Shrewsbury's Wake-Up Call

To the Editor-

Members of the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Finance Committee and Town Administration traveled to the Statehouse in Boston last April to learn how Chapter 70 Aid is calculated. However, they did not use that information over the past nine months to prepare Shrewsbury residents. Our leaders did not attempt to educate the public about the increase in support that our town would need to provide for FY09 and beyond.

On January 28, in a one-hour session preceding the BOS meeting, Roger Hatch from the MA Dept. of Education (DOE) reviewed the components of the “foundation budget” and the formulas for calculating a town’s required contribution (new for FY07). All of the details for Shrewsbury are available on the DOE web site.

For the Foundation Budget, the same factors and weighting are applied to each and every school district in the Commonwealth. The drivers of the foundation budget are: school enrollment and the specific breakdown by age group and needs. The numbers of English Language Learners, Special Education, Low Income and Vocational students are all factored in.

According to the DOE calculations, Shrewsbury’s foundation budget for FY09 is $49,163,923. This is the minimum funding for our schools to deliver the necessary services to the 5,852 students we are responsible for educating next year.

The two sources of money are: Chapter 70 Aid and the town’s contribution. For each school district, two factors are used to determine the relative wealth of a town: property value and income. The weighting of these two factors is applied in exactly the same way for every school district to calculate the town’s contribution.

It turns out that Shrewsbury is a more affluent town than many long-term residents are willing to admit. Our 2006 property valuation exceeds $5 billion dollars and our 2005 income exceeds $1.2 billion. When these numbers are applied to the DOE formula, our target local contribution toward the foundation budget is $35.4 million, or 71.95%. In recent years we have contributed a much lower percentage and the state is now requiring us to move toward the target.

This move will take place over several years. State Aid will continue to play an important role in meeting our foundation budget. Based on Governor Patrick’s initial budget, Shrewsbury will see an 8.3% increase in Chapter 70 Aid (total $18.8 million) for FY09. At the same time, the town will be required to close the gap with $30.3 million, an increase of 5.2% over last year’s contribution.

The participants in Monday’s meeting seemed perplexed as to how this could happen and how Shrewsbury could come up with the required funds. BOS Vice Chair McCaffrey observed that we could not possibly meet the State’s expectations without either a Proposition 2-1/2 override or dramatically increasing class size. He did not indicate which option he favors. Members of the Finance Committee expressed concern that the municipal departments would have to be harmed in order to meet the requirements for Public Education.

This is the new reality and many towns in our region have already faced up to it. Towns like Shrewsbury that have more resources should, and MUST, pay more towards the education of their students. If they cannot do it simply through property tax, they must find other ways.

If an override is the right answer, the Selectmen, School Committee and Finance Committee must communicate the reasons and actively lobby for its passage, throughout the community. If eliminating non-essential municipal services is the right answer, then sadly, that must be done. Nearby towns have had to cut back on library, ambulance, road maintenance, senior services and other luxuries we enjoy in Shrewsbury.

The DOE did not single out Shrewsbury with their formula – why does anyone think Shrewsbury should be immune from the repercussions of that formula?

It’s unfortunate that nine months of valuable time have passed by when the elected and appointed leaders could have educated our community and developed alternatives for closing the gap.

Johanna Musselman

Budgeting

To the Editor-

For someone who was chomping at the bit for everyone else to produce a budget (that you could scrutinize and pontificate on), you don't even know what you are looking at if you don't know what the different levels of budgeting are! Boy, am I glad that we jumped through hoops for you and your minions! Are you a Town Meeting Member? We've only been using this method for the past 4-5 years. You really should be doing more homework, Mark.

What are YOU gonna do now, Marky-Mark?

James McCaffrey

Maybe this is what he thinks a typical Citizens for a Better Shrewsbury meeting looks like. Me and my minions! --Mark Adler

Could be an Onion Title, but It Isn't

"2008 Citizens Survey Shows Gender Confusion Increase"

In 2005: 15 respondents did not respond to the gender question
In 2007: 24 respondents did not respond to the gender question

Did they forget or didn't want to answer? More people answered the age category. Were they not sure ( a quick check could have confirmed their doubts)? Were they transgendered and needed another category?

