This Just In ...

Franklin, I do admit that I had no idea...

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Oct. 21, 2009

I had no idea that S. 51^st Street on days and nights of events at Franklin High School becomes a danger zone

I had no idea that it becomes so dangerous that the lives of motorists and pedestrians are at great risk.

I had no idea that FranklinNOW, the Franklin Citizen and all the Franklin blogs were filled with one story after another about all the accidents occurring.

I had no idea the situation was so bad that it required hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements.

I had no idea the city of Franklin could address these matters so quickly and so easily because unlike every other municipality in the state of Wisconsin, Franklin doesn’t have a real tight budget.

I had no idea that the $1 million shortfall the mayor announced in the summer had been taken care of so that the city has a whole bunch of extra money laying around.

What am I getting at?

Tuesday night, the Franklin Common Council had one of those NEEDS vs. WANTS situations to deal with. What started out some time ago as a provision calling for a sidewalk from the high school to the corner of 51^st and Drexel grew into a Christmas list that had aldermen voting last night on the sidewalk, a bridge over the creek and improving the high school’s driveway.

We all place a high priority on public safety. I also place great importance on living within our means as a community.

The changes voted on by the Franklin Common Council cost over $300,000. That’s $300,000 that is not in the 2009 budget that has yet to be approved. The 2010 budget isn’t as big as a cocktail napkin, so taking money from the future is like pulling out the Visa card, a tactic used far too often by the state, and look at the fiscal condition Madison finds itself in.

When Mayor Taylor announced the city’s budget shortfall, that should have set off the COMMON SENSE alarm at Franklin City Hall:

STOP SPENDING NOW!

It obviously didn’t.

Franklin doesn’t have $300,000, and yet the Common Council voted 3-1 in favor of spending $300,000. I would love to know where they think the money is coming from. Oh, wait. Silly me. The answer comes in my mailbox this December!!!

My alderman, who told me before she was elected that she cared about the taxpayer was one of the three votes in favor of spend, spend, spend, and oh yes, spend some more!

So spare me the wailing and gnashing of teeth about how this is for the children and if we can save just one life, yada, yada, yada.

WE

DON’T

HAVE

THE

MONEY!


Franklin, this is why you live in a tax hell.