Aldermen should be careful with words

It was an interesting dynamic between Geneva alderman that you reported on Dec. 7 regarding a tax levy. Alderman Maladra said, “We need to be very careful when we talk about hot button issues like, ‘My home value is decreasing and why are my taxes going up?’ It is not a good way to look at it.” Because the cost of running the city is still the same or going up, as long as the services remain the same.

Alderman Maladra must have thought that Alderman Kilburg had not been “very careful” when he started the conversation by stating, “I feel we have a fiscal responsibility to lighten our budget as well as a moral obligation to our community at this time.”

Alderman Robert Piper, who that same day gave his resignation letter to the city council because no longer lives in the district he represents, stated, “The aldermen were talking about maybe an $80,000 difference. It is a drop in the bucket of a $15 million budget. It doesn’t mean anything. It is all for looks, folks.”

Am I to understand that $80,000 is a drop in the bucket, meaning the city doesn’t need another $80,000? Or that Geneva taxpayers pay additional taxes? Upon “very careful” consideration I have decided I agree with Alderman Kilburg.

Brian Kay

Geneva