On another note: the respondents for the face to face interview portion all had the gender information answered, either they knew their gender or the interviewer helped them.

We have been waiting for months for this data, to help Shrewsbury determine our "Core Values" and figure out what to cut. More to come...

Oh No, You Didn't

Last night the Board of Selectmen finally began to look at the budget. BOS Chairman Moe DePalo was absent and Jimmy McCaffrey was in charge.

The initial budget shows a $4.2million deficit. That's not a big deal, but this year there are even fewer options to close that gap. A state official made a presentation at the meeting last night concerning so-called "State Aid" (a.k.a. "Chapter 70" funds). He said that the Town is not providing our appropriate share of funding for the schools. We are underperforming and therefore the state will start reducing our annual adjustment in Chapter 70 funds.

We knew these problems were coming. In fact, they hit us last year and we all discussed them then. We were told, point-blank, that our state aid was not going to increase as much as it had previously. They told us this LAST YEAR. But last night, we were told that our state aid was not going to keep us going at the current pace; you could have heard a pin drop. It's like the guy who goes shopping on Christmas Eve only to find that the stores are all sold out.

Dan Morgado's been warning us; the state's been warning us; the Fiscal Study Committee (which included Moe and Moira) warned us; prominent members of both Citizens for a Better Shrewsbury and Seniors for Responsible Taxation have been warning us. Everybody in the town seemed to know last year that the structural deficit would require either significant spending cuts, a significant tax increase, or both. But last night, the selectmen seemed surprised that the situation hasn't magically resolved itself while we were sleeping. Turns out we can't pay our bills. Well, at least they know this now. It seems they've caught up with the rest of the class.

OK, calm down. Take a breath. The upside to this is that we're all on the same page now, right?

Right?

(Notice, my gentle readers, that in his budget presentation last week, Dan told the Selectmen that a decision to implement PAYT "must be carefully considered." I don't care if you, my gentle readers, are for it or against it, but the Selectmen can't keep putting this off. They can't just pass the buck and claim that it's in the hands of Town Meeting — because we all know that if they recommend it to Town Meeting, Town Meeting will pass it. Then the Selectmen will take the credit if people like it or shrug their shoulders and blame Town Meeting if it's unpopular.)

As McCaffrey put it, last night, this is the earliest, most comprehensive budget filing and McCaffrey thanked Dan for it, in response to citizens asking for more information earlier.

No, Jimmy, this is the same schedule Dan has followed for years — this is exactly when he puts out his first budget. Weren't you a Selectman last year and weren't you on the Finance Committee for several years before that?

So… Jimmy… what are you going to do now?

"Trash tax": the truth starts to emerge

The town's administration has been urging adoption of a scheme that would require residents to buy special bags for their trash (at a price of $1.50 per bag) in order to promote more recycling and to pay for increased trash disposal costs under the new trash disposal contract which town meeting approved in December 2007. However, we now know that charging for trash bags (or "Pay-As-You-Throw," PAYT) does not promote recycling, nor is PAYT needed to pay for higher trash disposal costs.

More recycling? No.

As mentioned in a Shrewsburied posting of December 17, 2007 [1], Irene Congdon (an official with the state's Department of Environmental Protection [2]) sent an e-mail to the town's Health Department on December 17, 2007. In that e-mail, Ms. Congdon conceded that charging for trash bags drives residents to quit using municipal trash services. Either residents haul their own trash to the local dump (which Shrewsbury doesn't have) or residents hire a private trash collection service. Since trash that's privately disposed of is not included among a town's trash production figures, PAYT programs appear to reduce trash production but actually don't.

Meanwhile, even without charging for trash bags, the town's trash has decreased from 12,297 tons in 2003 to 11,272 tons in 2006 [3] -- and continued to decrease in 2007.

Follow the money!

The finances of the town's trash collection/disposal service are laid bare in a document titled "Exhibit 10.1 Summary of Solid Waste Costs and Revenues," which was distributed at the Selectmen's financial workshop of November 26, 2007.

The town's trash service is funded using a simple formula:

(cost of trash collection by Pellegrino Trucking)
+ (cost of trash disposal by Wheelabrator)
- (revenue from town landfill)
= (payment from property tax revenue).

