The Board of Selectmen began their Financial Workshop for FY11 on October 26 with a sobering presentation by the Town Manager. Shrewsbury’s growth has been slowing for the past five years. This means little/no increase in excise tax, water revenues, property tax from new homes, etc.. Moreover, the State’s dire financial situation means that the State Aid on which we have made ourselves dependent has also been cut.
The Town Manager walked the Board through a series of charts showing trends, with little positive news. One thing that “saved” the town's budget last year was the very favorable negotiations with the teacher’s union. Since it was only a one-year contract, another round of negotiations will begin again soon. Federal stimulus money, which mitigated layoffs for this current fiscal year, will NOT be available again for FY11. The stimulus money, which was to be used over two years, was largely consumed in one year, thanks to decisions at the State level.
Even the Town Manager’s conservative estimates for Local Receipts in FY09 were not achieved. Shrewsbury missed its estimates for motor vehicle excise tax, for water receipts and for investment income. For the first time in anyone’s memory, this important segment of revenues showed a deficit, totaling $142,000.
There is no optimism that Shrewsbury’s revenue sources will recover for FY11, except for the legally allowed 2-1/2% increase in property taxes. Therefore, serious cost-cutting will be required and service levels WILL suffer.
The Town Manager posed five questions for the BOS to consider as the budget process continues:
1. What are those services and programs that the Board places the highest priority? Which are the lowest?
2. What is the minimal amount of staffing that the Board wishes to see in the Police and Fire Departments?
3. How will the needs of the School Department be met relative to the needs of the municipal departments?
4. Will the fees charged by the Board be increased? What are the Board’s instructions on the matter of fees in general?
5. What changes should be made in the budget development process?
In the past, the Board of Selectmen has attempted to wrestle with the critical discussion of priorities, but they are incapable of making the politically challenging decision of stopping any municipal services or closing any departments, to preserve items of higher priority. Instead, the approach used each year is to cut EVERYTHING a little and then cut a little bit more.
It’s time for the Selectmen to look at every service and task across the board. The Selectmen must ask rigorous questions to segregate what our town government “must do” from what we “want to do” (or have historically done) for the residents of Shrewsbury. Services that are not legally required and services that do not serve a broad segment of the community should be subject to significant cutting or elimination.
Another option to preserve a “nice to have” service is to begin charging a fee or increase the fees which are already being charged. Fees have been used extensively on the “school side” of the budget to preserve jobs and core program elements; why hasn't the “municipal side” pursued fees more vigorously?
I'd like to see the Board of Selectmen lay out different scenarios for FY11 revenue projections (level revenue, 10% reduction in revenue, 20% reduction in revenue) and then articulate the resulting cuts in programs & services for each scenario. Armed with this information, voters would be able to make the appropriate trade-off between a loss in valued services and an increase in their property tax bill via an operational override.
Unfortunately, the Board already took the operational override option off the table for FY11, well before details were available regarding projected costs or revenues for the next fiscal year. What’s wrong with giving every voter a chance to say “YES, I’m willing to pay a little more in property taxes to preserve the town services that are important to me?”
Stay tuned as these discussions continue on November 9 and November 23.
Sunday, November 1
Shrewsbury's Fiscal Woes Continue
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Subscribe to ShrewsBuried
64 comments:
I still do not believe tht the BOS has the intestinal fortitude to make the hard choices that will be required in light of the current financial situation the town finds itself facing. I hope that the Finance Committe will hold their feet to the fire and demand that they stop the "nip a bit here and shave off some there" philosophy that gets us nowhere. I'm sure there will be people that will pooh pooh the negative predictions believing that Dan Morgado can work his magic but this may be the year that people really begin to see exactly what the fiscal policies of the past few years yield.
3 to 4 years ago I believe the BOS had invited the public to pitch their case in favor/against an override and at that time one of the first speakers had a speech related to putting a credit card machine on fire trucks. At that time the 'general feel' of the room was that the speech was a bit sensational. Here we are 3 to 4 years later and we are still back to square one. we are getting what we have asked for, an a la carte society. Go ahead, put the credit card machine on the fire truck. Credit card machine on police cruisers, charge dmission to town hall, etc.
Rather than continue to put our head in the sand lets give the people what they want.
Are we just going to see more hand ringing and lack of ability to set priorities? This years budget woes have been looming on the horizon for years. The nibbling around the edges has not gotten the town anywhere. The BOS have to make tough decisions. I don't envy them, but they were elected to do this job. Time to stop pandering for votes and do what is right for all the citizens, not just their own personal voting block. What are the priorities? Then start funding those and the rest have to fall by the wayside. They need to look at reducing services that are nice to have or not needed at this point in time.
