| The town election is May 1st.
The town meeting is May 15 and 16th. Since the boards have requested
far more money than exists, it is quite possible it could go longer. If
so, the important financial decisions will be made on the later days.
Acton's town meeting went nine days last year.
We have a babysitter lined up already.
-Steve
|
| RE .2:
The Finance Committee meets every Tuesday at 7:30 in the town hall,
until Town Meeting. The Open Meeting Law applies, so unless the
committee has a good reason to close the doors (e. g., discussion of
ongoing town salary negotiations), the public is welcome. However, the
Open Meeting Law doesn't require that the meeting itself be very
interesting or enlightening to the public.
It might be more useful to go to a couple of additional hearings. The
goal of these hearings is to get the budget discussion out in the open
before Town Meeting, in the hopes that some progress can be made.
o Wednesday May 3rd (evening sometime) WAVM forum: Each Town Board gets
to make their budget pitch on cable.
o May 9th Open Hearing on the Budget, as Art Filz said in .3.
-Steve
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|
I apologize for using 132 columns for this, but it was the best
way to get all the information in.
+--------+-------------------------------+---------+----------------+------------+-----------+-------+------+---------+
| Art. # | ITEM | SPONSOR | AMT REQUESTED | $ AMMENDED | PASS/FAIL | # YES | # NO | # BLANK |
+--------+-------------------------------+---------+----------------+------------+-----------+-------+------+---------+
| 1 |Town Committees' Reports | | $ 0 | $ 0 | | | | |
| 2 |Officers' Salaries | FinCom | no contract yet| $ 0 | withdrawn | - | - | |
| 3 |Salary Administration Plan | Select. | no contract yet| $ 0 | withdrawn | - | - | |
| 4 |Operating Budget | FinCom | $ 13,032,705 | $ 0 | PASS | 291 | 170 | |
| 5 |Reserve Fund | FinCom | $ 150,000 | $ 0 | PASS | 408 | 139 | |
+--------+-------------------------------+---------+----------------+------------+-----------+-------+------+---------+
| 6 - 12 |Salary Increases | | no contract yet| $ 0 | withdrawn | - | - | - |
| 13 |Change Lien Fees | Treas. | $ 0 | $ 0 | PASS | HAND | - | - |
| 14 |Accept Cemetery Funds | Treas. | $ 0 | $ 0 | PASS | HAND | - | - |
| 15 |Authorize Short Term Borrowing | Treas. | $ 0 | $ 0 | PASS | HAND | - | - |
+--------+-------------------------------+---------+----------------+------------+-----------+-------+------+---------+
| 16 |Stabilization Fund | FinCom | $ 200,000 | $ 0 | withdrawn | - | - | - |
| 17 |Fund Maynard Community Band | Select. | $ 1,000 | $ 0 | FAIL | - | HAND | - |
| 18 |Fund New Police Station | Select. | $ 3,050,000 | $ 0 | FAIL | 191 | 331 | |
| 19 |Fund MAGIC | Select. | $ 2,000 | $ 0 | PASS | HAND | - | - |
| 20 |Defunct Junk | Select. | $ 0 | $ 0 | PASS | HAND | - | - |
+--------+-------------------------------+---------+----------------+------------+-----------+-------+------+---------+
| 21 |Thompson Farm Drainage Easement| School | $ 0 | $ 0 | FAIL | 16 | 424 | |
| 22 |Defunct Junk | School | $ 0 | $ 0 | tonight | | | |
| 23 |Fund Daycare Transportation | School | $ 0 | $ 0 | tonight | | | |
| 24 |Fund Extra Curricular Activites| Citizens| $ 100,000 | $ 0 | FAIL | 209 | 216 | |
|
| The Special Town Meeting begins tonight at 7:30 PM. Annual will resume
at 8:30 PM.
There is approximately $153,000 remaining for the articles on the Annual and
the Special Town Meeting. On the Annual, there are articles requesting
approximately $270,350 additional funds.
