Town of Braintree

Jan 3, 2005
i am wondering if there is anyone in town that is not aware by this time that the school department occupies 50-55% 0f the yearly budget.as far as this continuing to be the only reason
for bashing them in total,consider this:on an individual basis alone which department do each and everyone of you believe should occupy more and why?consider it for a moment,then put thoughts into words here or another thread if you wish,and the discussion can be open to anyone for debate. the idea that school system in town is greedy smacks of self indulgent hooey
and the poorest form of debate.if you don't believe the school system matters
move or pull your children out of the school system and send them to private
or parochial school.at least be willing to do that if you are going to spend so much of your precious time bashing it.the size of the department does not make it exclusive from others when it comes to bringing up the inherent flaws that exist in all others,just that the school system does not effect your life safety issues if you deny it a raise,or will threaten to not plow roads,answer water and sewer complaints,health or building inspections.there is much work to be done and complaing about an inadequate system has never been known to solve these problems to the satisfaction of all parties.ruminate on this issue at length and please try and be constructive.thank you.



By THO

Complaining

Braintree provides an adequate education. The annual increases in our school department has reined in.
All budget increasing beyond the 2 1/2 increase in revenue has to be reined in.
Because I am calling for reining in departmental budgets doesn't make me anti this or anti that.

We cannot just keep on hitting up the real estate property owners. There has to be another way to raise recurring revenue to pay for the annual increases.

What is permissible by the Dept. of Revenue for local governments as revenue raising tools. Can we impose a city or town income tax ? I don't know if any city or town has done one of these, but I am sure you've heard of it.
A Sales and Use tax maybe ? I don't know. I'd have to learn this from the DOR as to what is permissible beyond the tried and failed increasing the burden upon the local real estate tax burden.

Braintree can deliver adequate services at our current budget level. Payroll is the biggest target at 80% of budget. Our employees must realize they have protected jobs for life; but for them to expect be competitive with private sector employees should open the door for discussion about competing for the jobs they hold. Let private sector employees compete for Braintree jobs; I will bet my house the town would receive better service than from our crusty curmudgeons we have now.

Here is a novel idea.
Let's outsource Braintree's jobs to contractual employers and let the competition begin.

I am calling for reining in budgets and limiting our budget growth to within 2 1/2 growth limits.

By No 2 1/2 Over Ride Guy

that was quick.thank you.

good point.question;does this mean all departments as stated on the list published earlier on another thread? you see,I'm for fiscal responsibility as well-all across the board.not just schools.police,fire,DPW,town hall,everywhere.otherwise it becomes a self indulgent pet peeve retribution debate.that is truly the discussion that has no merit.none,nada,zip.let's go forward. yours is the first thought
considered.anyone else?

By THO

Good Question, THO

Previously I asked a question re: the split in percentage of budget per dept.,
in an attempt to reach the same goal. I do not think our school depts. percentage is so out of line, I do question how their share is allocated simply because I do not know how it is apportioned. We must realize that they are under certain mandates that affect their budget considerably. Where I find fault with our system is the negotiating side of contractual issues. At somepoint a system of step-raises was initiated. Now anyone who stays in the system receives an approximately 3% raise per year, automatically, for enhanced knowledge I presume. On top of that 3% increase in salary, they negotiate for an additional raise per year. So in affect, we are giving our employees a minimum of 4% per year. How can our budget sustain this expense? I know I sound like a broken record, but no one will humor me with an answer and I feel this is an important question: How much of our budget is allocated for salaries and contractual perks (clothes allowances, cleaning bills, etc.)If we knew this then maybe we could determine if we, as a community of 34K citizens, are overextended in this area; if so we could work on correcting the problem and possibly free up some cash for infrastructure. I think we have something like an $80mil. budget; that means we are spending about $2,353. per individual citizen to serve and protect; is that reasonable, I don't know.

By money matter