Take a look at article 1 for tomorrow night's STM. Dan wants to use $350,000 that was approved by TM for the purchase of a very large salt shed. AT TM an emotional discussion arose over this issue where TM was told that the expendature was not based on financial pay-back, but on SAFETY.
Now the $350,000 is not going to be used for a salt shed, a capital expenditure, but instead they want to use it to pay for operational expenses on the municipal side.
The results
1. No salt shed
2. unsafe roads - if you bought the argument
3. $350,00 snuck into the municipal operational budget.
Seems like if we really needed that salt
Shed, if there was really a pressing safety
concern, that it would have been built over
the summer and would be filled with salt
and ready now for the first snow fall!
Does anyone think that Dan was ACTUALLY
going to build the shed? Or was he just
throwing a bone to poor John Knipe who
is covering more miles of roads with a
meager staff and ancient equipment?
The BOS says Public Safety is one of their
top concerns -- what do you think?
I can't imagine cutting fire and police. They have skeleton crews NOW.
The thought of going forward with Sherwood school at all or the library is just plain stupid at this point in time. I don't understand why we just can't make due until things level out with the economy.
This is a problem with the budget regardless of Sherwood and Library. Why can't we get our own house in order? Why is the annual budget out-of-whack every single year???
Capital budgets are different from operational budgets. It isn't often (as in the case of the salt shed) that monies can be pulled from one to the other. Salt sheds don't have massive reimbursement from the state. Schools and libraries do. We can never afford our capital improvements -- which is why we're now in a desparate situation on so many of them. Sometimes we can't afford NOT to spend the money.
The salt shed stuff is being blown out of proportion. The arguement made in favor of building a larger shed was that should we have a REALLY BAD winter where every municipality is scrambling to resupply salt after a large storm, Shrewsbury would be in a more advantageous position because they could stock a larger supply of salt thus making us potentially safer than a town that runs low or even out of salt. We are not currently operating in an unsafe mode nor will we be without a new salt shed this year. We would just be able to plan and manage our salt supply better, maybe even in a more financially advantageous way. We should all be glad that Dan had the foresight to hold off on building the shed during the summer months as he saw that there would clearly be another cut in our own revenues as well as funds coming from the state. The budget is not being padded wiht a windfall from unused salt shed monies, we're short on predicted revenue from excise taxes and other town revenue sources that Dan does his best to estimate each year when we set the budget in May. Even the cash for clunkers program didn't bump the town up with extra excise taxes on new cars.
All these years of hoping for the best an nipping the budget here and there have put us in a situation that we are getting the town we deserve for not properly funding our budget and being too dependant on state aid year after year. Layoffs will be coming, departments will and probably should close as someone finally decides what is necessary and what is nice to have.
I don't think the salt shed is being blown out of proportion.
This is clearly a switch in funding plans. Dan has caution Town meeting members for years not to use capital funds for operational uses, now that is what he is doing.
He should finally cut some of the town departments that are not needed.
It will be interesting to see if this fact is brought up tomorrow night. This is a good ol boy switcher-roo!
Please stop criticizing Dan Morgado. At last spring's town meeting, he said he would not buy the salt shed until late in the fiscal year just in case the needed revenues didn't materialize. So, no one should be surprised.
The town's 'priorities' for next year will be the same as every year: keep all town services going the best we can. There will be no elimination of vital services like Police or Fire. There will also be no elimination of nice-to-have services like Meals on Wheels and the ambulance. The idea of selecting services to eliminate is not palatable for the BOS, the voters want them all.
Next year will be a very lean year. How do we make ends meet? An override is out, not just because the BOS took it off the table, but because voters don't want to pay more taxes. Since revenue can't be increased, cost must de decreased.
Employee salaries and benefits make up the lion's share of the cost. That is where the savings must come from. The biggest group of employees is the school department. Despite the fact that Shrewsbury's per student spending is low, it must go even lower. As the unions of many industries have accepted pay reductions, Shrewsbury educators and other town employees should too.
To remove all doubt, there should be a question asked at the next election: Should the town's wages and benefits more closely match those in the private sector for the same job?
I think it is interesting that the 8:55 PM poster suggests that teachers should agree to lower wages or no increase in their next contract? Why, when they have done that already in the past two negotiations? Last year, the firemen would not budge off a 4% increase even knowing that some of their "brothers" would be laid off? I think the teachers really stepped up to the plate in a big way last year, while the non-union school administrators took no pay increase. They should be applauded for this. We should pay our teachers fairly, commensurate with their skills, experience and the excellent results our schools continue to get. A town like Shrewsbury does have the means to step up and pay a tax increase in order to preserve the things we value. And yet there is a sub-set of people who will always vote NO and will never see the merits of any tax increase for anything. What a shame that these cheapskates seem to be setting the agenda!
