Please make every effort to attend the Annual Town Meeting Tuesday May 14th at 7:00PM in the NMS Auditorium
The School will probably make a motion to move the School Budget Articles ahead of the Town Budget. If this is voted, the School will then have a motion for their entire budget - forget about the over ride this will include the $691,000.00 in the budget - So, the school will be asking for the entire amount, as they did in Phillipston., However in Phillipston the amount was only around $150,000.00 and Phillipston had this amount in Free Cash so their other Departments will not be touched. Templeton however does not have any Free Cash or Stabilization so if the entire school budget is voted for, we will lose vital services - Where do we find $691,000. on the Green Sheets (Town Budget) Any suggestions?
The people Voted NO on the override - Should we save the town departments and try to past an override again? Is it fair to pillage the town departments more than they have been? Do we do without Police protection? Without Fire Protection? Do we lay off the entire Highway Department and have no road maintenance? Do we have town offices only open 1 day a week? Do we have the cemetery have burials only one day a week and not be able to maintain the cemeteries? DO we close the Council of Aging and have no services for the seniors?
We have some tough questions here? What say you all?
Pauly
Anybody that vote for this needs to go back to school and learn some COMMON SENSE. It was taught when I went to school.
ReplyDeleteI voted for the override, however, I will not vote for the additional money amount for the school budget at town meeting as I do not feel the difference should come out of the town's existing budget. Unlike Phillipston, Templeton doesn't have free cash or a stabilization account to draw from. (You can thank the previous BOS & financial officers of the past decade for using that money to balance the budget...a huge no no according to the DOR.) The town has already cut every single budget to the bare bones, positions eliminated, all elected positions pay eliminated, hours of all town employees have been cut, and a day that the town offices are open has been cut. There's nothing left to cut without severely disabling the town's basic operations. Look at the paperwork to see what has been cut since FY2012 budget. I also do not feel the school budget question should be voted on out of order tonight whether it is to strong arm the town to get the money they want or to accommodate parents with children who cannot stay at the meeting late. Neither reason is fair to the majority of the town. I grew up in the era when school overcrowding was dealt with by having double sessions (dividing students in half and having one group attend in the morning and the other half attending in the afternoon). It sucked, but we all did it because there wasn't enough money to solve the budget problem for over two years. It was also one of the first lessons I had in learning that "life isn't always fair, but you deal with it the bet you can." The point being, if people aren't willing to pay more, then the school must decide how to operate with the money available. The town can't provide any more money for this budget year.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, a no vote meant something, so when did that change? I think the people in this town are going to get fed up with the people, who think their cause is more important than, anyone else. The school people may win a battle, but loose the war. Time will, it will come out in the wash. Bev.
ReplyDeleteIt was painful to see at the end of this night’s continuing Town meeting that the people in their haste to get to the School Budget question appeared to not understand what they were voting on except that they thought it would get to the question they wanted to vote on more quickly. And the Echo Hill gang took advantage of this fact by calling for the moving of the question on the CPC funding of East Templeton repairs. Thanks Mr. Dickson for that, not. This apparent personal fight between factions in town will not cease until smarter minds start paying attention to these childish games and put an end to it. Will that ever happen? The upset people that seemed to want to vote only on the School Budget were swayed by their own impatience and were not paying attention to the issue at hand. The fight given by Mr. Columbus and Mr. O’Brien had nothing to do with rational thought. East Templeton is a fine building that would fit all the needs of a town hall in Templeton, but because Echo Hill did not get their marble columns at 252 we all will suffer at their hands. Were Mr. Columbus, O’Brien and Dickson looking out for the best interests in town, or serving up payback? This watchful eye believes the latter.
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