Police department employs web and cell notification system

You can receive email or cell phone notifications about community alerts and advisories from the Dartmouth Police Department by going to the Nixle website and registering as a subscriber. Just put in your information and it will automatically send you the updates as they are entered.

Another example of the innovative use of technology. Should other departments use this service too? What do you think? Is it an effective tool?
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On Line service request available at Public Works

This email tells how to access the system

Dear Mr. Trimble:

It has recently come to my attention that you have expressed interest in a web-based work order tracking system for the town. The DPW has been using such a system (Gov Q/A)internally since January of 2007. We track over 40 categories of work orders ranging from insurance recovery to requests for tree/brush trimming. This system has proven to be a valuable tool for the department. Earlier this year we added over 60 frequently asked questions and answers to the system and posted them on the website. And just recently, the department opened 7 of these work order categories...

...to the public in a portal on the town's website. This portal can be found by logging on to the town's website and clicking on the heading "Bulletin" (Bulletin Board_ from there (scroll down to see it) click on "DPW Frequently Asked Questions." This will lead you to the heading "Dartmouth Help Center." Residents can ask questions (Click on Ask Question)and post comments. They can also request work orders from the listing posted.(Click on Make Request) We anticipate that this link will be easier to find for our residents once the new website is developed.

Also, we recently posted a survey for the Board of Health on the town's website using this system's survey program. I would be happy to meet with you to answer any of your questions regarding Gov Q/A.

Sincerely,
Michelle DeFranco

Thanks for the information, Ms. DeFranco
The town should be doing this for all departments and it should be easy to access

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Friends of the Elderly seeking donations

Friends of the Elderly are asking for donated items for their resale stores.
The Standard Times article with contact information can be found at this link.
There are two resale stores operated at the Council on Aging on the corner of Dartmouth and Rogers Streets.

Donations are accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Call Sue Pierce or Maria Connor at (508) 999-4717 for more information.
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Visions of Johanna-Bob Dylan on Friday

1965 with the Hawks in NYC


Have a good weekend
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Preliminary look at FY2011 budget

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (Mass Budget) has a preliminary look at the state FY2011 budget and the news is predictably bad. The report can be seen here. Mass Budget is estimating the shortfall to be $2.25 billion. That shortfall follows the FY2010 cuts of $5 billion. Despite those cuts and increases in sales and restaurant taxes, the Commonwealth is deep in red ink.
Federal stimulus funds will help fill in some of the gaps ...

... as they did this year. It is not enough.
What do you think should be done? Tell us in comments.
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Full day kindergarten and our foundation budget

As plans are being formulated to implement full day kindergarten for the Dartmouth schools, I was concerned that the town would not be able to afford the increased amount of local contribution due to an increase in the foundation budget. Adding 260 students will increase our school department foundation enrollment and therefore the school department budget by over $1 million.
The town is not in a position to add that kind of expenditure without requiring cuts in other areas.
As it turns out, we would not have that big an increase in required school spending. Here is why. The state has decided that Dartmouth has a target state Chapter 70 aid percentage of 17-1/2 percent. But we were already way above that percentage, so the state has been phasing in the reduction in state aid. If you are not interested in the mechanics of this reduction, skip to the next paragraph.

There is a formula for the reduction of aid every year. The formula takes the prior year required spending and adds one or two percent to the total in order to reduce the state aid percentage over several years. If the difference between the target percentage and the actual percentage is more than 10%, 2% is assessed. Under 10%, 1 percent is added. Dartmouth is under 10% so 1% additional is added each year. This added amount is independent of the foundation budget which does not enter into the calculation for required local contribution. I uploaded a page from the worksheet here (MS EXCEL format) that illustrates the calculation. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) spreadsheet can be accessed here (MS EXCEL format). I did not upload the entire sheet as it is a large file and takes up too much space on my server account. If you are not interested in the mechanics of this calculation, skip to the next paragraph, but if you look at the spreadsheet page, our required local contribution is shown on line 28) in the right hand column. Line 28) is derived from adding lines 15) 22) and 27). As you can see, the increase is independent of the foundation budget, line 8). An increase in our foundation budget increases the percentage of the shortfall on line 21), but doesn't accelerate incremental spending on line 22). If you are interested on reading further about school spending, look to this post and this and this one.
What the net result of all the calculations show ...

... is that although required school spending will grow to a higher value over time (in fact, nearly $1 million more), the yearly costs will not grow more than the incremental adder that progresses Dartmouth toward that goal. In short, we will end up at higher required school spending 10 years from now, but the yearly increase won't be $1 million all at once. It is more like $280,000 each year. That is good news. The town could implement a full day kindergarten and not have a whopping big increase.
Having said that, there remains the unfortunate fact that the required school spending increases over time will take a greater and greater percentage of the town's budget and cannot be sustained. Mr. Lynam has pointed that out for some time. That is another problem for another time.
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311 systems for customer service

There are technologies available that allow government to receive, track and monitor citizen inquiries and complaints. These systems know as 3-1-1 or Call Resource Management systems provide a single point of contact for calls to a government from citizens seeking information, reporting problems, or making a complaint. The system creates a record of the call that is routed to the appropriate department for resolution. The action taken is recorded in the system and allows leaders and managers to assess the efficacy and timeliness of responses. This helps identify problem areas ...

... and insures follow up on citizen requests.
I would like to see Dartmouth move to this model of service. I think it has shown that it can improve services and reduce costs.
Here are some resources that you can review about this type of program. What do you think? Is this type of program the right choice for our town?
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Where do our premiums go?

WellPoint sues Maine to guarantee profits.
Watch it!

Folks, we are being looted for corporate profits.
(More after the jump)

Folks, we are being looted for corporate profits.
How else do you explain these spending numbers.
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
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Registry adds more services online

The Fall River Herald News reports here on the effort by the Registry of Motor Vehicles to increase the number of services available to customers on line. Our Commonwealth does a pretty good job of making information and services available via the Internet ...

... and can serve as a model of what can be accomplished.
I hope that Dartmouth can expand on that theme. There is currently an effort underway to revamp the town's website to create a Virtual Town Hall.
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Governor to reveiew revenues and look at mid year budget cuts.

Governor Patrick's administration is meeting Friday to review the reviews so far this fiscal year and to discuss possible mid-year budgets cuts, called 9C cuts, as the revenues are far short of projections. Judy Meredith over at Blue Mass Group has a post on the shortfalls here. She notes that the Governor may ask for authority to cut beyond the executive branch agencies.
In past recessions, state revenues have lagged the recovery ...

... and the deepest cuts were made after the recovery was well underway. This is due to the fact that tax receipts lag the upturn as filing and payments are not due to the following quarter or year. I am not sure that we have even seen the bottom of the recession yet, so we may be in for some very lean times.
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