CLT UPDATE
Thursday, March 15, 2007
CLT is awake, where's everyone else
-- hello-o-o?
More area communities than ever are expected to
consider tax increases this spring to shore up operational budgets
sagging under the weight of escalating pension and insurance costs. But
it remains to be seen whether voters are ready to open their wallets to
maintain town services....
Norman Paley, a member of Scituate Citizens for Limited
Taxation, said the town needs to manage its money better. "When you
run a business, if the money going out exceeds the money coming in, you
have to adjust your budget," he said. His group will lobby against all
of the tax increases.
His suggestion to town leaders is to bring in more commercial growth to
offset expenses. "In Scituate, we have a situation where they don't
encourage commercial growth, so it puts it all on the homeowner," he
said.
The Boston Globe - South Edition
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A spring torrent of tax hike requests
At least 8 towns plan override votes
Anxious parents and kids across Massachusetts are
watching suburban Stoneham to see whether its plan to ditch school
sports marks a budget-slashing trend that decimates team athletics.
“I think you’re going to see this year as the worst yet in cuts,” said
Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School
Superintendents.
Scott said budgets are so tight schools are being forced to pit sports
against academics; class sizes against sports fees.
“This is a harbinger for losing programs,” he said of Stoneham’s drastic
plan. “Cutting sports is like sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Sports gets
attention.”
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
All eyes on Stoneham sports cuts:
Bay State anxieties high with athletics in peril
"Together, we can"? How about this . . .
The Salem News
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Patrick needs to bring public salaries,
benefits back down to earth
By Joseph F. Doyle
Despite campaign promises to lower property taxes,
Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget is forcing dozens of communities to consider
hiking taxes or slashing basic services to balance budgets starved of
critical state assistance.
In the weeks after Patrick filed his $26.7 billion budget, more than 30
communities have indicated they are facing budget deficits that could
cause them to hit up taxpayers to pay for police, schools and other key
services.
Some communities are considering drastic alternatives, such as
Stoneham’s fear it may be forced to cut school sports altogether.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Slash and burned: Outcry over gov’s cuts
Most voters have heard of Washington Monument Syndrome.
During a federal budget crisis -- real or otherwise -- the first thing to go is
that which will make a splash. Hence, shutting the Washington Monument to
tourists has become a symbol of government’s efforts to manipulate public
opinion.
Stoneham town officials have learned the lesson well.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Beware pols creating panic
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
The voters get what they vote for, and in the case of
Deval Patrick they certainly did, as did we all. Many of us for a
moment didn't buy into his "promise" to "reduce the property tax burden."
We'd bought into more than enough political "promises." But, unfortunately,
the moonbat majority did, and we're stuck with him for the next 46
months and counting down. The question is, can we -- the
commonwealth's productive natives -- last that long, to get through his
ill-fated administration?
How many more must emigrate? How many U.S.
congressional seats must the state lose before The Establishment
recognizes the error of its ways?
How did we get here?
A longtime friend from years ago, decades actually,
just reminded me.
Atty. John Gosbee and I go way back. We both fought
our respective state mandatory seat belt laws decades ago. When I
ran Freedom First I used to travel to other states to testify before
their legislatures. One of my only demands then was that instead
of a hotel/motel, I be put
up for the night(s) there in a supporter's home, so I could absorb the
culture before confronting their elected representatives assembled.
I spent many an evening learning how politics worked in their states, as
it doesn't in ours. I used to ask them "Really, it works like that
here?" When I told them about Massachusetts, they'd ask with equal
incredulity, "Wow, it works like that there?" Sitting
across the room from each other, we were comfortably miles apart.
I learned to adapt. Actually it was easy -- it was as it was
supposed to be from our high school civics classes, imagine that.
Right now, John is fighting a legislative pay raise
in North Dakota. Sit back before you go any further.
The North Dakota Legislature is in session but 80
days a session (over 2 years). A session lasts for two years with
a termination certain -- they meet every other year. Legislators make
$14,000 over that 2-year session -- but they pull in $13,206/year in health
insurance also! They're looking for an "interim" benefits raise on
top to the $15,680 salary they're now seeking. Like everyone,
their health insurance cost is escalating. John is going for a voter
referral -- what we here in Massachusetts used to call a repeal
referendum, until it became, practically, useless.
Massachusetts is so much different than other states. It
is so hard to compare us to any of them any longer. Were it
not for my earlier travels I would not appreciate, even recognize this. "Really,
it works like that here?"
We are so much removed from mainstream America.