Ambulance and meals for people who other wise might not get a meal are nice to haves?!
No wonder we're in this mess
Here's an idea. Forget the salt period. I think it's dangerous to the earth, animals and people. When we have a major storm, for goodness sake STAY OFF the roads. It might do us all good to take a few snow days! Then just plow....NO SALT needed.
In the case of major ice like last winter..I still think taking time off would be a good and safer thing to do.
Yes, a 24/7 ambulance is a "nice to have" for a town that is too cheap to fund it's services. For goodness sake, we are only 20 minutes away from a major medical center. That's probably better than 75% of Americans. Why don't we try a menu override with a line for the cost of the ambulance service. If people value it and are willing to pay for it, they can vote YES.
By the way it is a "red herring" that Meals on Wheels funding is at risk. It's the question of whether the town budget should continue to pay the drivers. If we
had the funds, it would be great, but we don't. We've got to get creative and find another solution. How about asking all our wonderful church communities to step up and share in this outreach opportunity? I'm pretty sure that 30 years ago we
were not paying meals on Wheels drivers.
Paying for Meals on Wheels drivers when we can utlize volunteers or state-paid drivers IS a nice-to-have. That said, it's a miniscule amount and in my mind, flung out there just to argue and obfuscate the real issues. Time to move on to REAL solutions!!
Since we are talking about fiscal problems, what about the replacement for Beal School. This school is four or five decades older than either Sherwod school or the "new" library, yet no one has mentioned the replacement for this ancient building. That will probably be urgently requested next year.
Beal is actually holding up very well. They knew how to build decent buildings 100 years ago! There are other town buildings in line ahead of Beal!
Beal??? There has not been any mention of Beal needing to be replaced. You appear to be implying that Sherwood was sprung on the voters. This building has been on the horizon for several years. Stay to the facts instead of putting out misleading information that is baseless.
We need to tell the fire fighters and police it is time for them to step up to the plate and not demand pay increases and perks like the Quinn bill. This would save the town money and not require as many reductions.
You are afraid to hold these "employees" accountable becasue you are afraid. It is time that all the unions did what was best for the town and not keep going back to the same wells.
does anyone think its time for the residents of shrewsbury to step up to the plate and support an override. every year we ask more and more to do with less and less. at some point there will be no more less to do with
Teachers continue to work with fewer and fewer resources. Aides are stretched between several classes, and there's one librarian for all the elementary schools! Time for some other departments to take a hit.
There are over 700 people in the school department, compared with less than 70 in the Fire and Police depts combined. The gravy train must stop for everyone, but the big savings will come from the school dept.
The year before last, 80% of the teachers averaged 7.9% raises. Last year, the teachers got their raises again, but because the raises didn't start at the beginning of the year, they 'only' got about 3% for the year.
The reason the budget is so far out of wack is because municipal employees get raises and benefits that far exceed what their private sector counterparts get. This is a problem for Shrewsbury and every other town.
It is unfair of the unions to demand such excessive compensation. Worse, they have the nerve to ask the town to pass an override so they can continue at the public trough.
Enough is enough.
To the poster who states "police and fire" need to step up to the plate and not "demand" pay increases like the Quinn bill. So it's ok to pay a teacher accordingly for the education they receive but not a police officer. (Fire fighters don't get the Quinn Bill) Why don't they align the police and fire with the same pay scale as the teachers? That seems fair to me. But you won't do that for whatever reason because many people, unfortunatly the majority, do not respect police and fire. The town has constantly asked these services to do more with less and they continue to "step up to the plate." At 2 in the morning when someone is looking in your windows, breaking into your cars, or you have a medical emergency the blue and red lights that show up at your door are dedicated RESIDENTS of your town who put their lives on the line for YOUR town. And town meeting voted for the Quinn Bill for the police officers, so they must have seen the value in it when they did it.
A recent article in the Worcester Telegram shed light on the money maker the Quinn Bill was for local colleges like Anna Marie. The course work was a joke. Some courses did not even require a student to show up to class. There was very little oversight of these programs. I don't believe a police officer needs a masters degree to perform his/her duties, unlike teachers. I also believe that there should be physical fitness standards set and adhered to by our police and fire. This I believe is necessary for them to do their jobs. These can be physically demanding jobs that require an individual to be in top shape.
If police want to make the same money as teachers: a) go to school for teaching or, b) the requirement should be that they have a minimum of a Bachelors degree to join the force. The Quinn Bill is a joke and was passed in a time when revenue was a lot better.
To Poster at 9:24..
