Taxachusetts no more

Bob at Blue Mass Group has this post about the ranking of Massachusetts compared to the other states in taxation.

Care to hazard a guess where the Bay State falls on the list.

Top ten, Nope
Top half, nope.

(Answer after the jump)

Massachusetts ranked 38th out of the 50 states in taxes, between Nevada and South Carolina.
Conversely, Massachusetts ranks number 5 in average per capita income at $59,963.
Click here to read on!

Congressional Budget Office says a strong public option saves money

Here is the link.
That represents the savings to the government. Having lower premiums will save money, lots of money, for individuals and companies as well. That's why the public option is so important to reforming the system.
Why don't we ever hear that on our teevee?

Total spending on health care, per person, 2007:
United States: $7290
Switzerland: $4417
France: $3601
United Kingdom: $2992
Average of OECD developed nations: $2964
Italy: $2686
Japan: $2581
These other countries spend a fraction of what we do on health care and they have better outcomes in many respects. We are being robbed of fortune and health by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Are you OK with that?
Click here to read on!

Standard Times weighs in on Deputy Police Chief

The Standard Times ran an editorial today about the decision to look outside the police department when hiring a deputy chief.
Curt Brown has a blog post here and an article here about the issue.
Applicants have been narrowed down to 26 from over 70 initially. Responses to written questions are due Friday ...

..from the remaining candidates. These will be reviewed and the field reduced to 5 or 6. Those candidates will be interviewed. The final selection will be from that group.
No members of the current force or the Sheriff's department are in the final 26.
What are your thoughts about the process and the new Deputy Chief coming from outside the department?
Click here to read on!

Fall Annual Town Meeting warrant

I have uploaded the Fall Town Meeting warrant here. The warrant is 12 articles.
Two for street acceptances
Two to fund Community Preservation Committee projects
One zoning change to accept the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone maps
One bylaw on buying American made flags
Two for budget line item supplements
(more after the jump)

One to fund capital improvements
One to place money in the Stabilization Fund
Two budget housekeeping articles, prior year invoices and 2010 Schedule A line item transfers
Should be pretty straightforward and a short meeting. Although I am frequently surprised by what get extensive discussion.
Tell me what you think might draw comment or foster controversy in comments
Click here to read on!

Select Board meeting thoughts

Kudos to Ed Iacaponi who filled in as interim Executive Administrator while a new Executive Administrator was hired.
The hearing for the wind turbine project was postponed to a future date. There were a fair number of people, perhaps 50, there for the hearing. Siting issues was the reason for the postponement.
The majority of the meeting was taken up on discussion of the Town Meeting warrant for October 20th. Thirteen articles were proposed and 12 were advanced. The article to bond for the wind turbines was dropped as it appears that the permit will not be finalized by the Town Meeting. There was extensive discussion about fees ...

... and whether or not to eliminiate some of them, which fees to eliminate and what amount to dedicate to that effort. In the end, the Board decided to provide $52,000 to reduce fees for the Park Department contingent upon the Park Board voting to reduce those fees. The funds were diverted from various other budget supplement line items. The Finance Committee will review the warrant on Thursday and weigh in with their recommendations to Town Meeting.
I will publish the warrant when I get the updated copy.
Click here to read on!

Sprung buildings

Dartmouth has a couple of very large buildings in storage (160ft by 70 ft and 200 ft by 100 ft, I think) that could be used to store equipment. The buildings are called Sprung Instant Structures and are easy and cheap to erect. These buildings are federal government surplus and were procured through the Harbormaster's efforts. Many town departments, police, DPW, Parks, COA, Harbormaster, and others have a need to store equipment that is not in everyday use. Currently the storage is a hodge podge of buildings, parking lots and sheds in locations throughout the town. Erecting one or more of these buildings would give the town a central location for storage of the equipment. The buildings are fabric covered ...

... and the manufacturer needs to inspect and repair the covering before the structure is erected. There is a request on the Fall Town Meeting Warrant for capital improvement funds to get one of these buildings built. The proposed location is behind the police station on Russell's Mills Road.
I think it is a good use of the town's funds. Some of the equipment is being stored outside and in open sheds where it is being degraded by constant exposure to the elements. This building could extend the life of that equipment. Additionally the building would consolidate of the storage in one location, cutting down time and miles. The Finance Committee is not so sure. I hope that Town Meeting will approve this funding request.
Click here to read on!

New Executive Administrator contract

For those who are interested, the contract for the new Executive Administrator, Mr. David Cressamn, can be found at a link from this post at Curt's Brown's Standard Times blog.

His job description and goals and objectives are also included at the link.
Click here to read on!

Bob Dylan on Friday

Desolation Row



part 2 next week
Click here to read on!

Paul Kirk appointed as interim US Senator

Here is the news via Blue Mass Group.
Not all are happy with the appointment.
Kirk will not run for the seat

What do you think? I think it doesn't matter much.
Click here to read on!

