Our emails now reach well over 500 households of voting taxpayers concerned about town spending in Chatham, constantly growing tax bills (up over 5% every year for the past eight) and keeping Chatham affordable for those of modest means. The shrinkage of savings and income streams – bank interest and dividends -- affect many Chatham resident taxpayers.

So it’s important for those who care about town spending and growing property taxes to show up at town meeting – just three weeks from today -- and be prepared to protect their assets. Town meeting decides whether to spend or not and can say “No.” If the steady upward spiral of Chatham overspending – 44% over eight years -- is not broken in this year of tremendous financial stress, can it every be?

Alert your like-minded friends to get on our email list and check our website regularly. And get them to town meeting on May 11th and the town election on May 14th.

It’s very difficult to get adequate information about town spending and revenues. While it’s supplied when asked, it isn’t always what we asked for and sometimes it doesn’t reflect real options. Even those of us who dig for information can get easily misled or confused. For example, CCT asked for actual receipts against forecast for the first nine months of fiscal 2009 (through March 31) for “Local Revenues” that support town spending. After all, we read that in all or most all other Cape towns those revenues are falling. Is this true of Chatham? What we got wasn’t “actual figures” but “estimated figures”; even so, the figures appeared to show a million dollar shortfall. We then went back and analyzed what happened in fiscal 2008; that, too, showed a possible shortfall on “estimated” figures after nine months, but the final “actual” figures came in more than one million higher than what had been “estimated” for the full year just three months before. So is Chatham, like all the other towns on the Cape, running behind in its “Local Revenues”? We don’t know.

With the uncertainty about town finance numbers, perhaps our best course from here on is to ask questions rather than try to analyze numbers that might be meaningless. The same goes for those who ask questions at meetings from the floor.

By the way, just as the town proposes to issue more than $70 million of new bonds, Moody’s has announced that because of the fiscal crisis all (not some, all) municipal bonds are candidates for default as their supporting revenues collapse. We don’t know if that is Chatham’s situation. As we have said before, prudence, cautious, “not now.” These are difficult times and Chatham should not be asking for trouble.

It’s vital that voting taxpayers who pay the bills show up, listen carefully and vote to protect their assets and incomes and to keep Chatham affordable. And to preserve Chatham’s unique character. There’s nothing wrong with reasonable development, but Mashpee East or Atlantic City we don’t want.

How the votes go will determine the near term and long term future of Chatham.

In the remaining days before town meeting – three weeks from today -- information may be coming thick and fast. We will post on the website and provide less detail in emails because of the time it takes to distribute the emails, so check the website daily www.chathamct.org and have your friends do the same.

It is possible to get a sensible financial result out of this town meeting, but only if enough of those who care about spending show up and vote.

Our final meeting for all Chatham concerned taxpayers to prepare for the town meeting and town election will be Monday, May 4th, at 4 p.m. at the Chatham Community Center. Come and bring your like-minded fellow voters.

If you would like to hear the Town’s defense of its spending, attend the League of Women Voters forum on Wednesday, April 29th, at 7 p.m. at the Chatham Community Center. You will have time to make your voices heard during the question period.