As the town nears completion of the 2010 budget process, I am encouraged by what has happened. We are approaching a situation where our budget and the growth of our expenditures is sustainable from our recurring revenue. There are still challenges even within the current fiscal year. Fortunately the Finance Committee recommended and Town Meeting voted to put an additional $500K in the Stabilization Fund last year in anticipation of an economic downturn. That was proved to be a wise choice and the money will be needed to meet our FY 09 expenses. A $300K grant of state pothole funds has not been received and probably won't be forthcoming.
For FY2010, the governor's budget included $365 million in room and meals taxes. That tax has yet to be passed and its prospect are uncertain. That may impact our state aid. Several factors have allowed the town to reach a proposed budget that doesn't require tax increases or mass layoffs for FY2010.
The first is a $1.2 million dollar reduction in required school spending because student population went down by 120 students. Whether that is temporary ...
... or a change in town demographics is not yet known. The town departments have aggressively sought consolidations and reductions and most are going to get a lower dollar amount than they spent this year.
Dartmouth's FY2010 budget contains no money for salary increases for any town employees. However contracts for all the town unions will be negotiated by July 1. If the town and unions cannot reach agreement that on the zero increases, that will cause a budget shortfall and result in layoffs of employees. That is the stark truth of the matter. Furthermore any increases roll up costs year over year and could mean continued deficits and future layoffs as well. Holding the line on salaries is one critical area where our planning can go off the tracks.
Getting to this point has required some sacrifices. The townspeople now pay a fee for trash and voted a Prop 2-1/2 override last year. The town departments have scaled back on spending. There have been and will be layoffs of a few employees. That is regrettable but necessary in order to reach a sustainable budget. The net result is that our town may be finding its fiscal footing even in these difficult times. If we continue to seek efficiencies, consolidate and regionalize services, the next few years may get us to a budget which we can sustain for the long term. At that point, the taxpayers can make decisions about what services they would like to add and are willing to pay for through overrides.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Light at the end of the tunnel
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29 comments:
So long as the student population keeps shrinking and we dont go crazy and give raises out should be in good shape.
The Dartmouth school committee hands out raises, not the Dartmouth board of selectmen. It's the school committee people who need to stop giving away our tax money. Once the school committee allows pay increases the town SHALL pay the freight, but the school committee is not in control of generating revenue to or for the general fund.
Mike-I dint understand. The town pays the minimum allowed by law. How does that jibe with your assertion that the school committee gives away town money? Answer: It does'nt.
If 40R goes through, at some point we may well find ourselves with an increased student population to finance, along with other financial problems. It's always the money for somebody.
Yes God forbid we get more kids in this town.
whats next mandatory birth control?
That will only be mandatory for yuppie school whiners
Has anyone noticed the reduction of blogger comments since the election? It appears all of the Gilbert supporters (aka CFRG)have taken their ball and went home. I guess they were the ones always looking to smear and tear down. This blog may become a real discussion forum after all.
it is pathetic that people actually complain about kids...are you people kidding me...kids are one of the most important citizens of this town along with the elderly. NOW if you dont have kids and are complaining about taxes going to the schools...guess what , dont you want the best for our(country) economic future..we have to have a well educated population of up and coming leaders and we cant do that with out a excellent school system. It makes me sick that people complain about a school system that they went through and didnt have to pay for...but whn it's their DIME ...they complain. ..Hey here's one for ya..if your never used the police department maybe you shouldnt have to pay for them either...but when you get mugged DONT call them ..cause they will charge you by the hour
well Swamp yankee maybe on of these kids will invent a time machine and go back and help your father invent the condom
The school waste money because they give raises to the teachers but then come to Town Meeting and say we need books and computers for the kids but we dont have enough money. If they did not give out raises for everyone then minimum would be enough to run the schools and get most of the books and computers but when you factor in the extra money on books and computers then we are above minimum.
Giving teachers a reasonable wage is wasting money? Don't see it that way myself but given the attitude of many on this blig I should not be surprised.
Swamp yankee seems to be the whiner here. We need some more under-educated laborers coming out of Dartmouth to help man all the factories and mills that can't seem to find enough help to keep the looms running and the whale ships crewed. Not to mention slop the pigs and tend to the horses back on the farm.
The problem here is the fact that according to some of these bloggers the teachers dont make a reasonable wage. The teachers make more than the blogger so they dont need a raise. how many here have masters degrees. I didnt know the crickets were out already.Another problem is the school committee negotiates three year contracts. things can change alot in three years. A reasonable wage increase in year one could sound outlandish by year three if the economy tanks. The only ones who apparently can see into the future reside here at Bill's because theyre always ready to I told you so or armchair quarterback cause they never get out of the armchairs.
