My Name is Paul H Cosentino. I started this Blog in 2011 because of what I believe to be wrongdoings in town government. This Blog is to keep the citizens of Templeton informed. It is also for the citizens of Templeton to post their comments and concerns.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Override Vote
The numbers for the Override have been posted:
A B CTOTAL
YES330284225839
NO3933653591,117
These numbers represent a very good voter turn out. Thank you to all who took the time to vote today.
Great News, and it appears most all surrounding towns also defeated overides and money for the schools today. maybe this is the wake-up call the schools need to start looking within at their multiple overpaid administrators, that alone will get you the money you "claim" you need for the kids.
All this proves is central mass needs more education because clearly a chunk of its voters aren't too bright and they are also incredibly cheap! Shame on you Movin on and anyone else who feels this way! The children are the ones who will suffer wile you all gloat on being cheap! I'm discusted! Makes me sick! Well now let the peices fall where they may! Prepare for layoffs! $0 in this towns budget means the town needs to cut! When everything comes crumbling down because you race to the bottom kinds of people we will see who said I told you so!
To for the people, Boy, have you ever fallen for the old "it's for the kids" crap routine on these overrides. I think you should reread your blog, reflect & apply it to yourself. It seems, from your blog, that you clearly don't understand what is happening in the community & the world today. If you had lost your job & many have lost good ones (including many in my family & we are all for the best education) it is NOT that we are cheap. Goodness sake, think a little more about it. It seems you honestly think the "backwoods folk" around here don't get it & don't want what is best for the students. Of course we do!!! If the lost jobs haven't hit you yet, feel lucky, at least for the moment. Because if the economy continues it's downward spiral you will be hit sooner or later in one way or the other. Then you may see who told you so. I share my thoughts & opinions, as you do yours and I actually wish the defeat was more due to being cheap that being without a job. All our degrees & hard work have not guaranteed stable employment. I hope yours does but time will tell. My heart goes out to all the people who are struggling & also the kids. Certainly, not the school administration. That's who you should be disgusted with. They could do a lot better for our town & children with the fantastic salary packages we have given them here! That is where the problem lies at this point in time in my opinion!!
The Town has cut. Offices are closed on Fridays. Non union employees have taken a 12% pay cut. Cutting the Town budget would result in massive layoffs in public safety...it's the only place left to cut on the town side.
The school department holds all the cards now. We'll see what happens. After the STM on Thursday, the town may have about $17,000 in stabilization...that won't go very far. The school committee could ask for impact bargaining to try to seek a salary freeze this year for everyone. That would help make up a significant amount of the shortfall in the school budget and it wouldn't hurt the kids as much as layoffs. I guess we will see who is for the kids as this plays out.
It's going to be a long, hot summer! If TMLWP shuts off the water, then it will be a very dry summer as well.
I spoke with Ruth yesterday and with the money they would make the Salaries they need. I feel bad for the selectman this is not going to be an easy summer possibly shutting things down more.
I do not think it is a very bad thing to be "cheap" It could be the citizens do not feel spending so much on administration for the kids is a good investment. The governor asked for a very large budget / tax increase for transportation and education and the state legislature said no so can we assume you also feel the legislature is cheap and in need of education? When admin costs are far above money spent on text books, the money is clearly not for the kids. And now after two no votes for a tax increase, we will all see who the school committee is for. As I have previously stated, if the school committee and the district had actually cut administrative costs including eliminating some duplicate positions and came back to the voters with a lower override request, that would have shown a compromise and perhaps then the voters may have supported them. Now we wait for what the school district will do. Perhaps it is time for the town to request the DESE come to Templeton and look over the school district budget along with the whole wind turbine situation including the location of the turbine and the lease.
Well Athol pays allot more for their administration and I feel Templeton is still better. I truly believe if this town continues in the same direction it will fail! Towns that stay small and quaint pay loads of taxes to remain that way! If Templeton wants cheap taxes then we need industries to take the burden off the tax payer! Truth and Point.
we are not cheap or uneducated, we have lost jobs, been laid off, lost our homes, had to pay more to send our kids to college, had to live without increases in our soc security/retirement, our cost of living expenses have increased drasticly food, oil, gas, etc., For the people must work for L&W
Well now more jobs will be lost and more people will be layed off to join these people you talk of! I do not however work for the light and water! But I'm sure they will be ripped to pieces by people who think those they feel are making to much money. I think your complaint Zebra is more of a state and federal level, not so much a town! Our Teachers aren't over paid and neither is the administration here. Some surrounding towns pay more.
