Town of Templeton
 Employment Opportunity
 Full & Part-Time Police Officers

Full-Time Police Officers: This is to establish a list of potential appointees for the remainder of calendar 2019. Successful candidates for this law enforcement position will be at least 21 years of age, a United States citizen, high school graduate or equivalent, and have a current driver’s license. Advanced education in criminal justice or a related field or law enforcement experience are desirable attributes. Those with a current MA Police certification, or are capable of obtaining the same under reciprocity consideration by Massachusetts of similar certifications from other states, will receive priority consideration.

Part-Time Police Officer: Successful candidates should hold, or be able to obtain, a certificate(s) in CPR/Basic First Aid, Firearms Class “A” License, Reserve Intermittent Police Officer certification, a valid Driver’s License, and a High school diploma or GED. Preference will be given to candidates with an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice or a related field and who currently hold required certifications. These positions will be filled as suitable applicants apply. 

Submit application letter, resume, and standard Town application form available at www.templeton1.org (click on Paid, Volunteer and Contract Opportunities) or Town Hall to Carter Terenzini, Town Administrator, 160 Patriots Rd, PO Box 620, East Templeton, MA 01438. The Town of Templeton is an EOE.

Posted: Town Bulletin Boards (7) Town Hall 2, Light & Water, Police, Fire, Library, Public Works, Council on Aging, Sewer

Mailed: Town Hall Mailing List
Advertised: The Gardner News 06/19/19
Web: Templeton1.org, JobQuest

from the newspaper:

PHILLIPSTON — The future of Phillipston Memorial Elementary School may be very different from the past, filled with the youngest students, including those bused from Templeton, while Phillipston elementary students are bused to Templeton.

And many people in Phillipston are concerned.

“Selectmen are trying to look at what their options are,” Phillipston Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Flynn said.

A planned consolidation of elementary schools in Phillipston and Templeton could impact children from pre-kindergarten to grade 5. Elementary students in grades 1 to 5 would attend a new Templeton school under construction while pre-k and kindergarten students from both communities would attend school in the Phillipston building.

The plan is being implemented by the School Committee after Phillipston passed a tax override to give additional funds to the schools but Templeton taxpayers failed to approve the increase in that town’s election.

Phillipston parents are planning to turn out to fill the meeting room Wednesday night when Phillipston selectmen meet at 7 pm in the public safety complex at 90 State Road. On the agenda is a budget update from Superintendent of Schools Chris Casavant.

Selectmen Chairman Kim Pratt asked the superintendent to come in to talk about the budget, Flynn said.

He said the town council has been asked what choices are available.

School committees have certain authority over schools under state law, limiting the ability of other committees to take action, especially under a regional school organization.

Complicating the discussion, some documents are missing.

“No one has a copy of the leases for the schools,” Flynn said. In 1974, a 20-year lease was supposed to be approved, which would then normally be renewed every couple decades. But the superintendent can’t find them, he said.

The townspeople’s opinions, however, can be easily found, in surveys and social media postings.

Flynn said a community survey was done through the community newsletter that goes to 675 households, with over 100 responding.

“There was quite a lot of concern about closing the school,” Flynn said of the results.

“There has been a public school in Phillipston since before there was a Phillipston, when it was a part of Templeton,” Flynn noted.

Among parents objecting to the move, Richard Degan has been vocal.

With Templeton building a new school, as well as a police station, taxes in that community may have driven voters to turn down the override, Degan said.

But Phillipston residents are not keen on the solution presented by the school administration: busing students between the two towns in order to reorganize the schools and cut staff.

He said plans would increase class size substantially and result in long bus rides for young children, both concerns driving parents to seek options.

“We have a real issue with that,” Degan said. “The school committee said the schools wouldn’t be closed,” adding that technically keeping the Phillipston school open for pre-K and kindergarten was not meeting that promise.

Degan said residents are exploring legal actions as well as pressuring community leaders to take action.

