Okay, lots of complaining or questions asking on this or that, but how about a plan or at least a hint of a direction to go in;
I believe it is time for the Town to take a look at all of the fees charged to residents or anyone who wishes to do somethings in Templeton. If you remember, or not, there was a few years back, an article in the Gardner News and it was a subject brought up at a couple of public meetings, the fact that in Templeton, the fee schedule for that once upon a time mall in Templeton (exit 19 project) was to come in at an astounding 10 thousand dollars. It was pointed out that in other Towns/cities, those same fees totaled from 25 to around 100 dollars. Those were no secrets, they were and are posted or on record at various departments, such as building and planning board. I think the large fee schedule came about in Templeton back when all the family farms were being sold to developers for houses and the genius plan was to make the developers pay for everything. Of course when it gets to be to expensive here, they go else where. There was also a letter in the Gardner News written by the then Templeton building inspector concerning the limited amount of build-able land in Templeton and how that should be viewed in Town. So I think it is time to look at all fees and ask why? Why do we tell residents/taxpayers that you must pay property taxes to cover the salaries of those individuals whose job it is to do these inspections and then you must pay a fee for that individual to do their job. Now some may say Jeff, that would cut into the Town's revenue source or those funds are used to pay for forms or for this or that. Well, I believe that the cost of those forms, etc. can and should be covered in each departments budget. One job of local government is to provide services at a reasonable cost. The last meeting of the selectmen had the chairman talking about spending money we do not even have, that is the Town (selectmen) could use some of the coming free cash to cover this or that, you know, just a few thousand dollars. well if you have a budget with 100 thousand dollars of slack in it, my thought is you already have a few thousand dollars to pay for this or that. You should not be thinking of spending money you do not even have nor have any guarantee it is coming. First priority is to build a rainy day fund. You know, so when state funding dries up, you have funds to pay the playground bill. Heck, this board of selectmen are going to spend money from the stabilization fund this year. They said as much at their last meeting. It is time for some fiscal restraint, especially when you are spending someone elses money on wants and not needs. Like an assistant town administrator.

Jeff Bennett