Accelerate the new town?

I do not agree with the acceleration of the New Town of Palm, for many reasons.
The most important one being there should be a financial agreement for the properties left in the town of Monroe.
The duly elected Town Board should be negotiating with KJ for that deal.
The administrator of KJ should not be sitting down with the leadership of UM who are not elected representatives and who already got their own deal (and, to the best of my knowledge, there is still no stipulation of settlement).
There are other reasons not speed up the process. All the citizens of the town of Monroe should understand how this will impact them. The UM/DM supported decision to separate is still in its infant stage and should be handled appropriately.
1. The new town can claim a portion of the current $5 million fund balance.
2. Accelerating the separation will accelerate the $2 million plus per year decrease in monies to the town of Monroe. All property taxes, school taxes, and services will be affected.
3. The taxes for the remaining property owners will likely increase regardless of the budgetary means and or IMA’s.
The 2018 town board has said in the past that they will address the loss of money through budgetary means and possible IMA’s with the new Town of Palm (payment for services that the town of Monroe might supply the new Town). Is there an agreement for these services to back this claim up?
James Skoufis is trying to get monies for the MWSD, but please remember that money is also taxpayer generated, just on a larger scale. The monies he is securing are for how long? How long before our school taxes increase dramatically causing the citizens financial stress.
My prediction is that for support from the Town Board for the accelerated separation the government of KJ will allow the Town of Monroe to keep the current Fund Balance after the separation. It gives everyone the appearance of winning.
Palm Tree wins because agreeing to accelerate the new town means that they will not have to pay approximately $2 million to the town of Monroe. This 2 million will stay in Palm Tree and they will make more money quickly by charging the new town residents for utilities and other town services.
The town board wins because they can say they negotiated to keep the fund balance.
On a side note, if the new town board plans on using fund balance to purchase Eitz Chaim then it will be significantly reduced or be wiped out anyway.
People should also be aware that the purchasing of properties and the buying of homes by people moving to live outside of KJ and Palm Tree but choosing to live in high density developments, are continuing and they will make their choices on what they want their community to look like. If they choose to create a village outside of KJ or the new town of Palm they will. Another new village to effect the Town of Monroe’s future.
Our home values and community are at stake so let’s cross the T’s and dot the I’s. Accelerating the new Town of Palm only benefits one half of the equation and it’s not the town of Monroe.
Christine Tucker
Monroe