TOWN COUNSEL REQUEST FOR WRITTEN ARGUMENTS

 IN FAVOR OF AND IN OPPOSITION TO 

PROPOSITION 2 ½ OVERRIDE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020 OPERATING BUDGET 

On March 29, 2019 the Board of Selectmen voted to accept Section 18B of Chapter 53 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which authorizes the Board of Selectmen to print information relating to local ballot questions (the “Printed information”). On April 10, 2019, the Board of Selectmen voted to include the following question on the ballot for the May 20, 2019 Annual Town Election:

 “Shall the Town of Templeton be allowed to assess an additional $988,336 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of opening and operating the new Templeton Center Elementary School and paying for additional operating costs of the Narragansett Regional School District, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019? 

Yes____ No____” 

In addition to the full text wording of the question, Section 18B provides that the Printed Information must include: 1) a fair and concise summary of the question, which shall be prepared by the Town Counsel, including a one sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote; and 2) arguments, of not more than 150 words, both for and against the question.

Town Counsel is required to “seek written arguments from the principal proponents and opponents of the question” and to “contact each ballot question committee, if any.” Town Counsel is authorized to determine, based on the arguments received, the person or group best able to present arguments for and against the question. If no argument is submitted for a particular position, Town Counsel is required by law to prepare the argument.

Therefore, this request is being issued by Town Counsel, Miyares and Harrington LLP, through the office of the Town Clerk, for written arguments “for” and “against” the Proposition 2 ½ override question. Arguments must be submitted to the Town Clerk for delivery to the Town Counsel, no later than April 25, 2019. The arguments determined to appear on the ballot will be included in the Printed Information that will be mailed to each voter household at least seven days before the Annual Town Election. All arguments filed or prepared will also be available in the office of the Town Clerk and at the polling places on the day of the election.

If you are interested in participating in this process, please contact the Town Clerk’s Office at 978- 894-2758 (phone), 978-894-2790 (fax), or by email to charris@templetonma.gov.

House to Start FY20 State Budget Debate Today

Representatives to Decide on All Municipal and School Amendments

Please Call Your Representatives TODAY, and Ask them to Support Higher Chapter 70 Minimum Aid, Charter School Reimbursements, School Transportation Reimbursements, PILOT Funding, and Other Key Priorities

State Senator Anne Gobbi - 617-722-1540

Anne Gobbi: Templeton Town Hall on April 24, 2019 at 11:00 A.M. - 12:00 noon.

State Representative Susannah Whipps - 617-722-2090

School Aid

Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:

• Chapter 70 Minimum Aid at $50 per Student (#992), instead of the $30 in H. 3800

• Full Funding of Charter School Impact Payments (#615)

• Retaining a 6-Year Charter School Reimbursement Schedule (#340)

• Full Funding for Regional School Transportation Reimbursements (#44)

• Full Funding for McKinney-Vento Student Transportation Reimbursements (#244)

• Funding for Out-of-District Vocational Student Transportation (#480 and #482)

• Funding for Summer Jobs for At-Risk Youth (#1285 and #1011)

Ask Your Representatives to Oppose the following Harmful Amendments:

• Increasing the Charter School Facilities Formula Component, which would Reduce Funds that could be Used to Offset Losses to Charter Schools (#615 and #1340)

Municipal Aid

Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:

• Increased Funding for PILOT – the Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes Program (#878)

• Increased Funding for Shannon Anti-Gang Grants (#127)

• Increased Funding for Local Planning Grants (#836, #233, and #391)

• Increased Funding for Public Libraries (#337, #863, and #339)

• Increased Funding for the Housing Choice Initiative Program (#1215)

• Increased Funding for Labor Relations Staffing (#864, #77, and #798)

• Increased Funding for Complete Count Census Grants (#1354)

General Budget Amendments

Ask Your Representatives to Support the Following Amendments:

• Fixing Problems in the Tax Title Law (#100)

• Updating the Outdated Statute Governing Solar Property Tax Exemptions (#803)

• Creating an Extractor Bulk Purchasing Trust Fund (#286)

From Massachusetts Division of Local Services:


May Municipal Calendar

1	Taxpayer	Deadline to Pay 2nd half and 4th Quarter Tax Bill without Interest This is the deadline to pay the 2nd half tax bill in semiannual communities and the 4th quarter  tax in quarterly communities.
1	Accountant or  Treasurer	Notification of Amount of Debt Due in Next Fiscal Year As required by M.G.L. c. 44, § 16, the Accountant or Treasurer must notify the Assessors  of all debt due in the next fiscal year. The community is required to pay its debts,  appropriated or not. Any debt service not covered by appropriations is added to the  “Other Local Expenditures" category found on page 2 of the recap. It is important  the Assessors have this information to avoid setting a tax rate that will raise insufficient  revenue to cover the community’s expenditures.

