| Big meeting to discuss use of town common | |
| TEMPLETON There will be what could be a contentious meeting on Monday, March 26, as residents plan to fight for the right to use the town common for the Mac N Cheese Festival and other large events, an option that selectmen ruled against at the last meeting. Suddenly, there is a big liability for the Town, in case something happens with any event held on Town owned land, such as the Mac N Cheese festival in support of the Friends of Templeton elders. This could get interesting and it is a meeting residents should attend. |
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Please be there:
New day - same problem; Using one time revenue to balance a spending plan.
As the current chairman of the board of selectmen continues to state;
"Past bad management decisions, poor leadership . . ."
Current leadership has a financial policy in place, not being followed by current management.
One time funds being used to fund ongoing expenses.
Proposing things where there is not enough existing funds to cover those expenses.
It appears the pea under one of the three cups practice is still in effect.
It appears another circle has been completed - back to the starting point;
More "crisis management" so to speak.
ARTICLE 18. FY 2018 OPERATING BUDGET To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Seventy Seven Thousand Three Hundred and Eighteen Dollars and no cents ($8,277,318.00) for the operations of General Government for Fiscal Year 2018, and to meet said appropriation with a transfer of Forty Nine Thousand and Three Hundred Fourteen Dollars and no cents ($49,314.00) of unissued bond proceeds originally borrowed for 252 Baldwinville Road, a transfer of Two Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($225,000.00) from the Ambulance receipts reserved for appropriation, and the balance from taxation, or take any other action relative thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that the Town appropriate the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Seventy Seven Thousand Three Hundred Eighteen Dollars and no cents ($8,277,318.00) for the operations of General Government for Fiscal Year 2018 and to meet said appropriation with a transfer of Forty Nine Thousand Three Hundred Fourteen Dollars and no cents ($49,314.00) of unissued bond proceeds originally borrowed for 252 Baldwinville Road, a transfer of Two Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($225,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, and the balance from the FY 18 tax levy and other general revenues of the Town.
Article 4: Completing the FY 2018 Planned Revenue Transfer To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Majority Vote Required
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget,
Passed Unanimously/November 14th @ 7:28 pm
Article 5: FY 2018 Operating Budget Back fill. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($30,000.00) to supplement the amounts appropriated in the FY 2018 Operating Budget as follows: Dept. Amount DPW - B & G $2,500 DPW - Highway $5,000 Fire & EMS $15,000 Treasurer/Collector $7,500 And to meet said appropriation by a transfer of said sum from free cash, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen Majority Vote Required
As the current chairman of the board of selectmen continues to state;
"Past bad management decisions, poor leadership . . ."
Current leadership has a financial policy in place, not being followed by current management.
One time funds being used to fund ongoing expenses.
Proposing things where there is not enough existing funds to cover those expenses.
It appears the pea under one of the three cups practice is still in effect.
It appears another circle has been completed - back to the starting point;
More "crisis management" so to speak.
ARTICLE 18. FY 2018 OPERATING BUDGET To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Seventy Seven Thousand Three Hundred and Eighteen Dollars and no cents ($8,277,318.00) for the operations of General Government for Fiscal Year 2018, and to meet said appropriation with a transfer of Forty Nine Thousand and Three Hundred Fourteen Dollars and no cents ($49,314.00) of unissued bond proceeds originally borrowed for 252 Baldwinville Road, a transfer of Two Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($225,000.00) from the Ambulance receipts reserved for appropriation, and the balance from taxation, or take any other action relative thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that the Town appropriate the sum of Eight Million Two Hundred Seventy Seven Thousand Three Hundred Eighteen Dollars and no cents ($8,277,318.00) for the operations of General Government for Fiscal Year 2018 and to meet said appropriation with a transfer of Forty Nine Thousand Three Hundred Fourteen Dollars and no cents ($49,314.00) of unissued bond proceeds originally borrowed for 252 Baldwinville Road, a transfer of Two Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Dollars and no cents ($225,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, and the balance from the FY 18 tax levy and other general revenues of the Town.
