Funding the Patton Park Pool

Funding the proposed Patton Park pool

I think everyone knows that there is an article on the town meeting warrant to fund building a new pool at Patton Park with Community Preservation Act money.

Does everyone realize that if it is passed that we will drain 2/3ds of the CPC funds that are in reserve for a luxury recreational project that will benefit very few citizens of the town? There is approximately $2.3 million dollars in the CPC reserve fund and the Selectmen, Recreation Department and the CPC Committee want to spend $1.3 million dollars of that on a luxury recreation project (Patton Park pool)

When I voted a few years ago to approve the Community Preservation Act I thought this money would be a fund set aside to preserve structures in the town that needed refurbishing. Recreation should be a very small use of these funds and I don’t think when this act was implemented that anyone thought that recreation would become a major use of this money.

I wonder if anyone realizes that we have some major projects in the pipeline that will require use of CPC money? Mainly the renovation of the town hall, which is a project that all taxpayers will benefit from. Our town hall is in very bad shape. Just go down with open eyes and look around. There is no elevator for handicap people to access the second floor. The Memorial Room, which is the main meeting room, and the second floor, looks like a bomb when off and scattered file cabinets, files and boxes all around the place.

My point here is that we need to prioritize the use of our tax dollars including CPC money in a more responsible manner. Yes it would be great to have a nice pool at Patton Park but if you really stop and think about it and ask…. Do we really need a pool? So town officials say that participation at the Patton Park program was down 40% because there was no pool. Hmmmmm… is that such a big deal? I’ll bet that 40% found other things to do and had a great time doing it for the summer. It’s not like the park program will fall apart if attendance is down.

Hamilton’s tax rate is spiraling out of sight compared to other towns around us. We just jumped $1.00 per thousand to about $18.00, which is unaffordable and unsustainable. The present Board of Selectmen pledged to try and reduce our taxes and look what has happened!

Think carefully when you vote at town meeting for funding the pool. I recommend you vote NO and force the town officials to spend CPC money on projects that all tax payers will benefit from… not just a small portion of the citizens.

Thank you,
Bob Gray,