ANNUAL TOWN MEETING ARTICLES: Return of the Snowblower
Rumor has it that the DPW is reportedly considering withdrawing the
articles for the White Pond Control Panel ($15K), Sewer Pipe Study:
Phase 2 ($16.3K) and a Study of Composting Sludge ($25K). The White
Pond Control Panel controls the pumps and the chemical treatment of our
water supply. The DPW has stated over and over again that this is
absolutely necessary to replace because the pump is obsolete and it
costs us a fortune to maintain it! The Sewer Study is 90% funded by the
state IF we pay the 16.3K; it is not clear if the state funds will
disappear if this is delayed. The study examines the sewer pipes to
isolate breaks and cracks to allow repair. A break in the line means
that groundwater gets into the sewage and then has to be treated, thus
increasing our sewage treatment costs. The FinCom originally told the
DPW that these articles would be recommended IF water and sewer rates
were increased to cover the cost of these articles. The DPW raised
water rates by $.15/100 cubic feet last week.
The DPW has stated that they would prefer to spend the money on a snowblower.
The snowblower article asks to enter a 5 year lease/purchase agreement for
$37,500 per year for 5 years. The problem with this proposal is that this
year's town meeting can NOT commit funds for the following 4 years of town
meetings. If this article passes, we have to hope that for the next 4 years
that this article will be passed again; otherwise we lose the snowblower AND
the $37,500. We should either buy this snowblower outright or borrow the
money to pay for it. Borrowing would likely cost more, but at least we would
not risk losing the equipment. This is an item that should be purchased from
the Stabilization Fund; unfortunately it currently contains about $3,800.
Maybe in the Fall the Stabilization Fund will be added to.....
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING ARTICLES
# 1. Civil Service Exemption. Sponsor: Selectmen. Amount: $0. Likely to be
withdrawn because union contracts have not been negotiated yet.
# 2. Redevelop Well #2 (behind School) Sponsor: DPW. Amount: $20,000. The
well is currently rated at 50% capacity. This well is currently the backup
for the Thompson Street area. The article proposes to overhaul the pump.
# 3. Accept Street Lighting Escrow Accounts. Sponsor: DPW. Amount: $0. When
a developer starts a subdivision, he deposits monies in an escrow account to
cover costs of street lighting. This article claims $23,700 from the escrow
accounts of Vose Hill and Old Marlboro Estates.
# 4,5 & 6. Transfer funds Between Line Items. Sponsor: DPW. Amount: no
appropriation. One or more of these transfers will be withdrawn. These
articles ask to transfer monies from various line items to other line items to
cover expected deficiencies for THIS YEAR'S budget. (If the DPW were to spend
all their expense money, but have additional money in salary, they need to
transfer this at Town Meeting, otherwise the salary money must be spent on
salary.)
# 7,8 & 9. Appropriate funds for the Police. Sponsor: Police. Amount: $?
These articles ask to appropriate additional money to finish out the CURRENT
fiscal year in the Traffic line item, Expense & Salary line items. This is
not a transfer, but an appropriation of FY 90's funds, i.e. the approx.
$153,000 that remains to be spent on FY90 salary increases and other articles.
# 10. Change Zoning to Open Space. Sponsor: ConCom. Amount: $0. This article
asks the Town to change the Zoning of a small parcel of land owned by the
Selectmen on the corner of White and Sheridan Avenue to Open Space Zoning.
The land is currently zoned for 10,000 square foot development. The parcel
serves as a buffer area for the neighborhood which is dense, generally 1/4
acre lots.
# 11. Ask State to Continue State Aid to Towns. Amount: $0. This article asks
the Town to endorse a resolution to ask the state to continue "sharing the
growth in state revenues with cities and towns as it has for the past 9
years."
# 12. Ask Congress to Study Assabet under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act.
Amount: $0. A small section of the Assabet, (in Concord), has been proposed
to come under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, an act that would further
protect the river from pollution and banks development. This would also
possibly provide funds for that protection IF the study designates the river
as a "wild and scenic river". This also states Maynard's intention to
protect the river.
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