I've got some good news, and I got some bad news for the residents of Sturbridge. But the rest of you should take heed as well. I went to the Selectman's meeting last night and here is what went down.
First the good news. The tax rate will go down for residents. The board voted three to two to split the tax rate, making it a little lower for residents and a little higher for businesses. This averages about $150 per household, not a lot but its something.
Now I admit I was torn on this issue. As a resident I want my taxes to go down, but I also don't want taxes on businesses to go up so it makes it harder for people to do business in town. There were good points made by both sides of the debate. The pro-split people rightly said that if people have more disposable income they will more than likely spend it in town, therefore helping the businesses. The anti-split contingent also made the point that the businesses would either leave town, although unlikely, or pass the increase on to their customers.
Now of course there were the usual comments about how the businesses make enough money already and the increase won't other them anyway, but I expected that. After all this is Massachusetts, and we all know Massachusetts Democrats don't like big business.
I also learned we have the highest tax rate in the state, according to the Pioneer Institute anyway. As was pointed out some of this is because of the various large projects we have financed in the last few years, high school, elementary school and the town hall renovation. Which brings up another point which continues to stick in my craw as the old saying goes. Once again we were told how lucky we were because we received all kinds of matching funds and grants from the state which means we didn't have to pay as much. In fact this was brought up later in the meeting when the master trails plan was discussed. Where does that free state money come from? Any guesses?
But the better news which came from this meeting was that we managed, through the frugality of the voters who attended the annual Town Meeting, managed to cut the town budget by $ (2 + 1) 00,000. The number three key still isn't working on my computer so that is three hundred thousand in case you forgot your math. This shows that budgets can be cut when they have to without the world coming to an end which makes this Tea Party guy happy.
And now for the bad news. Residents of Sturbridge, be very wary of an influx of drunken wannabe Picassos running around soon. Be very, very afraid.
Well written Paul. I thank for your attendance at last night's meeting and I thank you as well for taking the time to help educate our community.
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ReplyDeleteI dropped my keyboard--expect typos!
Its the one after two and that rhymes with FREE
While i am happy that we managed to cut the budget by 300k at the town meeting i think we can do a better job next year. We must do better next year. I am afraid of more upcoming projects that will have large price tags. I do not know what is coming over the next 10 years but it is always something. How is the middle school looking right now? Is it good for another 18 years, i would hate to buy another while still paying for Burgess. If a project is not absolutely necessary it needs to be strongly scrutinized prior to town meeting. I would prefer that we save money on taxes by NOT having to cross our fingers that some money is cut out of the budget at town meeting. I would prefer to see a smaller budget put forth for approval. We must collectively do more with less, that is what the corporate world has been doing out of necessity.
ReplyDeleteRob's right. We need to do better and can't cross our fingers and hope it all goes well like some on the BoS. I applaud those with the courage to vote the split tax rate to help residents. I applaud Tom Creamer for his strong stand against spending at Town Meeting and his statements at the last meeting about not supporting future spending. I think Priscilla Gimas and Mary Redetzke also understand the need to slow everything down. The other two Marys will just spend us into bankruptcy. They need to go. In April, we need another selectman to replace Dowling who has the courage to stand up for residents who are having tough times. Someone who's not attacking Creamer every week over stupid stuff because she can't have her way with her precious ballfields that will cost us millions and millions.
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