Finance Committee agenda and schedule 9/24

Preliminary Agenda 9/24/09:
· 6:30 Ray Medeiros Jr.
· 6:45 Planning board/ DPW: Street acceptances
· 7:00 Planning board: Flood Maps
· 7:15 CPC
· 7:40 Budget discussions
· One time revenues (CIP, Stab fund, Revenue contingency, Full Day K)
· Operating budget
· 8:30 Adjourn



Remaining FinCom Schedule:

1 Oct in Select Board meeting room
· Warrant Recommendations

6 Oct (Tuesday) in Select Board meeting room
· All Materials due to town clerk for mailing.
· Complete Warrant recommendations if necessary

8 Oct

15 Oct

20 Oct (Tuesday) Fall TM


Click here to read on!

More on perpetual contracts, the never ending story.

Despite the notoriety and attention focused on the now infamous self renewing contracts provided to some town employees as I posted about here, here and here, there is still more to this story.
A brief recap is in order. The Municipal Paralegal had a contract drawn up by a Boston law firm which inserted job and salary protection language into the contract. That contract language has been characterized as not in the interests of the town. Nonetheless, the Select Board at the time signed off on these contracts. The new contracts were signed in 2006, in the middle of the term of the existing three year contracts, superceding them.
Now it has come to light that an addendum to the Municipal Paralegal's contract was signed in 2007, a year after the new contract was signed. This contract addendum increases a stipend that is paid to the Municipal Paralegal and seeks to further restrict the Town's ability to adjust pay and duties. This addendum was not signed by the Select Board ...

... but only by the Executive Administrator, Budget Director and the Municipal Paralegal.
The Finance Committee have looked into the pay received by the Municipal Paralegal and the numbers never seem to add up. For instance in 2008, the Standard Times website lists the compensation received by the Paralegal as over $80,000. The information presented at that time was that the Paralegal was paid about $68,000. Adding the $8,000 provided by the addendum brings the total to $76,000. Recently, I learned that overtime is also paid to the Paralegal from the grant funds. It seems that would explain where the additional $4,000 came from. Why overtime is required to administer a grant is a subject to be explored further. Perhaps that is a task for Mr. Cressman when he starts in October.
At the Town Meeting in June, there was some discussion about the pay of the Municipal Paralegal. The Finance Committee had voted to reduce the line item for the salary by 15% or about $10,000. The Town Meeting voted $3,500 to partially restore the cut. Article R of the draft warrant for the Fall Town Meeting has a budget supplement for $7,140.95 to restore the remaining funds.
The Select Board has declined to renew the contract of the Municipal Paralegal and it is unclear whether the automatic renewal clause has carried the provisions of that contract forward. It is also unclear, but, I think, likely allowed by the Town Charter, Section 4.4, that the Executive Administrator had the authority to amend the contract. Whether that is a preferable practice is another matter.
What is not in question is whether the Town Meeting has the authority to set the compensation of the Municipal Paralegal. We'll see what the Finance Committee recommends and the Town Meeting enacts.
Click here to read on!

AP grant at work in Fall River

The Herald News reports here that a grant from the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative has doubled the number of their students who are taking advanced placement (AP) courses. In the article Assistant Superintendent Victor Capellan said

“Not only does this grant provide our district with an infusion of close to $700,000 over the next five years, but more importantly it provides an additional vehicle for students to succeed, we are already seeing the results, and our students are already reaping the benefits of this partnership.”

I hope that Dartmouth can join this program in the future.

A previous attempt to implement it was nixed by the teachers union as I posted here.
Click here to read on!

Full day kindergarten and the town budget

Curt Brown has a post here about efforts underway to bring full day kindergarten to all Dartmouth kids. The post says,

"The plan, along with a funding request, will be presented to the spring Town Meeting in June."

Another part of Curt's post quotes School Superintendent Dr. Russell as estimating that 260 students would likely be enrolled.
I support the goal of having all kids attend full day kindergarten. There are tons of evidence ...

... that early childhood education provides a lot of benefit.
That said, the Town does not have the money to fund a full day kindergarten in September. This is not as much a concern to the School Committee as it is to the Select Board and other town departments. Once the children are enrolled in classes, the state will raise the required school spending for the Town. For 260 students at roughly $9,300 per student, that raises the Town's required school spending a whopping $1.2 million. You may have noticed that $9300 times 260 is $2.4 million. But since the Town already has 1/2 day kindergarten, the number is halved since we are already assessed 1/2 the amount as required school spending. As you can see, that is a big increase and some reduction would be seen in increased Chapter 70 aid from the state. The final result would be around $900K to $1 million.
Once the full day kindergarten program is established, the Town is required to fund it by the state's minimum school spending formula. The school department is guaranteed the money. But if Dartmouth doesn't have the revenues to support the increased cost, cuts will have to come from other town departments, police, DPW, library, COA. There's need for caution here.
Click here to read on!

Congressman Frank proposes "death panels"

Congressman Barney Frank confirmed today that the House will pass legislation for death panels. Sara Palin was right. Watch it!



Love him, hate him or in between,...

