$700,000 Wasted
Town meeting approved a huge chunk of our tax dollars to remove the Manganese from the water supply. It sounded like a good thing, until I read more information from ccutaia.wordpress.com and began to wonder why our Administration is always guilty of finding ways to waste our hard earned money. What came first, the flouride or the manganese, is like what came first, the need for raising higher taxes, or the higher taxes that were burning a hole in the pockets of the Administration, that caused the spending in the first place. When we voted Yes to the operating override, it seems to have opened the wallet of the town budget, with a “here, take my money please”. Just what is wrong with Town Meeting members? Maybe the flouride is causing a loss in common sense.
Well, I don’t know if you can call it $700k wasted… if the manganese needs to be removed from the water supply, it needs to be removed. Going forward however we might want to consider stopping the flouridation of the water. MANY towns & cities in our country (as well as Canada) have been adding flouride to the drinking water for ages, even though the debate is still on as to whether it really does help reduce tooth decay. I don’t that Natick will choose to stop though and if it ever came up, I am sure it would require much debate, a study, and more funds…
As for waste (as small as it may seem), my favorite quote from the Metrowest Daily News after the override passed was this one;
“Also, some of the money from the override will be used to hire two part-time employees at the Senior Center to assist people find what help they qualify for, Gloff said.”
Let’s spend $$ money on services to help people pay for those same services. It just struck me as a strange expense to add to what was supposedly a very strained budget.
Comment by Natick newbie | April 25, 2008
Thanks for offering your thoughts on this item. I agree with you. Collecting, then spending, seems to have become a big rat hole that our leaders can’t get us out of. Next year will be a time to vote out the big spenders.
Comment by Author | April 25, 2008
I’m curious. How long is ages?
Comment by ccutaia | April 25, 2008
Well, in Massachusetts you can go here to see when they started by Town. http://www.fluoridefacts.org/fluoride/flu_fluoridated_masscommunities.asp
Many communities started flouridating (?) their water way back in the 50’s. The town that I grew up in started in the 60’s and my dentist claims that is why I’ve had very few cavities. Whether that’s true or not has yet to be definitively proven…
I didn’t realize that Natick just started adding flouride a little over 10 years ago.
Comment by Natick Ctr Res | April 27, 2008
I wonder if the dental benefit amount was reduced for Town employees when the flouridation plan was begun? I wonder how drinking the flouride helps, since it isn’t used as a mouthwash?
Comment by dave | April 28, 2008