"Hatfields" Running Against McCoy

To the Editor:

Polly Schaefer preferred CL&P's handling over the Town of Vernon's, during storm Irene, according to her statement at the debate on Tuesday.

Polly Schaefer stated that she believed as a council member, it is acceptable to go on vacation as opposed to participate in budget deliberation, as she did this year. 

Polly Schaefer and Gordon Paterson had no answer on how they would handle a mid-budget year reduction in municipal funding by the state, which has happened each year since I've been in office. 

Neither Schaefer, Paterson nor Krupienski knew that the state pays Vernon PILOT for government property and for hospitals, Payment In Lieu of Taxes, nor did they know that we receive TAR (town aid for Roads), special education funds, which are funded in part for the last two years by ARRA money, which expires this budget cycle, ECS education cost sharing, LoCIP which is local capital improvements, among a few.

Not to mention the municipal conveyance tax is not permanent and is up for vote every couple of years.

Yes, the state plays with these numbers. You cannot rely on grants and bridge funding and we will probably see a change in CDBG funding, ask Congressman Courtney.

Three of the worst possible candidates -  Krupienski, Schaefer and Paterson, for the position of mayor. They are more concerned with pandering to municipal unions and being taken advantage of than learning about the job.

They will destroy the improved municipal credit rating, get the town sued for bad faith firing, raise taxes because they will mismanage the town and squander tax money by giving your tax money away because they won't say NO to anyone.

They want to go back to the days when it was OK that the government did not respond to citizens and made citizens wait.

These three are running a hate Jason McCoy campaign - to the point where the hatred makes them say silly things. The three listed above disagree with me on better schools, on safer streets and lower taxes. They disagree with me on emergency management of the snow that placed our school roofs in imminent danger of collapse, of the handling of storm irene. 

Really.

I'm not George Bush and I'm not Ellen Marmer. These guys want to go back to the Ellen Marmer borrow, tax and spend policy of the past.

It's no time for the above listed candidates' hatred of me to to be allowed  to hurt the town's future. Let's make policy from facts not fiction. Let's make management choices on strong understandings of funding. The three above don't have any idea about budgeting and funding.

I'm not running. George Apel is. He has shown his experience, leadership and knowledge at the debate and over the last four years as the chairman of the budget steering committee.

Mayor Jason McCoy