... our Congressman is a lot of fun to listen too. I like the guy and his attitude.
Click here to read on!

ACORN and Lockheed Martin barred from federal contracts?

I love this one! Check out Ryan Martin's article over at the Huffington Post about the bill just passed to defund ACORN. It seems the bill may have been a bit too broadly worded.
Oh well, I can only hope that our military industrial complex would get banned but they have plenty of money for lawyers unlike a loose grouping of community organizers.
ACORN may come out OK too ...

Turns out the whole bill may be a "bill of attainder"
Click here to read on!

Reception for new Executive Adminstrator, Oct 8th

There will be a reception to welcome our newly hired Executive Administrator, David Cressman, on Oct. 8. The reception will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Art Gallery room at Town Hall. The public is invited and light refreshments will be served.

See you there.
Click here to read on!

School fees and Fall Town Meeting

Curt Brown has a post at his blog here about reducing school activity fees. The School Committee voted to cut the fees in half if the Town Meeting passes an article to fund the difference. The draft warrant article (Article R) can be found at this link in MS WORD format. My preference is for the town meeting to provide funds to eliminate the fees entirely. The difference is $57,000. The money could come departmental turn backs and would not be recurring revenue. However if the money is not available next year, then some of the fees can be reinstated.
In this economic climate, I think that it is important to reduce the stress on taxpayers, especially those with children, if we can. I believe that is the case this year. The transportation account alone returned $263,000. That amount would have been even higher, ...

... but the school department bought three vans to use to transport special needs children to off site locales. That purchase is a fiscally good move and I am not criticizing it, just pointing out that there was substantial remainder in that budget this year and some of that money can go to fee reduction this year. Next year the transportation contract is up for renewal and we will have to see what the cost are.
I am not sure what the rationale was to not go for eliminating the fees rather than cutting them in half. I guess the Town Meeting could pass $57,000 for halving the fees and $57,000 for their elimination, contingent upon the School Committee doing so.
What do you think?
Click here to read on!

General Court passes bill to allow Senate appointment

UPDATE!
TPM reports that the bill has passed the House and goes to the Governor. Does not take effect unless an emergency is declared.
Read it here

From Talking Points Memo blog, here is an article about the state Senate passage of a bill to allow Governor Patrick to appoint a US Senator until a special election is held to fill the late Senator Kennedy's seat.
The Boston Globe weighed in with this opinion today, putting former Governor Michael Dukakis forward ...

... as the best candidate for the interim appointment. According to the TPM blog, the Governor may make the appointment as early as this week.
Is Dukakis the right man or do you like someone else? Let us know in comments.
Click here to read on!

Support local agriculture

Dr. Antone Vieira of UMass Dartmouth emailed me this announcement

A discussion on revitalizing financial support for the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Industry

Sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth,
Professional and Continuing Education
October 16, 2009
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center
Fall River, MA
10 am to 11:30 am

The full notice in MS Word format can be found at this link.
More after the jump

Discussion topics to include:

• Funding agricultural business plans including land and equipment needs
• Matching farmers with affordable agricultural land and funding opportunities
• Protecting farmland as farmland
• Sustainable small-scale agriculture models and present challenges (New England Small Farm Institute)
• Identifying follow-up needs to support the local farmer and in turn help promote the local agricultural industry

Local food sources are critical to healthy communities. Attend and learn how you can help.
Click here to read on!

Capital Improvement recommendations to Finance Committee

UPDATE-Latest CIP recomendations as of 9/17 posted at link below

The Capital Improvement Planning (CIP) committee has issued their list of spending for consideration by the Finance Committee and the Town Meeting. This is a link to their recommendations in MS Excel format. This list includes $225K for police equipment, mainly vehicles. $260K for DPW, snow plow trucks and road repair. $85K for library parking lot, HVAC, and handicapped access. $875K for school building upgrades and textbooks and technology. &590K for town building repair and upgrade.
Some items were put on hold ...

... by the committee. $600K for school boilers, $200K for full day kindergarten readiness, and $9.5 million for wind turbines.
The Finance Committee will review the list tomorrow at 7PM in room 315 of the Town Hall.
What do you think about the list?
Click here to read on!

Disband the NTSB, FAA and FDA

The opposition to health care reform have decided that the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution forbids the federal government from passing legislation regulating health care insurance. Some blogs have named those taking this stand as "tenthers". Over at the American Prospect, Ian Millhiser explained it this way,

"Tenthers divine all this from the brief language of the 10th Amendment, which provides that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In layman's terms, this simply means that the Constitution contains an itemized list of federal powers -- such as the power to regulate interstate commerce or establish post offices or make war on foreign nations -- and anything not contained in that list is beyond Congress' authority."

So the tenthers read the Constitution ...

