I would have respected a response from the Arts Council that stated they appreciated all the taxpayer dollars they have received and will do their best to make something valuable for our town. Instead, we get misleading and incomplete information. As Paul Harvey would say: now, for the rest of the story.
1. A primary source of funds for the Arts Council is an over $30,000/year earmark the mayor arranged from the Nassau Park shopping center taxes. This money should have been part of general tax revenue, not a special earmark.
2. The Art Council staff are West Windsor municipal government employees. We are paying their salary, benefits, and pension. If the WWAC wants to claim they will pay any and all staff members, they need to place them on their payroll with checks from the WWAC — not from our municipal government.
3. Ask yourself if a part time executive director making over $30K per year is a modest salary.
4. It is a pretty sad statement if, as the Arts Council president said, the Arts Council only came into being as a result of the mayor’s task force needing to find a good use for the old firehouse.
5. Yes, the Arts Council will pay “rent” — $250/month. That doesn’t even cover the utilities for the building — which will be paid by us taxpayers. And they didn’t want to pay any rent. The town council thankfully reclaimed some funds from them. And, if you calculate the $800,000 the township has invested in the building, the Arts Council should pay $4,500 per month just to cover the out of pocket costs to us taxpayers.
6. Arts Council executive board member Heidi Kleinman stated they have a “volunteer army of hundreds.” How about using some of that army to eliminate the WWAC salaried positions? Elimination of the part time executive director would cover much of above $4,500/month taxpayer expenses.
7. OK — people can park in the Wallace Road lot at night, how about during the day? Also, there are no sidewalks and no lights along the three-block walk on the busy road between the train lot and the fire station. Can you imagine a parent with multiple children making this walk? Is this safe?
8. On real estate agents: Ask any agent if they would rather have plywood junction addressed or have an arts center. Clearly our boarded up main street is where the focus should be — not an art center for people who are well positioned to pay for it themselves.
9. And no one has ever answered the question as to why the Arts Council could not use existing space, whether that is performing areas at our schools or open space at the library, senior center, and other public spaces.
In the end, I think some people will be happy that we have an Arts Council with a building of its own. But is funding the Arts Council (and similar special interest groups) the role of government to provide, or should this be paid for by the people who use it? If the taxpayers pay for it, how do we know we are getting good value? If you think our taxes are bone-crushingly painful, do you think the role of government should be reduced to just providing the necessities with the remainder paid for by the people who directly benefit? Mike Baxter
West Windsor