A) I have a Bachelor's Degree in Education
B) I left teaching to become a police officer.
So can I get paid like a teacher now??
And to the poster regarding Anna Maria (not Marie). The Quinn Bill education requirements are much more strict now than they were. So a majority of the officers have degrees which were obtained in a legitimate fashion and from an accredited school. The police and fire department has heard the town loud and clear, you hate fire and police, you love schools and teachers, but when the radio crackles or the bell rings ALL fire and police employees will be at your doorstep yet again because you don't respect them until you need them.
Sheesh. Enough already about Quinn, Cops, and Fire.
The police and fire need to respect the taxpayers of the town. No one is saying they aren't valued, but in the current economic times, their refusal to work within the budget is just not right. If their unions won't agree to reasonable contracts that can be supported by taxpayers, then they will just have to lay off their "brothers." They can't have it both ways. To compare the job of a teacher with police or fire employees is apples and oranges. Everyone should be paid a fair wage. The Quinn Bill is not the answer and I do question how having an advanced degree make the cop directing traffic on Route 140 do a better job.
to the 11:09 PM poster
You wrote about cheapskates setting the agenda. Seems like you consider the majority of Shrewsbury residents cheapskates as the last 4 overrides have failed. I may be mistaken but I thought the majority was suppose to set the agenda.
1:18 said:
"The police and fire need to respect the taxpayers of the town. No one is saying they aren't valued, but in the current economic times, their refusal to work within the budget is just not right."
I find this line of argument to be fatally flawed. 1:18 assumes that the "current economic times" are some sort of temporary phenomenon. You should go back and read Prop 2 1/2. Core revenues raised from the town's taxpayers are not going to rise more than 2.5% per year without an override. Granted a large portion of our budget comes from the Commonwealth (income and sales taxes) but that portion is not likely to increase until the overall economy gets much better, and even then it is absolutely not guaranteed.
Unless we start paying our own way, we cannot choose our level of services. We will have to cut and cut until a leg falls off, then simply sit in the woods until winter, then die. Nobody has suggested an end-game that results in the Town of Shrewsbury surviving the next 20 years without an override, or a state-wide repeal of 2 1/2.
Bravo to the unions (the GOP will be after me for typing that) for not playing along with such foolishness!
"Everyone should be paid a fair wage, but the unions should accept reasonable contracts"...Translation = take less to do more so the money can be funneled back to the school. And as for "standing on 140." Details are a small percentage of the work a police officer does. That's all you have to go to?? How about catching the recent Commerce Bank robber? How about apprehending a group of kids breaking into cars in a neighborhood at 2am, completing the report and then articulation that report to a jury or judge. That is why a degree is necessary, but no one truly knows what a police officer does because all they can focus on is details and how much money they make. Most police officers are working 60+ hours a week 52 weeks a year to make what a teacher makes in 180 days. I will reiterate to the above posters, I was a teacher so comparing them is not apples and oranges like you say. I know both sides very well and both jobs are difficult and should be compensated "equally" if not more for those that put their lives on their line each day. And "laying off my brothers" will only put my life and my other "brothers" in danger so thank you for your lack of respect for our safety.
I'm really wondering what the answer is to Dan's 5th question:
"5. What changes should be made in the budget development process?"
Why do they always play politics instead of doing the right thing??!
To 4:06
Those of us that are lucky enough to have jobs are only averaging 2 1/2% annual raises. We don't have pensions. We don't have summers off. We aren't home by 2:30.
We are busting our butts to scrap up several hundred dollars per year to send our kids to public schools that used to be free.
We have had enough of the ungrateful, whiny unions in this town. No, we aren't going to pay an additional nickle in taxes so you can continue to get 7-8% raises and all the other perq's. Here is what is going to happen. Either you can agree to smaller increases and keep your jobs or a good number of you will hit the street. The choice is yours.
We are in a recession. Governenment cannot continue to grow, it must do more with less and it needs to shrink. Look at the jobless numbers, there is no end in sight to this recession. Until jobs come back, we will continue this spiral.
The fire and police rely on scare tactics of "if you don't pay us what we want," you will have reduced services - fires out of control, crime, etc. I believe the unions need to be realistic and understand that it isn't an issue of not wanting to pay them, but there simply isn't enough money in the budget to meet their demands. Personally, some of the demands are ridiculous in light of the current fiscal crisis. I am not getting a raise, so why should I agree that you should get one. If the budget is as tight as the BOS have indicated, why can't they agree to no raise. If they demand that they get something and have to lay off their "brothers" and say they have a safety risk, it is their own fault. Don't blame the taxpayers for your own greed. We all have bills and families to feed and don't want to be bullied or threatened into giving you more money, just because you want it. Your job is tough at times, but you chose it. To imply that you deserve more than others is just arrogant and a reason why union bullying is a thing of the past.
