Don’t spend unless it’s an emergency
St. Charles voters as well as state and national voters need to become more active with the pending serious financial bombshells that made the news in December.
On “60 Minutes” Dec. 19, Steve Kroft interviewed Meredith Whitney, a top financial analyst on Wall Street, whose credibility includes predicting the big bank meltdown two years before the real thing in 2007.
Whitney stated that the next big blast will be the municipal debt shock that will hit us between the eyes in 2011. Kroft asked why this is not being dealt with. Whitney said that “people are not paying attention because they don’t until they have to. ... States are a half-trillion dollars in budget deficits and $1 trillion in the hole on pension funding.”
There will be no help for municipalities from the states.
Some governors address the state problems as follows, again from “60 Minutes:” For at least a decade or more, Democrats and Republicans have spent, borrowed and taxed like crazy in all states. The borrowing was to pay the debts. California, Wisconsin and New Jersey, to name a few, have stopped good and bad projects, they do not have the cash and do not need more debt.
The Mayor of LaCrosse, Wis., said, “No money, no projects.”
St. Charles needs to stop spending until the financial situation locally is stable with long-term solutions in place. St. Charles, according to a recent Herald article, will have to build out utility and storm sewage systems, increasing residents charges for these services to cover costs. St. Charles plans a payout of more than $6 million for the design/construction of the Red Gate Bridge with the taxpayers picking up the cost overruns that will result from this underfunded project. Is the Red Gate project and emergency?
We cannot and should not spend, except for emergencies. We should not cut our local services/jobs to fund this bridge project.
Larry Norgaard
St. Charles