By Joanne Duhl
Apparently there are no limits to what the town of Waitsfield thinks it can ask the taxpayers of the United States to pay for. Last week we learned that the town plans to seek another $25,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to purchase office chairs and other office furniture. This is on top of over $800,000 in CDBG funds that have already gone to the creation of the new town office!
Have other options been explored for purchasing this furniture? Many Waitsfield and Valley residents have come to rely on Front Porch Forum as a great source for furniture and other needs. Perhaps there is a local company that has excess office furniture it wants to sell. Or, what about the state surplus store on Route 2 in Waterbury? That would seem to be a great resource for the town. A little creativity in finding alternatives to just seeking grant money would be appreciated!
More importantly, presumably the reason the town plans to seek grant funding is that they don’t think it appropriate to ask the taxpayers of Waitsfield to pay for these additional costs. Yet it is OK to spread the costs among the taxpayers of the country? And, should the citizens of Waitsfield pay for office furniture for towns in Wyoming, Oregon, South Carolina, Iowa, etc.?
When I “googled” Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), I found this:
The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the nation.
Given all of the serious challenges facing this country – e.g., crumbling highways and bridges, persistent poverty, urban violence – shouldn’t we be ashamed to be asking a program designed to tackle serious challenges to pay for office chairs? I believe strongly that “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” To me, that means not trying to get the most for your own little community but rather thinking about the common good – especially the needs of “the most vulnerable in our communities” – and setting an example for the rest of the country by stopping spending other people’s money on nonessential items.
Duhl lives in Waitsfield.