... and finding no mention of health care insurance conclude that the federal government has no power to pass laws on health care. Setting aside the fact that the federal government already runs the nation's largest health care insurance operation, Medicare, there are many other necessary and useful roles that the US government fulfills which are not mentioned in the Constitution.. By the same tenther logic, you can conclude that the federal government has no authority to regulate automobile, rail, or air travel safety or the safety of pharmaceuticals. But the feds have been doing that for well over a century and I think most Americans are quite happy that they do. Cars, trains, airplanes and pharmaceuticals were unknown when the Constitution was written. What do you think? Is the FAA an overreach of federal authority? Should the market decide which drugs are safe for your use? Comment below.
Click here to read on!

Regional meeting in the news

The Fall River Herald News has this to report on last Thursday's meeting in Dartmouth.
Also see my post here.
Having the cities in the mix, the Fall River and New Bedford mayors both sent representatives to the meeting, is encouraging. Both cities may be able to offer services to towns ...

... on a fee for service basis, especially in these tough times for municipalities. It might be a way to give furloughed workers employment.
What do you think?
Click here to read on!

Police department organization and rumors

Several years ago, the Police Chief proposed a new structure for the department. It went to Town Meeting for approval and a Special Act of the General Court was required to change the structure due to civil service law. Both bodies have passed the change. A graphic representation of the new structure can be found at this link. The proposed structure has a Chief and Deputy Chief who are not covered by civil service. The remaining command structure are a captain, three lieutenants, and 7 sargeants, all under the civil service. The town has been trying to move to this arrangement for some time. With the retirement of our two captains, Captains Brooks and McGuire, this is an opportune time to go to the new system.
One of the aims of the new arrangement is to reduce the amount of overtime paid in normal manning of the three shifts, or reliefs as they are called in the department. We have already realized some reductions. Some overtime is cannot be avoided. If an officer is in the midst of a call for an accident or investigation or must appear in court, that may require some overtime.
There is a search underway ...

... within the department and nationally to identify and recruit a Deputy Chief. None of the candidates is employed by the Bristol County Sheriff's Department.
Until the field is narrowed to a few candidates, we will not disclose their identities as it may prejudice their current employer.
I hope this post answers some questions and lay to rest some rumors that have been circulating in the comments.
Click here to read on!

Draft warrant for fall Town Meeting

UPDATE! NEW DRAFT AS OF 9/17 AT LINK BELOW

A draft of the Fall Annual Town Meeting warrant can be found at this link.
CAVEAT! WARNING! NOTICE!
This is a draft warrant, not an official warrant. There can and WILL be changes to this warrant.
Only the Town Clerk can issue the official warrant.
The draft warrant is presented here for discussion and informational purposes only.

One more time, it's a draft. The Select Baord has not approved it, the Finance Committe has not made recommendations.
Any thoughts on the draft warrant?
Click here to read on!

Whe-e-e-e-e Highway 61 Revisited

A Friday dose of Dylan


And he said yes I think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to Highway 61.
Click here to read on!

Towns hear about regional successes and failures

Kim LeDoux's New Bedford Standard Times article on the meeting can be found here Steve Poftak, research director for Pioneer Institute, spoke about efforts around the Commonwealth and what he saw as areas of momentum and areas of friction.
The Pioneer Institute has released a study on regional services that can be found at this link.
For momentum building, Mr. Poftak noted that starting small can lead to successes in shared services that can be built upon. Areas of opportunity can also lead to shared services where retirements or budget cuts have left positions vacant. He emphasized that regional services can lead to more and better services, ...

... rather than only reduced costs.
Areas of friction, that Mr. Poftak sees are lack of support from employees and management for changing service delivery and provincialism.
The New Bedford representative at the meeting noted that there did not seem to be many examples of a city and smaller towns sharing services. The panel and attendees agreed. I think that one way that towns and cities could share personnel is for city employees who are facing mandatory furloughs could provide service to surrounding towns. For example, a health inspector in New Bedford could do inspections in Dartmouth or Acushnet on days that that employee would have been forced to take off.
As i wrote here, Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District(SRPEDD) presented the result of a survey that they had conducted among the region's municipalities on which services they would like to investigate shared services. The list included E911 dispatch, Conservation/Health inspection, financial services, and others. Subcommittees of the group will form to further investigate options.
Click here to read on!

Regionalization summit tonight

Dartmouth will host a regionalization summit tonight where a survey of regional towns conducted by Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District(SRPEDD) will be presented. The meeting will be held in Room 304 at the Town Hall Click here to read on!

Finance Committee agenda and schedule

Dr. Friedman, chair of the Finance Committee, forwarded this schedule and agenda.

Agenda 9/10/09:
· FinCom Representation to Full Day K committee
· Budget breakdown FY2009 money
CIP
Stab fund
Contingency for Revenue Shortfall
Full day k startup
· FY 2010 money. Discussion to include
Possible Fee reductions
Supplementing operating budgets
Protecting for town initiative such as full Day K money
Saving as contingency for reduced state aid or local receipts shortfalls

Preliminary Agenda 9/17/09:
· 6:30 AEC: Wind turbine
· 6:50 CIP committee (including school department CIP)
· 7:30 Schools
· 8:15 Housekeeping articles (Ed)

Remaining FinCom Schedule:

24 Sep
· Planning board/ DPW: Street acceptances
· CPC

1 Oct in Select Board meeting room
· Warrant Recommendations

6 Oct (Tuesday) in Select Board meeting room
· All Materials due to town clerk for mailing.
· Complete Warrant recommendations if necessary

8 Oct

15 Oct

20 Oct (Tuesday) Fall TM

The Select Baord is hosting a regional summit of towns tonight at 6PM. I am going to try to shuttle between the meetings.
Click here to read on!

