Cut taxes for “green” cars?

What does everyone think of the idea of dropping car taxes for all vehicles in town that get more than 40 miles to the gallon? It’s at least an interesting idea, right?

West Hartford’s schools are the key to the town’s success

Realtor Amy Bergqist’s wonderful “In the Neighborhood” blog takes aim at the referendum sought by the West Hartford Taxpayers Association. In her post on the issue, Bergquist writes, “While I understand the concern that property taxes will rise by approximately 6.6% for all West Hartford homeowners, I don’t believe cutting the budget is the way to go. [...]

No more mystery from “the responsible center”

It’s time to fess up about the mystery cuts that the town council seems to believe could salvage the Board of Education budget.
So far, we’re getting mere hints and assurances that the $1.5 million the schools need can be found without wiping out Quest, slashing sports, eliminating the extra help our most troubled schools need [...]

Shame on West Hartford’s council

The last-minute decision to wipe out $1.8 million in school spending without public debate is atrocious, from any perspective.
First off, major policy shifts such as slicing into education should be the result of careful, public deliberations, not the result of panic at a looming tax hike. The eight town council members who went along with [...]

Should we be mad about the town’s proposed budget?

An overview of the budget in today’s Hartford Courant provides a taste of the increasingly bitter debate about the spending plan town leaders are going to adopt next week. It’s must reading for anyone who cares.
Although it’s written backwards — correcting misinformation before telling the story itself (an obvious favor to town officials) — it’s still [...]

Kevin Sullivan’s right about the property tax

Don’t miss former Lt. Gov. Kevin Sullivan’s timely piece on property taxes in The Hartford Courant.

Town faces tax crunch, blogger says

Here’s an interesting take on Thursday’s West Hartford budget hearing at town hall, by a reasonably neutral observer who’s not afraid to say what she thinks - In the Neighborhood blog.

School board backs 5.9 percent hike

From the looks of it, the town’s Board of Education did a good job last night in slicing what it could from a terrifyingly large budget. It made the hard decision to wipe out busing for the paltry 60 students who wanted to take advantage of the new later starting time (a number itself so low [...]

West Hartford Taxpayer Association statement

I don’t agree with all of this, but it’s interesting…

 

WEST HARTFORD TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION MAKES STATEMENT ON PROPOSED BUDGET

For Immediate Release

March 14, 2007       

The West Hartford Taxpayers Association met on 3/14/07 at Town Hall and drafted this statement:

“The West Hartford Town Budget must not exceed a 2.5% increase from the 2006-07 current budget, otherwise it leaves [...]

News coverage of West Hartford sucks

If I read today’s West Hartford News correctly, and sometimes it’s not easy, the town council this week adopted the property tax freeze for 500 or so allegedly low income seniors. The lost tax revenue is supposed to be made up from a grant, the source of which is entirely unspecified. There’s no indication whether [...]