The Cost Of Living In A Civilized Society

To the Editor

Here we are: The annual budget whining and moaning season.

There are always at least two major “camps” arguing over the budget process. Most municipal budgets boil down to an argument over “out of control” school spending. On one side we have parents of school-age children pointing out that there has never been an adequate school budget yet (except perhaps in Greenwich or Beverly Hills). This is a valid point. On the opposite side are retired people claiming to be driven out of town by skyrocketing tax rates. Since they no longer have children in the school system, if they ever did, they naturally have no use for school spending so any amount is too much.

Naturally, there are a few smaller groups and individuals with their own reasons for joining one camp or the other. Finally we have the (usually) largest group of all, those who make enough money that, whatever the new budget is, their tax increase will be essentially insignificant to them; and those who are renters and don’t directly pay property taxes in the first place. This is where your 70+ percent no-show voters generally tend to reside. They truly don’t care.

The simple fact of things is that costs slowly increases every year. That’s known as inflation. No matter what, even if there are exactly the same numbers of students in school, the same number of teachers and aides, and even if we freeze all education-related salaries forever, the costs of running the schools will go up. Period. End of Economics lesson 101.

Sadly, life isn’t that simple. Just as the retired people would march on Washington if George and company even suggested cutting Social Security cost of living increases, so would teachers, paid firefighters, and the police be unhappy if their living costs were to increase while their pay was frozen. My wife is a teacher in another town. When their new contract was finally ratified there was also an increase in teacher’s contribution to the insurance plan. As a result, her net pay went down. I imagine the same feeling for retired people who see their increases wiped out by cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

The bottom line is that it isn’t easy, for most of us. Realistically, though, unless you live in a multimillion-dollar mansion, how much does the tax rate change? A few hundred dollars a year? If you still have a mortgage, the bank will simply bump up your payment a few bucks and spread it out over the course of a year. If not, the best plan is to put aside a little more than needed on your own. Then when the rates change, you have a built-in buffer. Is this still a pain? Sure! But that’s part of the cost of living in a civilized society. Remember, the people writing these budgets have to pay them, too. Give them some credit for having tried as hard as they could to balance the needs of everyone affected.

John Krause

5A High Bridge Road, Sandy Hook                                May 9, 2006