Article 4: Completing the FY 2018 Planned Revenue Transfer To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Majority Vote Required
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget,
Passed Unanimously/November 14th @ 7:28 pm
Article 5: FY 2018 Operating Budget Back fill. To see if the Town will vote to appropriate the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($30,000.00) to supplement the amounts appropriated in the FY 2018 Operating Budget as follows: Dept. Amount DPW - B & G $2,500 DPW - Highway $5,000 Fire & EMS $15,000 Treasurer/Collector $7,500 And to meet said appropriation by a transfer of said sum from free cash, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen Majority Vote Required
BOSTON - Lawmakers’ decision to award themselves pay raises earlier this year was an unpopular move with around three quarters of the electorate, according to a poll sponsored by a conservative group that argues the pay hike could imperil progressives’ push for a tax hike next year.
The pay raise law, approved over Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto, increased the compensation of the speaker and the Senate president from about $97,000 to $142,000 while other lawmakers’ pay increased by lesser but still substantial amounts depending on their leadership positions or committee chairmanships.
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a group that has rankled Democrats since its founding five years ago, calculated that the average pay raise was 40 percent. Except for top leadership positions, lawmakers holding only one stipend-eligible position saw their pay rise by less than 40 percent, and backbenchers received only an increase in their expense accounts.
Thirty percent of voters said they would be “much less likely” to support someone at the polls who voted for his or her own 40 percent pay raise, and another 43.6 percent said they would be “less likely,” according to the survey conducted by Virginia-based Advantage, Inc.
The poll that was publicized Wednesday found 8.8 percent of voters would be more likely to support a politician who voted for their own 40 percent raise. The increase in lawmakers’ expense accounts, another provision of the pay raise law, was even less popular, according to the poll.
Jim Eltringham, vice president at Advantage, Inc., said the poll of 500 registered voters conducted in mid-June was modeled to resemble the electorate in 2018. The margin of error was 4.4 percent.
According to the survey, two thirds of voters were very or somewhat aware of the pay raise vote, which was lawmakers’ first major agenda item this year.
No Republicans supported the pay raise bill and nine House Democrats and three Senate Democrats opposed the measure, which passed overwhelmingly in both branches.
Paul Craney, spokesman for Mass Fiscal, said the poll also showed that Democrats who voted for the pay raise bill created some challenges for the Democrat-led push to add a 4 percent surtax onto incomes over $1 million. Mass Fiscal opposes that tax.
In back-to-back sessions about 70 percent of the House and Senate voted to advance the ballot question to amend the constitution with a surtax that proponents say could generate $2 billion for transportation and education. Unless it is blocked by the courts, the question will appear on the 2018 ballot.
Good afternoon Mr.Bennett,
Thank you for contacting Representative Whipps with your concerns. First I would like to address the voting age bill. This was a town meeting vote that once passed, it required the Representative to file it as a Home Rule Petition. The purpose of the Home Rule is to “grant and confirm to the people of every city and town the right of self-governance in local matters."
Representative Whipps has asked me to share with you a letter she recently signed, along with the other members of the Regional Schools Caucus. It requests that the Committee on Ways and Means increase the funding for Regional School Transportation reimbursement in the Fiscal Year 2019 state budget.
Please do not hesitate to contact this office with any questions or if you would like to discuss it further.
