Changes are stripping away village’s legacy

Financial vulnerability in Woodstock is eroding personal liberty and the recent approval of surveillance cameras on the historic Square highlights the risk. As a native of the village, I am concerned.

Heavy debt, persistent deficits in funds like TIF #2 from Old Courthouse projects and ongoing dependence on General Fund transfers are putting increasing pressure on the city. That pressure shows up in higher water and sewer rates, rising property tax levies, inflation burdens and looming revenue risk (e.g., grocery tax expiration). Families already feel that pinch directly. When the city extracts more dollars for essential living costs, it strips away the financial margin families need to solve their own problems.

Meanwhile, the executive branch has grown dramatically while the town's population increased only marginally since 2011. Over that same period, total executive compensation has risen by nearly 150%. This comes from both large pay increases and the creation of new high-paying positions that didn't exist 15 years ago. This expanding bureaucracy has already presided over significant blunders; the Courthouse project ballooned from $13 million to $23 million and failed water-well improvements cost millions only to produce sand-laden output requiring even more taxpayer remediation.

The same fiscal strain paved the way for the council's 4-3 vote in early February to install Flock cameras around the Square, ignoring hours of overwhelmingly opposed public testimony. In a safe, thriving community built on tourism, implementing high-tech surveillance without clear necessity signals a shift from a welcoming public square to a monitored zone, jeopardizing the town's brand and its own economic vitality.

Woodstock’s legacy is the independent spirit of America, defined by quiet freedom and modest pride in self-reliance. Recently enabled by reckless administration, threats of debt obligation, rising cost, executive bloat and surveillance creep are slowly chipping away at the character that defined a great American town for nearly two centuries.

Matt Carmichael

Chicago