Don’t cut money for arts

On May 14, just one hour prior to the start of the Common Council meeting, amendments to the mayor’s budget were passed out to members. These suggestions would cause a significant change to the lives of many of our community members and the way Middletown is viewed as a city.

They were without advance notice or public awareness, a contingency plan or assessment of collateral damages and without the input of key advisers. Grouped together as one decision under the guise of saving money, 12 of the people you put into office voted 10-2 to change the quality of life you’ve come to expect in Middletown.

Now, no one is a greater fan of cutting taxes than I, but to what end? There are surely services I’m willing to pay for. And I do take affront at having things slipped in, bundled up and passed without public awareness. Isn’t that Washington’s job?

I’d like to trust my local advisers not to do that.

Some of the things that will immediately go into a state of limbo or be canceled because of this decision are the fireworks festival, the children’s summer circus, and grants and summer child care through our arts programs. The list continues.

Luckily, we have a mayor in tune with the needs and pulse of our city and May 17, he vetoed these preposterous and uninformed cuts and offered a solution to not only keep intact what would have been lost, but to return money to the fund balance and ensure the mill rate not rise beyond the level set by the Common Council.

Make sure this veto is not vetoed by the council. Watch carefully who is unnecessarily voting to take away your quality of life — and remember that at the polls. Lee Godburn, Middletown Commission on the arts