Sincerely,
Missi Eaton
Office of State Representative Susannah Whipps
State House Rm.540
2nd Franklin District
352 Main St.
Athol Ma. 01331
From: jeff bennett [j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 10:30 AM
To: Eaton, Melissa (HOU)
Subject: transportation funding
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 10:30 AM
To: Eaton, Melissa (HOU)
Subject: transportation funding
Melissa;
My name is Jeffrey Bennett, from Templeton, Ma. I am a member of the Templeton Advisory Committee. I am writing as a resident with a concern of broken promise from the state government. The promise to fully fund transportation costs of regional school districts, which has not happened in a long time, if ever. While looking at fiscal year 2019 state budget proposals, state representatives and senators web sites, face book, etc to try and get a feel on where things may be going, I noticed Ms. Lee has sponsored a bill, that was most likely a local community request, to allow sixteen year olds to vote locally. That is how it is worded at least on the website of Whipps Lee. I am perplexed by that, however, I am more concerned with the funding issue of regional school districts. I would like to see a bill or change/increase to regional school transportation. I mean before get 16 year old citizens into politics and voting, even before they can smoke, drink, enlist in the military, we should get them to school. You may not have been around when the original promise was made, but you are there now and this needs to be corrected, by way of fully funding, by way of appropriation from state government. When that does not happen, it is a failure of state elected representatives (house and senate). Failure to do this puts districts against towns and sometimes, towns against towns. All those involved seem to know and agree that the state is falling short on it's promise, so why is it not being funded at 100 percent level?
Respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
My name is Jeffrey Bennett, from Templeton, Ma. I am a member of the Templeton Advisory Committee. I am writing as a resident with a concern of broken promise from the state government. The promise to fully fund transportation costs of regional school districts, which has not happened in a long time, if ever. While looking at fiscal year 2019 state budget proposals, state representatives and senators web sites, face book, etc to try and get a feel on where things may be going, I noticed Ms. Lee has sponsored a bill, that was most likely a local community request, to allow sixteen year olds to vote locally. That is how it is worded at least on the website of Whipps Lee. I am perplexed by that, however, I am more concerned with the funding issue of regional school districts. I would like to see a bill or change/increase to regional school transportation. I mean before get 16 year old citizens into politics and voting, even before they can smoke, drink, enlist in the military, we should get them to school. You may not have been around when the original promise was made, but you are there now and this needs to be corrected, by way of fully funding, by way of appropriation from state government. When that does not happen, it is a failure of state elected representatives (house and senate). Failure to do this puts districts against towns and sometimes, towns against towns. All those involved seem to know and agree that the state is falling short on it's promise, so why is it not being funded at 100 percent level?
Respectfully;
Jeff Bennett
Thank you, we do understand the issue and hear about it often. We do our best to fund RSD transportation at as high a level as possible.
Tyler L. Wolanin
District Director, Office of Senator Anne M. Gobi
From: jeff bennett [j_bennett506@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 10:07 AM
To: Wolanin, Tyler (SEN)
Subject: Re: funding
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 10:07 AM
To: Wolanin, Tyler (SEN)
Subject: Re: funding
Thank you for the quick reply, however, the promise made in years gone by, 1949 or so, still need to be met, by the correct appropriation. I look forward to the senate budget proposals, specifically, the transportation dollar figure. That appropriation or lack there of, has meaning that is far reaching, such as taking money from other municipal projects such as road repair, fire and police coverage that affects not only the immediate residents, but those who may be in the process of looking for a community to move to. That can lead to new growth, or not, which has even more impact on the driver; property taxes. Anything less than 100 percent transportation funding by the state is unacceptable and should be viewed by taxpayers/voters as a failure by elected state representation.
regards;
Jeff Bennett
Again, thank you for your timely response.
regards;
Jeff Bennett
Again, thank you for your timely response.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Did the voters of the Town of Templeton vote for a Senior Center?
Yes they did.
Have the voters approved a yearly budget for the Council on the Aging?
Yes they have.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for $100,000.00 for siding for the Senior Center building?
Yes they did.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for an Ambulance Receipts fund?
Yes they did.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for 2 full time equivalent fire fighters for daytime coverage?
Yes they did. (they were asked at Town Meeting)
Article 11 To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide a sum of money to hire two (2) full-time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to work daytime coverage 48 hours per week (Monday-Friday), or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Chief Laporte was allowed to speak.
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that One Hundred Twenty Eight Thousand Eight Hundred Twelve Dollars ($128,812.00) be hereby appropriated from the FY 14 tax levy and other general revenues of the town to be expended by the Fire Chief to add two daytime full time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to the staffing of the Templeton Fire Department.