We must begin to not only understand this, but
internalize it. We have a cultural problem. We are
out-of-touch with the rest of the nation.
When we relate some of numerous surveys
that indicate Massachusetts is the 4th highest per capita state in the union,
what does that mean?
How did we get here -- and more importantly, why
did we?
And why must that be somehow, acceptable?
My advice to my old friend John today was, "Nip it in
the bud, before you can't nip it at all and it owns you, like it's
trying to do here. Like rot in the shade, it will only spread."
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Chip Ford |
The Boston Globe - South Edition
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A spring torrent of tax hike requests
At least 8 towns plan override votes
By Christine Wallgren
More area communities than ever are expected to consider tax increases
this spring to shore up operational budgets sagging under the weight of
escalating pension and insurance costs. But it remains to be seen
whether voters are ready to open their wallets to maintain town
services.
At least eight towns south of Boston have already indicated they will
try to get support for taxes hikes in the coming months.
John Robertson, deputy legislative director of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association, said his organization is tracking 27 communities
statewide.
"And I think that number is going to be significantly higher," Robertson
said. "Communities really need these overrides" of Proposition 2½ .
"Things are going to be really tough if they don't pass." Proposition 2½
is the state's tax-limiting law.
Randolph , Scituate, and Walpole have ballot votes on tax increases
slated for the end of this month. East Bridgewater will follow on April
7, and Marshfield on April 28. And Kingston officials will ask annual
Town Meeting voters for approval of a $1.1 million tax increase on April
9 if it is supported, a special election will be scheduled.
Meanwhile, Middleborough selectmen are expected to float a $4 million
request at a May 7 Town Meeting and May 19 election. In Mansfield,
school administrators are discussing with selectmen a request for a $2.9
million tax increase. It would first be placed before voters at the May
15 annual Town Meeting; if approved, it would be up to selectmen to
schedule the necessary ballot vote.
Last year, nine communities in this area considered a total of 12 tax
hikes to cover yearly operational costs. The success rate was 25
percent: Three of the proposed measures passed and nine failed.
This year started off the same way. Canton was the first to try, in
January, for a $3.9 million tax increase, and it failed.
Randolph selectmen, undaunted by last year's defeat of a $3.3 million
override in their town, will return on March 27 with a ballot question
for $4.1 million. A portion of the money would return the town's library
to a schedule deemed acceptable by the state, so the library could
regain its accreditation. The override would also restore staff at the
schools and the police, fire, and public works departments that were
lost over the past five years .
Selectmen chairman Richard Wells said it is a matter of letting voters
know what's at stake this year. "If people come out and vote, the
override will pass," Wells said.
Just about every community with an override proposal and a pro-override
group promoting the requests, has an equally zealous anti-override
committee at work. While neither side may agree on much else, both
realize victory will depend on one thing: getting their supporters to
vote.
In Scituate, voters on March 31 will consider two permanent tax
increases for operational expenses along with three temporary tax
increases, called debt exclusions, totaling about $6 million to cover
construction of a new senior center and fire station, and the purchase
of furniture and supplies for the schools. The ballot will be
menu-style, so voters can decide which, if any, items they will support.
The two permanent tax increases on the ballot include a $2.7 million
request to fund the schools and other town departments, and a $600,000
request to cover staffing at the new fire station.
Karen Connolly, chairwoman of the pro-override group Yes for Scituate,
said volunteers have been working since last summer to promote all five
proposals.
"We think all these things need to be done, and we think now is the
time," Connolly said. "We plan to be very aggressive at getting the vote
out."
Norman Paley, a member of Scituate Citizens for Limited
Taxation, said the town needs to manage its money better. "When you
run a business, if the money going out exceeds the money coming in, you
have to adjust your budget," he said. His group will lobby against all
of the tax increases.
His suggestion to town leaders is to bring in more commercial growth to
offset expenses. "In Scituate, we have a situation where they don't
encourage commercial growth, so it puts it all on the homeowner," he
said.
In Walpole, voters will consider a $3.9 million tax increase on March 31
to cover expected shortfalls in next year's budget and to restore
staffing in several departments lost to past budget cuts, according to
Town Administrator Michael Boynton. A pro-override group called Walpole
In the News is rallying support for the package.
