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Spend your neighbor’s money at $67,000 per minute in Hollis

To the Editor:

On Wednesday evening, March 12, despite depressing weather, certain dedicated Hollis citizens convened on the basketball court at the high school, a good venue for political exercise.

Voters pondered, contemplated charts with numbers, and expressed worthy thoughts, in our venerable tradition of spending other people’s money.

The town passed all articles, among which were purchases of shiny new trucks of various kinds to maintain the town’s physical plant ($584,000), and shiny new accounting software to maintain the town’s numbers ($60,000).

Even upward of $10 million, the town’s budget seems parsimonious, but its offices will continue to be staffed, and its physical plant maintained. Somehow, the Town’s single-family and multi-family private residences manage to conjure enough revenue.

In its final exercise, the congregation passed Petition Article 18, addressing the political difference between corporate persons and natural persons. One opposing speaker pointed out that the article undermines certain freedoms enjoyed by money, and another noted that the article referred only to corporations, but that the largest funders of politics are unions. See opensecrets.org. The import of this distinction might be obscure, but it’s good to see attention to detail.

Please plan ahead. Attend your town’s meeting next year. It’s fun, and you can spend your neighbor’s money at $67,000 per minute!

ROBERT DIGRAZIA

Hollis