To the Editor:

I am addressing Westerlo’s townspeople.

Let’s go back to the letter to the editor wrote, as a member of Westerlo’s town board, in “The Altamont Enterprise” May 27, 2010 edition with the headline “Let’s stay frugal in this crucial period of time.”

At the time I stated that we should use our grant money wisely and update our existing town hall, instead of buying the Westerlo school. At the time, I had two very knowledgeable men and myself look at the school; I had a ballpark figure of $500,000 to renovate the school to a town hall and, when I asked the other two men at different times, they came up with the same figure.

So when I brought this up at a town hall meeting, before the school was bought, I was laughed at. As far as I know, there was no mention to hire an engineer for a cost to modify the school before it was bought.

Town voters voted to buy the school mainly because of free grant money and sentimental reasons. This has been in my words a great “stratagem.”

As a senior citizen, the big jump in my taxes, I don’t need. One other thing is when you townpeople have time check out our other Hilltown garages. You’ll be surprised how they match up with ours. As I have said, I will not ask you to vote Sept. 1 one way or the other. Let your conscience and pocketbook be your guide.

In the end, do we really need to be close to $3 million in debt?

Jack Milner

Westerlo