In fiscal year (FY) 2007, disposal costs were $434,118. The new trash contract raises those costs to $618,470 in the (current) FY 2008, and then to $794,420 in FY 2009 - an increase of 83% in just two years. But after FY 2009, disposal costs will rise at only 2% per year - and we're already halfway through FY 2008 and we've survived the increase. The worst is behind us.

Meanwhile, the new trash contract broadens the range of material that the landfill will accept. Consequently, landfill revenues are projected to rise from $600,000 in FY 2008 to $1.24 million in FY 2010. Increased landfill revenues will thus exceed disposal costs by about $400,000. If the aim of PAYT really is to pay for increased disposal costs, then charging for trash bags is unnecessary.

Since the Health Department projects that a PAYT program will yield $500,000 - $600,000 in new revenues, then increased landfill revenues and PAYT will provide the town with about $1 million in additional revenues.

Money for... what?

The state's Department of Environmental Protection devotes an entire Web page to advice on how to sell PAYT programs to the public.[4] The first bullet point in the section titled "Covering Municipal Costs" on this Web page advises that if a PAYT program isn't to be a tax, it should just cover expenses - not reap a $1 million profit.

In FY 2009, the trash collection contract with Pellegrino Trucking will be renegotiated. Collection costs are projected to rise by 20% - from $1,157,758 in FY 2009 to $1,389,310 in FY 2010 - in order to pay for the increased cost of fuel for the trucks. Thereafter, however, costs will rise by only 3% per year.

Presumably the administration's aim is to use revenues from the town landfill and from trash bag fees to pay the whole cost of the town's trash service, so that the property taxes that are now spent on trash can be spent on something else.


References

[1] "'Trash tax': a hugely inefficient fee," posted on Shrewsburied on December 17, 2007.

[2] Irene M Congdon
Central Mass. Municipal Assistance Coordinator
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Office phone: (978) 597-9191; Cell phone: 413-348-9353
E-mail: irene_congdon1@yahoo.com

[3] Shrewsbury Health Department document titled "Projections - Budget FY '08".

[4] State Department of Environmental Protection: how to "sell" PAYT to the public:
http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/paytfact.htm

Speaking of Budgets, What is the War Costing Us?

The National Priorities Project is a non-profit group out of Northampton who analyzes the federal budget and how our money is spent and how to influence those policy makers. They have some really nifty "toys" to make it easier for people like me to understand. Congressman Jim McGovern does not think we should spend additional funds to support the war.

One of the nifty toys from National Priorites Project gave me the following info. Here is something to make us all think about as Shrewsbury trims our budgets and makes cuts. What if all that money was not spent on the war what could Shrewsbury have done with that money?

Taxpayers in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts will pay $81.7 million for the cost of the Iraq War through 2007. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

• 1,210 Elementary School Teachers
• 284 Affordable Housing Units
• 1,645 Public Safety Officers
  

Taxpayers in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts will pay $27.8 million for proposed Iraq War Spending for FY2008. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

• 412 Elementary School Teachers
• 97 Affordable Housing Units
• 560 Public Safety Officers

Citizens For A Better Shrewsbury Powering Up More Interactive Options for Residents

Grassroots Organization’s Second Anniversary Ushers in Fast-Track Information During Municipal “Budget Season”

As Shrewsbury’s budget season kicks into high gear, Citizens For A Better Shrewsbury (CBS) is launching several initiatives to give residents more interactive access to municipal data, new opportunities to communicate with one another about ongoing issues impacting town services and quality of life, and resources for making Shrewsbury “greener”.

“Citizens For A Better Shrewsbury remains a nonpartisan group of citizens working to present fact-based understanding of major developments and challenges facing our town,” said Chris Juetten, CBS Director of Communication. “Now that we’re celebrating our second anniversary, we’re launching a more comprehensive web site and gearing up to help citizens understand exactly what is happening with the town’s budget planning for next fiscal year.”

CBS’ focus areas over the next months include: analysis of the budget as data become available from the town; analysis of the municipal health insurance plans and costs; creation of a primer on Shrewsbury’s town government, focusing on the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, School Committee, and Town Meeting procedures; and presenting environmental strategies and tips for a Greener Shrewsbury.

