Please consider voting YES on June 25th, Say No to a Perpetual No

For the third budget referendum on June 25th, please consider voting YES.  For those who have voted YES for either of the two previous referenda, and will vote YES again, please remember to go to the polls.   .............  For those who voted no in a previous referendum, as I did for the first one, and you know that your vote was heard, and things are now acceptable, please vote YES this time.   For those who voted no in the past, due to the MJLU EER, it is gone for the coming year, so your voice was heard, and I hope that was truly your main concern, and you will vote YES now.  ........... And finally, for those who supported Dr. Marlon James' study, and who are disappointed that his study will not continue into a second year, I admire you the most for stating that you will be voting YES.  At least seven members of the current BOE have indicated support for the concept of an EER, and this should carry over into the BOE that will be elected in November.  Thank you for having the faith that your desire for an EER can take a new shape after a new BOE is elected in November.   ------------   Now is the time for us to come together, and to support a middle ground.  As I thought of writing those words, I knew that it was time to ask all of you who have supported Mayor Trinks in the past (as he was the top vote getter in the past six elections), and rallied for him recently, to come out and support the Mayor now and do so by tuning out and voting YES.  The Mayor has said that we need to pass something.  Now is the time for us to support his efforts to find a middle ground.  ....... I do not know why the group called Concerned Mothers and Fathers has chosen to put forth misleading and inaccurate information in its vote no flyer.  The June 7th meeting had to take place in private because the TC and BOE cannot hold a joint meeting.  But the results of that meeting were voted on at a public TC meeting shortly thereafter, and that was not a private meeting.  The TC only returned $200,000 to the BOE.  The Alliance Grant (AG) funds, $309,000 last year, and $340,000 for next year, have never been part of the Town's budget propsal.  This was the long fight of whether the EER was in the budget or not.  Since it was then funded by the AG, it was not in the budget.  Maybe the Concerned Parents just want to drag the EER back into this budget, even after it is no longer there.  The TC did NOT cut $200,000 from road management.  It takes a little bit to explain what they did do.  The TC removed the $200,000 from the budget, so we will not pay for it in our property taxes.  Then, because the state of CT had come up with an additional $200,000 for road management, the TC approved that spending of $200,000 from an account funded by the state.  I am concerned that the Concerned Parents did not explain this to you in their flyer.    ..............  The big difference between this upcoming referendum, and the previous two, is that this one reflects over $700,000 of increased state aid to Windsor.  This additional CT funding was used to reduce our property tax burdens.  Thus, our total property tax burden will only by 0.54 percent (as in ZERO point five four percent) if we pass this budget on June 25th.  And if we pass this budget, we avoid the $25,000 cost to mail out a second property tax bill later (and avoid the cost of more referenda).   ......  Finally, I will return to Mayor Trinks.  My understanding is that for the initial referendum, he was advocating for a cut of $300,000 to the BOE.  The net cut to the BOE now stands at $400,000.  This only goes to show how tuned into the pulse of Windsor the Mayor is.  Now we need to help the Mayor by voting YES on June 25th.