Sweden Republicans counter budget views

Last week, Sweden Democrats submitted a press release calling the Town of Sweden's current budget "irresponsible" and saying that expenses have increased "exorbitantly" (Suburban News, September 29). Yet not one of the Democrat candidates for office came to the budget public hearing last year (according to official minutes) or contacted town officials with concerns before the town board adopted the budget. The 2003 budget has only become an issue now that the Democrats are running for public office.

Town of Sweden taxpayers should know that spending did increase from the 2002 to 2003 budget, but they should also know that non-tax revenues increased substantially. In fact, non-tax revenues increased by 42 percent in 2003.

The town added several new ventures in 2003, some by choice - a full-time recreation program, a newsletter and website; some by state law - a cemetery. These new services generated new expenses. But in the case of the recreation program and cemetery, they also created new revenue streams. User fees at the community center and the cemetery cover much of the costs there, not all but a larger share. The Democrats failed to mention that in their press release, likely because they don't want voters to see the whole picture, only what is politically useful to them, said Sweden Supervisor Buddy Lester on a press release.

The Democrats also assert in their campaign literature that the culture and recreation line item in the Sweden budget increased three-fold in 2003. What they failed to mention was the dissolution of the Brockport Clarkson Sweden Joint Recreation Commission, which moved all recreation expenses into the Town of Sweden budget. The Village of Brockport no longer collects taxes for joint recreation programming, instead, village residents pay for those expenses through their own town taxes. Clarkson residents do contribute recreation funding and that contribution is shown in the Sweden budget as a revenue. The bottom line is that all recreation expenses are now shown in the Sweden budget, the press release stated.

Therein lies the difference between presenting a partial picture, as the Democrats did in their press release last week, and a full picture. Sweden Republicans encourage voters to ask questions so they can understand how their tax dollars are spent. However, Republicans believe the voters should have all the information presented to them.

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