Tuesday, July 8, 2025

 Good Morning

Over the weekend we had some more damage to the roof at Houghton Park.

The Police have 3 suspects and admitted to the damage.

I will be getting an estimate to repair damage to the roof and those 3 suspects will be responsible for covering the damage.

They will more than likely be serving some community service hours as well.


Good Afternoon
The construction for the School St. project is completed.
School St. is officially open to 2-way traffic.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

 Templeton, MA June meals tax revenue reports as $19,670.00.

Meals Tax revenue for fiscal year 25 is down $523.00 from previous year, using data from MA division local service.
FY24 total meals tax $83,879.00
FY25 total meals tax $83,356.00
Fiscal Year 25 meals tax for 1st., 3rd and 4th quarters were down from previous FY. 2nd qtr. was up from previous FY.

Templeton Meals Tax history.
Fiscal Year
2019 total $41,709.00
2020 total $50,573.00
2021 total $55,457.00
2022 total $67.168.00
2023 total $77,346.00
2024 total $83,879.00
2025 total $83,356.00

 Fiscally responsible spending plan is more than $1 billion below H1; Will make Massachusetts more affordable, improve transportation, invest in the state's world-class education system, and grow economy. House 1 is the state budget generally put forward in January that most cities and towns use as basis for state aid in local budgets. Except now the state has reduced it by 1 billion dollars. This is exactly why town should not use stabilization funds to pay reoccurring expenses such as school assessment. It was a dumb move a couple years ago, was a dumb move this year and will always be a dumb move, fiscally speaking.

Friday, June 27, 2025

 The Legislature plans to approve a final fiscal year 2026 state budget on Monday, the day before the new spending cycle starts, after House and Senate Democrats announced they reached an accord.

Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues, the budget chiefs for each chamber, said in a statement just after 1 p.m. Friday that they completed a deal on the annual spending plan. They did not release any details about its contents or even a bottom line spending figure.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

 How does a debt exclusion differ from an override? Both are Proposition 2½ questions and, in municipal finance language, both are technically overrides. However, there are some basic differences. While both will increase your property taxes, a debt exclusion is a temporary increase while an operating override is a permanent increase in the town’s tax levy limit. A debt exclusion finances a particular project(s) and your taxes increase for a period of time, usually 10-20 years, to cover the cost of the project. When the financing bond is paid off, your tax increase for that project goes away.

Why are there two votes – one at the polls and one at Town Meeting? A debt exclusion is required to pass two thresholds: a simple majority at the ballot and a two-thirds majority at Town Meeting.

Friday, May 16, 2025

 Back in January, MA governor presented her budget for FY26. Commonly called house 1.

House 1 state aid to Templeton - $2,075,790.00
House ways & means $2,041,391.00
Senate ways & means $2,099,863.00
Used in revenue totals for the budget you just voted on Wednesday, total state aid for FY26 $2,048,909.00
Anyone have a crystal ball to tell me exactly how much total state aid Templeton will get? Can anyone tell me if Templeton will collect 100% of personal property and real estate taxes for FY26?
Town budget is a crap shoot based on estimates; there is financial history to aid in arriving at those estimates, but, nothing in stone.
Same with chapter 70 state aid to school districts.
Just in case you did not realize that.