School bus fees dropped

The Select Board, in a joint meeting with the School Committee, voted to drop school bus transportation fees for this school year. The bus transportation account returned $263,000 at the end of FY09. The school department has negotiated a bus contract that did not increase for three years. We are in the third year of that contract, so we know that the cost will not raise dramatically this year. The town has budgeted the same amount as last year so we should have enough to offset the loss of the fees. The total collected in transportation fees last year was only slightly more than $90,000.
There was some discussion, ...

... prompted by Mr. Lynam of the Finance Committee, about removing other fees and funding the difference from one time revenue at the Fall Town Meeting. Mr. Lynam said that he felt that this challenging economic time is one in which the town can help struggling families, even if it is temporary. The School Committee agreed to go back and look into the dropping fees for this year. The Select Board would ask the Town Meeting to approve a line item transfer or appropriation to replace the funds lost from fees. The total collected from fees, not including transportation, brought in about $115,000 last year. High school parking fees are not included in that amount. The school administration did not support dropping parking fees because of limited parking space available. I do not support dropping those fees because I do not want any more teenage driving miles.
Click here to read on!

State Finance Director sees trouble ahead

The Boston Globe reports that State Finance Secretary Kirwan sees the potential for so called 9C or mid year budget cuts for FY 2010 which began on July 1st. One Massachusetts website has a pretty good explanation here of what 9C cuts are and how they work.
The Globe reports,

Administration officials are monitoring tax collections this month and readying plans to reduce spending.

...

...“We are not going to make that call until Oct. 15,’’ Kirwan said.

In past economic turn downs, state revenues did not recover until well after the beginning of the recovery. Some of the biggest cuts came after the recovery had begun. The Globe also points out that the state's own rainy day fund is down to $500 million from the $2.3 billion it had two years ago.
Click here to read on!

President to address the Congress on health care reform

Tonight at 8 PM, President Obama will address a joint session of the Congress to talk about health care reform. I prefer to watch C-SPAN for these types of things. Other outlets will have the familiar liberal/conservative faceoffs which generally are completely unproductive and more about the back and forth of process than about the issue at hand. I could care less ...

... what David Gergen has to say. Don't want to ever hear from Dick Morris in my lifetime. So where do you like to watch and why?
Click here to read on!

Wind turbine project clears a hurdle

The Technical Research Group (TRG) has approved the permit for two 100 meter hub height wind turbines to be sited on town lands in the Paskmansett Valley. Dr. Ron DiPippo, chair of the Alternative Energy Committee (AEC)sends this report;

Hi all,
The TRG voted 5-0 to recommend the Special Permit to the Select Board.
The meeting included a presentation by ADE representatives Simon Thomas and Rich Tabaczynski. Two residents also attended and asked questions: Roseanne O'Connell and Bridget Earle.
The Select Board will hear the application on September 28 at its regular meeting.
By then, ADE will have updated the Photo-Sim, the Shadow-Flicker, and the Noise Studies to conform to the new locations for the North and South Turbines. The North Turbine had to be moved some 200 feet to the west to avoid wetlands and a much smaller shift was needed for the South Turbine. While the details of each study will change somewhat, the same general conclusions are expected to hold, namely, that the project fully complies with Section 34 of the Zoning Bylaws.
ADE has promised the final report on Friday, September 18. It will include an executive summary 3-5 pages, a set of site plans, and separate reports for each of the three aforementioned studies. They will need a refined mapping of the wetlands around the North Turbine site which Dave Hickox will provide as soon as possible.
The town will notify closest neighbors of the SB hearing and invite their attendance.
Materials will be posted on the AEC webpage as they become finalized. Print copies likewise will be placed on reserve at the Southworth Library, ahead of the SB hearing. Roger Race will see that these tasks are carried out in my absence.
The AEC thanks all who have contributed to this project so far.

ADE is Atlantic Design Engineers, ...

... the firm hired to prepare the turbine permits.
The permit now goes to a public hearing by the Select Board. That means the public can attend and comment on the proposal, pro or con. I believe that the Select Board will approve the permit and hope that teh Town Meeting would appropriate the funds at the Fall Town Meeting on October 20th.
Click here to read on!

Why a public option is needed

For me, the case for including a public option in health insurance reform comes down to cost control. Most of us, don't really have an option when buying health insurance. Our employer offers a plan and that is what we get. Some larger employers may offer several different plans with different degrees of coverage. But many do not. In Massachusetts, we have mandated coverage and the bill now before the US House would require the same thing nationally. But if the only choices are private insurances with their demonstrated inability to control costs, then we are forcing people to buy into a system that doesn't achieve one of (and I think maybe the most important) goals of reform. Massachusetts has found that costs have not been adequately restrained and is considering new measures to do so. The areas where a public option program can better private insurances ...

