Will Thilly danced, backspun and moon-walked at Cranford meeting while raising questions on local tax hikes

Thilly proceeded to ask if anyone wanted to see him perform a backspin. When no one responded, he laid on the ground, lifted his feet and spun several times. As he danced, the crowd stayed silent

  • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
    72·
    3 days ago

    He then asked: “Why did our taxes go up so much?”

    Thilly went on to reference a previous local referendum, questioning why the tax increase was apparently higher than anticipated. He said: “We were told the referendum was going to bring [taxes] up for an average household [by] around $400 … and mine went up like 900 bucks … We were told like that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up … like 400 bucks on an average assessed home … So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did that and what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”

    Y’know, years ago before everything that’s happened I could have ignored an attack on public education and just gotten on board with celebrating an adorable weirdo like this, but after watching Musk weird his way to throwing Nazi salutes at CPAC I hope this guy’s neighbors bully him back into whatever godforsaken hole he crawled out of

    • AlDente@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      This article cherry-picked some of his words, but ultimately he is against wealthy corporations not paying their fair share through tax exeption deals. He is not against funding public education. But of course, take the corporation-backed mainstream-media message at face value and hope he gets bullied away. Then the current township leaders can continue handouts to big corporations, while increasing taxes on the residents.

      Did you know that in recent years the Township Committee under both political parties has awarded over $150 million in 30-year tax exemptions to billionaire developers at 750 Walnut and Birchwood?

      We residents have to pay for this on their behalf. It’s a few thousand dollars every year in extra taxes per household. In return, we receive little besides increased traffic, flooding, overcrowded schools, and overburdened infrastructure.

      Indeed the $55 million we voted to pay for our beloved schools in the January referendum was necessary precisely because the developers are contributing nothing to our educational system. I want to be elected to stop the resident-funded overdevelopment of Cranford.

      https://willthilly.com/

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      41·
      3 days ago

      “We were told the referendum was going to bring [taxes] up for an average household [by] around $400 … and mine went up like 900 bucks

      Someone doesn’t understand how averages work…