Selected Presidents Letter
President's Letter
Oct 12, 2010
PDF Version: 2010-Oct-12-President's Letter.pdf

Presidents’ Letter
October, 2010
Nadine S. Walsten
Fall is my favorite time of the year and the most recent warm spell has been an unbelievable
bonus! With each passing sunny day, my denial that winter is coming deepens, and I put off
those chores necessary to prepare for the cold. I am grateful to a friend who suggested I put
Dawn dishwashing soap and water in a 32 oz spray bottle and spray the soapy mixture on the
southern doors and windows to ward off the Boxelder bugs. Seems to work on those Asian
beetles, too. I will need to rinse off these areas when I wash the windows but for now, my house
is almost free of the critters and are no longer seeping in from the outside. Creepy critters just in
time for Halloween.
It is budget season for the Board and I am committed to having an operating budget as close to
2010 levels as possible. Most of the trustees feel the same which means everyone, residents
included, will feel the pinch of our tight economic shoes. Because only 2% of our tax base is
commercial, every decision we make hits every homeowner hard. Compound the loss of
property taxes due to a weakened job and housing market with the severe rise in sewer rates,(
again, 98% of our users are residences), and the average Brooklynite is caught in the crossfire of
property taxes and sewer utility costs. Some items will go up but to accommodate those, I
expect we will look for other areas of operations we can cut. If we make any large expenditures,
it should be restricted to implementation of an economic development plan but until the economy
improves, it will remain unclear what we can do. I do believe we must take advantage of any
economic development opportunity that presents itself but only with sound understanding of our
options. I’ve spoken of this before: From a tax standpoint only, we must increase our
commercial tax revenues to 30-40% of our municipal budget because providing public services
to businesses costs substantially less tax dollars than providing the same services to residences.
One caveat regarding the 2011 budget: If we have an opportunity to bring business to Brooklyn,
we must give that serious thought, while assuring ourselves we can hold our budget in line if we
do.
Speaking of economic development, the Economic Development Committee will be holding an
Open House for area businesses and entrepreneurs on November 9 at the Village Hall. We are
planning to have resource people from Dane and Green Economic Development offices as well
as a representative of a finance packaging company who specializes in helping small businesses
obtain funding for their operations. Invitations will be sent.
In an attempt to increase the dialogue between myself and the residents, I will begin to hold
Listening Sessions on the evening of October 27th at the Village Hall. My focus will be to meet
with residents of different neighborhoods and hear the concerns and ideas from that part of the
Village. Watch for your notice in the mail. I plan to start with Brooklyn Commons, then
Douglas Dr, north Rutland, etc.

Archive

• Dec 10, 2010 President's Letter December, 2010 YEAR END REPORT
• Nov 13, 2010 President's Letter
• Oct 12, 2010 President's Letter
• Sep 08, 2010 President's Letter
• Aug 11, 2010 President's Letter
• Jul 20, 2010 President's Letter
• Jun 14, 2010 President's Letter
• May 12, 2010 President's Letter
• Apr 07, 2010 President's Letter
• Mar 11, 2010 President's Letter
• Feb 10, 2010 President's Letter
• Jan 12, 2010 President's Letter

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