To the Expositor:
Apparently, the idea of a centralized sports-complex in Central is still alive.
Before this concept is advanced any further, I believe it would be prudent for our esteemed town-councillors—a preponderance of whom bill themselves as “fiscally conservative”—to commit to a) generating a report to be made available to the voting and tax-paying public and b) hosting a substantive, well-publicized townhall discussion with mandatory attendance of all council members. I suggest that, at minimum, the following considerations ought to be addressed in serious, sober and significant detail in such a report and at such a meeting:
1. How much will the entire project, at completion, realistically cost (inclusive of predictable budget-overruns) vs. what it would cost to properly upgrade existing facilities? How is the projected interest rate for financing the project arrived at and how realistic is it? What is the total projected interest $ amount payable over the lifetime of the loan? How does this cost break down as a cost per individual property-tax roll-number?
2. What will be the actual difference, if any, in projected operating costs between the proposed complex and properly upgraded, existing facilities? How are these projections arrived at?
3. How many individuals in the community are likely to avail themselves of the complex to an extent greater than they use existing facilities and how does this break down to each area of the facility? How much real time are these individuals projected to spend utilizing the proposed facilities? What is the scientific method employed to arrive at these projections?
4. How many existing facilities will be eliminated? Where are they located and how will this impact the communities that are slated to lose their facilities?
5. How many residents will have to travel much further now for services they currently have access to within a reasonable distance of their homes? How will this extra travel affect these people’s quality of life as well as their pocketbook?
6. Since this is such an enormous and seemingly frivolous expenditure which would put every single property-tax payer in Central in the hawk for many thousands of dollars each, upon publication of such a report and holding such a townhall meeting, council should commit to holding a referendum on whether in fact a majority—with more of the pertinent facts in hand—are supportive of this project moving forward.
Malene Brynildsen
Providence Bay
