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Bridgewater Town Meeting is tomorrow night (June 22), and after two adjournments without discussing financial matters, it is expected that the budget will finally be debated. (There is always the possibility of another delay, but that is unlikely.) Once Bridgewater sets it budget and determines an assessment number for B-R for FY2010, the B-R School Committee will need to address any next actions.
The B-R School Committee has set the following upcoming dates to address FY2010 budgets, and any other matters:
Budget SubCommittee Meeting: Thursday, July 9, 2009
Full School Committee Meeting, Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Full School Committee Meeting, Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Typical actions at this time would be to (a) accept appropriation and set budget, if amount is original $20.4M request; (b) accept appropriation from Town Meeting, making necessary adjustments to Raynham's Assessment, and adjust overall budget accordingly [including additional layoffs, shortened day, etc...]; (c) recertify a budget and re-submit appropriation request to one or both Towns.
There is an actual "floor" figure for Town Assessment to B-R School District. It equals the State-mandated Net School Spending and share of Transportation costs (per Regional Agreement). Thus, while there may be thoughts of even lower appropriations to B-R than even $19.9M, the amount cannot be reduced to any arbitrary number. Because the State's share of Transportation costs (reimbursed by Chapter 71 Regional Transportation) is in flux, it is difficult to site an actual figure as the number is constantly changing. Mathematically, based on MA Senate planned funding levels, this floor is about $19.6M for FY2010.
Because the School District has not yet ratified a budget, we will be beginning the FY2010 budget year on a "1/12 Monthly" - essentially with DESE (State Education) approval, operating with a rough 1/12 previous year budget until a budget is set.
Donations now being accepted to fund the 2009 celebrations
New website --
www.Bridgewater4th.com
Donations to:
Bridgewater 4th of July
P.O. Box 390
Bridgewater, MA 02324
Please contact Jeff Fowler at the BTV-9 Cable Office if you would like to help with the 2009 festivities.
I was one of many who attended the 'special' Board of Selectmen's Meeting at the Academy Building last night. While I was asked a direct question about State appropriations and funding reductions, the Board did not want to hear an impact statement on what the combination of local level-funding and reduced State Aid would mean.
They all stated that they had seen the letter from B-R Director of Business Services Kathleen Macedo, and Selectmen Chair Kravitz even stated that he had consulted others on the state of affairs for B-R. I found this statement intriguing, expecting Mr. Kravitz to list out various B-R Admin and School Committee people; however he only stated that he spoke with other Town Personnel. Therefore, so all can read the exact words of the written statement, it is included here -- click here to download a scanned pdf of the letter.
In summary, Bridgewater reducing its assessment by $491,672 to level-fund (from FY2009 appropriation) forces a reduction to Raynham's Assessment - thus a total reduction to the B-R budget of $777,962. In addition, and Selectmen Flynn brought this up during the meeting, the State Senate's proposal would further cut State funding by $825,140. Therefore, B-R would need to further reduce its FY2010 Operating Budget by $1.6 million from its previously voted level. And, that previously voted level would force nearly 100 staff reductions.
While many talk of the Schools and Town working together, the School Committee and School Administration have not ben asked to meet with Town Leaders since April, when Supt. Forbes and myself were at a Selectmen's Meeting. And, I must stress that Selectmen Chair Kravitz spoke of working together, but did not mention discussions with any School personnel.
The Enterpise has a story on the June 3 Selectmen's Meeting - click here.
Bridgewater selectmen approve budget that would cause more school layoffs
Budget would force layoff of 50 additional teachers
(By Theresa Knapp Enos, ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT, Posted Jun 04, 2009 @ 02:38 AM)
BRIDGEWATER — The Board of Selectmen approved a $38.3 million preliminary budget Wednesday night that would result in more teacher layoffs than already proposed, as well as shorter school days and the elimination of art, music and physical education programs, according to a school official.
The board voted 4-1, with Selectman Mike Demos opposed, to level-fund the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, a move which could prompt the School Committee to recertify its budget, forcing the town to make more cuts to come up with the money.