Meanwhile, officials in East Bridgewater are pursuing a new option
established by the Legislature in 2003 that allows communities to start
stabilization funds for a variety of purposes and to fund them through
tax increases. Voters at the April 7 annual election will consider a
$1.25 million tax increase to supply money for the town's newly created
Capital Projects Stabilization Fund. The yearly cash infusion will cover
loans for $51 million in planned capital projects, including new water
treatment plants, a senior center, a sewer network for the municipal
buildings, a public works building, some school building projects, and
fire station repairs.
Not everyone is behind a permanent override to cover capital projects.
East Bridgewater resident James Weidenfeller said he prefers debt
exclusions -- the temporary tax increases -- for such projects.
"The town has shown its support for debt exclusions in the past," he
said. "They come up with a plan, like the senior center, and we fund it.
That's how it's been done before, and that's how it should be done."
Marshfield is taking the so-called pyramid approach. Voters can choose
to fund a $2 million increase or opt for a $4 million request that would
be phased in over three years.
Joseph Shrand, who heads the pro-override group Marshfield Matters ,
said the three-year plan will help stabilize the town's finances,
restoring firefighters , police officers, public works positions, and
school staff It will also prevent the even deeper cuts that will be
necessary if neither override passes.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
All eyes on Stoneham sports cuts:
Bay State anxieties high with athletics in peril
By Joe Dwinell and Jaclyn Fitzgerald
Anxious parents and kids across Massachusetts are watching suburban
Stoneham to see whether its plan to ditch school sports marks a
budget-slashing trend that decimates team athletics.
“I think you’re going to see this year as the worst yet in cuts,” said
Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School
Superintendents.
Scott said budgets are so tight schools are being forced to pit sports
against academics; class sizes against sports fees.
“This is a harbinger for losing programs,” he said of Stoneham’s drastic
plan. “Cutting sports is like sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Sports gets
attention.”
Stoneham officials, $3 million in the red townwide, say it may be the
end of the line for sports, arts and more.
“It just eats me up,” said Kristin Russo, Stoneham’s school board
chairwoman.
“Nobody’s happy about it,” the mother of three said, saying the teams
will be bounced from the Middlesex League if a hoped-for Proposition 2½ tax override fails. Selectmen worked late last night before a packed
crowd deciding when, or if, to put the matter before voters. In the end,
the Board of Selectmen decided to postpone a decision on holding an
override vote until a March 27 meeting.
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray was warned yesterday by other municipal leaders
that schools are still feeling the budget crunch, even with the
administration’s recent $200 million boost.
Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan said his city has lost $18 million in
school aid since 2003, despite its status as the commonwealth’s poorest
city. Added funds, he said, are being eaten up by charter schools.
“We certainly would have liked to see more dollars go to urban school
systems,” Sullivan said.
The Massachusetts Municipal Association reports 30 cities and towns are
now confronting overrides or other tax-hiking votes,with more looming.
“There’s a greater level of financial stress,” the MMA’s John Robertson
told the Herald.
Something has to give, school officials say, but what to lose is not an
easy choice.
“I don’t want them to cut sports. I don’t want them to cut anything,”
said Stoneham High Principal Tom Ryan.
“It’s basically not high school without the sports,” said senior Katie
Galindo, 17.
“I think I’d move to Burlington,” said Richie Avarian, a 16-year-old on
the football team.“Kids around the school have a little (petition) and
all the kids playing sports have to sign it. There’s no other way to put
it: I love playing football.”
Junio Jerard Harrington, 16, said, “Besides eating, it’s the second most
important thing.”
There is hope, though. Winthrop, which almost cut high school sports two
years ago, has rebounded thanks to the Viking Pride, a parent
fund-raising juggernaut backing teams.
The Salem News
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Patrick needs to bring public salaries,
benefits back down to earth
By Joseph F. Doyle
"Together, we can"? How about this:
-
Together, we can watch former Springfield state Rep. Christopher
Asselin get a jail sentence that should put him back on the street in
June, for conspiring to steal millions of taxpayer dollars in a public
housing fraud.
-
Together, we can observe former Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran skate on a felony and waltz into a job at WRKO as a radio talk
show host. And while the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council opted to
give him his walking papers, he still receives the full, seven-figure
value of his contract with that organization.
It's all about the money. We've been told we need $1.3 billion dollars,
minimum, to close the gap in the state budget. Yet greed continues to
reign in the corridors of power here.
I would like to think that Deval Patrick's declaration, "Together, we
can," signified a reclamation of the American Dream, which is rapidly
disappearing. The middle class is heading for extinction; financially,
everything seems to be for the benefit of elected and appointed
officials and those who control them.