The rate of unemployment is around 10%, add in the people who have used up their benefits and you have 12- 15 percent of people who cannot afford tax increases. That may be why the BOS said no override. The jobs are not there to support a tax increase. Time to get rid of the nice to haves.
Pointing fingers, blaming the new guy,the guy from another country, the unions, the DEMS, the GOP, the banks, the BOS, you fill in the blank, is not going to solve anything. The cause of most of the municipal problems can be seen by looking in the mirror, did you vote? Did you come to meetings or write letters? Did you sell your land to developers? Do you sit like a lump at town meeting? Shrewsbury has one of the lowest tax bills around, the lowest student spending. No one in this town is getting rich by working for the town.
I keep hearing how poor everyone in town is, but I still see all those cleaning ladies, those lawn services and I see newer model cars being driven, and ski racks on top of cars. We have had this municipal revenue issue for several years, but no one wanted to hear it. And at the most only 45% came to the polls to actually vote about increasing revenue. "Be the change you want to see in the world",--M.Gandhi
Missy, maybe everyone in your neighborhood has a maid and a new car. I assure you that is the exception. In the rest of Shrewsbury most of us are struggling to make ends meet and wondering if we'll be able to hang onto our jobs.
You say to go to the polls. We have been doing exactly that. We have said no to operating overrides 4 times. Why won't you listen? The majority thinks the town is getting enough tax money to run the show. Please accept the will of the people.
Missy, no more tax dollars are coming. Many have said if the unions got paid like us working people, the town would be in much better financial shape. This sounds fair to me.
When it's the middle of the night or day and I may need fire or police, I don't care how much we have to pay them! How soon we forget those that loose their lives for us. Remember Worc? Remember Shrewsbury's finist? Burned and shot for the public!! Ya, they chose that job because they most likey have more heart then many of us.
I believe the battle going on in this town is between those that do have money and want more services "free" on the backs of all taxpayers...those that don't want to pay more taxes is because they CAN'T because they have been in this town a very long time and are now on fixed incomes. Just because they can't pay doesn't mean they are "cheap" as is OFTEN mentioned and is starting to irritate. Those that can't pay now because of age or illness have every right to enjoy their town, the town that they helped along the way with taxes and whatever else in the past. So, all of you guys out there that have stay at home Mom's getting "maid" service and taking all of your kids on expensive vacations and buying the family all the latest "nice to have" TOYS, get a life, start with the kids having a damn cell phone. We ALL lived without half of what you do today, so stop your noise and leave the rest of us alone until we drop dead. Then the town is yours.
Missy,
I cut my own grass and we do our own housekeeping. My former job was outsourced in the spring. Maybe you could propose a local tax on lawn services and maid services.
To 9:20 am - you sound pretty bitter. Please tell me why people who can't afford to stay should just expect the rest of the town to pay for them? I think many of the people saying they can't afford X or Y are bluffing. There are many social service agencies to help people who truly need it. What about their families? Aren't they responsible for helping? Why should this town suffer because people can no longer afford something? Those people need to make choices. These choices may be difficult, but it is not up to the rest of the town to carry everyone going forward. We should all help each other, but there is a point where people need to take responsibility and make decisions. Finally, these people might have paid taxes, but they also enjoyed great services and education at a very low rate. Why should the current generations not expect the same thing?
To 12:48
We should, and are going to stay and have every right to stay because we have paid our bills and taxes just as you have. As long as we can pay our taxes and live in relative comfort in our own homes we will and you won't kick us out because you want things that are unecessary to life, liberty and happiness.
Who are you to tell us we should depend on our families or leave town, and who are you to think some of us are lying about our finances. If that were so, we'd probably be livng in a warm, comfortable climate and not be putting up with being badgered.
Those of us who have been around a long time, paid off our homes and worked our butts off and have every right to stay in the town until we die. For many years we paid for those who lived in apartments and sent their kids to free public schools when they were free. Ok, so now you have to pay, but,partly it's because you WANT so much more. We are and were happy with the "simple" things, not all the things you seem to think you and your kids NEED you really need. We also had respect for everyone in "our time," today there is very little respect for elders and the mouths on a lot of parents and kids makes your hair curl. Just follow a few around in the market or on some of the sports fields!
So, take what you are getting from Shrewsbury and all who are doing their best to keep the level of everything going while times are hard.My taxes as well as yours.
Dan M. is trying his best and so are many on the municipal side to work with very little and give the school all it can as well as town services and some teachers are working hard too.