With the Water rates the highest in the state and electric also a much higher average,its no wonder we get the overrides voted down. I think the number of no votes has increased over the last time it went up. The raises of 2% above the teachers every year is a issue we all should have with the system and the people that have allowed it to happen.One way for us to get some relief is to abolish the L+W commission and resore the rights we had. The Selectmen can do the same if not better for the town and will allow the close lookover we need to have done at Light and Water. It is our BUSINESS to look and now we can't with this commission in place as is. It can always go back to a commission status in the future. Other towns run their municipal departments without a commission and are in less turmoil then we are. They know whats being done and what has been done,WE DON'T!
I do agree Dave I think that the rates maybe starting to worry people. I just didn't want to see the selectman have to fire half the town, due to the lack of taxes. I know that's not what they want. It's going to be a rough summer!
glad the override failed again....and we damn sure had better not be voting on another override in 2 months.....we should have either a law or legislation forbidding the town from voting on overrides for a year if they fail....this constantly voting for override after override is insane.
It's like a five year old asking for candy...if they don't get it they ask and ask and ask until they wear you out....
NO MORE G'DAMN OVERRIDES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now it's time to cut the "fat" admin costs at the schools.
We should have a law that prevents over rides, like we should have a law the prevents idiots from voting! Sounds great but it's everyone's right to vote! The school will put forth the budget again could be the same or could be less. Now when the state comes the town WILL be required to pay the amount so the town will cut police and such to make up the differenc! I'm so proud of Templeton for single handedly getting towns people fired and lowering our property values!
For the people, Shame on you for insinuating that the people who do not have the means to pay, or the people who did not feel this increase was really about the kids, but more about the Administration, are stupid!! Shame on you, for being so self centered. These people have as much right as you, to their opinion. A girl at the polls said to me, "I know how you are going to vote!" I told her, "no you don't, nobody knows but me what I put on this paper." With the larger number of votes for no, it could be that some of the school supporters voted no also. It can not be easy for these young families to make ends meet. It is over, now I want the parents to tell Ruth to leave the kids alone, stop using them as a pawn, and get down to business. With two principals, and 2 vice principals in one building, I am sure they could make a change. Now it is up to parents to protect their kids from the people they have been backing. My opinion, Bev.
No Bev, I would say shame on you! You are one of the loud voices that always points fingers and with this issue have very little facts! Parents would have had more a savings by voting YES because sports alone were $100 per child per sport, now they will be $200+ per child! I'm sick of people like you saying they are usuing the children as pawns when there are no raises there is no need to pawn them for money! People with your opinion are using them to get a NO vote! Well congrats! Now we will fire half the town and cut hours! That was a great use of time! Glad my state and federal taxes are going to unemployment verses the youth of America!
Having just moved here from Batavia New York I can assure you that all the education in the world is wonderful for the individual but without jobs to fill all that is left is unpaid loans.
It is time for the parents to take a stand, and say no, to the School Committee, when they try to take anything from the kids. What the hell, are you all soft in the head! You do have some say, so use it. The School can negotiate, the same way the town departments have had to. I did not break any arms, I did not tell anyone how to vote. Every person that voted, has his own free will. Every person who voted, had their own reasons for the way they voted. This is a democracy, like it or not. I doubt I had any impact on how any person voted, so sorry, I will not take credit, or the blame for that. Depends on how you look at it. Do I think it was unfair for the School people to threaten to take things away from the kids? Your D-M RIGHT!! Go back to the drawing board, that is what our town workers have gone through. Our town workers have had it rough, and they are as valuable to me, as anyone else. This is my opinion, other people have the right to agree, or disagree. Bev
Absolutely right on Mr. Morgan (welcome to town & sharing your views) & Bev! It seems that there are a few that have not been adversely affected by this tanked economy yet & think we are still living in the glory days when the jobs were plentiful & it seemed there would be no end to the fabulous raises many had been used to getting. Now, when things are tough these same spoiled people can't adjust to reality & understand how everyone needs to tighten belts all the way around when their neighbors, friends & community as a whole are telling them at the polls that they don't have any more to give. Chucklbunny put it so well, too. we do have a bunch of whiners who will not stop pushing the overrides until they get their way. Do I wish things were different for everyone, sure but, many of us have been through so much more tragedy & adversity to know that this is small (and I don't mean our kids are) in the scheme of life & is being overblown by the administration for their wants, not needs. They are supposed to be teaching our youth what is most important & that should be showing & teaching the best you can with what you have & not blaming the people in town for voting as they see is necessary to survive at this point in time. Of course, it is harder to teach something you know nothing about. I think the majority of society has become so self-entitled that when something doesn't go their way, there is a lot of stomping like undisciplined kids do. I think we have lost much of the maturity past generations had. And Bev, you are right these depts. are not your mothers & fathers anymore. Give me back some of those principled people who had the drive to work for years to get what they wanted & not expect instant gratification or act out when things didn't always work out for them. Maybe this crashing of our economy might be helpful in making people realize what is most important. I am afraid we may have turned the corner too far if we don't wake up soon! As usual my opinion. I enjoy reading everyone else's. My thought for the day, Be happy & feel blessed with what you have & not be sad for what you don't. Try to be better & not bitter. One letter makes all the difference in the world on how we look at things.