To help foster a more informed community, CBS’s redesigned web site (Citizens for a Better Shrewsbury) features interactive surveys and forums; links to community organizations, elected officials, and environmental groups; CBS and municipal events listings; CBS documents, editorials and information about the organization’s monthly television show.

“Anyone can access our resources and join our public forum through the web site,” Judy Vedder, CBS Director of Analysis. “CBS members also have access to a member-only discussion board and can vote on official CBS positions as well as organizational issues.”

Monthly meeting announcements are posted online; meetings are open to the public.

CBS is a coalition of people dedicated to working on a nonpartisan basis to promote understanding and awareness of major developments and challenges facing Shrewsbury. Its primary objectives are to advocate for responsible spending and to foster a better informed voting public. CBS supports no candidates, town departments, or political organizations.

Contact: Chris Juetten, Director of Communication at: juetten@townisp.com

Here comes the BUDGET!

Town Manager Dan Morgado released his proposed Operational Budget for FY09 (which begins July 2008) this morning. You can read it in all its PDF glory here.

The Operational Budget runs the town. It includes salaries, benefits, utilities costs, and other typical expenses. The Capital Budget, on the other hand, includes of high cost items such as vehicles, building repairs, highway, parks and engineering projects. Morgado released his proposed Capital Budget two weeks ago and can be read here. Together, the operational and capital budgets make up almost all of the town's total budget.

As an aside, I really wish Dan would release more documents in Word (.doc) and/or Spreadsheet (.xls) form. I could do a better job of wrapping my brain around the facts and figures. The Portable Document Format (.pdf) form does not reproduce well on a computer monitor and I'm not interested in printing out the 138-page document. Now, I understand that Dan is constrained by the time involved. He's a busy guy and I suppose it's a lot easier just to send out the pdf. Furthermore, he has added other supporting appendicies from the Boston Globe, T&G, Mass. Municipal Assoc., Mass. Taxpayers Assoc., Newsweek, etc. which I guess are best transferred to us via .pdf. And, frankly, I just glad it's released on-line and I don't have to make a photocopy at Town Hall.

It's just that I don't care for .pdf files. I'm picky like that.

This is a lot of information to digest, so give me a while.  I'll try to have something for you all to read next week. Until (and after) then, I welcome your comments.

Moira and Gene are There

Rarely if ever do Finance Committee members or even Selectmen ever show up to watch a School Committee meeting. But this week's meeting broke that tradition. Both Selectman Moira Miller and FinCom Chair Gene Buddenhagen were in the gallery at this week's meeting.

The meeting was the initial presentation of the School Department's requested budget for FY09 (which starts in July '08).

Also seen at the meeting was School Committee candidate John Martin. It's no surprise Martin was there. Candidates often attend meetings of the board for which they're running. It keeps them current with the issues and gives them good campaign exposure. It's just a good common sense idea.

But at the meeting was Selectman candidate John Masiello. Like Moira and Gene's appearance, Masiello's facetime bodes well for better cooperation among the three boards (BOS, SC, FinCom).

Wayne Keevan is running for Selectman

Resident Wayne Keevan is running for Selectman in this year's annual town election.

He has two grown children, and is a supporter of the schools. He did not support the 2007 override. He says "the schools are working hard to control their budget. They have real challenges including special education and health care costs. It's one of the reasons I wanted to get in (to this race)."

About the proposed library expansion project, Keevan says it's a good thing. He says the library is a "fantastic tool for the people of Shrewsbury."

He doesn't like "Pay-As-You-Throw" trash fees. But he admits that it will force us to improve our trash collection and recycling. Keevan thinks we should have been doing a better job anyway.

The annual town election is Tuesday May 6, 2008. Mark your calendars!

Romney wins Shrewsbury Straw Poll

To the editor:-

On Wednesday evening at the Italian American Victory Club in Shrewsbury, a straw vote was taken for all the Republicans running for the office of President of the United Sates. Mitt Romney came out on top with an overwhelming vote. Supporters spoke for their favorite candidates and a joyful evening along with refreshments were offered.

