Ben Franklin knew something about liberty and democracy. They don't put your face on the $100 bill just because you're a good kite flier.
And to paraphrase dear Ben, without an informed citizenry, liberty doesn't stand a chance.
Why then, do Andover leaders want to make it more difficult for Andover people to become informed about their town?
Both the Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen support stopping the mailing of the Finance Committee Report to every home in town.
Finance Committee Reports provide more information about how your money is spent than any other document. They are readable, thorough and useful to anyone who wants to know the effect of town government on his or her wallet.
Each year's report is also the Bible, scorecard and instruction manual for that year's Town Meeting. It lets residents know what issues will be debated. It clearly spells out what yes or no votes will do for the town. Over the years, countless residents have been informed about proposed laws and proposed changes to their neighborhoods thanks to the FinComm Report arriving in their mailboxes.
The reasons given for stopping the mailing are that it will save the town some money on postage, and printing fewer copies will be good for the environment.
"There's some question about how many of these are being thrown away," said Joanne Marden, Finance Committee chairwoman. "Should we be asking the voters if they really want them or not?"
The committee says reports still would be available at places like Town Offices and on the town Web site. You know, places your average person visits about as often as Geraldo shaves off his mustache.
Limiting the distribution of the FinComm Report will have the effect of making it available only to those who know where to look for it. Sure, those 400 or so Andoverites who would never miss a meeting will pick it up. But longtime residents who only attend occasionally could see their neighborhoods changed by votes they never heard were coming. And how will people new to town ever become engaged? Granted, I like to think our paper informs people, but not everyone in town gets the Townsman.
Andover leaders should be looking for ways to inform people about the issues and to encourage them to get involved.
Reducing access to the Finance Committee report will serve only to make Town Meeting more insular, less inclusive, more endangered, less attended.
Andover leaders will ask people to pour $350,000 this year into an "accumulated benefit account." This money pays retiring employees for sick days they didn't use. During the last five years, retiring employees were given about $1.6 million extra — $1.6 million worth of golden parachutes — simply for working when they were supposed to work.
Andover leaders also will have taxpayers pay 40 employees $425,448 extra this year, in 15 percent raises. The reason? These employees told the town they might retire. That's it. That was enough to earn each of them a 15 percent bump averaging more than $10,600.
If Andover is desperate for a few thousand more dollars, getting rid of these types of perks is the place to start. Democracy — and it's lifeblood, information — ought to be worth more.
Neil Fater is editor of the Andover Townsman.