Isteach - I like that phrase- Try to better & not bitter. No one knows the outcome or what will happen if the state comes in.
I don't see this current board of selectmen cutting town services any further. Looks like we are all out of compromise.
I hope For the People understands that there are many parts to a community. Public safety will have to be cut if the town meeting votes to fund the school's certified budget. It's the only place left in the town with any money...or so we've been told. Guess we'll find out.
I wonder if the TMLWP commissioners and general manager will turn off the town's water? Can you open school, if the water is turned off? I wonder. Probably should attend town meeting tonight, if I have time.
Why would passing a school budget require cuts to other town services? The town budget was voted at town meetin and was approved. If the result of a joint town meeting with Phillipston is to fully fund the requested amount of NRSD, how does that change Templeton's valid town meeting outcome?
The people who should answer that question are on the NRSD. When the override failed twice, they should have acted responsibly and voted a budget that did not include the override amount. What will be the result of such a joint town meeting? Why would that result supercede the result of Templeton's vote and trigger cuts to the town's general budget?
Great News, and it appears most all surrounding towns also defeated overides and money for the schools today. maybe this is the wake-up call the schools need to start looking within at their multiple overpaid administrators, that alone will get you the money you "claim" you need for the kids.
ReplyDeleteAll this proves is central mass needs more education because clearly a chunk of its voters aren't too bright and they are also incredibly cheap! Shame on you Movin on and anyone else who feels this way! The children are the ones who will suffer wile you all gloat on being cheap! I'm discusted! Makes me sick! Well now let the peices fall where they may! Prepare for layoffs! $0 in this towns budget means the town needs to cut! When everything comes crumbling down because you race to the bottom kinds of people we will see who said I told you so!
ReplyDeleteTo for the people, Boy, have you ever fallen for the old "it's for the kids" crap routine on these overrides. I think you should reread your blog, reflect & apply it to yourself. It seems, from your blog, that you clearly don't understand what is happening in the community & the world today. If you had lost your job & many have lost good ones (including many in my family & we are all for the best education) it is NOT that we are cheap. Goodness sake, think a little more about it. It seems you honestly think the "backwoods folk" around here don't get it & don't want what is best for the students. Of course we do!!! If the lost jobs haven't hit you yet, feel lucky, at least for the moment. Because if the economy continues it's downward spiral you will be hit sooner or later in one way or the other. Then you may see who told you so. I share my thoughts & opinions, as you do yours and I actually wish the defeat was more due to being cheap that being without a job. All our degrees & hard work have not guaranteed stable employment. I hope yours does but time will tell. My heart goes out to all the people who are struggling & also the kids. Certainly, not the school administration. That's who you should be disgusted with. They could do a lot better for our town & children with the fantastic salary packages we have given them here! That is where the problem lies at this point in time in my opinion!!
DeleteFor the people:
DeleteThe Town has cut. Offices are closed on Fridays. Non union employees have taken a 12% pay cut. Cutting the Town budget would result in massive layoffs in public safety...it's the only place left to cut on the town side.
The school department holds all the cards now. We'll see what happens. After the STM on Thursday, the town may have about $17,000 in stabilization...that won't go very far.
