Spending Choices Reflect Community Values
When past Councils are criticized for “not getting things done,” there’s one fact that often gets left out: they didn’t have the money. Without new revenue, departments struggled and projects stalled just to cover the basics. That changed with the Earned Income Tax (EIT).
And here’s the irony: many of the same officials who opposed the EIT now spend its revenue freely — while still campaigning against it. They claim credit for “progress,” but ignore the truth that every new initiative depends on the very tax they tried to block.
Basics Still on the Back Burner
For all the talk of getting things done, Morrisville still lacks fully staffed and fully funded essentials:
• Police
• Public works
• Library
• Borough administration
These are the services taxpayers expect their money to support. Yet they remain underfunded, even as Council pours time and money into other priorities.
Big Ideas, Little Transparency
Instead of focusing on the basics, Council has approved or pursued a string of studies and initiatives — often with no clear costs disclosed, no overarching plan, and no public input:
• A study for a municipal parking garage
• A levee walkway expansion study
• A boat dock feasibility study
• Legal and professional fees to explore purchasing Summerseat
• Construction of a new Public Works garage complex, with land purchase
• Multiple grant applications without stated costs
• A study on moving Williamson Park tennis courts (while abandoning a partially completed Master Site Park plan that wasted $20K)
Planning for the future isn’t wrong. But without transparency or priorities, these projects start to look less like vision and more like a scattered hodgepodge of expensive, unconnected flights of fancy. That’s not a responsible use of our tax dollars.
The Real Test: What We Value
Spending choices are value statements. Right now, Morrisville’s choices suggest big-ticket projects outrank the everyday services that keep our community safe, functional, and fair.
If we can afford to commission studies for boat docks and parking garages, we can afford to fund our police, public works, library, and administration. And if we can spend residents’ tax dollars on ambitious projects, we can certainly afford to explain ourselves first.
The Bottom Line: Back to Basics, Back to Trust
The EIT was a tough but necessary decision. Supporters backed it because they knew Morrisville couldn’t survive without stable revenue for vital services. That’s still the job.
It’s time to:
• Fund the basics first — police, public works, library, administration.
• Make transparency non-negotiable — no project without costs disclosed and priorities explained.
• Put values back at the center — because public money should reflect public needs.
Morrisville has the revenue it long lacked. Now the question is whether we’ll use it to build a solid foundation — or chase shiny projects while the basics fall further behind.
