Blind lead the lame

Undoubtedly Dartmouth is facing fiscal challenges, but what is it that the town needs? Some would say unity of opinion on the Select Board, others, smaller elementary schools, more dog officers, or a policeman at the schools. Some just want their streetlight back on and several members of the Select Board are adamant that more revenue will solve our problems. While these are all issues in the town, I think that they are all symptomatic of an underlying problem. When a small group of parents are the only ones with a comprehensive plan for the schools, when the town has yet to develop a plan for reconciling revenues and expenditures six months into the fiscal year following an override failure, when the town and school fees multiply but services decline, citizens have to wonder what is going on. I believe Dartmouth is suffering from a breakdown of leadership. Expected revenues and departmental spending requests for the next fiscal year are already known to the town and school administrators and to the Select Board or the School Committee. Maybe not down to the penny, but generally, we know that our revenue will not cover expected budget requests. In fact, they are likely $1 million in the red. What have our town leaders done about it? Well, they have added new members to the Personnel Board, had Tuesday working sessions by the Select Board, had citizen input meetings with the school administrators, and then, nada, nil, zip, zilch, nothing. What Dartmouth is crying out for is a plan. A concrete, quantifiable plan of action with dollars saved and dates for implementation. A plan that lays out what will be cut and what will be kept. We have not seen such a plan from either the town or the schools because there has been no leadership. A single member of the Select Board can’t develop a plan by herself, nor is it her job to do so. Others on the Select Board and School Committee have been cheerleading for an override, pointing out how hard town and school employees work, and pointing fingers at the state legislature. This is not leadership, and is not getting us anywhere. The Select Board and School Committee need to direct department administrators to prepare a spending plan in line with our revenues (and a list of what will be cut to do that), and set a date (sooner, rather than later) for the presentation of that plan to the public. That is what Dartmouth needs, the necessary leadership to have a realistic fiscal plan prepared and then implemented. Let’s get a plan immediately, debate the merits of that plan, and adopt a course of action. Dartmouth needs to stop this nonsense about sighs and head shaking, stressed out recess breaks, and the like. Lead, follow, or get out of the way, but please, give us a plan.

You can comment on this post by clicking on comments below