Tom Rooney, Sr.
5 Birch Lane
Shrewsbury

US Rep. James McGovern

Last week I wrote about the Shrewsbury Education Foundation's Dinner to award public school teachers grants for their upcoming innovative and exciting enrichment programs. U.S. Representative James McGovern will be available to speak at our dinner, the tickets are going fast. If you would like to attend this dinner, please contact Clint Mills, clint@gopats.com before this weekend. The cost for this dinner dance will be $50 per person with a portion a tax deductible donation. Just a reminder it will be Friday Jan 25 at 7pm in the Cyprian Keyes Country Club. Come cheer on some of Shrewsbury's best and brightest teachers for thinking outside of the box and improving the lives of our children.

Slow News Day

Today's the first day the Clerk's office is handing out nomination papers for the Annual election.

Go get yours!

---

Meanwhile… What does it take for the T&G to admit they don't have enough news to fill their pages?

If you're like me, and I hope to God you're not, the first thing you do with your morning paper is turn to the "Local" section, just so see what's going on in town.  I know you, dear reader, don't do that because you rely solely on me for your local news.  But because I'm a hard-working man who is dedicated to you my devoted reader (or "readers" depending on the day).  I feel obligated to read the so-called "Telegram & Gazette."

By the way, I've spent a lifetime trying to figure out how they manage to send such a large telegram when I would have worn out my fingers tapping the Morse Code for just the front page stories.

But I'll blog on that repressed childhood memory some other day.

Just so you understand my dedication…  sometimes I read both the Telegram and the Gazette, but today I'm multitasking.

Anyhow… today they ran this pointless story with a big photo on the front of the Local section above the fold.  I'm not even going to dignify it by reprinting the headline.

Why did they run this story?  Am I a better man for having read it?  Couldn't they find just a few more articles about the Patriots?

Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to leave the page blank with the words "add your doodle here" at the bottom?

Mark Murray is running for School Committee

(Yes, I know. I've already told you that Mark Murray's running for School Committee. Still, I've been busy and haven't had a chance to post anything about his campaign. So this is what I do when it's all snowy out and I've finally cleared the driveway.)

At last week's School Committee meeting, Mark Murray announced that he's running for a fourth term on the Shrewsbury School Committee. The election is in May. He has served for twelve years along with Deborah Peeples (who is retiring this year).

Murray states that he does not run "to oppose any one individual or to carry any hidden agenda." Instead he says he wants to "support and enhance the quality, high performing work of our school district."

Murray says he is "fully engaged and still very excited about moving our school district further ahead in achieving excellence" even after a decade on the committee.

In summary, he pledged to "continue to work as hard as ever in this endeavor. … I am passionate about our schools, our kids and our community."

As I've previous written on this blog, Murray and challenger John Martin are running for two seats on the committee.  If no one else steps up, then this is a done deal.

Some of the issues facing the School Committee now and in the near future include:

• anticipated renovations of Sherwood and Beal schools;
• improving academic standards; and
• the annual budget battles with the Board of Selectmen.

John Martin is running again for School Committee

John Martin, who lost the 2006 race for School Committee against Marian Smith, is running again for School Committee in this year's election. Martin is a member of Seniors for Responsible Taxation and hosts a TV show on the Shrewsbury Public Access Channel called "Voice of Reason." (I hope you all watched me on his show when I was a guest back in October!)

In an exclusive on-line interview with me (I emailed him, he emailed back!), Martin stated his goals as:

• "By 2013-2014, all students will reach high standards, at a minimum attaining proficiency or better, in reading/language arts and mathematics."
  
• "All limited English speaking students will become proficient in English and reach higher academic standards."
  
• "All students will be taught by highly qualified teachers."
  
• "All students will graduate from high school."
  
• "To better educate students within a town balanced budget."

In the 2006 race, Martin proposed reducing high school from four years to three.

He has seven children who have attended public schools and one of them is currently at Oak Middle School. He was an officer in the Navy and holds a B.S. degree from the University of Illinois.

So for those of you keeping score at home, there are two School Committee seats up for election this year:

• Incumbent Mark Murray is running for re-election;
• Incumbent Deborah Peeples is retiring; and
• Challenger John Martin is running as a challenger.

