If The Wizard of Oz were re-written today then Sterling’s Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee members would be the new characters singing “If I Only Had A Spine.”
It is readily apparent that the Sterling Town Government payroll is seriously bloated, with consequent skyrocketing health insurance costs, and that layoffs, hiring freezes, and salary freezes should be implemented to avoid reaching Sterling’s across-the-board Proposition 2 ½ ‘Debt Ceiling.’ But the Finance Committee and the Capital Budget Committee don’t have the cojones to call for such measures. INSTEAD, their solution is to avoid what is now a NECESSARY, GENERAL 2026 Annual Town Meeting Proposition 2 ½ Override Vote–that would be defeated, thereby forcing much-needed Town Government layoffs, hiring freezes, and salary freezes–and instead SCREW Sterling property taxpayers, INCREMENTALLY, by recommending “Mini Debt Exclusions” for capital purchases/projects. “DEBT EXCLUSIONS” ARE PROPOSITION 2 ½ OVERRIDES FOR PARTICULAR PROJECTS. THEY PILE UP.
As it stands now, these Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee utter wimps are endorsing “Mini Debt Exclusions” for a new D.P.W. dump truck and two (2) new Police Department cruisers for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting, BECAUSE THE TOWN’S CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND IS TAPPED OUT. WAY TO GO FINANCE COMMITTEE AND CAPITAL BUDGET COMMITTEE!!! THAT’S REALLY SOUND FISCAL PLANNING!!! YOU ALL KICKED THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD UNTIL THE ROAD RAN OUT.
You can watch and listen to these invertebrate clowns when Sterling-Lancaster Community TV posts their 18 December 2025 Joint Meeting on its website.
SO, why do these coopted Finance Committee and Capital Budget Committee exorbitant spending enablers believe that “Mini Debt Exclusions” are the way to go???
BECAUSE, in their gullible stupidity, Sterling 2025 Annual Town Meeting Voters APPROVED the $800,000 BOGUS D.P.W. Swett Hill Road Drainage Project debt exclusion, and the D.P.W. BOGUS ‘Garage Mahal’ ‘planning’ $500,000 debt exclusion. BY THE WAY, THE D.P.W. CLOWNS TOTALLY SCREWED THE POOCH AND STERLING TAXPAYERS WITH THEIR BOGUS SWETT HILL ROAD DRAINAGE PROJECT. THEY GOT NO BIDS BEFORE GETTING THE $800,000 AND THE PROJECT IS STILL HUNG UP IN CONSERVATION COMMISSION REVIEW. The D.P.W. CLOWNS ALSO TOTALLY SCREWED THE POOCH AND STERLING TAXPAYERS WITH THEIR $500,000 BOGUS ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ ‘PLANNING’ DEBT EXCLUSION SINCE STERLING VOTERS, 373 TO 183, SHOT DOWN THE PROPOSED $33 MILLION ‘GARAGE MAHAL’ AT THE 13 NOVEMBER 2025 SPECIAL TOWN MEETING. Ya, Ya, Sterling D.P.W. competence and fiscal responsibility on parade!
SEE 2025 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles 25 and 26—
www.sterling-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/246/2025-3-26-ATM-Warrant-Draft-PDF
My next Blog post will be about Mark Gauthier, the bloviating blob Finance Committee taxpayer-sellout-invertebrate-liaison to the D.P.W./D.P.W. Facilities Committee who is a prime exemplar of ‘Stockholm Syndrome.’
Stay tuned.
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 