Would it be simpler and better to simply try to follow Town By-laws, which were voted on by Town Meeting? Town Meeting should have the Town Meeting warrant in hand!
So says Town Meeting Times.

---

From: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:46 AM
To: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton; 185wilberdr@gmail.com; quiltingamy36@gmail.com; debra_wilder@comcast.net; tdejoy@comcast.net; glee70@yahoo.com; j_bennett506@hotmail.com; michael.currie71@gmail.com; Hall, Derek
Cc: Tom Harrington
Subject: RE: Voters Guide for ATM

 

Subject to direction by others to the contrary; it would be my intent to be guided by what Town Counsel advises; It may be as simple as labeling the cover Warrant Articles and Voter’s Guide;

Many Thanks

Carter

1.978.894.2755 (o)

1.603.498.0958 (m)

Please note our new email of; and redirect your contacts to - cterenzini@templetonma.gov

From: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton 
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 10:42 AM
To: Terenzini, Carter <cterenzini@TempletonMA.gov>; 185wilberdr@gmail.com; quiltingamy36@gmail.com; debra_wilder@comcast.net; tdejoy@comcast.net; glee70@yahoo.com; j_bennett506@hotmail.com; michael.currie71@gmail.com; Hall, Derek <dhall@TempletonMA.gov>
Subject: Re: Voters Guide for ATM

Just a note; in Town Meeting times, which according to Templeton by-laws, is the guide for our town meeting. Page 54 of Town Meeting times, section 19 "if the reading of articles is to be omitted, the warrant should be printed and in the hands of, or available to, every voter." No where does it refer to a voters guide, so I hope the Town Selectmen will follow our own by-laws and follow Town Meeting times; have the warrant at Town Meeting rather than a voters guide, which in my opinion, appears to be another distraction to the voters. Selectmen vote on the warrant, it is the warrant that gets posted in designated places according to state law and it should be the warrant in front of the voters.

respectfully;

Jeffrey Bennett

Chairman, Templeton Advisory Committee

---

From: Terenzini, Carter
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2019 7:40:53 AM
To: Hall, Derek
Cc: AdvisoryCommittee Templeton; Caplis, John; Richard, Julie; Morrison, Doug; Diane Haleybrooks; Harris, Carol; Adam D. Lamontagne; Harris, Carol
Subject: RE: Voters Guide for ATM

Good Day Derek:

I know there is a question as to whether or not we must also provide a copy of the entirety of the warrant to people if the reading of a warrant article is to be waived  (I’ll be discussing this with the BoS on 05/01 but at this time do anticipate a move to waive the reading on at least four (4) articles). Given the Voter’s guide actually does include the entirety of each and every warrant article as the “anticipated motion” (albeit with some wording added (bold italics) or deleted (with strikethroughs) I would posit we do actually do that.  I have referred this question to Town Counsel previously and would expect him to turn his attention to it as we get closer to Town Meeting (concentrating for now on the 18B Voter’s Guide and some other higher priority matters).

I expect him to be able to address it when he comes out for the public presentation on  04/30 or 05/07/07.  Once he provides guidance on this I’ll Draft some advice for the Moderator’s Rules for you to review and sign off on. suggest that

Many Thanks

Carter

FY2020 GENERAL FUND BUDGET TO BE

SUBMITTED AT ANNUAL TOWN MEETING

Department code	Name	FY2020 Budget
120	Selectmen (1)	$ 358,250.00
130	Advisory Committee (2)	$   49,395.00
135	Town Accountant	$  193,470.00
141	Assessor	$    92,000.00
147	Treasurer/Collector	$  133,750.00
155	IT & Communication	$  100,000.00
161	Town Clerk	$   107,250.00
200	Police & Dispatch	$1,340,500.00
220	Fire & EMS	$    732,750.00
230	Emergency Management	$        1,750.00
250	Development Services	$    162,000.00
400	Highway	$    605,001.00
410	Building & Grounds	$    305,000.00
420	Snow & Ice	$    147,500.00
500	Veterans Service	$    104,122.00
600	Senior Services	$    152,999.00
610	Library	$      79,640.00
620	Recreation & Culture	$        9,750.00
700	Debt Service	$ 2,590,147.00
900	Insurance & Benefits	$ 2,425,000.00
Total		$9,690,274.00

(1) Contains reserve transferable by select board for CBAs and merit & equity raises for non-union personnel

(2) Contains reserve fund transferable by Advisory Committee [MGL chapter 40, section 6] for emergency and unforeseen expenditures.