“This is setting us up for the potential replay of July 2007. I think it may force the hand of the school district to do something,” said B-R School Committee Vice Chairman Joseph Gillis Jr. after the meeting, referring to a special town meeting held in 2007 after the B-R district re-certified its school budget.
Thousands of voters ratified that vote, causing Bridgewater to cut an additional $1.5 million from within the general government side and send it to the schools.
Gillis said after Wednesday’s meeting that a level-funded budget from Bridgewater would mean a reduction of $461,732, plus the corresponding cut of $268,857 from Raynham. The total $730,589 reduction would come on top of another $800,000-plus cut in state aid.
That approximate $1.6 million loss will be devastating to the district’s 6,000 students, says Gillis.
“We know what it means,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Stanley Kravitz, who addressed the board before its vote. Kravitz said that it is essential the schools “participate in the solution” to the town’s financial troubles.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Gillis said the approximate $1.6 million loss to the district will result in:
50 more teacher layoffs in addition to the 100 already proposed;
class sizes in upper 30s;
elimination of art, music, and physical education;
elimination of athletics and extracurricular activities;
shortening the school day; and
shortening the school year.
“The bottom line is the bottom line, and we have no choice,” said Selectman Herbert J. Lemon Jr. “We have to make horrible decisions. I’m uptight about it but we have no choice.”
“It’s going to be devastating. It’s going to be horrible,” said Selectman Christopher Flynn. “The impact is going to be just as bad to our ability to deliver the mission of local government.”
Selectmen received a June 2 memo from Kathleen Macedo, B-R’s director of business services, detailing what the cuts would do to the district but that document was not shared publicly.
Gillis has been invited to share the numbers with the Advisory Board tonight when that board will make recommendations on the budget before it is sent back to the selectmen for a final vote on Tuesday night.
Cuts on the town side include elimination of jobs in the departments of accounting, assessors, collectors, community development, town buildings and maintenance, police, and veterans services. There will also be a reduction in staff hours in several other departments, and Recreation Department programs to be fully funded by fees. It also reduces the hours the town’s street lights will be on.
“The quality of life for many will be greatly impacted. Jobs regrettably will be lost, and I truly wish this wouldn’t be the case,” said Demos, noting that the budget attempts to preserve core services and also acknowledges the need for an open library, senior center and recreation department.
Jun 8, 07: New HS Powerpoint tour
Aug 10, 07: New High School layout
Oct 22, 07: Letter from DOE: de-Reg
Nov 13, 07: Powerpoint on de-Reg
Feb 13, 08: EQA Rept B-R
Oct 16, 08: NEASC letter - off probation
Special Bridgewater Links
www.BetterBridgewater.org
www.BridgewaterCitizens.com
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional
School Committee Meetings
Meeting:Wednesday July 14 7:00pm
location: Raynham Middle School
Bridgewater Board of Selectmen Meetings
Tusday nights == 6/9; 6/16; 6/23; 6/30
all 6:30 pm at Memorial Building
Raynham Board of Selectmen Meetings
Every Tuesday night
all 7:00 pm at Town Offices
(558 South Main Street)
As I try to do each year once the Dept of Education's statistics are available, I compile B-R Salary data for comparison with the rest of the State. For year-ending 2008 (last available stats), B-R teachers averaged $67,990 vs State average of $64,143; this placed them 56th out of 326 reporting Districts. [Click here here analysis of past twelve years.] The graph below shows the trends for B-R (in pink) vs. other indicators. If you click on the below picture, a larger image will be launched.
Also, since there is often wild speculation on what B-R teachers are paid as base pay, I have attached here a link to a one-page pdf of the salary schedule. This is only base pay, there are other incentives such as Longevity Pay that increase total compensation (for those qualified).
