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Out of Control Spending

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We KNOW. Lisa Thomas and the Democrat Council have been out of control with their spending. Over their first 19 months in office, they spent almost $3m in federal grant funds with no input from taxpayers. Even though the Covid epidemic is long over, they used $150k of the Town’s general fund to balance the 22-23 budget and used another $175k to balance the 23-24 budget. This allowed the Democrats to spend more money and artificially keep the mill rate low, without directly raising taxes, but still costing taxpayers.

 

We KNOW that Out of Control Government Spending has devastated our economy and brought dramatic inflation that has already cost each family an additional $1,000 per month, just for the essentials that we all need. Republicans are and will work hard to make government accountable and we know that every dollar of taxpayers’ money is precious. Republicans will

make sure that every expenditure is appropriate and that we spend every dollar wisely.

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Out of Control Spending

The Democrat majority Town Council:

 

1) Used $150,000 from the General Fund to balance the 20222-2023 budget 

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2) Used $175,000 from the General Fund to balance the 2023-2024 budget.

 

3) Forced referendums to raise your taxes for EMS fund – Two defeated referendums  reduced the Democrat’s proposed budget by $900,000. The EMS operating fund ended the year with an excess of revenues over its’ expenses in 2022-2023 with no outside money. After the accumulated deficit through June 2022 of $275,134 was paid using $280,000 in ARPA funds, the EMS operating fund realized a small surplus for the year of $19,849. Revenues for the year were reported to be $827,110 and expenses were

reported to be $821,986. Additional revenues were $10,000 from the Capital Reserve and $4,725 for a Restricted Donation.

 

4) Spent an additional $409,000 from the General Fund beyond what was budgeted in the 2022-2023 budget.

 

5) During their first 19 months, they also spent almost $3,000,000 more than was budgeted using the ARPA funds. In January 2022, the US Treasury changed the rules governing the use of ARPA funds enabling the Town Council to spend that $3,000,000 in any way they chose. They did not ever seek input from the public about the use of those funds. These funds could have been spent up to December 31, 2024 – but they have all been spent or are committed.

 

6) In May of 2022, Lisa Thomas (Town Council Chairwoman) and Jen Beausoleil (Board of Education Chairwoman) brought forward a plan to “Renovate as New” the Coventry High School and Middle School. This plan was never requested by the Board of Education or discussed at any meeting before it was completed and was never approved or discussed by the Town Council before the School Building Committee approved spending up to $170,000 to study this project. Only the two failed budget referendums

forced them to postpone this project to sometime in the future. They had planned to bring it up for approval by June 30, 2022, -with no plans to hold public hearings. THIS PROJECT HAD A PROJECTED COST OF OVER $62,000,000. The money spent on this project is no longer available for other projects that would have benefitted Coventry taxpayers.

 

7) Provided the Library project with an additional $271,000 of taxpayers’ money, above and beyond the $1.5 million project that was approved at referendum, with no taxpayer input. The Library renovation and expansion project barely passed at referendum at a cost of $1.7m. The Democrat led Town Council has overseen the completion of this project. The final numbers are in. The project has cost $2, 266,319, so far was way over the amount approved at referendum by $566,000, including the use of an additional

$271,000, of taxpayers money – WITH NO INPUT from the taxpayers.

 

8) Provided over $750,000 to move the transfer station (originally projected to cost $200 to 250,000) without taxpayer input. The actual quote to complete this project was over $2m. The remainder of the project will fall on taxpayers in the future.

 

A Republican Led Town Council will:

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1) Be transparent and accountable to you, the taxpayers, and citizens of Coventry.

 

2) Make every business decision for the Town will be made after it is decided that it is needed and appropriate and our decisions will be accompanied with heavy scrutiny of options, to see if there are ways to lower the costs, while keeping or improving the outcome. We know that inflation is hurting all of us and many of us are struggling to make ends meet.

 

3) We will use our combined business experience and training and skills to keep Coventry special and make certain we take care of and enhance our facilities and services while striving to keep your taxes as low as possible.

 

We will keep Coventry special and we will work hard to make sure it is affordable for all.