October 6, 2006
Bridgewater
Raynham
Easton
East Bridgewater
West Bridgewater
Massachusetts
Legislation & Politics
USA
Legislation & Politics
World
Education
Bridgewater-Raynham Schools
Massachusetts
USA
Archives (past stories)
Opinion/Analysis
Joseph Gillis Jr.
You can do something!
Bridgewater Town Meeting came out last night, and after about an hour of spirited debate voted overwhelmingly to support the Article. Passage of the Artice leaves the Town in an interesting place as the Article funds the work based on a Prop 2 1/2 ballot question. However, the Selectmen have not called for a ballot.
This coming Tuesday, I would anticipate Bridgewater Selectmen Chair Herb Lemon bringing the question of a ballot vote back to his Board based on the community support at Town Meeting. However, it is unclear if either Selectmen (Mark Oliari or Marybeth Lawton) would change from their earlier position and now cast a vote in favor of a ballot initiative.
A potential fall-back position is for Bridgewater to call for another Special Town Meeting with Article 1 being to fund the $1.9M from a general bond, and Article 2 to authorize the issuance of the general bond for the purpose of funding the $1.9M in project costs. This route would essentially mean that the estimated annual $32k payments from Bridgewater for the project costs would come out of Town operating revenue, and not as an 'extra' amount added to each tax bill.
