Our mission is to ensure that Windsor CT is not just the town where you live, but a vibrant place where you feel at home. Our priorities are top notch safety services, sound infrastructure and effective education, all delivered in a fiscally responsible manner. Regardless of background, every resident should be respected and valued for their contribution to our Windsor family.
Support our state and federal GOP candidates!
Len Walker for State Representative, 60th District
Kristin Hoffman for State Senator, 2nd District
Matt Corey for US Senator
Donald J. Trump for President of the United States
Len Walker for State Representative, 60th District
Kristin Hoffman for State Senator, 2nd District
Matt Corey for US Senator
Donald J. Trump for President of the United States
The following is a letter to the editor written by WRTC Chairman Len Walker which was recently submitted to the Windsor Journal for publication. It was not published there, so we are publishing it here.
August is an interesting month for residents in Windsor and across the State. Many residents are complaining about the burdensome costs of utility bills. One source of many complaints is the public benefits portion of our Eversource electric bills. The blame for this cost lies with the democrats in the State legislature, because they agreed to put the cost of those mandates on consumers. To add insult to injury, PURA just approved more increases to electric bills. We are now forced to pay a new increase for improvements to the electric grid to charge electric vehicles. I have never agreed to make our energy sources all electric, so why am I paying for electric vehicle usage?
Added to this deduction from household budgets is the very high cost of living increases. Everyone has increased costs for basic food items, and many in our neighborhoods are having to make decisions between buying food or paying for prescription medicines.
While some Windsor residents may be able to afford these rising costs, there are many residents who are struggling to make ends meet. We have seniors on fixed incomes who cannot afford these increases. There are also many households who are cutting back on their budgets to meet increasing household costs.
The big question we should be asking ourselves is, what alternatives do residents have when faced with these increases? Some folks have decided to sell their homes and move to smaller condos, but that choice is not their preferred option. Others go into debt and are soon overwhelmed by maxed out credit cards and maxed out lines of credit. Others in our town have defaulted on their mortgages and they are struggling to get current on payments.
None of these alternatives to huge debt are favorable to our residents, but these are the realities our residents are facing. To be fair, high cost of living is not only a Windsor problem, but high cost of living is a national problem.
In contemporary society, government has overreached its authority too often. In many instances, we are told what we must pay for and we have no choice. The public benefits portion of the Eversource bill is a good example of government overreach. In this “land of the free” we should be able to decide where we want to make charitable donations. My family has the right to use money we saved by working hard and we should decide who we want to help. Connecticut voted to use our taxes to reimburse hospitals for unpaid medical care totaling many millions of dollars, but many working families don’t qualify for help with their medical bills.
Americans are a kind and giving people and Americans donate to many charitable causes. However, we cannot support everyone else while we struggle to put food on the table and we struggle to keep a roof over our head. If you have doubts, look at the increase in families using the food bank in Windsor and Hartford. Our residents are working longer hours but many are falling behind on their bills. If we force working families out of Windsor, who will pay for increasing property taxes?
If all this is very intolerable, there is more stress from other living expenses. You recently got your tax bills from the town of Windsor and reality has set in. I know this because I am getting calls from constituents. Next year tax increases will be worse. We cannot decrease the Board of Education budget and we already started using reserve funds for their budget. There was a time when elected officials respected your taxes, but not today. Some elected officials are paying for pet projects such as all electric plans, and they are paying for plans to stop using fossil fuels. Based on the results of those plans, I would say they are treating our taxes like monopoly game money. We need common sense in government and we need legislators who will question a lot of party line votes. The Republican minority on the council put up a good fight to reduce the budget and we had ordinary citizens helping us to try and defeat the budget. Thanks to all the residents who joined us in trying to defeat this budget. Our friends were residents from different political parties; Democrats, Independents, and unaffiliated. Remember who is relieving you of your hard-earned money next time you are voting.
WRTC Chairman Len Walker, August 17, 2024
August is an interesting month for residents in Windsor and across the State. Many residents are complaining about the burdensome costs of utility bills. One source of many complaints is the public benefits portion of our Eversource electric bills. The blame for this cost lies with the democrats in the State legislature, because they agreed to put the cost of those mandates on consumers. To add insult to injury, PURA just approved more increases to electric bills. We are now forced to pay a new increase for improvements to the electric grid to charge electric vehicles. I have never agreed to make our energy sources all electric, so why am I paying for electric vehicle usage?
Added to this deduction from household budgets is the very high cost of living increases. Everyone has increased costs for basic food items, and many in our neighborhoods are having to make decisions between buying food or paying for prescription medicines.
While some Windsor residents may be able to afford these rising costs, there are many residents who are struggling to make ends meet. We have seniors on fixed incomes who cannot afford these increases. There are also many households who are cutting back on their budgets to meet increasing household costs.
The big question we should be asking ourselves is, what alternatives do residents have when faced with these increases? Some folks have decided to sell their homes and move to smaller condos, but that choice is not their preferred option. Others go into debt and are soon overwhelmed by maxed out credit cards and maxed out lines of credit. Others in our town have defaulted on their mortgages and they are struggling to get current on payments.
None of these alternatives to huge debt are favorable to our residents, but these are the realities our residents are facing. To be fair, high cost of living is not only a Windsor problem, but high cost of living is a national problem.
In contemporary society, government has overreached its authority too often. In many instances, we are told what we must pay for and we have no choice. The public benefits portion of the Eversource bill is a good example of government overreach. In this “land of the free” we should be able to decide where we want to make charitable donations. My family has the right to use money we saved by working hard and we should decide who we want to help. Connecticut voted to use our taxes to reimburse hospitals for unpaid medical care totaling many millions of dollars, but many working families don’t qualify for help with their medical bills.
Americans are a kind and giving people and Americans donate to many charitable causes. However, we cannot support everyone else while we struggle to put food on the table and we struggle to keep a roof over our head. If you have doubts, look at the increase in families using the food bank in Windsor and Hartford. Our residents are working longer hours but many are falling behind on their bills. If we force working families out of Windsor, who will pay for increasing property taxes?
If all this is very intolerable, there is more stress from other living expenses. You recently got your tax bills from the town of Windsor and reality has set in. I know this because I am getting calls from constituents. Next year tax increases will be worse. We cannot decrease the Board of Education budget and we already started using reserve funds for their budget. There was a time when elected officials respected your taxes, but not today. Some elected officials are paying for pet projects such as all electric plans, and they are paying for plans to stop using fossil fuels. Based on the results of those plans, I would say they are treating our taxes like monopoly game money. We need common sense in government and we need legislators who will question a lot of party line votes. The Republican minority on the council put up a good fight to reduce the budget and we had ordinary citizens helping us to try and defeat the budget. Thanks to all the residents who joined us in trying to defeat this budget. Our friends were residents from different political parties; Democrats, Independents, and unaffiliated. Remember who is relieving you of your hard-earned money next time you are voting.
WRTC Chairman Len Walker, August 17, 2024
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Other Republican Officials
State SenatorIf you vote at Rainbow Firehouse, John Kissel is your state senator.
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Paid for by the Windsor Republican Town Committee, James Durant, Treasurer.