Easton MA town
Raynham MA town
Bridgewater-Raynham Schools
The Enterprise
Taunton Gazette
Bridgewater Independent
BTV-9 Cable Access
BridgewaterCommon.blogspot.com
Cape Wind Project
Citizens for Limited Taxation
FairnessForGoodDrivers
Colonial Road Runners
Beginner Triathlete
Cool Running
Bay State Triathlon Team
Plymouth County Republicans
gopnews.blog.com
other good links
My first was harder and easier than I thought. Harder since there is pre-race anxiety, and with a pool swim and staggered start times, was standing around to get started. So, a little nervous (and heart rate way up) by the time I started. Swallowed lots of water thru first 50 yards, and a couple times in that short 250 yard swim thought about just giving up. Mentally, swim was my new event, and I had not found a comfort zone for the swim. One anonymous man on the end seemed to follow me and cheer me on and give me encouragement at that end. I saw him in the distance with a woman competitor later, so figure he decided to cheer me on also. It really helped. But finally got out of the pool and onto the bike. Hadn't paracticed as much hill-riding as this course was, so that will be a note for me into the future. Rode about as hard as my legs would carry me.
And then to my comfort zone of the run. I am not a great runner - never to place in my age group - but a decent runner. It was during the run that I felt the emotion of realizing that I am about to do something - complete something - be a Triathlete. That was a great feeling.
Saw my son as I neared the Finsh Line (he is behind me in my running picture for the Race). Took it hard to the Finsh Line and the event was complete.
In retrospect, very happy I pushed myself to do this. Seriously, I could not swim the 25 yards across the pool earlier this year. I did not swim well, but I was able to propel myself the 250 yards of the swim race.
Lesson learned here - the other competitors and fans will all encourage. There is no need to fear looking foolish. Those looking to win and place go off early. To everyone else, it is about fun and accomplishing something for yourself or to improve on a past performance.
While I had thought about another Tri later this summer, I know that I need more comfort in the water first. But I will be back to try again - maybe not later this year, perhaps next spring. And in the meantime, I can also continue to work on my cycling and running.
Final result for 250 yard swim, 9.3 mile bike ride and 3.2 mile run - finish in 1:20:05, placing me 147 of 198 and 10 of 12 in my age group.
Joseph Gillis, Jr.
MA Dept of Education and MA Dept of Local Services has jointly released information on reductions to CURRENT YEAR Chapter 70 funding. For Bridgewater-Raynham, the scheduled June 30th payment will be reduced by $2,272,909 - yes... more the two million dollars. [You can read the momorandum by clicking here.]
In the notice are instructions for completing a request for a grant from the Federal Government under the ARRA program.
My first concern with this is that I believed the ARRA program was to create new jobs, this is clearly supplanting and NOT supplementing.
Secondly, the notice states that grant awards will be notified in mid June; thus will all grant requests be approved?
Third, this mathematical hocus-pocus does not do anything to assist school districts, but creates more work as accounting people will be very busy moving budget dollars around and re-classifying the same dollars (assuming the grants are approved.) Real hours will be expended on this.
While I have heard rumors of FY2010 Chapter 70 cuts from FY2009 levels, I believe this action on this year's budget is a clear indicator that there will be significant State reductions to teh Chapter 70 program.
Today's Enterprise has a couple of photos from the East Bridgewater Run for Troops. Matthew is in the forefront, with me (dad) at his left shoulder. [Enterprise story link here.]
The MA Legislature has been reviewing the State’s FY2010 budget, and a great deal of attention has been given to Chapter 70 Education Aid and Local Aid.
While the Governor’s budget was to provide Bridgewater with $3,125,440 in Unrestricted General Government Aid, the House Ways & Means proposal lowered this to $2,697,766. For Raynham, the Governor originally proposed $1,112,923 and the House Ways & Means reduced this to $958,006.
Since the release of these drastically reduced amounts, and with growing concern by citizens across the Commonwealth that these reductions would further reduce local services, an Amendment has been brought forth to increase the amounts. Consolidated Amendment "A" (Local Aid) [click here for link] was unanimously passed [click here for vote] by the House.
For Bridgewater, the new amount of aid would be $3,578,267 – an increase of $452,827 over the Governor’s proposal; Raynham would see $1,273,727 – an increase of $160,804 over Governor’s proposal.