Now the way I see it, Mark & John are running unopposed.  It's still very early, though. Nomination papers won't even be available until later this week.  But unless anyone else steps up, this will be the second year in a row in which School Committee races run unchallenged.  Would that mean a mandate for the winners or grievous ennui among the electorate?

As always — you decide!

Presidential endorsements

The presidential primary election is Tuesday, February 5. Who are your state and federal elected officials endorsing?

• U.S. Representative Jim McGovern: Hillary Clinton
• U.S. Senator John Kerry: Barack Obama
• U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy: Barack Obama
• U.S. President George Bush: NO ENDORSEMENT YET
• State Representative Karyn Polito: Mitt Romney
• State Senator Ed Augustus: Hillary Clinton
• State Governor Deval Patrick: Barack Obama

Independent voters ("Unenrolled") may vote in any primary.  The primaries will pretty much be over on February 6, if not sooner.

So far, the three guys I liked all dropped out: Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, and Bill Richardson.

How about you?

School Committee race begins

At this week's School Committee meeting, Mark Murray announced that he's running for re-election in the May 6 Annual Town Election.  At the same meeting, Deborah Peeples, the current chair of the committee, announced her retirement as of the May election.

The race is on.  It's a five-person committee, with two seats up for election this year. Nomination papers will be available in the Clerk's office starting January 16.

Who will fill Peeples's seat? Will Murray win again?

It's up to you.

What does Natick know that Shrewsbury doesn’t?

To the Editor-

I read with great interest the January 8 MetroWest Daily News article about the budget deficits Natick is anticipating. I was intrigued to see how proactive their Town Administrator is at communicating the fiscal reality to Natick’s Board of Selectmen and citizens.

Natick’s annual operating budget is not much bigger than Shrewsbury’s; for FY09 their Town Administrator anticipates that a “level service” budget for general government and a modest 5% increase in the school budget will still result in a gap of $2.78 million. This for a town which expects an increase in Chapter 70 funding AND has a significantly higher commercial tax base (including Natick Collection) compared to Shrewsbury.

Believe it or not, Natick’s Town Administrator, Martha White, has already looked ahead at the budget for FY 2010 and anticipates a $3.55 million deficit. She notes that “the cost to operate existing municipal services simply exceeds available revenues.” This is a theme being heard from town to town, throughout the Commonwealth.

Last spring, Natick formed a Financial Planning Committee to develop consensus regarding the town’s projected revenues and expenditures. This Planning Committee (2 Selectmen, 2 School Committee members, 2 Finance Committee members, the Town Administrator and the Superintendent of Schools) was also charged with developing strategies to respond to projected shortfalls and establishing Financial Management Policies for Natick to use for future financial decision-making.

Wow! That sounds like a business-like, collaborative approach, which Shrewsbury might want to consider.

Fast forward to January 2008. The Financial Planning Committee has recommended a $5.5 to $6.5 million override “in order to preserve Natick’s existing services and infrastructure.” The Town Administrator has concurred that an override is needed for operational and capital spending for the next two budget years.

Yes, it’s only January and the State numbers are not yet known, but Natick’s leaders are getting out in front of the situation.

Natick’s Town Administrator will present to the Board of Selectmen NEXT WEEK a list of cuts that could be necessary if a possible operational override fails. These cuts would be concentrated on departments such as the Council on Aging, libraries, recreation and parks and public works.

Would these potential cuts harm the community of Natick and change the feel of the place that its residents enjoy? I’m guessing they would.

Could these potential cuts impact service levels and job security for some municipal employees? I’m guessing they would.

Might the cuts be necessary anyway, in the absence of new revenue? YES.

I call on Shrewsbury’s leaders to take a more proactive approach to solving our structural deficit, rather than their usual “wait & see” and “hope for the best” strategy, which leaves our citizens out of the discussion and process until it’s TOO LATE.

If Natick can make projections and suggest potential cuts in January, why can’t Shrewsbury?

Johanna B. Musselman
Town Meeting Member, Precinct 8

John Masiello is running for Selectman

John Masiello is running for Selectman in the May 6 Annual Town Election. Masiello is the Vice-president of his family business, Masiello Construction Company. The company is one of many building contractors for the Town of Shrewsbury. He has been a Town meeting member for six years, and served on as a volunteer for the Council on Aging.