Here's my suggestion: Together, we replace the fantasy world in which
many of our elected and appointed officials dwell with the financial
reality that working class people face every day.
Take our highly paid state and local police officers. The elimination of
the Quinn Bill, an almost 40-year-old anachronism, would save us at
least $750 million immediately. Those who have to come to their jobs in
the private sector educationally qualified are often saddled with
student loans; so why should individuals who seek to become police
officers be allowed to forego their financial responsibilities?
Together, we can consider having the state take over the pension
obligations for all the elected and appointed officials in the 351
cities and towns of Massachusetts. Instead of multiple retirement
boards, one state agency should handle it all, saving millions in
administrative costs.
Additionally, no state pensions should be collected before age 65, and
we should get rid of all ridiculous, Billy Bulger-type pension packages,
substituting realistic figures -- like what one could expect to receive
after working in the private sector. A guaranteed 80 percent of one's
pay, along with medical insurance, makes for a dreamy pension package --
but most working class people won't see anything like that.
So one would think our greedless public servants would be all for it.
Our elected and appointed officials were once known as public servants.
Today their wages and benefits make them our masters.
Restoring the balance between compensation in the public and private
sector would allow us to eliminate all tolls, roll back the personal
income tax to 5 percent, cut back or eliminate many fees and eliminate
all public education surcharges, and at the same time expand educational
opportunities for our children. We can improve the quality of life in
Massachusetts, keep our ethical and moral compasses intact (please, no
more talk of casino revenues), and run a multibillion-dollar surplus
statewide.
Hey, Governor Patrick, can we, together, do that?
Joseph F. Doyle, an occasional contributor to Viewpoint, is a
freelance writer who lives in Salem.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Slash and burned: Outcry over gov’s cuts
By Casey Ross
Despite campaign promises to lower property taxes, Gov. Deval Patrick’s
budget is forcing dozens of communities to consider hiking taxes or
slashing basic services to balance budgets starved of critical state
assistance.
In the weeks after Patrick filed his $26.7 billion budget, more than 30
communities have indicated they are facing budget deficits that could
cause them to hit up taxpayers to pay for police, schools and other key
services.
Some communities are considering drastic alternatives, such as
Stoneham’s fear it may be forced to cut school sports altogether.
“There is a great deal of fiscal distress throughout the commonwealth,”
said Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association.
In Canton, where a $3.95 million override failed two months ago, school
cuts are coming.
“The sad truth is the town has spoken,” said Canton school
Superintendent Irene Kaplan, who added that the town’s $245 per student,
per sport athletic fee may jump higher, or sports could even be slashed.
“We’re behind the eight ball,” Kaplan told the Herald.
In Saugus, school Superintendent Keith Manville said if the April $5.2
million override fails, he’ll be forced into the same corner.
“Wow. We would have to cut,” Manville said.
The financial problems fly in the face of Patrick’s lofty campaign
promises to end the fiscal shell game on Beacon Hill and start providing
more reliable help to cities and towns. Patrick has said his efforts to
follow through on the promise this year were blocked by a $1.2 billion
budget deficit that was hidden from him during the campaign.
The governor also said he provided a significant boost in education aid
to communities and filed a bill to help avert local tax hikes by cutting
health insurance costs and allowing communities to tax meals and
property owned by telecommunications companies.
“The governor understands the fiscal pressures cities and towns are
under, which is why he has proposed legislation to give communities the
tools they need to lessen their reliance on property taxes,” Patrick
spokeswoman Cyndi Roy said.
However, critics in the Legislature say Patrick made the decision to
fund new initiatives on education and public health instead of keeping a
commitment to increase local school aid by $255 million this year,
instead of the $200 million included in his budget.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 15, 2007
A Boston Herald editorial
Beware pols creating panic
Most voters have heard of Washington Monument Syndrome. During a federal
budget crisis -- real or otherwise -- the first thing to go is that
which will make a splash. Hence, shutting the Washington Monument to
tourists has become a symbol of government’s efforts to manipulate
public opinion.
Stoneham town officials have learned the lesson well. A budget currently
before the Board of Selectmen proposes to eliminate high school sports
along with arts programs and cut library hours. Now would anyone be
surprised that the town is also considering a Proposition 2½ overrride?
Selectmen have postponed a decision on that until later this month. Of
course, a number of union contracts are still pending. The governor’s
budget has proposed $200 million more in local aid and a host of
money-saving proposals for communities, such as getting town workers
into the state’s health insurance system.
But by all means, let’s not interject common sense. Nope, let the panic
begin now.
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