The evening of 2023-12-18 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
The annual show of creating a local law to (potentially) override the tax levy limit was tonight. This wasn’t a commitment to exceed the tax cap, merely taking the steps so that the Village has the option, come budget season. Having said that, Rick (Mayor) said he is expecting to exceed the cap this year. Primarily due to expenses around Fire Department staffing. Mind you, it’s too early to be sure. That will comes out in the budget process. The first workshop meeting of which was set for January 10th at 7:30 AM. Middle of the week is different, but early morning is when these meetings have tended to happen.
The Village adopted a resolution for “Moving Forward with the Process to Join the Climate Smart Communities Program.” While the document was read, I didn’t have a copy. A quick search found what is likely the source (link). I will admit I have mixed thoughts on this topic, but in the end I think this is a bad idea. I think it all comes down to stewardship vs hysteria.
On the one hand, we have been instructed by our Creator to be good stewards of what He has given us. Exactly what that entails could be debated, but I can tell it is NOT some things. It is NOT allowing fear of the future to drive us into a hysteria. It is NOT ever increasing restrictions on humanity, on the idea it helps the environment. It is NOT worshiping the creation, instead of the Creator. Yet, on the larger scale, I see more of the later then the former.
While the Village attorney did say this wasn’t really a binding resolution, it does appear to accept multiple questionable assumptions as fact. Or if I was to be more blunt: Agrees with lies. The likely lies being A) climate change is a threat and B) it is our fault because C) we burn fossil fuels. Now I will admit any or all of those could in fact be true. But from what I can tell, they seem more likely to be false. I’ll leave going into details to others.
Tonight, it was stated that having passed this resolution counts to the Village’s favor when applying for some grants. Or in other words ‘do this and we’ll give you money’. It’s abstract enough it might not meet the legal definition of bribery, I’m not a lawyer. But agreeing to things that you in fact don’t agree with? That’s what we call a ‘lie’, and is best avoided.
I’m all in favor of doing things that make sense, improve our living conditions, etc. Switching to LED’s was mentioned, along with using less energy. But for both, the root cause seemed to be saving money. Any environmental benefits are a bonus to being fiscally responsible.
Which I think is the point. We do good things for the environment, because doing so is helpful to us. As soon as we have placed climate concerns above people concerns, we have misaligned our priorities. And in doing so, will cause more harm down the line.
And there was also discussion about accepting (or not) a grant for ~$2.3 million dollars, to use for construction at the waste treatment plant. No decision was made tonight, but as was said, the project needs to be done at some point. A grant of this size makes ‘now’ more attractive then later.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the December 18, 2023 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.