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Guernsey was recently forced to spend a million dollars for water system repairs and upgrades due to a lack of maintenance and a failure to see that systemic trouble was brewing. The Town is also contributing nearly $400,000 to renovate the Senior Center and Library. Why are ninety thousand taxpayer dollars going to be spent on architects for this project? Porcupine publishers have conducted projects much larger than these
renovations and yet never retained architectural firms, instead relying upon experienced, qualified contractors to turn their wants and needs into finished projects.
The question is why didn’t the Town just demolish the existing structure and replace it with a new ‘Morton’ style building. The answer is this would have made it very difficult to hide corruption whereas the current plan allows for almost unlimited chicanery.
The Town has also purchased land and is in the process of having new Town shop facilities erected.
Every town, city, state and the federal government has unlimited wants, needs, dreams and aspirations. The problem is there isn’t enough taxpayer money to cover this ever growing wish list and our Town’s solution, like many other towns, has been to deplete savings while incurring debt. This abuse can not continue. The old saying “if something can not be sustained, it will not be sustained” applies here.
Councilmember Penny Wells recently presented a motion to Council for the Town to hire a Missouri consulting firm, at a cost of over $6500 to analyze the Town’s water rates. Councilmember Jeremiah Fields, who was elected on a platform promising positive change, without any discussion, seconded Ms. Wells’ motion which was then passed by Council.
Councilmember Fields has plenty of time on his hands and could easily have volunteered to call other Wyoming towns with similar demographics and learn about their water rates which he could then have presented in a report to the Town.
Anyone with a modicum of political sophistication can see that the Town hired this Missouri firm to produce a report that will justify what Council already plans on doing, which is to implement a large increase in water rates. This firm is merely a tool to do what Council doesn’t have the courage to do, and that is to face ratepayers and say “we’ve been spending like drunken sailors” and we need more of your money.
ONLY THE BEGINNING
And this is only the beginning. Town Council is going to raise every service, every fee and tax they can in order to continue such irresponsible waste, fraud, abuse and outright corruption.
Let’s not be fooled by the ruse that part of this spending is just ‘matching funds’ for ‘grants’ promised. The fact is government spending at every level is under increasing scrutiny. Even with Elon Musk’s DOGE program, President Trump has requested and received a four trillion dollar increase in the National Debt Ceiling just to get through the end of this fiscal year.
Lest anyone forget, it takes a thousand million dollars to make a billion, and a thousand billion dollars to make a trillion. Four trillion is four thousand billion.
While the media is fawning over DOGE announced savings of millions and several billions of dollars, why is it that our nation needs four thousand billion in new borrowed funds?
DIFFICULT TIMES
Everything being done by the Town with taxpayer funds is only the very best that money can buy and outside ‘connected’ firms are being employed rather than using local contractors.
The Town acknowledges that many of its citizens live on fixed incomes yet makes no effort to reign in irresponsible and abusive spending to enrich family and friends.
Guernsey is facing a serious demographic challenge. Encouraging those who produce to move away, while encouraging those who consume to move into our community is a formula for disaster. Seniors never contributed enough to pay for what they are now drawing in social security as well as other irresponsible spending that is causing welfare beneficiaries to move in.
We all know these are difficult times for many unfortunate families, but have you seen the cars waiting in line for free food at the Pantry? It’s filled with cars that most of us could not afford and some even sport Nebraska license plates.
A CLASS UNTO THEMSELVES
Given the size of our small Town, we have a large number of government employees.
These individuals, for the most part, are well paid and receive a plethora of benefits that the rest of us could only dream of and are a class unto themselves.
WE STAND AT A CROSSROADS
All of this eats away at taxpayer resources and if left unchecked, will lead our town into bankruptcy. We stand at a crossroads.
Town citizens and businesses are either going to take control of this abusive, wasteful spending or we are going to witness the further deterioration of our economy.
There simply is no free lunch.