We who have been here a long time can afford to live here until we die and will, (as long as the wacko's who want to bleed us to death first and think we should take leave because we are old). The unreasonable new builds/reno's, and God only knows what else you all think we need to build or reno in this town, especially NOW. Just wait for a while. The schools have enough already. They eat up more then half of the towns money that comes from taxes and other sorces. Education is not all about all of the latest "trinkets/gimicks" or the latest techno whatever to "learn." If you think it is we're all in trouble. Your kids will all learn what they need to learn when they get on the job or profession of choice. That's how most people learn. Even atty's, doctor's etc., learn the basic's in school and then learn in the field. So, the school building's, library's etc., don't have to be state of the art or have the latest do dads to learn, they just need to be run by good teachers/administrators. If there is a major leak or whateverin a building,then fix it. It's not reasonable to tear something down and rebuild!
Hopefully your kids have summer jobs to learn skills of interacting, learn together at home how to really live and enjoy life without it always being about money and things!. Don't buy your kids cars or Wii, or whatever everyone thinks they need. Of course some of you are doing a great job at home and I give those of you who are tons of credit.
AND; As for learning, fast food places need to go out of business as far as I'm concerned and that more families need to become families again. Teach home ec at home. We've all witnessed on TV lately, that food isn't good for you anyhow. Throw that fast food dollar in to your school fund and start teaching values and work ethics at home. I know some of you do.
To Missy H., the CBS'rs and everyone else who just doesn't get it: The people of Shrewsbury will not approve an operating override.
Some people have maids, some don't, some have lawn services, some don't. So what? The people of Shrewsbury will not approve an operating override.
The people have voted multiple times and have always voted the same way:The people of Shrewsbury will not approve an operating override.
Gulp hard, take a deep breath and say out loud "The people of Shrewsbury will not approve an operating override." Repeat until you finally get it.
Once you get it, we can finally have a meaningful discussion about how to resolve our fiscal woes.
I noticed these housecleaner trends and lawncare service trends while driving all around town. I had to giggle a few times, because that lawncare wagon is longer than the house it is servicing. The newer car observation was actually made by an 80 yr old suffering from Alzheimer's! For the record, our cars are 11yrs old each, I take care of our lawn and landscaping and I do our own housekeeping (when I get around to it).
When I visit other states and see "poor" it does not look poor in Shrewsbury. I am not saying some people in Shrewsbury are making tough decisions to fund heating or food in their households and there are some who cutting out their winter trip to the Bahama's and feeling really deprived and poor. Do not make the blanket statement all in town are suffering the same or even at all.
Do I know about those service agencies, of course I do and I write checks to them, because so far we have been lucky and I feel that we need to help out, even more now than ever in the past.
Why don't you form your own union and try keep the jobs here? Unions in muni situations actually makes sense. In a small town, lets say teacher X or safety officer X negotiates his pay through the town mgr(or whoever) and he just happens to be related to him and was his best man and played football together. Then teacher A or safety officer A also negotiates but does has not lived in town long. Who is going to get a higher raise? One poster seems to imply those in unions do not work like everyone else and throws a statement out there. Is Glenn Beck commenting on this blog?
Who has demanded cheaper and cheaper consumer products to keep up appearances? You are the ones who drove the jobs overseas, you are the ones who demanded high returns from your stock portfolios and looked the other way as long as your 401k went up. And when I say you, I am included in that category. China is losing jobs to other even poorer countries because they like cheap products too!
No the majority has not said they do no want taxes increased in Shrewsbury, the registered voters who bothered to come to the polls said NO. There is a big difference. Also many are not eligible to vote in this country yet, but they pay muni taxes and they get muni services, but have no say in the decision. In the past you have said you do not care if services are cut as long as your taxes do not increase. It really isn't any different from wanting cheap sneakers and tv's; you want it and want it cheap and you don't care who really "pays" for it.
Back to the orig. blog. Various scenarios should be devised, there might be more cuts than anticipated and more sheet to hit the fan in the upcoming year. Also how would national healthcare change the health ins. of muni and state employees?
There will be cuts and they will be deep cuts. Both on the town side and the school side. Whether you like it or not we are in a recession and the money is not there. It's time to face the facts and deal with the cuts. No one runs for office to cut programs and jobs but that is what is needed. Hopefully our leaders will explain why some cuts are better then other cuts.
To 5:16 PM:
Now it's getting funny. Despite all those elections, the pro-overriders think most residents want higher taxes, but just have trouble getting to the polls?
However the writer does make a good point... Shrewsbury must be loaded with illegal immigrants. They must have heard about the booming lawn care and maid business.
Back to the original article... fiscal woes. The government just announced that unemployment nationally is 10.2%. How many Shrewsbury municipal workers have been laid off? Almost none. Dan Morgado has done well keeping jobs while state aid declines.