The school committee could ask for impact bargaining to try to seek a salary freeze this year for everyone. That would help make up a significant amount of the shortfall in the school budget and it wouldn't hurt the kids as much as layoffs. I guess we will see who is for the kids as this plays out.
It's going to be a long, hot summer! If TMLWP shuts off the water, then it will be a very dry summer as well.
I spoke with Ruth yesterday and with the money they would make the Salaries they need. I feel bad for the selectman this is not going to be an easy summer possibly shutting things down more.
DeleteI do not think it is a very bad thing to be "cheap" It could be the citizens do not feel spending so much on administration for the kids is a good investment. The governor asked for a very large budget / tax increase for transportation and education and the state legislature said no so can we assume you also feel the legislature is cheap and in need of education? When admin costs are far above money spent on text books, the money is clearly not for the kids. And now after two no votes for a tax increase, we will all see who the school committee is for. As I have previously stated, if the school committee and the district had actually cut administrative costs including eliminating some duplicate positions and came back to the voters with a lower override request, that would have shown a compromise and perhaps then the voters may have supported them. Now we wait for what the school district will do. Perhaps it is time for the town to request the DESE come to Templeton and look over the school district budget along with the whole wind turbine situation including the location of the turbine and the lease.
ReplyDeleteWell Athol pays allot more for their administration and I feel Templeton is still better. I truly believe if this town continues in the same direction it will fail! Towns that stay small and quaint pay loads of taxes to remain that way! If Templeton wants cheap taxes then we need industries to take the burden off the tax payer! Truth and Point.
Deletewe are not cheap or uneducated, we have lost jobs, been laid off, lost our homes, had to pay more to send our kids to college, had to live without increases in our soc security/retirement, our cost of living expenses have increased drasticly food, oil, gas, etc.,
ReplyDeleteFor the people must work for L&W
Well now more jobs will be lost and more people will be layed off to join these people you talk of! I do not however work for the light and water! But I'm sure they will be ripped to pieces by people who think those they feel are making to much money. I think your complaint Zebra is more of a state and federal level, not so much a town! Our Teachers aren't over paid and neither is the administration here. Some surrounding towns pay more.
DeleteWith the Water rates the highest in the state and electric also a much higher average,its no wonder we get the overrides voted down. I think the number of no votes has increased over the last time it went up. The raises of 2% above the teachers every year is a issue we all should have with the system and the people that have allowed it to happen.One way for us to get some relief is to abolish the L+W commission and resore the rights we had. The Selectmen can do the same if not better for the town and will allow the close lookover we need to have done at Light and Water. It is our BUSINESS to look and now we can't with this commission in place as is.
ReplyDeleteIt can always go back to a commission status in the future.
Other towns run their municipal departments without a commission and are in less turmoil then we are. They know whats being done and what has been done,WE DON'T!
I do agree Dave I think that the rates maybe starting to worry people. I just didn't want to see the selectman have to fire half the town, due to the lack of taxes. I know that's not what they want. It's going to be a rough summer!
Deleteglad the override failed again....and we damn sure had better not be voting on another override in 2 months.....we should have either a law or legislation forbidding the town from voting on overrides for a year if they fail....this constantly voting for override after override is insane.
ReplyDeleteIt's like a five year old asking for candy...if they don't get it they ask and ask and ask until they wear you out....
NO MORE G'DAMN OVERRIDES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now it's time to cut the "fat" admin costs at the schools.
We should have a law that prevents over rides, like we should have a law the prevents idiots from voting! Sounds great but it's everyone's right to vote! The school will put forth the budget again could be the same or could be less. Now when the state comes the town WILL be required to pay the amount so the town will cut police and such to make up the differenc! I'm so proud of Templeton for single handedly getting towns people fired and lowering our property values!
DeleteFor the people, Shame on you for insinuating that the people who do not have the means to pay, or the people who did not feel this increase was really about the kids, but more about the Administration, are stupid!! Shame on you, for being so self centered. These people have as much right as you, to their opinion. A girl at the polls said to me, "I know how you are going to vote!" I told her, "no you don't, nobody knows but me what I put on this paper." With the larger number of votes for no, it could be that some of the school supporters voted no also. It can not be easy for these young families to make ends meet. It is over, now I want the parents to tell Ruth to leave the kids alone, stop using them as a pawn, and get down to business. With two principals, and 2 vice principals in one building, I am sure they could make a change. Now it is up to parents to protect their kids from the people they have been backing. My opinion, Bev.
