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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Closing the gap?

Closing the gap? 

 Back to the math

To date the Templeton Board of Selectmen have "discovered" a $200,000 shortfall in the FY 17 budget. There are other groups who feel $200,000 is an estimate on the low side. 

The gap closing cuts have been laid out below and include a number of department mergers:

 At last night's Advisory Committee meeting, the new Supt. of NRSD , Dr. Casavant, came by to introduce himself and made himself available for questions. A question was asked about the $15,000 NRSD assessment reduction for Templeton. The question was greeted by a bit of surprise because there is no $15,000 NRSD Assessment Reduction for Templeton - that reduction is for Phillipston.

So what other surprises are in store with this "Gap Closing Cuts/Freezes & Re-Organization?

Is the revenue generated by EMS Advanced Life Support services at risk by merging with the Police department and no fire chief or acting fire chief? Will this merger kill the goose that lays the golden egg, in terms of revenue that is supposed to go to the "Ambulance Receipts Account"? Will the revenue generated by Fire/EMS be used to fund a much needed (to retain ALS status) new ambulance? 

Will all MART funding for the COA director position as well as dispatch be in jeopardy with the proposed Community Services merger? Will the Boynton Public Library lose its certification? If so, Templeton residents no longer be able to borrow material from other public libraries.

If the audits cost $28,000/year why is the sewer department being asked to cough up $11,000? Will the sewer rates go up AGAIN?

Snow & Ice is already projected at  $50,000 deficit, but that's okay because Snow & Ice can run a deficit. That deficit  will carried over into the FY 18 recap which REDUCES the amount of revenue available for the FY 18 ! 

Oh! and  by the way, the police station that you the voters supported, that's not gonna work out the way it was sold to you. It was sold to you as a two year capital debt exclusion, but a funny thing happened on the way to bank. Oops!

There will be a meeting with the MFOB in January to discuss using state notes to fund the elementary school project. The elementary school project is on hold until the funding issue is resolved. If the MFOB agrees to back the funding of this project, Templeton's local aid from the state is used as the guarantee for the bond. So not only will Local Aid be reduced by Snow & Ice, Local Aid could also be used to pay the bond for the school. Problem is every penny of local aid is already spent on the unbalanced operating budget of the town.
 
The shell game continues. Bottom line - Templeton  does not have enough revenue to support the services it wants to provide.

Selling T shirts at Scout Hall will not generate enough revenue to heat and maintain Scout Hall, never mind close the gap.


The shell game continues. Bottom line - Templeton  does not have enough revenue to support the services it wants to provide.
 

7 comments:

  1. Can anyone clarify what the $87,500 "bond issue" is all about.

    Templeton residents are watching as the administration put on town on a path to circling the drain

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  2. OK, So what was the "funny thing that happened" on the way to the bank?

    If the Town voted for the funding as a two year debt exclusion how can the BOS sign anything different? Why, because we have crap credit, no bond rating and a mountain of debt headed our way..........??

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  3. The bond issue was the payment not in the budget for the 252 property.
    There are other things almost as big we will find and make all this budget revamp even harder.

    Things are not as one thinks when people don't do the jobs they get paid to do.

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  4. I agree David, this is looking pretty sad. Imagine how "credible" our town appears to anyone looking.

    Our entire town seems to be trying to recreate the "housing crisis" on a larger scale. Out of money, can't pay present bills, borrow more money. We are now at the point of stealing from the left hand, to pay the right.

    I just love how we are diminishing town services or capabilities because we cannot pay, but simultaneously indebting ourselves to the eyeballs..

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. The sad thing is the "school people" think that people move to town because of the schools. I say they are wrong. People come here because they think the taxes are cheap ! Big surprise coming down the road for them. I sold my camp at the Fish and Game. I told the people who bought it that they could expect a good size tax increase down the road. I was sure they understood that, so they did not feel I hid anything from them. Bev.

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  6. NRSD Assessment reduction 15,000.00.
    Now there's an amount we can compare the truth of information on.
    1 Fact is it was for another town to receive.
    2 Other amounts will pop up and be even more of a problem.
    3 So how do we get these figures and when they are not as we are told who's held responsible? What are the the people going to believe when they have been told time and time again we have this money and that money and spent every dime and like this mess we never had it to start with.
    So we gave out GIANT raises or should i say Dr. Markel did.
    Ever think about why he did that?
    There have been amounts of 350,000.00 to 400,000.00 in pay raises over the last 2 years and when told i was shocked i'm sure others will be.
    So there is a shortfall now but i don't think it's a structural shortfall.
    I would call it a management shortfall.
    As the past administrator gave out what we didn't have to give out went down one would wonder if he was competent in what he was doing.
    As we happily added things back in the budget we cut to balance it were we led to believe things were going ok and money was not a problem.
    So why did The previous Town Administrator leave so quickly?
    I think things were catching up that couldn't be explained.
    I wonder how Southampton in doing under Markels trusty watch?

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