I read a letter penned for the Wisconsin State Journal and found it merited still more notice, as it hits to the truth in a pithy way that Madison voters should ponder as they head to the April Spring election.
I laughed out loud at Alder Keith Furman’s letter criticizing Gloria Reyes for questioning city budgeting and the BusRT system. He who was appointed to the council saying he wouldn’t run because that would give him an unfair advantage, and then ran. So you can take his word to the bank.
He whines about a $9 million structural deficit the Mayor inherited. Gee, I thought when she and he slammed through the wheel tax it was $11 million. And there was no real effort made at cutting or prioritizing spending. In fact, they taunted taxpayers and said they were responsible to come up with cuts.
Furman, as Council President and the Mayor employed the same shell-game tactic with the recycling tax. Yes, take a popular program, but one we have no choice in participating in, add a tax to the utility bill and then take the millions you were spending on recycling to spend elsewhere.
The facts are the city budget was awash in federal money the last several years which have or will end. The chickens will come home to roost. Furman himself was quoted as saying further “gimmicks” will be needed to balance future budgets.
So, vote for the mayor and bet on which coconut shell will be next, or vote for Reyes and someone who will give a realistic review of our budget.
Rick Soletski,
Madison
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 