“The community is outraged,” Degan said of the drive that has parents especially energized to fight the decision.

Among ideas being floated is one to break up the region, with Phillipston pulling out, at least at the elementary school. It could form a separate school district for the elementary school while remaining in the regional high school, a model used by some other districts. Another option would be to join with another town in a regional school.

And residents are not happy with their school committee representatives, prompting discussion of a recall.

Degan said the preliminary 85 signature threshold has already been reached for a recall election. Next would be a second signature-gathering effort to meet a higher standard and bring it to an election vote.

He said there are people who are ready to step in and run for the seats to give a new voice for the town’s three votes on the board. Templeton controls the school committee with five seats on the eight-member board, but Degan said the vote to proceed with the consolidation was supported by the Phillipston members as well.

“We need to prevent this,” Degan said, even if it requires legal action such as an injunction. “Once it’s stopped, we can discuss how we’re going to proceed.”

What figures from DESE show:

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education show Narragansett Regional School District, as of June 2019 was at 108.6 % of Net School Spending for FY 2018.

According to DESE, that is the latest financial data they have.

What is Net School Spending?

I. Three Components A.
A foundation budget calculated for the district representing minimum spending needed. Adjusted annually to reflect changes in enrollment, demographics, inflation, and geographical wage differences.
B. A local contribution or local appropriations required to meet net school spending.
C. Chapter 70 Aid is the share of the foundation budget funded by the state.

II. The Foundation Formula
A. Required Net School Spending = Local Contribution + Chapter 70 Aid.
B. Required Net School Spending = Foundation Budget.

 III. The Concepts
A. Foundation Enrollment – the number of students a district is responsible for educating financially as of October 1 each year.
B. Foundation Budget – increases or decreases based upon the foundation enrollment and the inflation factor used by the state.
C. Local Contribution is calculated by increasing the previous year’s contribution by the Municipal Revenue Growth factor and adjusting this number based upon municipality's' ability to pay, the latter based on the state’s aggregate wealth model.
D. Municipal Revenue Growth Factor is Towns' percentage increase in local revenues from one year to the next as calculated by the Department of Revenue.
E. The Aggregate Wealth Model looks at both personal income wealth statistics and property wealth statistics in a Town.

from June 13, 2019:

A group of parents and education advocates filed a lawsuit in state court Thursday over what they're calling inadequate school funding. The plaintiffs argue the current school funding system, which is more than 25 years old, isn't keeping up with their students' needs and is creating a system of "separate but unequal schools."

The plaintiffs include students and parents from Chelsea, Chicopee, Fall River, Haverhill, Lowell, Orange and Springfield — all diverse municipalities with above-average proportions of low-income families — as well as the NAACP's New England Area Conference and the nonprofit Chelsea Collaborative.

from Board of Selectmen Meeting May 8, 2019

Inter-municipal agreement between Templeton and Hubbardston, MA
Accounting services - provider = Templeton & end user = Hubbardston.

APPORTIONMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF COSTS
The End User shall pay to the Provider per fiscal year as follows:

FY20 - $37,000
FY21 - $42,000
FY22 - $43,000

This is contingent on the End User’s receipt in FY20 of $30,000 in funds to offset the cost of
software conversions necessary to service both Town departments. It is further contingent upon
appropriation by Hubbardston and Templeton Town Meetings at their annual town meetings of
the necessary appropriations to fund the provision of and purchase of the services specified herein.

So, lets do a breakdown of this:

Beginning July 1, 2019, Hubbardston pays Templeton $37,000.00 for Templeton Town Accountant to work on Hubbardstons' books.

What this costs Templeton:

Templeton Town Accountant receives a $7,500.00 raise to do the extra work.

Part time person in accountant office goes full time at $49,780.00 + benefits.
(part time person was at $20,346.00 / $18,903 + floating pay at $1,443.00)
Benefits cost approximately an extra $25,000.00 (conservative)

$49,780.00 - $20,346.00 = $29,434.00.