Many communities started their budget process based on the Governor’s Budget Proposal – thus, these increases to local aid will be welcome news to communities. However, a strong caution is also necessary as this is still ‘A PROCESS’. It will still be some time before final figures are know.
For Bridgewater-Raynham directly via Chapter 70, the Amendment A also refers to B-R potentially receiving $284,400 in ARRA funds (funds from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund established by Title XIV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).
One last point about these funds (taken directly from the wording of Amendment A) – “the funds set forth … shall not appear on the cherry sheet produced by the department of revenue”.
The following is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
So, to the candidates in the various elections yesterday, hold your heads high. To all of the people who assisted the candidates, you desreve credit also. To those 4000 voters, thank you for your participation.
To the critics, I hope that you at least cast a vote yesterday.
As someone said tonight - "A community gets the leadership it deserves." By sometimes significant margins, the Town voted today to keep or add many current/prior Town employees to leadership positions. 4021 voters, representing approximately 26% of registered voters, cast ballots today.
Board of Selectmen:
Stan Kravitz = 2046 [re-elected]
Joe Silva = 2036 [elected]
Mike Berolin = 1936
Brian Penney = 1592
Moderator:
Mike Levy = 2308 [elected]
Greg Lee = 1472
Town Clerk:
Ron Adams = 2460 [re-elected]
Joe Gillis = 1387
Board of Health:
Dr. Eric Colon = 2042 [elected, over incumbent]
Joe Bracken = 1583
One very surprising result was the election of Dr. Colon over 18-year member Joe Bracken for the Board of Health. Congratulations and best of luck to Eric.
One perplexing thing, and since he is Town Clerk he must know what he can and cannot do, but if Ron Adams was up for re-election, what was he doing so intimately involved in the election process? Conflict of Interest and/or even the appearance of a Conflict of Interest? Should he have been handling ballots? Heck, I got beat, so the voters have spoken. However, why was he so involved in the balloting? Shouldn't someone else have been handling ballots, counting ballots, and compiling the official counts?
"A community gets the leadershop it deserves." Where is Bridgewater now headed?
Election Day in Bridgewater is Saturday, April 25th. As someone who first won election to the B-R School Committee in 2004 by only two votes, I can attest that every vote matters. Among the contested races is the challenge for Town Clerk; where I seek your vote to serve the Bridgewater community for the next three years.
The role of Town Clerk is essentially the record-keeper (scribe in earlier times) for the community. There are three areas I believe deserve important attention:
Transparency – to facilitate open and honest communication
Access – create opportunities for the public to view records & utilize services
Information – leverage technology to preserve, provide and report on records
As one of your elected members on the Bridgewater-Raynham School Committee for the past five years, those three areas have been critical to the continued improvement in our schools and to the public’s confidence in the work of the Committee. I am proud of the progress and success of our School District, and would like to bring that same enthusiasm, knowledge and work ethic to the role of Town Clerk.
I am therefore asking for your support and vote on April 25th. As always, I am available to answer your questions through my website www.JosephGillisJr.com or by email at JoeG@JosephGillisJr.com .
A couple of quick analyses of numbers from Ways & Means Budget [click for link here].
Bridgewater, unrestricted funds last year of $3.985M, Governor reduced to $3.125M, House W&M=$2.697M for a further loss of additional $428k. Raynham, unrestricted funds last year of $1.415M, Governor reduced to $1.112M, House W&M=$0.958M for a further loss of additional $156k.
Bridgewater-Raynham Schools, Chapter 70 is same, but after initial decline in Chapter 71 overall funding, the House W&M cut approximately half - which appears to translate to addtional $450-500k reduction. Also, funding for Circuit Breaker reimbursements was reduced. I am not sure yet of how to estimate its local effect as those formulas are rather complex - reimbursed a percentage above 4 times base educational costs.
So, as this unfolds, the School District and two towns both saw estimated revenues significantly curtailed today.
As noted in the Curriculum Review, the upcoming school year has presented the District with many challenges. The adversity has caused the Administration and School Committee to find creative ways to continue the educational progress made over the past years, and build upon that improvement.