... are profits and administration costs. The public option program would be non-profit and, if Medicare administration costs can be matched or even approximated, would have significantly lower admin costs.
Paul Krugman's New York Times opinion is one of the best arguments for a public option that I have read to date. He concludes with this,

the argument against the public option boils down to the fact that it’s bad because it is, horrors, a government program. And sooner or later Democrats have to take a stand against Reaganism — against the presumption that if the government does it, it’s bad.

Click here to read on!

Select Board, School Committee and Finance Committee meet tonight

The Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee will meet jointly tonight at 6PM in Room 304 of town hall. One topic of discussion is sure to be funding of various capital projects. Mr. Lynam of the Finance Committee has this spreadsheet (MS Excel format) that shows the capital requests from the spring Town Meeting and those being currently proposed.
I have a list from Mr. Iacaponi that shows an additional $200K request for computers and technology from the school department which I don't see in Mr. Lynam's spreadsheet.
The $11 million total at the bottom may shock some people so I want to point out that $9.5 million is for wind turbines. Not all that bonding authority would be needed ...

... if state and federal grants are obtained. The grants are available and it is almost certain that we would qualify.
Other items up for discussion will be the amount set aside for the Stabilization fund, an amount to be reserved in the event of state aid reductions, and how to handle additional revenue from meals and hotel taxes.
Click here to read on!

Rally at the Boston Common

Several thousand people turned out on this beautiful Labor Day morning for a rally in support of health care reform. Attorney General Martha Coakley and Congressman Steve Lynch spoke. Both have taken out papers to run for the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Congressmen Markey, Capuano, and Tierney and Boston mayor Menino also spoke. The rally was followed by a march down Bolyston Street to Copley Square.
Check out this page from Frontline on how five other democracies provide helath care to their citizens. Of particular note, Switzerland enacted ...

... reform in 1994 and had about the same costs per capita at that time. The Swiss now spend about 65% of what the US spends for helath care.And here is the rest.
Click here to read on!

Yes, we can reform health care! Show your support!

Health Care Rally today at Boston Common 11PM.
Several members of Congressare reportedly attending

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003197401
Click here to read on!

September is Massachusetts Regionalization Month

Governor Patrick has declared September as Massachusetts Regionalization Month proclaiming that;

351 cities and towns deserve to be informed of local resources and tools;

Regionalization, or sharing of local services, can improve the efficiency and delivery of local services;

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Division of Local Services, and regional organization and planning agencies are addressing this issue and informing

Massachusetts municipalities of the benefits of sharing local services;

In some communities, it may be appropriate for cities or towns to partner with their neighboring community to merge services in order to maintain them
Regionalizing municipal services is an untapped resource ...

... that can save millions for the Commonwealth's taxpayers if carried to its full extents.
One area where regional services are taking hold is E911 call centers. On September 3rd, Lieutenant Governor Murray announced almost $8 million in grants to help municipalities implement regional 911 dispatch services. California has four 911 dispatch centers, Massachusetts with 1/10 the population has hundreds.
Public health is another area where regionalization could save municipalities. Boston University's School of Public Health has begun a project to help towns and cities identify areas for co-operation and savings. There is a working model of the regional approach in the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health. Fourteen towns in central Massachusetts have been sharing the costs of providing Board of Health services since 1931.
Communities in the South Coast of Massachusetts are using the regional planning agency, Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), to aggregate purchases of asphalt, road sand and salt, and other commodities in an effort to drive down costs.
Other areas where I think regional services could help to reduce costs are schools, conservation, planning, public works, policing, building inspection, animal control, health insurance, and many other areas. Some that you wouldn't expect such as Acushnet and Mattapoisett sharing a Town Accountant.
Local boards, agencies and employees hate the idea of regional services, so I think this is a change that must be driven by the taxpayers or by the mayors, managers and Selectmen.
Do you have any examples of regional solutions that are working for municipalities?
I would like to know what they are. Let me know in comments.
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Beyond here lies nothin'-Bob Dylan

Dylan of 2009

Well, I love ya pretty baby
You're the only love I've ever known
Just as long as you stay with me
The whole world is my throne
Beyond here lies nothin' ,nothin' we could call our own

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Our public discourse again (sigh)

Some people around the country are raising concerns about a presentation that the President is going to make to schoolchildren. The speech is to urge kids to stay in school and to work hard at their studies. Some conservative activists and Republican operatives are trying to portray that as some sort of insidious brainwashing to corrupt our youth.
I think this episode illustrates what Congressman Frank said at the forum in Dartmouth a few weeks ago. It is difficult to be ready to respond to these assertions because you can't reasonably anticipate them. Who would have thought that voluntary end of life discussion with your doctor would turn into "death panels". Likewise, how do you prepare to answer charges that urging kids to do well in school translates to creeping socialism. I think you can't prepare.
That said, I think that tristero over at Hullaballo has a correctly calibrated response in this quote,

"Highly-paid Republican operatives are behind the ludicrous accusation that the President of the United States intends to indoctrinate America's children in socialism when he talks to them on Tuesday about the importance of working hard in school. In their ridiculous efforts to bamboozle Americans, Republicans once again are perpetuating the dangerously divisive and unserious politics of the last Republican presidency, a presidency marked by a nearly perfect storm of disasters - from an unnecessary war in Iraq to a financial meltdown to the Republican administration's thoroughly incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina. "

The Department of Education response ...

