To the editor:
I am writing this letter in response to a letter from my colleagues on the Stockbridge Select Board of Directors, posted on April 23, 2024. Unlike my colleagues, I am not here to litigate the work of the Stockbridge Select Board of Directors and its advisory Finance Committee through the press. The place and time to do that is at City Hall, the appropriate meeting of the Special Committee and the Committee on Finance. My purpose in writing this is, in return, to thank the Finance Committee for the hard work and wise, wise advice they have provided to our town administration, which has helped the Town of Stockbridge maintain its fiscal health. This is the main reason why it ranks so enviably high in the local government rankings. state.
The Stockbridge Finance Committee is a community-minded team of community-minded people who volunteer their time and offer their years of accumulated financial management skills to ensure our community remains financially viable for decades to come. It is made up of outstanding citizens. For the past two years, in my capacity as a special board member, I have personally been present at all of the Finance Committee's budget meetings and deliberations (no colleague of mine can claim that). All members of the committee are committed to the single goal of ensuring our great town operates as needed to support all of our town's stakeholders now and for many years to come. I've been proving it. The decision not to reduce funding for the Town's future retirement obligations is at the heart of forward-looking decision-making. Indeed, we are all too familiar with stories of local governments and businesses with unfunded or underfunded pension obligations. These stories are bleak, especially at a time when funding will be needed to replace and repair broken infrastructure and municipalities' accumulated debt will make borrowing costs prohibitive. The residents of the Town of Stockbridge sent a clear and unambiguous message when they voted for a warrant to fully cover the Town's future retirement obligations, and the Finance Commission took over that mission. Rather than disparage or criticize the members of the Finance Committee, I believe they should be thanked for their service, foresight, and thoughtfulness.
jamie minacci
Elect Stockbridge Board of Directors Members
Editor's note: The author is a member of the Stockbridge Select Committee.
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