Don Lowe First Selectman Column 08/05/24
The Fireman’s Ball, despite some intermittent rain, was a huge success and another terrific community event. Thank you Sherman Volunteer Fire Department for providing the fun! I know that it’s a lot of work and hustle to put it all together, but you folks always come through! The roast beef, by the way, was better than ever.
Somehow it is already August, which is a transitional month for students and their families. It’s also a transitional month for fish as they seek cooler deeper water to laze around in and become more finicky to catch. But this isn’t supposed to be a fishing column so I’ll leave it at that.
By the time you read this paper, Sherman should have a financing plan for the proposed Sherman School repair/renovation. We should know, or have a close idea, of what this plan, if approved, will cost the taxpayers. This will be broken down in such a way so that you’ll know the increase per every $1000 of assessment.
Not to simplify too much, but when you vote on this in October, taxpayers have to decide if they are comfortable living in a Town with a school that has subpar infrastructure, or would they pay the extra tax dollars to live in a Town with a superbly functioning school facility. Sherman, in my nearly 25 years’ experience of living here, has always been a Town that keeps its working parts, its infrastructure, in good order. We fix what breaks in our buildings and vehicles. Our parks are well kept and neat. We stay vigilant, as much as financially possible, on road repairs. We protect our environment and maintain a Town often described by other towns’ residents as “beautiful”. There is recognizable pride in Sherman residents for how their Town is maintained and managed. It’s always been that way.
Sherman, on another front, has always been careful using taxpayers’ dollars. I’m proud of the way my Board of Selectmen has managed the Town’s finances; however, we are carrying on what other boards did before us. Being careful with taxpayers’ money is a Sherman tradition. So all of this that makes Sherman “beautiful” is managed on a very prudent budget.
And, now, over the next seven weeks, you are going to hear a plea to spend taxpayer money to right what is wrong with our school facility: To make a safe and well-functioning school for our young people, a school that we can once again be proud of. Yes, we can all go back and forth ad nausea over how we got in this shape in the first place, but the horse, I’m afraid, is out of the barn. We can only learn from that and never repeat it. The school presently has numerous severe infrastructure issues some of which won’t hold out much longer.
For me, I have decided that spending my taxpayer money to fix the Sherman School is worth it and I will be advocating for this plan. But each voting taxpayer will have to decide for themselves: live in a Town with a poorly functioning school or spend the extra dollars to make it right. For me, I don’t want to live in a Town with a broken school. I don’t have any kids attending there anymore, but it doesn’t matter. To me, Sherman is not the type of Town to suffer along with a broken down school.
Naturally, you’ll hear (if you choose to) in the upcoming Town forums and other informational venues detail after detail of the proposed plan. But the thesis of all of this, the crux of the matter, I think, is choosing what kind of Town you want to live in. I want to live in a Town with a good school.
