We shouldn’t have to beg for transparency | Trudy Healy
I spoke before commissioners on Aug. 28 about some recent street work in Butte and concerns I have about the budget. Commissioner John Sorich spoke at the next meeting on Sept. 4, told me my comments about the street work were politically motivated, and said the issue had been discussed at a Public Works committee meeting.
It was noted at the Sept. 4 council meeting that Commissioner Sorich was absent to vote on behalf of his constituents, only to walk in at the end of the meeting announcing he would speak as a citizen. Commissioner Sorich, you are an elected official. You are a commissioner no matter where you stand. You wanted to address me personally and accuse me of being politically motivated. I have been fighting for Butte for four years, your assertion of me is wrong.
As to committee meetings, only courthouse insiders seem to know how to get on the agenda for committee meetings and there are no minutes of those meetings to review.
Following the pattern set by Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher that led to him making headlines for yelling at me, Commissioner Josh O'Neil was hollering from his seat when I spoke about budget matters. It was a public comment period and the rest of us can't verify his claims they didn't raise taxes because the process was opaque and the commission suspended the rules once again to pass the budget.
I'll let him in on a little secret, too. If you spend millions of dollars more than the previous year and you create new permanent positions, you've committed taxpayers to an increase. You even raised rates on items in our tax bills. You also created new tax increment districts for businesses, which shifts the future tax burden to the residential taxpayers disproportionately.
Sorry commissioner, like the governor, you raised our taxes and you did it in the shadows. Looking at weekly expenses from Sept. 4, a lot of us would like to see the discussions about multiple people attending quite a few conferences. I've already seen how asking questions goes over and we shouldn't have to beg for transparency.
Trudy Healy is a member of Citizens United Against Urban Decay.
