Editorial: Now comes the hard part

Thursday, 05 November 2009 00:00

Congratulations go to the winners of this year’s town elections — they will have a short time to celebrate before they will have to dive in to the numerous issues facing Lewisboro.

This is not an easy time to work as a member of the town government. The deficit is large and not expected to disappear without a hefty tax increase. Revenue is tough to come by, and despite recent signs that an economic recovery on a national scale may be beginning, the housing market is still lagging and will likely remain sluggish for a number of years. This will keep the town’s main revenue source, mortgage taxes, at low levels. And gone are the days of a large fund balance, once the politician’s crutch, to rely on to keep taxes low, spending up, the public happy, and political opponents at bay. Now, these town officials will need to find other, largely unpopular, ways to balance the budget — cutting services to reduce spending or raising taxes, for example — while simultaneously setting money aside to rebuild the depleted fund balance. That’s no easy task.

In addition to financial concerns, the Justice Department has a two-year deadline to get the town facilities compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In recent years, the town has done a decent job in planning for the process but this will be a monumental task to complete, and will likely be costly despite some governmental subsidies. There’s a reason why town officials have ignored these federal mandates for so long.

There’s also the issue of providing a bigger building for the Lewisboro Library. Variations of this proposal have been relegated to the town’s back burner so often in the last 10 years that it’s amazing library officials and supporters still have the fire to keep it going. Then again, they are continually reminded of the need for a larger building as they deal with cramped aisles and lack of bookshelf space on a regular basis. Just last year, it appeared that town officials were finally ready to move forward with plans but then the economic downturn hit, and another library proposal once again found itself out of favor. And unfortunately, it may remain there for some time even if the economy improves, as the lull has given politicians the opportunity to return to the familiar partisan argument about whether to build on site or elsewhere. More than anything else, the shuffle of town officials is the reason the library is still the same size now as it was more than a decade ago when constructing a larger building was first proposed. For everyone’s benefit, it would be wise for government officials to defer to their predecessors in this manner and not reignite this tired debate.

There are other challenges — dealing with the local fallout from the county’s affordable housing settlement and cell coverage are two of the more prominent ones — that also lie ahead and will test the resolve and capability of those in office. Fortunately for Lewisboro, those elected Tuesday, incumbent Peter DeLucia and newcomers Charles Duffy and Frank Kelly, appear to have the fortitude, determination and foresight to successfully address these demands in a way that will benefit both today’s Lewisboro residents and those who will come long after they have left office.