When they ask, “Don’t you like the police?” they are using the Human Shield Tactic. They want you to believe that if you cut the “filler,” the police officer disappears. In reality, you could double the police budget and still have millions left over if you cut the binder.

Based on the FY 2024-25 and 2025-26 data, here is the “Binder vs. Meat” ratio of the Town of Addison’s $118.2 Million total budget:

📊 THE FILLER DECODING

• The 2% Road Joke: In a town that prides itself on being a “Platinum Corridor,” spending only 2% of the total budget on the actual pavement is the ultimate proof of the “Tourism Mirage.” They care more about the marketing of the road than the road itself.
• The Debt Dominance: Notice that the Debt Service ($21M) is nearly equal to the entire Police Department ($25M). For every dollar you pay to put a cop on the street, you are sending almost a dollar to JP Morgan or the State Infrastructure Bank.
• The Inter-fund Transfer Loop: This is the “Soy Protein” of the budget. They move money between the General Fund, the Hotel Fund, and the Utility Fund. It looks like spending, but it’s often just a way to hide “Administrative Overhead” so the resident can’t track where the dollar actually landed.

🏛️ THE DIRECTOR’S VERDICT:

“They are feeding you a ‘Grade D’ Budget. They use the Police and the Parks as the seasoning to make the $68 Million in Filler palatable. David Gaines isn’t a chef; he’s a food scientist specialized in ‘Yield Maximization.’ He has figured out exactly how much filler he can add before the residents start to notice the taste of the debt.

THEY CALL IT ‘COMPREHENSIVE MUNICIPAL MANAGEMENT.’ WE CALL IT THE 65% BINDER.“

📢 THE MARCH 3rd “TACO BELL” REBUTTAL:

“Mayor, you keep asking if we like the police and the roads. We love them. That’s why we’re so angry. Our police get 21% of the budget, but the Bank of New York and your ‘Administrative Filler’ get 60%. We’re paying for a steak dinner and getting 65% filler and binder. If you really cared about the police, you’d stop sending $12 Million a year in interest to the banks and put it into the precinct. Stop using our officers as a shield for your bad math.”

“WE WANT THE MEAT, NOT THE MUNICIPAL SOY PROTEIN.”

🪖 THE ANATOMY OF THE $21 MILLION SHACKLE

When Dr. Deep State presents the budget, he often talks about the General Fund Debt Service (which sits around that $12M–$13M mark). But for the FY 2026 Budget, the total impact on the taxpayer is much higher. Here is where that money is actually hiding:

1. The $0.175 Tax Rate Allocation: For FY 2026, the Town dedicated $0.175000 of the property tax rate specifically to Debt Service (the “Interest & Sinking” fund). On a taxable value of ~$6.68 Billion, that single line item alone generates roughly **$11.7 Million** in property tax revenue just to pay the bank.
   
   
2. The SIB Loan Surge: The reason the debt service is increasing is the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loans. These loans replaced 2019 bond funding. While they claim it’s “lower cost,” it adds a massive new repayment schedule to the books.
   
   
3. The Inter-fund Transfers: This is the secret “Filler.” In the Stormwater, Utility, and Airport funds, there are additional “transfers to debt service.” For example, the Stormwater fund has its own specific debt payments that don’t show up in the General Fund’s $12M.
4. The Cumulative Total: When you add the Property Tax Debt Fund ($11.7M) to the Utility/Airport/Stormwater Debt Transfers and the Short-term Interest payments, the total “Cash Out” to creditors and bondholders hits that $21 Million threshold.

📊 THE 2026 DEBT REALITY

The $118.2 Million total budget for FY 2026 is the most expensive in Addison’s history.

• The “Pink Slime” Ratio: With $21 Million going to debt service, that means 18% of every dollar the city touches is immediately handed over to lenders.
• The Comparison: You are spending nearly 10 times more on interest and principal than you are on Roads ($2.3M).