While we face adversity, we are making proactive educational choices to continue to provide quality programs for our students.
Much has been written and talked about concerning additional funds coming from the Federal and/or State to assist local education. However, few of these programs are slated to provide funds to B-R. There is one Federal Program with funds estimated to be paid out over 27 months (3 fiscal years), although it is unclear how much will be available for FY10.
Assessment to the two towns. According to Dept of Ed – (a) all foundation budget factors increased by 4.5%; (b) continued phase-in of aggregate wealth model using 2008 property tax values and 2006 personal income data; (c) Chapter 70 aid is set at amount from FY09.
Foundation budget factors refer to eleven areas of education, such as: Administration, classroom teachers & specialists, guidance and special education.
Foundation budget in FY09 was $47,098,996. In FY10 is $49,114,208. Since Chapter 70 State Aid is level, the amount of increase is to be accounted for by two host communities via increased Minimum Contributions.
Minimum Contribution for Bridgewater in FY09 was $15,548,216 vs. in FY10 is $17,039,307 (increase of $1,491,091). For Raynham in FY09 was $10,302,977 vs. in FY10 is $10,913,524 (increase of $610,547). In addition to the ‘State’ figures for Minimum Contribution, per the Regional Agreement there are costs associated with Transportation that are also included at “Required Funding”.
The State Chapter 70 Formula is “balanced” based on this 8.13% increase in local Required Minimum Contributions. For Bridgewater, the increase is 9.6% and for Raynham the increase is 5.9%.
While anticipated expenses for Administration, Instructional Services (teachers), and Fixed Charges (insurance) are below 2009 appropriations, several categories will experience increases. These are:
School Services, primarily busing costs
Operations & Maintenance, electricity and costs related to BMS vs. Burnell
Programs with Other Districts, special ed programs ‘other than public schools’
Before getting to ‘staff’ positions, there are other changes to note. 39 budget line classifications were reduced with some items completely eliminated for the FY2010 Budget.
Discontinue funding for SRO position; was funded for $50k for a Bridgewater Police Officer.
Discontinue MS Athletics; many opportunities in local communities.
Elimination of ‘planned’ Human Resources person
Reduced supply budgets at all buildings
Elimination of paying Bridgewater for Maintenance of Grounds; will maintain with own staff
Staff position reductions from FY2009 levels -- 65.95 fte (full-time equivalent) total
District-wide: 4 teachers, 1/5 secretary/clerks, 2 custodians
High School: .45 nurse, 5 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk, 4 proctors
Bridgewater Middle School: 8 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk
Raynham Middle School: 11 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk
Williams Intermediate School: 7 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk, 4.5 paraprofessionals (EA’s)
LaLiberte School: 3 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk, 1 paraprofessional
Merrill School: 1 secretary/clerk
Mitchell Elementary School: 3.5 teachers, 1 secretary/clerk, 4 paraprofessionals
TOTAL:
Teacher: 41.5
Secretary/clerk: 8.5
Proctor: 4
Nurse: 0.45
Custodian: 2
Paraprofessional: 9.5
Resulting in the following:
Elementary Grades
Increased class sizes - Early Childhood grades up to 26 class size; Grades 3-5: low 30’s per class
Reduced non-core classes – Art, Music; PE 2x/wk
Middle School – using interdisciplinary educational model
Increased class sizes – low 30’s per class
Loss of Foreign Language teachers
Loss of Social Studies teachers; curriculum to be taught by others as allowed by law
High School
Increased class sizes – approx. 30 per class
6 periods per day, with 6 day schedule. Currently one class does not meet everyday.
Thus we arrive at an Operating Budget of $57,256,895 for FY10 vs. $56,795,828 for FY09. This represents an increase of $461,672 or 0.8%.
Assessment to Bridgewater = $20,452,249 and Assessment to Raynham = $12,900,807
Finally, the disproportionate increase between Bridgewater and Raynham is what creates the situation where Bridgewater increases its assessment (FY2010 vs. FY2009) by $461,672 and Raynham’s assessment remains the same as last year. Bridgewater’s Required Minimum Funding increased by 9.6% and Raynham’s increased by 5.9%.
