Why do we have a City of Groton? Simply put, to provide adequate services.

The Borough of Groton, the predecessor of the city, was densely populated, commercialized and industrialized by the ship building trade. The citizens that lived there needed street lights, sewers and water for their protection and public health. The borough was incorporated in 1903 so that it could levy taxes to provide these services that the town could not.

The following year, borough residents bought the water company and the Department of Utilities was born. A few years later, the town turned over the roads in the borough and agreed to pay for their maintenance.

Meanwhile, the Borough of Groton formed a police department, predating the town department.

The City of Groton, renamed in 1964, still has special needs. The ramp up of Electric Boat during and post WWII and the newcomer, Charles Pfizer Company, in the 1950s necessitated the widening of many city roads to accommodate the large traffic volume.

There was a need for improved storm drainage and sidewalks to provide safe travel for cars and pedestrians. The busy roads and sidewalks still require high maintenance.

Lost tax revenue due to Pfizer razing a large laboratory building has understandably prompted both governments to examine their budgets. However, the recent action by the Town Council to remove $830,000 (43 percent) of the city’s highway maintenance request is unreasonable and the consequences caused by this action are punitive and costly for both residents and businesses. The town is taxing all property owners to cover the $830,000 that they have put in a set aside account, while the city has had to tax its residents and businesses to cover the shortfall.

This causes city taxpayers to pay twice, resulting in a backlash among some city residents who now want to stop paying for services in the town that they do not use. These include Town Highway, police, planning, building inspection, finance, human resources, and most of the executive administration services in the town. Yet, city taxpayers cover 31 percent of those functions.

An old maxim is that desperate times require desperate measures. This is such a time. That is why many city residents have reached the conclusion that the city’s financial independence from the town is becoming imperative.

Some may say, “Why not consolidation?”

Primarily because the town would have to purchase most of the city assets, such as the sewer treatment plant and associated piping, as the two sewer systems are not connected. They would not only have to buy the treatment facility and its associated debt, they would have to hire personnel to run it. This would be a huge expense, borne by town and city residents through increased taxes, again making city residents and businesses pay twice.

The City of Groton would never give up Groton Utilities. The town would also have to pick up the building official and planner responsibilities to handle the industrial and commercial businesses plus residential city needs.

City residents would lose much through consolidation, including the concentrated coverage its own police department provides, its trash, recycling and bulky waste pickup services, and the building inspector and planner dedicated to its needs, to name a few.

The present members of the Groton Town Council hold little regard for the city and its special needs as a highly urbanized industrial area. Instead, they want to spend as little as possible in maintaining this section of Groton, while extracting the maximum amount of taxes from it.

As a former elected official, I understand the problems that our communities are experiencing due to a loss of revenue, but it is clear to me that increasing the taxes on the town residents and businesses, while withholding that tax revenue and effectively forcing the city residents and businesses to be taxed twice, is not the answer.

Paul Duarte is a former deputy mayor and councilor in the City of Groton.