Passed/May 14th @ 8:26
Did the voters of Templeton vote to move to a full time fire department/EMS?
I cannot find any Town Meeting article asking the voters that question.
Did the voters of Templeton approve a spending plan that included salary money for two full time EMS/fire fighters (career)?
Yes they did - remember the fiscal year 2018 spending plan with a $100,000.00 shortfall built into it?
The shortfall was filled at a special town meeting in 2017.
Article 4: Completing the FY 2018 Planned Revenue Transfer To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Majority Vote Required
A substitute motion was duly made and seconded to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No cents from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to Fire & EMS Fund 1000 Account Number 220 5100 Account Name Personnel.
Defeated/ November 14th @ 7:28 pm
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget,
Passed Unanimously/November 14th @ 7:28 pm
Yes they did.
Have the voters approved a yearly budget for the Council on the Aging?
Yes they have.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for $100,000.00 for siding for the Senior Center building?
Yes they did.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for an Ambulance Receipts fund?
Yes they did.
Did the voters of Templeton vote for 2 full time equivalent fire fighters for daytime coverage?
Yes they did. (they were asked at Town Meeting)
Article 11 To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide a sum of money to hire two (2) full-time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to work daytime coverage 48 hours per week (Monday-Friday), or to take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Chief Laporte was allowed to speak.
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted that One Hundred Twenty Eight Thousand Eight Hundred Twelve Dollars ($128,812.00) be hereby appropriated from the FY 14 tax levy and other general revenues of the town to be expended by the Fire Chief to add two daytime full time equivalent firefighter/EMTs to the staffing of the Templeton Fire Department.
Passed/May 14th @ 8:26
Did the voters of Templeton vote to move to a full time fire department/EMS?
I cannot find any Town Meeting article asking the voters that question.
Did the voters of Templeton approve a spending plan that included salary money for two full time EMS/fire fighters (career)?
Yes they did - remember the fiscal year 2018 spending plan with a $100,000.00 shortfall built into it?
The shortfall was filled at a special town meeting in 2017.
Article 4: Completing the FY 2018 Planned Revenue Transfer To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget, or take any other action related thereto.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen
Majority Vote Required
A substitute motion was duly made and seconded to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No cents from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, as planned in presenting the FY 2018 general fund budget to the Annual Town Meeting, to Fire & EMS Fund 1000 Account Number 220 5100 Account Name Personnel.
Defeated/ November 14th @ 7:28 pm
On a motion duly made and seconded the town voted to transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars and No Cents ($100,000.00) from the Ambulance Receipts Reserved for Appropriation account, to support the FY 2018 General Fund Operating Budget,
Passed Unanimously/November 14th @ 7:28 pm
Templeton Board of Selectmen Town Hall, 160 Patriots Road, East Templeton Monday, March 26, 2018, 6:30 p.m. Agenda 1. Call the Meeting to Order 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Public Comment 4. a. Meeting Minutes~ 2.6.18, 2.12.18, 2.26.18, 3.5.18, 3.12.18, 3.19.18 b. Executive Session Minutes~ none 5. New Business: a. Action RE: Appointments & Introductions b. Presentation RE: Monty Tech Budget~ Tammy Crockett, Business Manager c. Action RE: Reconsideration of Mac & Cheese Festival Permit (J. Caplis & D. H-Brooks) d. Action RE: Arts & Crafts Festival Permit (D. LaClair) e. Action RE: Events on the Common Permit (Narragansett Historical Society) f. Action RE: Green Communities g. Action RE: Peaceful Pines Automatic Amusement License h. Action RE: 3 Millbrook Drive, Right of First Refusal i. Action RE: Opioid Litigation j. Referral to Workshop: - Development of Policy Re: Town Common Use 6. Old Business: 7. Board & Staff Member Comments & Reports 8. Request for Executive Session per MGL Ch. 30 § 21.1 Discuss charges brought against a public officer, employee, staff member or individual. § 21.3 Strategy w/Respect to Collective Bargaining & Litigation 9. Adjournment
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)