The Regional School Agreement stipulates funding between the communities be proportional to enrollment for amounts over Minimum Contribution. If Bridgewater were to fund B-R at last year’s level, Raynham would see its assessment reduced by about $268,823. This would mean a further reduction to the planned cuts to achieve the nearly ¾ of a million dollars in lost revenue.
A Background on Finances --
The State Chapter 70 formulas determine the community “Required Minimum” towards education, and set the State assistance amount (commonly referred to as Chapter 70 Aid). For the 2008-09 fiscal (and school year) - http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/chapter70/chapter_09_reg.xls
Bridgewater minimum = 15,548,216
Raynham minimum = 10,302,977
State Chapter 70 Aid = 21,612,939 (before adjustments: school choice, charters, etc…)
For the 2009-10 fiscal (and school year) –
http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/chapter70/chapter_10_reg.xls
Bridgewater minimum = 17,039,307
Raynham minimum = 10,913,524
State Chapter 70 Aid = 21,612,939 (before adjustments: school choice, charters, etc…)
The formulas for determining the cost of education used an adjustment factor of 4.5% (based on a cap, while the Federal formulas estimated the cost increase at 6.75%).
[See http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/chapter70/chapter_10.html] Additional adjustments were also utilized in determining the local required contribution to education. At the end of the calculations, the State believes that all of the increased costs for the School District should be borne by the two communities.
Bridgewater, increase by $1,491,091 or 9.59%
Raynham, increase by $610,547 or 5.93%
State Chapter 70 Aid, remains the same
Given that communities are bound by “Proposition 2 ½”, Bridgewater could/should have increased by $388,705. How does the State conclude that Bridgewater would be able to increase by $1.1 million more than that? Raynham should have increased by no more than $257,574. Where will Raynham get another $350 thousand on top of that?
Finally, the disproportionate increase between Bridgewater and Raynham is what creates the situation where Bridgewater increases its assessment (FY2010 vs. FY2009) by $461,672 and Raynham’s assessment remains the same as last year. The Regional School Agreement stipulates funding between the communities be proportional to enrollment, thus if Bridgewater were to fund B-R at last year’s level Raynham would see its assessment reduced by about $266,293.
While trying to schedule the various meetings leading to the two Town Meetings, and be cognizant of the various date deadlines, we originally arrived at a scheduled meeting on Wednesday April 8th. After being alerted that this was the first night of Passover, discussions took place to see what (if any) accomodations could be made. It has been decided to change the date to Monday April 13th. Meeting to begin at 7pm, with the recessed Public Hearing to re-open at 7:30pm.
As there are some parent-teacher conferences scheduled for that day, the hearing time was set to 7:30 to allow any parents who would be attending the conferences sufficient time to also attend the hearing.
The meeting and hearing will take place at Raynham Middle School.
Over the past week I have read in the Enterprise about Whitman holding Passport Day this coming Saturday (Enterprise, 3/22/09) and East Bridgewater to also have a Passport Fair (Enterprise, 3/25/09). This is in conjunction with the National program – Passport Day In the USA - Saturday, March 28, 2009 [link --> http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/03/120707.htm]
In Whitman, beyond the Enterprise story, there is a posting on the Town website --
http://www.whitman-ma.gov/241d5c2c-f615-4b7c-bcb6-989193675b10/news-detail.htm
According to the Department of State website:
“On June 1, 2009, U.S. citizens must present a passport book, passport card, or other travel documents approved by the U.S. government to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land borders and sea ports of entry. Additional information on travel requirements is available at www.getyouhome.gov.
The Department of State, together with the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service, and non-postal Passport Acceptance Facilities, are working together to ensure that citizens are aware of the new requirements effective June 1.”