DeleteNo Bev, I would say shame on you! You are one of the loud voices that always points fingers and with this issue have very little facts! Parents would have had more a savings by voting YES because sports alone were $100 per child per sport, now they will be $200+ per child! I'm sick of people like you saying they are usuing the children as pawns when there are no raises there is no need to pawn them for money! People with your opinion are using them to get a NO vote! Well congrats! Now we will fire half the town and cut hours! That was a great use of time! Glad my state and federal taxes are going to unemployment verses the youth of America!
DeleteHaving just moved here from Batavia New York I can assure you that all the education in the world is wonderful for the individual but without jobs to fill all that is left is unpaid loans.
ReplyDeleteIt is time for the parents to take a stand, and say no, to the School Committee, when they try to take anything from the kids. What the hell, are you all soft in the head! You do have some say, so use it. The School can negotiate, the same way the town departments have had to. I did not break any arms, I did not tell anyone how to vote. Every person that voted, has his own free will. Every person who voted, had their own reasons for the way they voted. This is a democracy, like it or not. I doubt I had any impact on how any person voted, so sorry, I will not take credit, or the blame for that. Depends on how you look at it. Do I think it was unfair for the School people to threaten to take things away from the kids? Your D-M RIGHT!! Go back to the drawing board, that is what our town workers have gone through. Our town workers have had it rough, and they are as valuable to me, as anyone else. This is my opinion, other people have the right to agree, or disagree. Bev
DeleteAbsolutely right on Mr. Morgan (welcome to town & sharing your views) & Bev! It seems that there are a few that have not been adversely affected by this tanked economy yet & think we are still living in the glory days when the jobs were plentiful & it seemed there would be no end to the fabulous raises many had been used to getting. Now, when things are tough these same spoiled people can't adjust to reality & understand how everyone needs to tighten belts all the way around when their neighbors, friends & community as a whole are telling them at the polls that they don't have any more to give. Chucklbunny put it so well, too. we do have a bunch of whiners who will not stop pushing the overrides until they get their way. Do I wish things were different for everyone, sure but, many of us have been through so much more tragedy & adversity to know that this is small (and I don't mean our kids are) in the scheme of life & is being overblown by the administration for their wants, not needs. They are supposed to be teaching our youth what is most important & that should be showing & teaching the best you can with what you have & not blaming the people in town for voting as they see is necessary to survive at this point in time. Of course, it is harder to teach something you know nothing about. I think the majority of society has become so self-entitled that when something doesn't go their way, there is a lot of stomping like undisciplined kids do. I think we have lost much of the maturity past generations had. And Bev, you are right these depts. are not your mothers & fathers anymore. Give me back some of those principled people who had the drive to work for years to get what they wanted & not expect instant gratification or act out when things didn't always work out for them. Maybe this crashing of our economy might be helpful in making people realize what is most important. I am afraid we may have turned the corner too far if we don't wake up soon! As usual my opinion. I enjoy reading everyone else's. My thought for the day, Be happy & feel blessed with what you have & not be sad for what you don't. Try to be better & not bitter. One letter makes all the difference in the world on how we look at things.
DeleteSo true, my friend! You cannot take from people who have nothing to give! Bev.
DeleteIsteach -
ReplyDeleteI like that phrase-
Try to better & not bitter. No one knows the outcome or what will happen if the state comes in.
I don't see this current board of selectmen cutting town services any further. Looks like we are all out of compromise.
I hope For the People understands that there are many parts to a community. Public safety will have to be cut if the town meeting votes to fund the school's certified budget. It's the only place left in the town with any money...or so we've been told. Guess we'll find out.
I wonder if the TMLWP commissioners and general manager will turn off the town's water? Can you open school, if the water is turned off? I wonder. Probably should attend town meeting tonight, if I have time.
Why would passing a school budget require cuts to other town services? The town budget was voted at town meetin and was approved. If the result of a joint town meeting with Phillipston is to fully fund the requested amount of NRSD, how does that change Templeton's valid town meeting outcome?
ReplyDeleteThe people who should answer that question are on the NRSD. When the override failed twice, they should have acted responsibly and voted a budget that did not include the override amount. What will be the result of such a joint town meeting? Why would that result supercede the result of Templeton's vote and trigger cuts to the town's general budget?