letters, meetings and explanations that there is in fact an $800,000+ debt yet it is not on the page 7 debt summary, or anywhere else in the town report. My question was why? How do you expect us to vote on budgets without knowing our full debt?
Question two is related to question one, in order to reconcile the FEMA/flood debts, you first must recognize them in the town report in order to come up with a plan for the voters. Without acknowledging them in the town report, this leaves room for confusion on how to deal with this debt. Example: Patty, your response was that you believed we would use the $200,000 from the FEMA/flood reimbursements to off-set some of this debt, yet your 18-month budget passed by the voters last March, shows that these FEMA/flood funds are being used to fund our current budget. How can the town use one source of income twice?
My hope was that our town elected officials, instead of excuses or un-researched answers, would have been going to town management that provide these financial statements and asking why are we giving one set to the auditor for a clear and positive opinion and another set to our board members to produce a budget for the voters?
Jim Haff, Killington
