Look at results, not spending

Lest readers think I am one of those cranky old folks who complains about the government full time, I would like to point out that Dartmouth does have some areas where we are well served by the town.
One such example is the water department. I made an informal and admittedly unscientific survey of water rates in surrounding towns and cities. I found that Dartmouth residents pay a small fraction of what others in the area pay for water service. Our costs are something like 1/4 or 1/3 of that in surrounding towns. In other words, a Dartmouth resident yearly bill is what a New Bedford resident pays in a quarter. In addition, the Dartmouth water department has won state awards for quality. By careful stewardship and prudent planning, the water department provides high quality water to the residents at low cost.
Now back to cranky mode. One of the problems with comparisons between spending in Dartmouth and other communities is that spending comparisons do not take results into account. Just looking at spending in the water department, one could come to the conclusion that Dartmouth doesn't spend enough. But as I said, we get excellent service at low cost. Win-win. So when presented with comparisons on spending, be mindful that spending is not necessarily the whole picture. It's the results of that spending that count!