Like all candidates, John claims to be running with "no preconceived agenda." He says he generally favors lower taxes while at the same time acknowledges that "you get what you pay for."

His position on some pending issues:

• Library renovation: It's over deigned.  "$14 million" is too much.


• Pay-as-you-throw trash fees: Opposes because it's a regressive tax.


• He refuses to consider a 2-1/2 override at least until the budget and the Cherry Sheet numbers are in.

He joins Chris Rutigliano and Moe DePalo in a (so far) three person race for two seats on the Board.  Nomination papers will be available at the Clerk's Office starting January 16.

Is this the first time Moe has had a competitive race?

Who do you call when the Fire Department building is falling down?

The Town started tearing down the Fire Department headquarters, today. I went with my son and we had a great time watching the demolition. I was alerted to the work by Bill Yeomans, of the Shrewsbury Historical Society, next door to the project. These pictures were taken by him for the Society.


An amazing coincidence that it happened one day after former Fireman Bruce Card announced his retirement from the Board of Selectmen. There's something symbolic there, I just don't know what it is.

We Didn't Have That When I Was in School

At 7pm on Friday, January 25; Cyprian Keyes Country Club in Boylston, the Shrewsbury Education Foundation will hold its Annual Awards Dinner to recognize the teachers who will be creating some new and exciting enrichment programs, which do not fall within the budget of the Shrewsbury School District. These exciting and educational programs will be happening, all thanks to Shrewsbury Education Foundation. Who is SEF?

Shrewsbury Education Foundation (SEF) is a non profit 501(c) (3) who has been around since 1992, this all volunteer group provides money to Shrewsbury public schools in the form of applied grants which are in nature enrichment programs. They do not pay for electricity, teacher salaries or health insurance, they pay for the exciting programs that we wish we had when we were in school! Since their inception this small group has dispensed over $250,000 in grants to these special programs. The funds are raised through two donation programs; their autumn Back to School Backpack campaign and their “In Teachers Honor” campaign, and two dinners/dances, the upcoming Annual Awards Dinner on January 25 and their St. Patrick’s Day Dance. They also receive some funding from corporations and civic groups.

Many other towns and cities across the commonwealth have education foundations such as: Northampton (1991); Falmouth (2004); Natick (1990); Needham (1990); Southborough (1998); Westborough (1997) and it seems that Northampton, Natick, Needham, Southborough and Shrewsbury started around the time they lost their Proposition 2 ½ Overrides.

Listed below are the grants and the grant applicant:
Informational Backpacks by Jill Wensky
Audible Books- Access for All by Michelle Simler
It’s Fun to be a Lively Letter Learner by Noreen Camerato
Coffee Cart by Jessica Prescott
A Time of Transition by Kate Cleary
Interest Based Workshops by Kristin Minio
Science Rocks by Mette Scwartz
Language Through Lyrics by Arlena Boyle
Position Active Inquiry by Kara Frankian
Picture This by Mary Ann Hogan

Please come and support Shrewsbury Education Foundation and our schools on Jan 25. The cost is $50 per person, with a portion being tax deductible. There will be a dinner buffet, dj, cash bar and lively conversation. Send your rsvp to Clint Mills at clint@gopats.com

Bye Bye Bruce

As had been long expected, Selectman Bruce Card announced his retirement tonight.  This provokes three questions:

1. What legacy does he leave?
2. Who will be the Board's anointed successor?
3. Who else will run?!?

The Race is On!  The election is the first Tuesday in May.

Your thoughts are welcome.

(Alternate headlines I'd considered were even worse than the one I eventually used: Bruce Plays Last Card; Card Folds; insert-your-own Card joke).  Sorry.

Value Place hearing continues

The Planning Board continued (postponed) a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow. At the hearing, now scheduled for February 7, the Board will evaluate a proposal to build an extended stay hotel at the NW intersection of Lake St. and Rt. 9. That lot was rezoned from residential to commercial back in 2006.

The hearing has been continued a few times already. I believed that the delays were caused by Value Place's negotiating with abutters some drainage or sewage issues.

I have no personal opinion on the whole matter, but I know plenty of people who do. So I asked for statements from people on both sides of the issue.