The long term is not so rosey. Even though enrollment is flat, the school budget continues to rise at more than double the rate of inflation. Most of the increase is driven by wage increases. The teacher's contract is now being negotiated. The average annual increase must be significantly reduced.
Also, the rising costs of special education must be slowed. Shrewsbury must provide more services in-house as outside providers are too expensive.
Even smaller things can be done. Too many students are opting to go to other schools. The School Dept needs to understand why and make changes. One example is the recent elimination of the popular shop class which forced students to go to Assabet.
These are but a few ideas. Things can be done to reduce cost and maintain services. Hopefully everyone will embrace that concept.
To the 7:46 am post - Please get your facts straight. Yes, the overrides have not passed, but many people just don't vote. This is just ashame. If these same people start to see more fees or their services cut, maybe they will get out to the polls.
1) Dan has a done a good job of not cutting in light of declining revenues. Maybe, but the other side is that he and the BOS have not done a good job of finding efficiencies. There are ways to do things differently. We always here "its tradition." It may be the year we have to look at doing things differently.
2) School costs continue to rise due to unfunded mandates. The schools must meet certain state and federal benchmarks without receiving the necessary funds. The schools continue to produce great results within a limited budget. This should be praised and not slandered with incorrect and biased information. The teachers negotiated a very reasonable contract and should be commended. It will be very interesting to see what Dan is able to do with the police and fire this year. Rumor has it that these groups will not be as reasonable. Time will tell. If you think teachers wages/increases should be reduced, I assume you feel the same for the police and fire.
3) Your comments regarding special education clearly shows you really don't know anything about the work done in this area in Shrewsbury. New programs and new methods have been undertaken to keep students in Shrewsbury. The director of SPED has done an unbelievable job in this area. I suggest you do some more research in this area so you actually understand the current situation.
4) Students did not leave to attend Assabet due to the autoshop classes being removed. Students would have needed to start as freshman. Each year a certain number of students in 8th grade elect to attend a voc school. This is nothing new. Again, please do some more research.
Finally, I notice all your "ideas" are about cutting school items. What are your ideas for cutting or reducing municipal services?
I want to ask all the people who say an operational override will NEVER pass a few questions.
1. How come one almost did and only lost by about 400 votes?
2. What happens when the demographics shift or more of the town votes and they vote yes?
3. If an override passes would you feel like you have to move? will Shrewsbury be a bad town then?
4. An override will happen eventually. There are about 25% of the towns in MA that took 5 or more times to get their override passed.
5. I don't think anyone can argue they haven't been successful so far but tomorrow is another day.
VOTE PEOPLE VOTE
To the 8:21 post- The facts ARE straight. Operating overrides were voted down by overwhelming numbers because people don't want them. Even when every voter was called 3 times, the override still failed. People also don't want less services or increased fees. They want the town to make ends meet with the existing taxes.
"Teachers wages/increases should be reduced" Absolutely no one has said to REDUCE teacher wages. We agree there is inaccurate information floating around. This is some of it.
To be clear- the average annual wage increase for unions is WAY higher than for the private sector. This is the main cause of Shrewsbury's fiscal woes.
As for SPED, costs have risen sharply year after year. Until that trend reverses, more must be done.
The answer to the budget problem is not increased taxes and it is not cuts to services. The answer is to control wages. Town unions have not been hit with the 10% unemployment rate that the rest of the country has experienced. All the town asks in return is for future wage increases to match the private sector. It would be nice if the 8:21 poster supported that idea.
Answers.
1) During that election the pro-override group spent a lot of time and money. It had a Nobel prize winner leading the charge. That was also during good economic times.
2)It's possible that a demographic shift will change the vote but don't hold your breath. Most of the high tech work is being off-shored to save money on labor. Look at Cisco, Intel, EMC, IBM. Those jobs are being replaced with lower paying jobs.
3) If people cannot afford to stay in town they will move.
4) What's the question, that sounds like a statement?
5) Yes tomorrow is another day
11:29 here are the counter points to your post:
1) Yes a Nobel prize winner lead the charge but that could have gone either way because some resented his involvement. I was called by the people in the movement to pass the override and I was thankful for their hard work. Others will step up too.
2)There are educated and younger people moving into town and that's a fact. I call that a demographic shift.
3)People will move and some will not want to stay in a home they have to maintain and of course others will leave permanately. I hope that people who do not value our services get a wake up call.
4)I do agree that some towns need multiple times to pass a question.
5)The override will eventually pass and that will rock some people's worlds but in the end it will be a good thing for the citizens.