Above is a document sent out via email from the board of selectmen office.

The date it was emailed out was April 11, 2019. Templeton general Town By-Laws state this information is to be in the hands of the advisory Committee by April 10. Another by-law over looked / ignored by the selectmen. Their own beginning of the year schedule showed "a drop dead date to submit budget and Town meeting warrant as April 8. 

Perhaps it is time to revisit the ambulance receipts reserved for appropriation Town Meeting vote and actually get the intent into the language so that fund will actually be used as it was presented; to pay for capital expenses involving ambulance service. Another move would be to create an enterprise fund where all ambulance receipts would go and the actual revenue and expenses of the ambulance service would be accounted for separate from the general fund. This would be a very visible and verifiable way to ensure residents of Templeton see the true cost of their town operating an ambulance service. Templeton simply has to look at conducting business in a different way. Making another deal that does not benefit Templeton is not the way to go, in my opinion. Depending on the movement of the next board of selectmen, it might require a citizens petition to make that happen. Probably the simplest move is to have another town meeting vote on ambulance receipts and have the motion worded so there can be manipulation by administration.

On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, board of selectmen approved the warrant for the upcoming Annual Town Meeting; they did not read each article, the town administrator skimmed through it, but the warrant nor the budget that will be presented to Town Meeting was not gone over. Perhaps the selectmen did not wish to high-lite the fact that they are asking voters for a $500.00 per selectmen stipend, per year. I would think that a board that has over the last several years pointed out that they are the leaders of the Town, that they would enthusiastically point out the product of the work they intend to present to Town Meeting.

To me, this is another example of a board looking to complete a meeting sooner rather than later, in my opinion. So, perhaps a question should be, why did none of the sitting selectmen as for a clear presentation of the warrant; the article number and subject of it. It would have been very clear that evening that the Town by-law concerning the Templeton Advisory Committee, submitted by that committee, was absent from the warrant in a separate article, which would have been in line with other by-law change articles contained in the warrant. It seems apparent that the selectmen did not wish to put that out at that meeting, they planned on it coming to light after the fact, after they signed it. My conclusion is any change to the Town by-law concerning Advisory Committee is now buried in the codification draft that has many changes as well as classification or organization of the Town's by-laws. In my opinion, this should bring pause and concern to all Town residents, as the Advisory Committee is a committee that represents town meeting when there is no town meeting in session. Advisory is a committee that Town Meeting can direct to investigate town governance with further direction to report back to the body at the next Annual Town Meeting. Again, it is my opinion that this action is a result of the current chairman of the board of selectmen and the town administrator to manage the Advisory Committee, thus taking from Town Meeting, the ability to have an independent watch over town affairs for them, Town Meeting, otherwise known as the legislative body of the town; a check on the selectmen and town administrator as well as town counsel.

This is another subject that will have my attention if elected to the board of selectmen in the upcoming election. Town Meeting has to be respected, Advisory Committee has to be respected and the board of selectmen and town administrator need to be reminded of their duties and obligations to residents! True discussion at open meetings such as a selectmen's meeting. There is no good reason that a selectmen meeting cannot be both orderly and productive, yet very open and transparent.

In case the town administrator tries to spin this; the draft town meeting warrant provided to the advisory committee is different than what was voted on by selectmen; in true open governance and a true working together attitude, it would have been a joint meeting of selectmen and advisory to go over the warrant, the election ballot and the town budget, as it will be presented to Town Meeting. This did not happen, if elected to the board of selectmen, this will be one of my personal goals to work towards, as I feel it would be a benefit to residents, as well as selectmen and Advisory Committee. After all, this effort would only require some time and if one runs for elective office or seeks appointive office, you should be willing and able to give up some of that commodity. I am both willing and able to do just that and I volunteer to do so without pay; none is desired nor expected.