Here's an idea. Since the contracts are for three years and I can't see into the future, let's not guarantee raises. Instead we make them contingent on available funding. Since we weren't smart enough to do this last time and ended up giving raises when we couldn't afford them, we can start this year of the three year pact with 0 raises.
Here's another idea. When we figure out how much of a raise we can afford to give, the increase in the cost of benefits gets included. Once the cost of benefits is included, the total increas cannot exceed 2 1/2%.
Okay, for all of you who want to once again twist things, here goes: More kids means more crowding in OUR schools, at least. Wasn't it just a few short years ago the Dartmouth Parents Group, with Selectwoman Stone, and the Coalition for Dartmouth, with Ms. Jenkins and Mr. Roscoe, at the helm, along with other incensed parents screamed that first Quinn was overcrowded as a result of Dr. Russell's decision to close Gidley and Cushman, and then the Middle School was overrcrowded?
That being the case, yes, let's add more kids to our population. Gives people something to complain about, twist things around, and start insulting posters.
How about a reality check here? Shall we make things worse, try to make them better, or at least maintain the best we can, all the while working to improve our situation?
Or shall we just add more children to our already overcrowded school system, thereby assuring the children already in the system face further obstacles with overcrowding, lack of appropriate educational materials, etc.?
Don't bother screaming for overrides. You will not get them from residents any time soon, and don't bother using the anti-kids, anti-education argument; it's getting stale.
Those doing a lion's share of the screaming came from the Dartmouth parents Group (Stone) and the Coalition for Dartmouth (Jenkins/Roscoe.)
They were screaming for an OVERRIDE.
Getting paid $60,000 to $70,000 for working 186 days a year is very good compensation. 52 weeks times 5 days a week is 260 days. That's the number of days most people with or without master's degrees work. Many work much more for less money. Cry me a river about the poor teachers. They'll say it's all about the kids but their actions tell me it's all about the money.
You will get their argument, though, that they have classes to attend to maintain their jobs, and papers to grade, etc.
Talk about stale......
Hey 10:07- the average person works every week five days a week. No holidays, no vacation days. Where do they work ??? On Mars??? The average worker probably works about 220 days when you factor in the holidays, sick, vacation days etc. Today, in America, a college education at a state school costs 40,000/4years, and that doesn't include lodging or meals. Check UMass Dartmouth. Secondly, a mortgage to live in dartmouth (assume $270,000 house) with taxes and insurance will cost $1600/month. See local mortgage quotes online.
$60,000 dollars a year is liveable today, but certainly not excessive!!
I get thre weeks leave and ten holidays. That is a total of 25 days off. 52 weeks x 5days= 260-25 days off = 235 days of work per year.
So you work 47 weeks not the 52 weeks listed above.
Could you afford to buy your house in Dartmouth today and make a mortgage payment of $1600-$2000 per month on a home? That's what our children who are graduating today and seeking employment are up against.
And remember, that is a typical $270,000-$300,000 home in Dartmouth. These "bigger houses" exceed this number.
If a teacher works 190 days, that equals 38 weeks. I work 9 more weeks than a teacher. I have no problem giving teachers fair compensation but crying that they don't make enough to survive is really a stretch. Don't forget that they are extremely well taken care of throughout their retirement years.
Funny how the folks who want nothing more than to raise taxes are all of a sudden worried about how much it costs to live in Dartmouth. It must be contract negotiation season. I would venture a guess that there are a whole lot of people trying to live on less than what teachers make.
The average teacher makes about $60,000 per year. If you add the 30% of salary that they receive in benefits, it becomes $80,000. I could live quite nicely on that.
9:22: Why not get your degree in education, get certified, get your masters degree to stay certified, see how close your salary/benefit estimates are as well as if the profession is all you've got it cracked up to be. Then, I'll be curious to see what you have to say.
Become a teacher then instead of complaining about how well they have it. I think if they had it so well and it was easy most posters here would be teachers by now
The teachers may work 186 days a year but it is no easy job. They put in a lot of their own money to buy supplies, keep extra snacks for the children who do not bring snacks and have to put up with parents who think that their child is the only one in the class. Out of a class of 22 or 23 students there about half of the parents that want to dictate to the teachers what and what not to teach "their" children. If a teacher notifies a parent that their child has a behavioral or learning problem, they react that it is the teacher who is not doing a good job. Teaching is not an easy job. So before you knock the teaching profession try walking in their shoes.
Most(not ALL) people enter the field of teaching because they love children and have a gift. Not everyone can teach. It is more than a 40 hour a week job, but I think most teachers wouldn't trade their job for another profession. Like most people right now, I think the teachers understand that the economy is not good and they might have to suffer like the rest of us. Nurses, X-Ray techs, firemen,etc. are all taking a hit.
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