To the editor:
Hats off to Bill Shipman! It is certainly time that someone is addressing the perilous financial state of this community.
Last year at Town Meeting both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee recommended passing over Article 10, but despite these objections the article was voted on and passed.
Unfortunately, it appears that despite this vote, neither the selectmen nor Finance Committee has complied by showing the summary of the town's assets and liabilities how they arrived at those two figures, and how the town would deal with these liabilities.
All this information should have been in this year's annual report, but was omitted. And one might question why these two boards objected to this disclosure.
As Bill stated, Manchester has $51.7 million in unfunded liabilities. What are our possible solutions? Do we cut spending or increase taxes? Or both?
This is an issue our town can no longer afford to ignore and sweep under the rug.
If you are as concerned as we are, please contact our local officials and ask them to comply with article 10 and ask them how they suggest we deal with this serious situation.
Transparency is often used in politics these days, but it appears our officials are ignoring the voters.
Charles & Jill Brennan
Manchester
