It\u2019s once again time in Dunwich to produce the town budget.\u00a0 And even though it\u2019s a slightly unusual place, we still have to go through the whole public hearing thing with the First Selectman leading the proceedings and calling for the vote.\u00a0 Of course, when the budget is rejected, it always leads to \u201cproblems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year when First Selectman Cthulhu asked for a show of hands on the nays it was very noticeable when one of the nay sayers was snatched off her feet by that irascible public servant and crunched and swallowed.\u00a0 This was regrettable but it was noted that several nay voters seemed to change their mind in mid-count.\u00a0 So, there is a history of gentle persuasion being brought to bear at these meetings.\u00a0 That probably explains why over the years the voting population has progressively skewed pro-budget.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 We really do need to be flexible when it comes to the finances.\u00a0 With the COVID funds now completely dried up and New England state budgets straining under the weight of \u201csanctuary guests\u201d from the third world filling residences and hospitals we can no longer expect the state to fund all the various mandates that they seem to invent by the hour.<\/p>\n
Of course, Cthulhu has taken a decidedly idiosyncratic policy twist to the question of sanctuary guests.\u00a0 He has been housing all of them in his own residence.\u00a0 Funny thing is none of them have reappeared.\u00a0 Strange kind of sanctuary.<\/p>\n
But it is important that we keep our spirits up when the question of the \u201cmill rate\u201d surfaces.\u00a0 In Dunwich what that refers to is the rate at which Bishop\u2019s Mill is sinking into the swamp.\u00a0 This year it was determined by the town engineer that it was sinking at a rate of two inches a day.\u00a0 Now this doesn\u2019t sound so bad but by the end of March the main entrance was entirely submerged and so the various flour products were being delivered to the customers by ejection from the third story window.\u00a0 Which is fine except that a couple of times they crushed some of the customers.<\/p>\n
This year the budget has included a special charge for the First Selectman\u2019s rigging enterprise to raise and relocate Bishop\u2019s Mill to higher ground.\u00a0 Now this was done once before.\u00a0 And it didn\u2019t go completely without a hitch.\u00a0 The mill broke up in the Great Old One’s claws and when Gerontius Bishop complained he sort of fell into the First Selectman\u2019s mouth and sort of got eaten.\u00a0 Kind of.<\/p>\n
To obviate the same kind of situation the Bishop family has agreed to pay a special fee for extra reinforcement of the structure to allow for any miscalculations.\u00a0 But the town has agreed to defray some of this cost and thus the Budget debate.\u00a0 The estimate for this town expense by the riggers (the First Selectman) is $2,500,000.\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n
So as a kind of compromise action a few of us got together yesterday and went down to Bishop\u2019s Mill and soaked it with gasoline and burned it down.\u00a0 The First Selectman, who is also the acting fire chief of the volunteer force, arrived at the scene about twenty minutes after the flames had guttered out at the water line.\u00a0 He announced that the rigging operation would obviously no longer be needed but that the contract would still be honored and the budget would proceed on the same basis.\u00a0 He really is a very determined fellow.\u00a0 And he is incredibly \u201cpersuasive.\u201d<\/p>\n
You know, you really learn how to roll with the punches in Dunwich.\u00a0 You really do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s once again time in Dunwich to produce the town budget.\u00a0 And even though it\u2019s a slightly unusual place, we still have to go through<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3366,1263],"tags":[3341,4638],"class_list":["post-32814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-dunwich","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-dunwich","tag-first-selectman-cthulhu"],"yoast_head":"\n