Those who have been reading here know that I have maintained that override passage or not, some changes have to be made in our town. See my posts here or here, for example. Now that a few of the override questions passed, some town departments are ready to spend the whole amount next year. This is a horrible idea in my opinion and I will not support it as a Select Board member. I would like to see the town cut the rate of growth of expenditure by 1% this year and next. That would address our so-called structural deficit. Note that I am talking about the rate of growth being cut, not the absolute number of the appropriations. Even a 1% cut in the rate of growth of spending represents a 4% increase in spending. As is often the case when government spending is the topic, "cuts" are actually reductions in the increases.
Having been ready to lay off virtually the entire workforce in the Highway Department, the DPW now can't find a single person who is not indispensable. The school department is talking up the idea of getting Town Meeting to float a bond to pay for their textbooks. (Who pays the principal and interest on the note? The taxpayers!)The Library Board of Trustees has gone one better and has decided to spend the override funds that they feel are their due before a budget is approved or ......
...... the funds appropriated! The Library Trustees have taken it upon themselves to contract with the Library Director for a 3% pay increase for the year as well as a Cost of Living adjustment. I am sure we will hear about that 3% increase from every other employee whose contract is up and the bargaining units as well. Not a great way to start when you are looking for concessions from employees. The Library Trustees are also counting chickens before they have hatched. Their letter to the Select Board indicates that they are going to fill 3 "vacancies" before July 1, 2008. They just can't wait to get the budget approved or the money appropriated.
My view is that there are no vacancies in any town department. Every new employee is just that, new. New salary, new benefit cost, new pension liabilities. Apparently some town departments have no thought of how they will fund these increases next year. Another override? I won't be voting to put it on the ballot!
The taxpayers have done their part and voted to pay more taxes than the automatic 2-1/2% that they are faced with every year. It is time for the town departments to pony up something as well. Everyone is going to have to share in the sacrifices, employees and taxpayers, schools and town. If we have one department or the other going off on their own and making plans to spend at the expense of other departments, we will have a mess. That's not fair and I will use my vote on the Select Board to oppose such plans. We need to cut the rate of growth of expenditures to a sustainable level. That means departments are going to get less than their budget requests. That's what I am looking to accomplish on the Select Board. What do you think? Respond in comments below.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Override bonanza!
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14 comments:
Budgets have been cut for six years straight and you are surprised that dept's are ready to spend the modest sums the override pitched in? The DPW crew is the same size it was in the '60s with many miles more in roads and you think they can spare some bodies? I live in an average home in Dartmouth and saw my taxes decrease by just over $100 in 2007. The override if all passed would have been a net increase of $150. Seems fair to me. Why are you so willing to pick the pockets of your fellow citizens with highscool fees approaching $1000, Cost of living raises etc? Yes the voters have spoken, pls don't push that motto again, that doesn't mean they were right.
Whether you think the voters were right or not, has nothing to do with the reality that we face! The voters said NO and we must deal with that at the present time. I suppose you think you know best, you're smarter than the voters, they don't know what is best for them, etc. Sorry, but the voters and the voters alone get to decide and we have to live with it or choose to move! If you follow the Fin Com, you will know that every year we fall deeper and deeper into debt, unless we address our problems now! And, by the way, it's not a MOTTO, it happens to be called DEMOCRACY!
All departments will have to find ways to reduce their spending NOW, so that we don't go back to the voters (for another NO) next year. I understand that certain questions passed in the most recent override, but voters know that in order to avoid another override next year, even those department need to reduce their spending during this current year.
Maybe the DPW has more roads to maintain, I just don't understand why I see solid waste collectors finished with their routes at 11 am, and then are hiding out and doing nothing for the rest of the day. They don't seem all that busy to me!! Accountability??
Yes Kim, cut cut cut cut cut and then cut some more. Those DPW workers have lots of time on their hands. The library wants to spend the pittance the override granted them.
The 'no' folks scream put the text books out separatly and we'll support them - utter nonsense as we can see now by BillT's dismissal of the idea of floating a bond for a modest text book purchase. It's not worth the effort to move anything forward in this town. Cheap is cheap. Put the spare change in your pocket 'no' folks and feel good while you're doing it-save it cause you're gonna need it.
What part of NO don't you understand.
Go to a Fin Com meeting and talk to Greg L. We cannot keep up business as usual in Dartmouth! No, to floating bonds! That is just another way of saying more spending!The majority of Dartmouth residents,want more accountability in spending. That was evident with the outcome of our last override vote. Floating a bond.....no!
What is sad is that people cannot see that floating a bond to buy books and technology is only put forward so the school department can continue to offer increases rather than cut costs or freeze salaries. Town administrators and school department want business as usual, but the taxpayers are drowning in increased costs and a miserable economy.
The golden goose is on last legs! It seems that nothing short of bankruptcy will stop some folks from spending more money than is available.
The point is, it's other people's money they want to spend. The members of the community who don't seem to mind paying more taxes should give their money to the town or to a fund for textbooks or whatever fund is near and dear to them. If you can afford to pay more, then good for you but you should also be willing to put your money where your mouth is and stop whining to others who don't agree with you.
More whining and moaning from people that claim they can't afford one more red cent to fund a decent education in town. Keep it at the minimum!! Cheaping out on education will insure the future generations will be in the same boat as Dartmouth residents are now, living paycheck to paycheck with little hope for a better future. Oh well. Cut some more. Keep old books! Who cares anyway. Cut cut cut cut cut.........
Nice thread title BillT.
anonymous, you refer to Dartmouth residents who are living paycheck to paycheck with no hope for the future. These are the very same people who received an education in the Dartmouth schools that override proponents claim were so wonderful way back when. How can this be?
Bill -
The School IS NOT floating an idea of a bond to pay for our FY09 Capital Projects. These Capital Projects were submitted to the CIPC, as they are done every year along with many other requests from other Town departments, and they in turn recommend a certain number of them to be forwarded to the FinCom and subsequently Town Meeting. I don't understand your wording in this blog about that. Certainly after being in Town Meeting a number of years you are aware of these requests each and every year. They eight not be voted on every year, but the requests are made every year. How the Town pays for them is up to the Finance Director. Requests such as windows, computers, police cruisers, dump trucks and others are fixed assets that belong to the Town and used by different departments, therefore the cost has always and should be borne by the entire Town. It is the same thing as a corporation buying equipment. It purchases equipment for several departments, but overall the corporation owns that equipment. If you need a copy of our Capital Needs for FY09 and beyond, please go the school's website, click under the Budget binder and the PDF file will be on your right.
The school department has requested $667,000 for a capital improvement to update textbooks and technology. It is true that they did not specifically ask for a bond issue for the purpose. That said, the normal way the the town provides for capital project funding is through the issue of municipal bonds.
It seems to me that using a capital improvement request to fund books and computers is improper. These are not long lived assets which is what capital requests should be used for.
This is just another sneaky end run around the wishes of the voters. This is their way to keep the salaries, benefits and perks the same while still getting books and computers on the taxpayer's dime. If they are successful in getting the "capital improvement" money passed, they won't have to sharpen their pencils at all!
Then again, why should they have to cut back and live within their means like the lowly taxpayers? Aren't they special or something?
Anon (5/6) - Just another anonymous writer who does not wish to see anything but their own blind hatred. Why don't you try and see what is going on instead of blindly spewing out your prejudices.
Okay Bob J. - here is ANOTHER anonymous writer who wishes to SEE some compromise on the part of the school department and school committee. I also agree that the SD and SC need to CUT BACK and LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS!
That is not hate, Bob. That is just reality.
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