Photo by Abigail GearhartThis building is all that remains of Buck Herzog's Ridgely estate. A former Ridgely resident, Buck was a champion baseball player (career 1908 - 1920) playing for the Giants, Cubs, Reds and Braves. As many of you know, the building must be either moved or demolished to make way the planned Ridgeway Estates development. The building is in great shape and can be moved.
When the development was being planned, then commissioner, Nancy Gearhart, approached the developers(July 2007) about preserving the structure and they committed $8,000.00 to the effort. This amount was included in the Public Works Agreement approved by the Ridgely Planning and Zoning Commission. A place has been found for the building in Ridgely's railroad park and J.O.K. Walsh, Caroline County Historical Commission Chairman, will be able to secure additional funds for the move and maintenance.
Everything, is just hunky dory, right? WRONG! Once again, our Town Manager playing the role of Ridgely's very own "decider", has committed the money to fixing his budget instead of Buck's stable /carriage house. Nowhere in the agreement does it state that it may be applied to the General Fund. Further more, the Town Manager has been quoted as saying that without the $8,000.00 in the General Fund, he could be forced to go to the Commissioners to ask for a tax increase. I'm as against a tax increase as anyone. However, the $8,000.00 wasn't HIS to USE to fix the budget mess to begin with. And, since this $8,000.00 isn't tax money, using it is not the kind of spending that should lead to a tax increase anyhow. If there is a tax increase needed, it's because of the $162,716.00 that our budget is STILL off as result of the money "borrowed" from water/sewer for the General Fund last year(it's been carried over to this fiscal year).
It would seem to me that the reason that the Town Manager is fighting moving the stable is because he needs the money. I certainly agree that he needs some money! However, he alone isn't the "decider" here. We need to do all that we can to hold on to this piece of Ridgely's past.
Everything, is just hunky dory, right? WRONG! Once again, our Town Manager playing the role of Ridgely's very own "decider", has committed the money to fixing his budget instead of Buck's stable /carriage house. Nowhere in the agreement does it state that it may be applied to the General Fund. Further more, the Town Manager has been quoted as saying that without the $8,000.00 in the General Fund, he could be forced to go to the Commissioners to ask for a tax increase. I'm as against a tax increase as anyone. However, the $8,000.00 wasn't HIS to USE to fix the budget mess to begin with. And, since this $8,000.00 isn't tax money, using it is not the kind of spending that should lead to a tax increase anyhow. If there is a tax increase needed, it's because of the $162,716.00 that our budget is STILL off as result of the money "borrowed" from water/sewer for the General Fund last year(it's been carried over to this fiscal year).
It would seem to me that the reason that the Town Manager is fighting moving the stable is because he needs the money. I certainly agree that he needs some money! However, he alone isn't the "decider" here. We need to do all that we can to hold on to this piece of Ridgely's past.
Let's deal with this issue honestly and stop the spin and save the stable/carriage house for our "heritage park" in the railroad park.
