If you think city spending is out of control, let your voice be heard tomorrow night

Rochester's tentative operating, school and capital budgets will be discussed at City Council on Tuesday, but before they mull how to spend your money, the people will get their say at a public hearing which begins at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers at City Hall.
All concerned citizens who want to keep spending and taxes down are encouraged to come and let their voices be heard, because this is your last chance to call out for fiscal restraint instead of runaway spending like the council has been doing.
For instance in the last month the city has been siphoning money from the unassigned fund balance to pay for future DPW, city buildings and fire department equipment, money that should have been used to lower your property taxes.
They also recently approved $1.4 million in ARPA money to provide taxpayer funded, government run day care.
We understand it's ARPA money, which is from the federal government, but what happens when there is no ARPA money left. Won't the program cost then be foisted onto city taxpayers?
They also used a half million dollars of ARPA money to hire a "Community Health Coordinator," who won't really be a community health coordinator that is coordinating the health of the community. Rather, they'll be wet-nursing the city's indigent, transient population, most of whom are sadly suffering from mental health and drug addiction issues.
We've spoken to innumerable experts, clinicians and the families of overdose victims who deal with these issues and we feel their pain, believe me.
But most addiction experts agree about 70 percent of those hooked on such hard drugs will never be able to escape its horrible grip.
And what do you think will happen when the ARPA money runs out. Once the city hires a community health coordinator and begins its government run day care, do you really believe they're going to discontinue the program when the ARPA funding runs out. Have you ever seen a government discontinue a program?
ARPA money, by the way, is from the feds, but everyone knows Rochester taxpayers pay for that, too. Don't be misled. And spending trillions of dollars of ARPA money is what's fueling hyper inflation that makes your money worth less every SINGLE day.
The public hearing begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

-HT