Editorial: Smithtown's road to higher costs

Doing nothing, and doing it consistently, is a guiding governing strategy for Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio. It seems to work for him at the polls. Smithtown voters like his low-tax, low-innovation philosophy. So they have re-elected him time and again. But his refusal to float bonds to fix badly deteriorating town roads carries inertia too far.

The roads really need the work, and who should know better than Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen? He started with the department in 1969 as a laborer, rose through the ranks, and in 2009 was easily elected superintendent. He knows his roads, and he argues that failing to fix them now is going to cost the town a lot more when it inevitably must fix them later. He's right.

What he wants is $10 million in bonding -- $5 million this year and $5 million next. Vecchio says no. But Jorgensen says it would cost the average homeowner about $24 a year by the second year.

Delay is foolish. Petroleum, a key element in asphalt, is going up in price, and so is the asphalt. Nor is the cost of borrowing going to remain forever as low as it is now. Also, as the roads keep deteriorating, the scope of the work gets more complex and costly.

These roads don't just serve Smithtown residents. Visitors, including shoppers who spend money in town, also need safe roads.

Vecchio must think of the town's long-term well-being -- not just the immediate satisfaction of saying no.