To the Editor,

The Bar Stool Evening News and the Morning Coffee Klatsch Show are not even as reliable as the mainstream media. What ridiculous gossip mongering and character assassination.

Let me set some things straight: The Monticello Village Board members are not stupid; they do not believe the sky is falling; and the village is nowhere near bankruptcy.

We do, however, believe we are at an important point for making some heavily impacting decisions for the future.

So, the Village Board Trustees have some big Questions for our constituents: Where do you want to go from here? What do you want the Heart of Green County to become?

I admit our financial status kind of sucks – as it does in many small, Wisconsin municipalities – after twelve years of levy limits, static state aids, and price increases of 25 percent, on top of a long history of “kicking the can down the road” and “crossing that bridge when we come to it.”

Our current board members find we are now standing at the entrance of that proverbial bridge - blocked by a pile of rusty tin cans.

I am particularly frustrated to find past financial planning has been insignificant or non-existent to meet today’s needs. Our recent, pricey Comprehensive Plan could become nothing more than a Wish List.

To get all their facts straight, Monticello citizens and property tax payers should make plans to hear and respond to the ideas the Board has been developing this year, identifying which services need to be boosted and which should be discontinued.

The Monticello Village Board is expecting to be on hand to hear from our citizens at 7:00 p.m., on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, at the Monticello Public School original gym. We want to clarify where all our citizens want their tax money to go.

Tere Dunlap,

Monticello Village Board President