...was more subdued,

“This isn’t a policy speech,” said Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. “It’s designed to encourage kids to stay in school. The choice on whether to show the speech to students is entirely in the hands of each school. This is absolutely voluntary.”

Tristero has treated the fake controversy as it should be treated. with contempt. I guess the Education Department thinks they are dealing with valid concerns or serious people. They are not. This is a completely contemptible effort by conservatives and Republicans to spread fear and question the legitimacy of our institutions. Beyond sad that they are reduced to ever more hideous and disgusting ploys to try to inspire fear in people rather than work together to better the country.
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Finance Committee report 9/3

The Finance Committee heard from the Budget Director that free cash from FY09 will amount to about $3.5 million dollars.
In discussing what should be done with the funds, the committee suggested

>That $1.1 million be placed in the Stabilization Fund to meet the target for replenishment of that fund.
>That about $1.1 million be used to fund capital projects that were not funded this year due to concerns about revenue.
>That $500K be placed in the Stabilization Fund to cover the likelihood that state aid will be cut mid year this year. Ms Jenkins pointed out that traditionally state budget revenues lag economic recovery and in past turn downs, the largest cuts in aid occurred after the economy began to rebound. Mr. Lynam pointed out that the state did not fund $1 million dollars in Chapter 70 aid at the end of last year and the difference was made up with federal stimulus funds which may not be available this year.
>That some amount of money be set aside for a capital needs savings fund. $500K was advanced as an appropriate amount. These funds would be used to fund capital projects annually until revenues were available to increase services such as a full day kindergarten. The reasoning behind this approach is that the money would be segregated and readily tracked in this manner. If it is distributed among departments, it becomes difficult to pull back out in the future.

A draft warrant was presented by Mr. Iacaponi. This warrant is very preliminary with few dollar amounts included. There are the standard housekeeping articles ...

... with line item transfers and unpaid invoice appropriations. There will be a few street acceptance articles, a capital improvement appropriation, acceptance of new flood zone maps from FEMA, an article to accept an chapter of Mass General Law to place handicapped parking fines in a special account fro handicapped access, an article to adopt a bylaw to require that US flags purchased by the town be made in this country, the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) will present articles for funding projects, and there may be an article to borrow for purchase and installation of wind turbines.
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Unofficial agenda for Finance Committee meeting tonight

Preliminary agenda:

1. Reserve fund transfer
2. Revenue update from Ed
3. Discussion of the overall budget strategy for one-time revenues
We could perhaps give the CIP committee an idea of the amount of money we would like to put in that direction.
4. Discussion of the overall budget strategy for recurring revenues.
5. Preliminary list of articles (Ed)
6. Plan overall schedule of agendas
7. I would also like to have an executive session.

See you there
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AG Coakley is in

Talking Points Memo article here on Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley declaring her candidacy for the open Senate seat.

Time for another woman in the US Senate?
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Capital Improvement procedures

The Finance Director, Mr. Iacaponi, forwarded this information from the Department of Revenue on capital improvement budget articles.
He also reviewed Dartmouth's policies as follows,

Good Morning:
Please review the attached information from the Department of Revenue
Technical Assistance Section regarding Capital projects.

The Town of Dartmouth's policy (past) practice has been:

1. Capital item of $10,000 or more

2. Useful life of three years

3. Bonding - Useful life of 5 years or more

4. Combine items if less than $10,000 (such as Technology items.

Thank you.
Ed Iacaponi

There will be an opportunity to fund some capital improvements at the Fall Town Meeting. The Capital Improvement Planning (CIP committee will be meeting ...

... to formalize their recommendations before the Fall Meeting. Check here for the schedule (no meetings of the CIP are scheduled this week)
What projects would you like to see the town fund? Why?
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Our public discourse (sigh)

Charley on the MTA over at Blue Mass Group nails this one. Here's his post, Stupidest Controversy Ever. This is what our media thinks is important? We have soldiers being killed daily in Afghanistan and Iraq, our financial institutions are a mess, and our health care system is bankrupting the nation. And the big news is that state reps try to avoid taxes, just like everyone else.
I also blame the talking head shows on teevee for the general lack of civility in our public discourse. If you watch these so called experts talk over each other, interrupt, and generally try to shout down the other side while failing to make a cogent argument for or against the issue at hand, I find it no small wonder that people then do the same in other public fora. I have just tuned out and gone to watch Discovery, CSPAN, or the History Channel, I hope that others will as well.

