Good day all. As the old saying goes, slightly modified, if you hate Massachusetts, you don’t hate it enough. As the 250th anniversary of the founding of the greatest nation in history approaches, everyone is preparing for what should be the biggest party in history.
However, there is always one party pooper and in this case, it’s the town of Rutland, Massachusetts. They have just announced the cancellation of the July 4th celebration due to “Security concerns.” Worse, the town government has announced that any donations made for the celebration? Yeah, they’re keeping it. Here are the details from Fox News:
Rutland, Massachusetts announced on Wednesday that it will cancel the town’s annual 4th of July celebration without refunding donations because of a lack of “adequate public safety staffing.”
“Although the 4th of July Committee successfully raised the funds needed for the event, the celebration cannot take place without adequate public safety staffing,” a letter from the Rutland 4th of July Committee read. “Police, fire, and EMS personnel are essential to ensure the safety of attendees, manage traffic, and maintain emergency response coverage throughout the town.”
So why not hire some temporary help? I recall the 200th anniversary, (Yes, I’m dating myself), and they simply hired a few extra people. The town fire department was also a volunteer organization. Are they telling us they can’t get a few extra people, either as paid temp help or even volunteers?
It continued, “Due to anticipated staffing limitations, our Police and Fire Chiefs have determined that they cannot safely support both the event and routine emergency services at the same time. Moving forward under these conditions would put both attendees and the broader community at risk.”
The committee explained that while the town had explored the possibility of outside personnel staffing, there were concerns over creating additional safety hazards without a unified command structure and coordinated operations. The town also added that the decision was not “intended as a response to any community viewpoints” on the celebration.
Then they decided to really twist the knife. All the donations people sent in? Some has been spent. The rest? Yeah, the town is keeping it.
“After consultation with Town Counsel, the Town has determined that donations should not be refunded. Some of the funds have already been used for event-related expenses, including printing, deposits, and fundraising costs, and all donations are held in a municipal gift account for the sole purpose of supporting Rutland’s 4th of July celebrations,” the letter read.
It added, “Because funds are pooled and expended collectively, it is not feasible to determine or return individual contributions. Instead, all remaining funds will be preserved to support future 4th of July celebrations.”
I have no doubt it’s very feasible to return the unspent funds. I doubt they were handed cash, which means there is a trail. They can look at the checks, deduct a percentage that was already spent and then refund the rest.
Rutland police and fire unions warned that the annual July 4 celebration would be put in jeopardy earlier this month after the town failed to pass a Proposition 2½ tax override vote to cover a $3 million budget deficit. Without the proposition, the Rutland police department is expected to cut at least four full-time officers and three part-time police officers.
One of the problems with a lot of smaller towns in Massachusetts is budgeting. Prior to the passing of Proposition 2½, cities and towns would jack up property tax rates to the point that people were unable to pay them. The money, in many cases, was wasted on garbage projects. After the passage of 2 ½, the city and town governments actually had to justify their spending. When there was a shortfall, there is a mechanism to vote for a one time override and allow a tax increase. Usually these fail.
Since most elected officials in Massachusetts are Democrats, they like to punish voters for not giving them more money by cutting things that people actually support. Basically, it’s extortion and occasionally, it works.
Now I tried to find the political makeup of the town government, but with one exception, none of the elected officials have a listed party affiliation. (The exception listed as a Democrat) I think we can guess the party of the rest. It’s a shame that a town that was important back during the revolutionary war can’t find a way to handle all the listed issues. But that’s the way things are in Massachusetts. They want to forget that America even exists.
Thatisall
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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