Cuccio seeks selectman's seat to fight inefficiency and waste

By Loren Billings

The question I would ask Bill Cuccio, said Bill Cuccio to a reporter in his interview for a three-year seat on the board of selectmen, is why are you bothering to run for the thankless job of selectman when half the people think you're a nut case?"The reason," he said, answering his own question, "is I love my children. I love the town, and I love the state. I think it's the most beautiful place in the world. It's lovely here, and the people are wonderful. I want to keep it that way and not have it turned into what I left in New York.""If I wanted inefficient, wasteful, stupid government," he said, in his characteristically blunt fashion, "I would have stayed in New York. I made more money there. But I wanted more for myself and my children. I can't run away again. I haven't found a better place. I want to stay and keep it that wonderful place that it was when I first came in the '60s."Cuccio, 54, owns and operates the Lobster Trap restaurant. He has been elected once in the past, and that was to the board of selectmen. Many people know him for his comments as a member of the municipal budget committee this year and about five years ago, but he was appointed to the committee to fill vacancies.He is strongly opposed to the selectmen's budget, arguing that the town should be trimming the budget, rather than "increasing it by double digits ad nauseam," which he believes will jeopardize the town's health. He wants government to run more efficiently, and he wants the selectmen to re-examine the services provided by the town.But one service he wants the town to continue to provide is taxpayer supported residential trash disposal. He objects to the proposal to shift costs from property taxpayers to users through the bag/tag system for residential carry-in trash at the landfill. It sounds good, he said, but it has too many unintended consequences, including an increase in roadside trash. "Good Samaritans who pick up trash, as I do, will be penalized because they will be forced to pay for that," he said. In addition, it will exacerbate any already bad situation for those who own private dumpsters, he argues. Half the garbage that's in his dumpster now is not his.He suggests the selectmen, town manager and town engineer should spend some time at the landfill showing people how to recycle.When it comes to wages and health insurance benefits, Cuccio takes a tough stance. The 30-town survey used to set salary levels should only be one factor in determining how much to pay employees, he said. The towns included in the survey are not representative of Conway in terms of income distribution, he said. Conway falls at the bottom of the list on per capita income.Because of that, the town should not be paying its employees at the same level as communities with a per capita income that's double Conway's. The selectmen have to look at what the taxpayers can afford.To get control of escalating health care costs, he suggests "good-sized deductibles," to contain costs and discourage over use of insurance. He also wants to limit the benefit so it's not available to those who are essentially work part-time jobs of about 20 hours a week.There are a lot of people, especially in the school system, who take a job just to get the health insurance for their families, and that Cuccio said, is not fair. It's a $200-a-week subsidy that's paid by their neighbors.Like many small business owners, he said, "I cannot afford anything but asset protection. I cannot afford the health insurance these people have."For Cuccio, fixing the town's problems, however, does not include chucking the SB2 method of town meeting, although he does want to modify it.He didn't say how, but he wants to the default budgets to be something that administrative bodies and department heads are fearful of rather than comfortable with, "so we have some honest budgeting."There is so little difference between the proposed budgets and default budgets, he said, it makes little difference whether the budget is voted up or down. "Unfortunately, SB2 does not provide enough checks on the proclivities of bureaucrats to spend money," Cuccio said.SB2 works well with special and separate articles, which can be voted up or down, he said, and that's because there's a penalty associated with having the articles voted down. Administrators don't want to risk having them voted down, so their budgeting is more realistic.Asked what should happen next at the Whitaker homesite, Cuccio said simply, "play ball. Play a lot of ball, and stop there. Softball, baseball, I love it. We don't need any more expense."Cuccio is not opposed to the widening of Route 16 from Burger King to Barnes Roads. The town has an infrastructure problem that drives people away, he said, and he doesn't see how this would hurt."I would support actions that improve the flow of traffic within our town," he said, adding that he wants to see the bypass built so that traffic that doesn't have to be in town can get around it.Consequently, he's not opposed to the idea of extending the north-south local road through Whitaker woods."A road can be built through a scenic area without destroying that area," he said, adding, "we've got 2002 traffic conditions and 1902 roads."In summary, Cuccio said, "I bring a lot of things to table, including a master's degree in engineering and systems analysis. I served my time in the military and retired as a captain. I've been a lot of places and done a lot of things, but most things I've done is to make things work. I think with my years in small business, my education and background and my personality, if you want to call it that, I can help get things straightened out."