Kevin Byrne, Value Place's local legal counsel, wrote to me:

Value Place continues with the input of its engineering staff to resolve issues which are essential to the site plan review process. Unfortunately weather and the holiday season have slowed the process down. We have no expectation that the proponents or opponents are going to lose interest as some suggest. Value Place’s position from the start has been: they viewed the site, were encouraged by the towns goals of encouraging commercial business growth, put together a plan that totally complied with the Zoning Bylaw, offered the town a facility that would yield between real estate taxes and a four percent room tax that inures to the exclusive benefit of the town approximately 100,000 to 120,000 dollars annually plus electric, cable sewer, water, and additional revenue. They have attempted to convince the town that this new concept which received a 360 million dollar line of credit from Goldman Sachs was not a fly-by-night operation and would be geared substantially to the business traveler serving the many folks who travel to the remarkable UMass Medical entities and the expanding biotech community. While they fully expected neighborhood concerns and continue to attempt to address them, they were frankly disappointed with a certain degree of unfair criticism from a sector of the community. They were also perplexed that if this facility is unable to satisfy the site plan mandates of our bylaw, it will be extremely difficult for any successor entity to utilize the site and may well discourage other commercial entities from viewing our community positively. Value Place continues to work strenuously to meet the mandates of the site plan bylaw and expects to be able to continue the public process at the February Planning Board Meeting.

Amy Kotsopoulos, an opponent of the project, emailed this comment to me:

The continuation of the Value Place Hotel public meeting before the Planning Board has been postponed for a third time. It has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 7. I am not a proponent of this establishment setting up business in Shrewsbury for many reasons, most do not fall under the Planning Board's jurisdiction, but fortunately the past public hearings have given the board enough food for fodder.

It is not clear why Value Place has decided to keep pushing off the public hearings. The delay could mean that Value Place needs more time to rectify some of the issues brought up at the last public hearing: traffic problems, easement issues, aesthetic concerns, finding and properly filing the original restrictive covenant. Or maybe this is an MO Value Place employs hoping that if enough time lapses that opponents will lose interest and not become a constant presence at the public meetings, as was suggested by a Florida woman who emailed me. She and her neighbors are also fighting a proposed Value Place and have had meetings canceled and rescheduled.

For those not familiar with Value Place, it's one of the fastest growing hotel chains in the country founded in 2003 by entrepreneur Jack DeBoer, who created brands such as Residence Inn (now owned by Marriott) Summerfield Suites (Hyatt) and Candlewood Suites (Intercontinental). A fact that VP execs like to promote at their presentations. However,  there are few similarities between these establishments and Value Place, instead a stark contrast exists. Do a simple Google search and pick any Value Place located in any city in the United Staes. They all look the same inside and out. Value Place is bare bones, very cheap lodging with no recreational facilities and no 24-hour staff. Security must be a concern because at the last public hearing there was a suggestion that one of the hotel's rooms be reserved for a police officer.

Unfortunately after sitting through VP's folksy, down-home marketing spiel twice now. I don't buy what they are trying to sell. The fact the president of the company believed it was necessary to inform the people at the last public meeting that he was a Christian and married to the same woman for many years and that he knew the franchisee of the proposed Shrewsbury site to be a Christian with the same family values was jaw dropping. I have yet to figure out why this information was important for the public to know.

Value Place is also a new concept in the hospitality business. It classifies itself as a hotel-apartment hybrid. Why a parcel of land rezoned from multifamily use to commercial usage would be considered for substantially more residential use is odd. But then again, VP does not remotely resemble developer Katherine Wellington's original proposal at town meeting. Our town manager made an interesting observation when responding to a question on a recent taping of Ask the Manager. The question was posed by Kristen Oliveri from the Shrewsbury League of Women Voters asking him about his thoughts on a potential gambling establishment proposed for Worcester and the consequences this would have for Shrewsbury. The manager was concerned about the "cultural" unknowns this type of new business for Worcester  would have on surrounding communities. My question is, would the same concerns exist when it comes to a new hotel concept right in your own backyard?

Hope to see many more faces at the February 7 public hearing.

My thanks go to both Mr. Byrne and Ms. Kotsopoulos for participating in this forum!