Senator Kerry from his town hall meeting in Somerville last night,

This is why the public option is so important. It will encourage the private sector to be more efficient and effective... Many systemic problems aren't addressed in the private system we have, so we need to fix those systemic problems... I just quoted you the costs... This is why we have to fix it.

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Rally for health care reform, Labor Day, Boston Common

UPDATE: Was supposed to be at the Common -- now starting @ Park Square, Boston, near the Arlington T stop on the Green Line.
Find details about this rally at this Blue Mass Group post

Labor Day Rally for Health Care Reform 11AM Boston Common. Be there!
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Congratulations to Detective Levesque

The Select Board voted to promote Detective Brian Levesque to sargeant last night. Congratulations to the detective, he is a fine officer as were the other candidates. The Select Board will be looking at other promotions to sargeant over the next few months as the command structure shakes out with promotions and retirements.

Some have commented that the recent promotions are going to cost the town more money. Not so, we pay lower ranking officers at the higher grade when they are serving in those slots.
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Dartmouth Police Department wins E911 grant

Chief Pacheco reports:

GOOD NEWS!
After a successful application and ultimate approval, I have the distinct pleasure to announce the State E911 Department has awarded Dartmouth $ 73,216.00 from its FY 2010 State 911 Department Support & Incentives Grant Program for use within our Communications Division here at Dartmouth PD.
For Fiscal Year 2010, twenty-five percent (25%) of the total surcharge revenues of phone service of the previous fiscal year shall be allocated to the support grant awards. Support grant awards shall be disbursed according to a formula that weighs both 911 call volume and the population served. The formula breakdown for Dartmouth made us eligible for $73,216.00 and we were awarded the entire amount. This grant expires June 30, 2010.
Most of the funding awarded will be used to offset the salaries and overtime expenses of our full time Communications Personnel in keeping with one of the subsection requirements of the grant. ($57,218.00)
The balance will be used to purchase enhanced equipment to our Radio Console and Computer Aided Dispatch System. ( $3,278.00 $12,720.00 respectively) as is allowed within the grant rules & regulations.
This grant and its intended uses have all been approved as of August 24, 2009.
I am still awaiting word on a second E-911 Training grant that I applied for, specifically for training and tuition of schools of Communications Personnel. That award should be coming out very soon and I’m confident we will be awarded that grant in its entirety also.
Respectfully,
Chief Mark Pacheco

Great job, Chief! Thank you.
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FY 2009 year end reconciliation

The documents linked in this post are unofficial. Only the Director of Budget and Finance has the official data. These figures have not been certified by the Department of Revenue and are for discussion only.
Link to the budget revenue and expense reconciliation
Link to departmental turn back data.
The first document above shows what revenues and expenses were, either above or below the projections and appropriations for FY09 which ended on June 30th.
Negative numbers are shown in parentheses.
The second document shows the amount remaining in the budget for each line in the first column, the amount of that which is encumbered in the second column(meaning there is a bill out there which has yet to be paid with that money) or the amount of a Town Meeting article appropriating those funds in the third column, and finally the balance remaining in the fourth column.
The total appropriation turn backs are about $3.33 million. As I said last night at the Select Board meeting, this amount represents a great effort on the part of town employees to watch spending. Some is due to positions that were not filled for some or all of the year. Some is due to not buying equipment that is needed but was put off. An $800K chunk is due to town employees opting into a lower cost insurance plan. That insurance appropriation has been reduced for FY10 and won't recur.
Over a half million was returned from the Reserve Fund which is almost unprecedented. Over $400K came from an amount that was set aside last year for capital improvements but appropriated at a Special Town Meeting in case needed after the state did not pay their final installment of Chapter 70 school aid. As it turned out, federal stimulus funds were provided for the difference. (That amount is the $1,018,000 that you see added in then subtracted at the end of the second document)
So we have a bit of money, most of it one time revenue to appropriate at Fall Town Meeting. About $1.1 million is slated to go into the Stabilization Fund. There were over a million dollars in capital projects ...

... not funded at the Spring meeting and they should be funded. I would like to see fees reduced. The transportation account at the schools returned more money than was collected in total for high school student bus fees. I would reduce or eliminate those bus fees. The health clinic at the Council on Aging is nearing completion and a small outlay would get it up and running, I would like to get that done. There are other fees that might be reduced or projects that could be accomplished as well. Here is Phil Lenz's letter at his website with some ideas. Where would you like to see the money applied?
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What if we could all have the Congress's plan?

Matt Ygelsias has a post on his blog about the question that has been asked to many Congressmen, "Why not let us have your plan?" Actually Congress has the same plan as all other civilian federal workers. Matt lays out the details of the costs and disadvantages of going to that plan here.
A letter in the Standard Times asked why Congressman Frank would not take the public option insurance. Link here with the title "Answer the question". Those who attended the meeting were given the answer. Congressman Frank is 69 years old ...

... and is enrolled in Medicare just like almost every other person in the country who is eligible for that government run health care insurance program.
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