Reader Submitted
To the editor:
It seem that Hopewell Township has its own source of fake news as seen in Mayor Kuchinsky’s recent letter to the editor (township budget fulfills promises, May 19, 2017), in which he pats himself on the back for his ability to ignore the truth about his risky 2017 township budget.
Mayor Kuchinsky says that spending is down if you don’t pay attention to all of the spending that’s in the budget. That’s like saying that up is down if you don’t pay attention to what direction you are going in. The 2017 budget of almost $23.4 million is close to six percent higher than the 2016 budget of $22 million, over twice the rate of inflation, and there’s no faking that.
Mayor Kuchinsky says that he saved $2 million in this budget, which is being returned to the taxpayers. When do I receive my check, Mr. Mayor? But there will be no check, and taxpayers may have to write an extra check someday if we need to tap into our emergency fund, and the money that we need for a rainy day is not there. Four million dollars, over 34 percent of our entire emergency fund, was spent in this budget to cover 20 percent of the 2017 spending plan, and there’s no faking that.
Mayor Kuchinsky says that he’s made inroads on debt, which must surely mean that there was no new debt incurred in this years’ budget or his budget last year, for that matter. Perhaps he read the claim by Deputy Mayor Blake in the May 12 HVN (Committee passes $23.4 million budget for 2017) in which she claimed that the 2017 budget goes “forward, instead of borrowing money this year.” But that would not be true either. Both Mayor Kuchinsky’s 2017 budget anticipates new debt, just as his 2016 budget incurred new debt, and there’s no faking that.
Harvey Lester
Titusville