Repeat after me, "there will never be a man walking on the moon", repeat after me "women will never get the right to vote", repeat after me, "an African American will never be president" repeat after me, "the earth is flat".
Yeah right and you want me to repeat, "a Prop 2.5 Override will never happen in Shrewsbury"? Life is full of possibilities.
The number of people who resented Nobel prize winner Craig Mello was insignificant. People came in large numbers to hear him speak. His status brought a huge credibility to the override when he lobbied the Board of Selectmen, civic groups and the press. He donated $10,000 to the cause and a CBS backed group raised more than $10,000 more. The effort was extremely well organized and called every voter in town in multiple times. On voting day, they had people inside every polling location and those who said they would vote yes were called if they had not voted by 6:30 PM. Despite so much going for it, the override still failed by 400.
Missy Hollenback and other posters on this blog refuse to accept that vote, nor the one that failed after that. By their logic, there should be another vote to see if the people now want John McCain for President.
The town has a financial problem as we all know. Please notice that the pro-override posters have not offered any suggestions for reducing cost. They approach the problem with a tax first, think second mentality.
However, we do agree on one thing. Life is full of possibilities. There will come a time when teachers agree to accept the lower wage increases of their private sector counterparts. There will also come a time when the schools won't have to send out any SPED students that cost up to $150,000 each because we can't educate them in house. And some day the punitive school fees will be eliminated as they only make up a tiny portion of the budget anyway. It feels great to dream...
The big issue for 'no' voters for an override is that a 'yes' vote does not fix the problem. It may delay the problem for a year or so but it does not fix the problem.
There is also the future to look at. How many voters depend upon social security and how safe do they feel? How many voters have lost jobs and are either unemployed or under-employed? How many people work at companies that are building tech centers off shore, how safe do they feel their jobs are? Income distribution is not what it was 20 years ago, the middle class is getting a much smaller piece of the pie. As Missy mentioned above, we have done this to ourselves, buying the cheaper goods that keeps the the flow of jobs moving offshore. That hasn't changed.
You can spend a million dollars on SPED kids and they will only learn so much. So, teach them what they can learn and be reasonable with the dollars spent.
All that work went in to trying to get the override passed and it still did not. Maybe when we seniors die and the younger set takes over our homes, you'll get what you want, and boy I wish I was a fly on the wall when you do get it, right where you should get it!
And yes, I still wish McCain was President. Things are going to get even worse, as we are put deeper in to debt with grandiose idea's. You " ain't " seen "notin'" yet!!
The people that don't vote, don't care. The one's that voted No care. The one's the voted Yes care, so there seem to be more that care on the NO side, period.
Well, I hope you are ready to see reduced or eliminated services due to your No vote. Maybe then you will actually feel what the Yes voters have been predicting. You can't keep taxes as low as they are and expect to continue to have all your nice to have services. Something needs to go.
A lot of the NO voters live on "dirt roads" and our taxes are the same as yours. Take a ride around those areas of Shrewsbury, get a map and drive around on miles of unpaved "private" roads. All roads were all private in the 1800's. Local government then changed their own laws so they could stop paving roads because it was co$ting them too much. Until we get paved roads like you have the answer is NO! No no.
Dirt roads?! That's your problem?? Well, if that's all it takes, then you can get paved roads the same way we got them. We pay for them when the developer built our roads, be it in the 1920s or 2000s. You can still get paving if you're willing to pay half the price and your neighbors agree.
But I suspect that you'll find some other reason to shout "no!"
Bring it on.
I'm of the mind that the trouble it takes to get a road passed is why many don't bother anymore. You have to get 50% of the homeowners on a street to agree, that isn't always so easy. There are a few that still love their dirt roads(who knows why, maybe ignorance) and also fear increased taxes. I have spoken to a town employee who knows and there is NO extra tax involved. The expense is only if you don't already have betterments in the road aka, sewer and water.
The hassles in trying to get a paved road are ridiculous. The time it takes from start to finish is about two years and paperwork and signatures and visits before a board to get approved. Most don't know the first thing about the process, so they don't do it. Many years ago there wasn't so much red tape to weed through. Red tape is like quick sand, it sucks people under and they go away!
Any other suggestions?
To 8:33, yes, all of that and dirt roads bring the value of your home WAYYYYY down when you go to sell! Of course in today's market it's kinda a wash, but, as we recover, and we are recovering with a 17 per cent growth in sales our homes will again start to be worth something again, so get going and start paving the dirty dirt roads in town and increase the money in your pocket if and when you go to sell.
Post a Comment
Anonymous comments are allowed, but the publisher retains the right to screen them first.
Comments posted from a registered account are not required.
Any comments, complaints, or compliments should be directed to Publisher@ShrewsBuried.com.