So, 4th grade math equals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $  7,500.00   (accountant raise)
part time to full time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $29,434.00   (part time person raise)
now full time benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25,000.00

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$61,934.00
subtract Hubbardston payment . . . . . . . . . . . . $37,000.00

Templeton in the hole for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$24,934.00

Assuming the steady increase in health insurance benefit, yearly cost of living increases, merit raises and increases in retirement costs, it can be assumed Templeton will continue to come out on short end of this stick.

You may watch the selectmen meeting of May 8, 2019 to see this happen.

Massachusetts Municipal Auditors' & Accountants' Association Inc.

The Association offers a certification program of Certified Governmental Accountant

MMAAA

2019 Newly Certified Members - (as of June 3, 2019 - 1:32 P.M.)

Name                                          Title                                               Community
Chuckran, Heidi                         Town Accountant                          Mattapoisett
Curley, Stephen                          Deputy Comptroller                      Newton
Fernandes, Melissa                    District Accountant                       Groton-Dunstable Reg Sch Dist
Lin, Jie (Jenny)                           Town Accountant                          Princeton
Lindmark, Todd                           Finance Director                           Norfolk
Mainville, Andrea                        Town Accountant                          Manchester by the Sea
McCarthy, Christine                    Town Accountant                           Marshfield
Mullane, Jared Asst                    Town Accountant                            Andover
Nunley-Benjamin, Aleesha          Finance Director/Auditor               Medford
Osborn, Anna                              Town Accountant                           Williamstown
Piatt, Donald                                Finance Director/Town Acct          Cohassett
Potter, Deborah                           Town Accountant                           Oak Bluffs
Rogers, Ninotchka                      Town Accountant                            Bolton
Rose, Sally                                  Accounting Specialist                     Wellesley
Ruseva, Mariya                           Administrative Asst                        Yarmouth
Wood, Sarah                               Town Accountant/CFO                   Middleton

Residents want roads fixed but do not wish to pay for it?
Recent moves by Hubbardston Town voters seem to back that up.

HUBBARDSTON — Voters turned out but were not supportive of a plan to tackle road repairs through an override that required election approval.

A ballot question seeking a tax increase of up to $350,000 to fund the municipal road repair and maintenance fund, created at the June 3 Town Meeting, failed, with 190 voters in favor and 219 against.

The override article won approval by required two-thirds at Town Meeting, but it also required a majority votes in support of the tax measure at the election in order for the plan to move forward.

Templeton, MA:

People may feel that the gas and diesel tax paid at the pump is where the money comes from or should come from for road repair / rebuilding. While it is true some monies do come to towns from that program, it is not enough, for several reasons.

First and foremost, state legislature and governor do not put forward enough money in the chapter 90 program for it to really work. (200 million shared by all cities and towns in state) Secondly, and I am not sure if this has been tracked at any level, with the advent of electric cars, hybrids, better gas mileage, push for mass transit, what are the annual gas tax collection rates over the years? We, as residents, may be waiting a long time for that to happen. In the mean time, the way our roads will become passable and in decent shape, which affects many things, to include how much is spent on clearing roads in the winter, damage to personal vehicles, danger to kids riding bikes, walking on roads without sidewalks and even people moving to our town.

There is one option available; it involves creating a stabilization fund strictly for roads, requires two thirds vote of town meeting, then a funding mechanism, one being a tax override which only goes to provide money for that fund. If the fund is emptied or the roads are fixed, the override goes away. Something to be looked at and considered. All people are tired of crappy roads. Money could also come from left over tax money, ie: free cash. You, the tax payer control that; if you wish it to go to a certain thing, say so, and you can choose to vote no if free cash is presented to be spent on other things, that is your real power, power of the purse. Taxpayers have to decide what they want. In the near future, no one else is gonna make this happen except you