Well, our 2016 tax bills have arrived. Thanks to some of our elected officials and their past decisions, we all now face huge property tax increases. Personally, I am paying four times more property tax than what I did last year. Add to that, the three-fold increase I just paid in my new school taxes. To some, this does not really pose much of a burden. But, to most of us full-time residents - many on fixed incomes – these increases are a real financial strain. Our elected officials, town and school, knew what the Brookfield settlement, and resulting review of assessments, would do to us. Yet, most of them did nothing to cut operating expenses. It was just business as usual...spend, spend, spend...when it was time to start making cuts in every department. This is why it is so important for every one of us to get out and vote in each election. It is time for a complete house cleaning in our elected town and school governing bodies.