The referendum for a town budget of $75,451,602.00 passed tonight, with 1253 yes votes and 921 no votes.

As President of the VTA, I felt all along that this was the pulse of the people. As you can read in my attached press release, the VTA has been fighting for reasonable budget proposals since the early 1990s. I felt that the 3.22% increase was reasonable since 1) the previous administration has proposed 16.5% last year, and 2) the 3.22 % is well below the inflation rate that the federal government follows under the CPI (Consumer Price Index) which this year will be about 5% if it stays the course of its pattern.

I encourage you to review the press release and watch the program about Dr. Fusco. Additionally, I have attached a chart which I got from Town officials under the Freedom of Information Act. This shows the total cost of 24 referendums since 1999. The total cost has been $167,044, an average of $6,960 each. That is democracy in action, but if it isn't necessary, it should not be a tool to add costs to our government. It takes about one to two homeowners total tax to pay for a referendum. We only want to use this tool when it is absolutely necessary.

EDITORS NOTE: Files referenced in the article are not on D&S website.