Update on Highway - Building & Grrounds
After some looking and checking, the figures for the director salary for highway and building & Grounds has been adjusted.
Previously, the budget book had Director - highway @ 60% allocation: $43,206.00
Previously, the budget book had Director - building/grounds @40% allocation: $43,206.00
Numbers did not really add up, so at the meeting last night, it was asked and the correction had been made to now read as follows:
Director - highway: 60% allocation - $43,206.00
Director - Building / Grounds: 40% allocation - $28,804.00
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $72,010.00
Also, the Town Administrator was asked what is the benefit cost to each covered employee and the answer given - around $27,500.00, so that is the cost in addition to any rate of pay and any other items contained in a contract., such as the dispatch union contract, which contains a $350.00 per fiscal year clothing allowance for all full-time bargaining unit members.
posted by Jeff Bennett
So we save with lower costs for the labor force year after year.
ReplyDeleteWe have a excellent team in place now and things are looking better for the future of Templeton. With people like Jeffy pointing out the great strides the team has made since he dropped out it warms ones heart that he did.
Thank you Julie Farrell for your work on the AC research on the effort level and hope to see the results you get on the Blogs for Templeton.
That is the reality of the problem Templeton faces and should be the focus of the need for the massive over ride needed.
Soon the AC should have that number and tell the people the needs.
Just a clue it should be at least 1 million and will only begin to fix the issue of to low of a tax rate in Templeton for to long.
And with that i give you Jeffy for comments.
On the one hand it is good that the Selectmen did not actually give out the huge raise indicated on the published budget. On the other hand, it is disturbing that our "finance team" continues to make so many errors.
ReplyDeleteSo, it appears Dave thinks a 100% increase in taxes over 8 years is to small. It also appears that like many employees he thinks increases to benefits are not raises. It's time for a wake up. Paying over $70,000 for a highway employee seems a bit steep to me, but paying $350.00 for dispatch clothing seems asinine.
ReplyDeleteMark, it does seem that our Administration has a terrible math aptitude. How many errors have happened just this year.
Dave - the median property tax in the state is $3511, the median home valuation is $338,500. Per my FY 2017 4th quarter real estate tax bill, my taxes are $3,836.56 on a valuation of $238,000. On a house valued at $110,000 less than the state median, my wife and I pay $325.56 more than the state median real estate tax.
ReplyDeleteWhen compared to Worcester County alone, it's even worse. In Worcester County, median real estate taxes are $3,117. And Franklin County, which we more closely resemble than Suburban Worcester, has a median of $2,968.
The song and dance that "Templeton Taxes are too low" is just plain wrong. We're not getting anything special in way of services. The roads don't get repaired, Chapter 90 money is instead used to buy equipment. The town management spends every nickel they can, which means whatever they take in will never be enough.
Funny there was no mention of the school costs in here boys.
ReplyDeleteThe pink elephant will only grow and keep your tax burden on the rise.
Thanks for your opinions i appreciate them all and everyone have a nice day.
Your dedicated Highway personnel have your backs when you need us.
Miss managed pasts or future are not for the workers to be blamed for.
Your elected and appointed members are the root cause of the problems we all have now.
There are many to blame for the past and it seems will be more in the future.
The roads don't get repaired, Chapter 90 money is instead used to buy equipment.
ReplyDeleteMark you seem to be miss informed like Jeffy about town issues.
The fact is there is a long list of roads we have done over the alst 6 years.
The fact is we have spent a pile of chapter 90 money on your road royalston rd.
Just the engineering cost will total 400k + is almost 1/2 done,soon to be in submit table
I'm not misinformed. Templeton spent a lot of chapter 90 money on equipment. That's a fact. That money could have been spent to repair roads. Instead, it bought equipment. And the roads are falling apart. Royalston Rd is what Trump means when he talks about US infrastructure being third-world. And it's probably not the worst road in town.
ReplyDeleteMark, South Road may be the third worst road in town, because Partridgeville Road has to be a tie with Royalston Road or a close second. Partridgeville is sinking into the swamp and will need a complete make over. Never the less, filling some of the cracks would have made the conditions on South Road a little bit better. The inch crack down the middle has allowed the road to really deteriorate after all of the water got in and has undermined the whole thing. Poor planning has made a smaller repair into a big project. Go figure ! Got to love the ditches under the road between Tallman's and the water tower. Looks like a job the Water Dept. may have done. Those are all collapsing ? Do you think anyone will fix them ?? And people can't understand why our police cruisers are falling apart. Bev.
Deletelets not forget that Orchard Lane did get repaired right Julie Richard?
DeleteAll of those roads are third world quality. They did not get that way overnight.
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ReplyDeleteSpeaking with an engineer who was taking some test borings, he said they were building a retaining wall on the westerly side of Royalston Rd.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. What problem are they solving with a wall? Sounds very expensive!
Won't cost the town this will be a T.I.P. Mass project the way they want it to be done.
ReplyDeleteAs it use to be a county road before the state dumped it on us we would just like the Barre road needs never have the funds we need for it to be rebuilt.
As with the Baldwinvlle rd. project we spent 300k + to engineer and we only allowed to have it ground and resurfaced. Some drainage and sidewalks.
No water lines and no other underground issues taken care of.
As far as the money for equipment we asked for it at town meeting and the funds were not provided that way. The decision needed to be made and it was by the elected ones.
Don't like the decision they made is your opinion and not shared by all.
The equipment is, believe it or not needed and used to make it possible to keep our town safe and manageable if emergencies strike.
It's like the chunks unless you work at the facilities it's not easy to understand.
What gets me is why so many buss's go by with no or few kids on them.
Even more is how many cars go by with the kids being dropped off.
Busing is largest increase in the school budget and only one contract bid was submitted.
Lets try UBER and save a Million +
The source of all spending is taxpayers. It's a problem when anyone who works for the taxpayers thinks otherwise. State taxes, federal taxes. It's not OK to spend them without fiduciary responsibility.
ReplyDeleteMy question is still there. What problem is the retaining wall going to solve? I have never seen any rock fall, and I've lived here over thirty years.
The drainage problem, as it has been termed, is not helped by plugged culverts that I've not seen cleaned.