While I thought I heard that the Town of Bridgewater was going to participate, I can not see any evidence to support this. There has not been anything in the newspapers, nor have I seen any signage around Bridgewater Town Common. A community of more than 6000 households, if even ten families were to take advantage of a Saturday time to process their applications, would mean $1000 (assuming family of four) in extra revenue. By the way – whether you apply for a passport at the Post Office or a local Town Hall, all collect a $25 execution (handling/processing) fee. Beyond that, it would be providing a valuable service to the citizens of the community.
Good ideas are not always ‘invented’. Often, they are merely borrowed (and perhaps modified slightly) from the ideas of others. As I write this early on Friday morning, if Bridgewater does not offer this program opportunity to the community – well shame on us. If it is going to happen, will there be any surprise when no one shows up? Would anyone ever imagine our Town Hall being open on a Saturday and happen to stop by hoping to process paperwork?
With about four weeks to go until Town Elections (Saturday, April 25th), two candidates now have their websites up and running. I urge you to click-over to the two website and read more about the individuals who are running for the two seats on the Board of Selectmen.
Brian Penney -- www.BrianPenney.org
Mike Berolini -- www.MikeBerolini.org
Another Budget SubCommittee Meeting running for hours, as the Administrative Team and the B-R Budget Subcommittee try to work out a plan for next year. As it currently stands, with flat or reduced funding from the State (Chapter 70, Chapter 71/Transportation) and projected limited ability by the two towns to fund school assessments, there is a large gap in revenue vs. anticipated expenses. Ultimately, either there needs to be significant wage & benefit concessions by all employee groups or there will be a large number of employee staff reductions.
The window for action is closing as the School Committee needs to vote on a budget April 8th, with April 6th as the final scheduled meeting for the Budget SubCommittee to complete its recommendations.
The meeting this Wednesday (March 25th at 7:00 at B-R High School) and the included Public Hearing will allow the community to not only see and hear about the financial issues for next year, but provide an opportunity for the citizens to comment on next year's budget. All in the community are encouraged to attend.
The 7pm meeting will begin with a couple of items (Chapter 32B Section 18, request by Friends of Williams Middle School), and then at 7:30 the School Committee will convene the FY2010 B-R Budget Hearing.
Kevin Bligh's website - http://bridgewatercommon.blogspot.com/ - once again this year features an on-line poll for the Town Elections. The first poll of this election cycle is the race for Bridgewater Town Clerk.
Poll Question: Who Do You Support for Town Clerk
This year's municipal election cycle will feature an election race for the office of Town Clerk. Incumbent Town Clerk Ron Adams will face off against School Committeeman Joe Gillis. This race will be a hotly contested race squaring off two well known Bridgewater politicians for the office of Town Clerk.
Everyday it seems, the Federal Government or our State Government proposes new taxes to support the pork-filled largesse (aka Federal Stimulus package). Does anyone actually feel better for the trillion dollars spent?
I am reminded of a quote from Winston Churchill --
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
Since it is our money to begin with, why not simply return these billions to the taxpayers? What we have now is a $1 trillion dollar program that has yet to turn anything around. Ford can't sell cars because people don't have money, and $200 billion more to banks will not provide funds to taxpayers. All these bail-outs have done is assist businesses that made some bad decisions.
"The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending -- for autos, education, credit cards and other consumer debt." However, the Fed is merely allowing banks to package existing debt and have taxpayers purchase it; there is nothing there to lower rates on mortgages or consumer credit. Consumer credit is especially troubling as banks have been sending more and more fine print notices advising paying customers of diminished credit lines and increased finance charges.
Two solutions: (a) Any bank that accepts federal taxpayer funds cannot exceed 8% on home mortgages and 15% on any other form of consumer debt (auto loan, credit cards, etc...). (b) To move the economy, send out checks directly to taxpayers; if your tax liability in 2008 was $10,000 or more you get a check for that $10,000 back, if your tax liability was $5,000 you get a check for $5,000, if you did not file taxes you get nothing. With $10,000 back in people's checking accounts, people will go out and once again buy a car or make other purchases.
It is our money, and we deserve to spend it on what we want - not simply to bail out bad policies and business plans.