It starts tonight. Town Meeting will convene at 7:30pm this evening to take up the articles in the Town Warrant which was recently published and mailed to Milton residents. Town Meeting will continue Tuesday and Thursday of this week and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of next week as well if needed.
The issue front and center will be the town budget. The Warrant Committee is actually presenting two budgets. One is a FY10 budget based on the amount of revenues that can be expected without an override. The Board of Assessors have advised that the FY10 budget will increase the property tax rate from $11.74 to $12.35.
After discussions with town departments on the impact a budget of that size would have; the conclusion of the Warrant Committee was: it’s not enough. Hence, the need to develop a second budget contingent on the passage of a Prop 2 1/2 override. The Warrant Committee is recommending that Town Meeting adopt a contingent budget that would result in an increase from $11.74 to $13.08.
Tom Hurley, Chairman of the Warrant Committee writes in his report regarding the recommendation, “we do not do so lightly and we are mindful of the impact that it will have upon the Town’s taxpayers, particularly in these difficult times.” He goes on to note that the contingent budget “does not provide level services it simply restores some of the services the town would lose under the balanced budget to allow us to get through FY10 without tremendous pain.”
Several factors are responsible for the difficult budget: insurance, requested wage and salary increases, rising utility and fuel costs, and recent winter that saw inordinate snowfall. In an attempt to lead by example town department heads (Police Chief, Town Clerk, School Superintendent etc) have agreed to a wage freeze for 2010.
The impact of a non-contingent budget will be severe across town departments. The schools will lose 46 staff members including 38 teachers, class size could balloon as high as 35, and accreditation could be at risk. The Police Department would cut 6 traffic supervisors, 5 patrol officers, adn 2 emergency 911 operators. The Fire Department would close a fire station and reduce the total firemen from 55 to 50.
The Warrant Committee recommended a contingent budget in FY09 also believing it to be necessary to maintain level service for all Town departments. Town Meeting rejected the contingent budget, adopted a non-contingent budget which resulted in a reduction in services.
There are also some non-budget articles of note. There are two citizens petitions. One requesting that the town withdraw from the Norfolk County Mosquito Control. The Warrant Committee recommends against this. A second petition is for the Blue Hill Avenue Institutional/Business Overlay. This is with regard to the effort by Temple Shalom to redevelop their property. They have engaged Coffman Realty who made a proposal the Planning Board to build a pharamacy, a separate building to house business and retail clients, and a new temple. (You can view a list of previous post on this issue here.) The Warrant Committee did not have a recommendation on this isssue as the Planning Board was still reviewing the matter when the Warrant went to press. It is the Planning Board’s recommendation that Town Meeting refer the matter back to the Planning Board for further review and site planning.
There is also an article to create a Consolidated Facilities Department. Currently the town and the school operate two separate departments. The notion is to have a single streamlined department that could achieve economies of scale etc. The Warrant Committee is in favor of the article noting that:
After its dedicated employees and volunteers the Town’s buildings are its most valuable assets. We have a new library and new schools. We have a responsibility to the residents of the Town to properly maintain these assets.
NOTES:
- This post is not meant to be a substitution for but rather an incentive to read the full Warrant.
- You can look up your homes assessed value here.