Town of Braintree

2 hours in;back to same stuff?

2:00 pm.

rearing its ugly head.again.
slaming and banging critique.
thank god it's you again,
Anonymous.you're the only negative
in a seemingly positive or neutral
debate up until this time. ah,
such is life.good with the bad and all.



Thinking is so last year you

Jan 3, 2005
Thinking is so last year you mean, try it you may learn to like it tho!

IN ORDER TO FOLLOW YOUR CONVERSATIONAL TWISTS AND TURNS IT IS NECESSARY FOR ME TO DISSECT YOUR WORDS, SORRY.

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?–-----has the cost of teaching children risen
to the extent that we must bankrupt the town to do it. If that is the case the town, for self preservation, must abandon all attempts to teach children and return it to the individual families
as their duty.?–the percentage of town monies spent is greater than that, how about capital improvements, how about the bond issue, who pays that off?

.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? ----the question is one of common sense, how long can this constant clamoring for more money go on. its not about which dept should get the most, its about fiscal integrity
and reasonable financial discipline.
.
Is, in your estimation ,any critique of the spending habits of any dept. in town justified, or
do you have a problem with questioning the school dept?

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 the people of this state voted into being a tax limit of 2.5% per year as being the will of the taxpayers if the employees of this town insist on a greater amount, they are being greedy. Is the will of the people self indulgent hooey, if you feel that way then you must work for the town!

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.?—most teachers have their children in private schools.

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 what are you trying to say, elliptical thought!

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.--
--an reasonable raise is allowable, how about a small one?

there is much work to be done and complain 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 Anonymous



By THO

If True, Why No Savings?

Yes, Assessor's Office outsources to Patriot Properties virtually all assessment data. Why, then, do they have the same number of workers in the office today than 20 years ago? No savings there.
We outsource collection and mailing and collections of tax bills in Tax Collector's Office; how come they have same staffing they had 20 years ago?
Roadwork outsourcing isn't anything new as our highway department hasn't rebuilt streets for decades. Water and Sewer who outsourced for years the Sewer System work now is hiring back new town employees to do that work because the private contractors were way too expensive we've been told? If that isn't true, why are we putting a half dozen new employees to work at that department? Outsourcing does work, but unless and until we scale back those departments in personnel, we save zilch.

By John W.

Read Post, Stupid

If you collectively add up the budgets of Town Clerk, Registration, Tax Collector, Veterans, Treasurer, Council On Aging, etc. departments, they collectively, it was stated, amount to the remaining % of the town budget this year. Why ask such a stupid question when it was already answered?

By Beanie

John W.

Who is to say we haven't saved money by outsourcing in those areas. We just now got a decent web site up and running. How much would it cost us for Pat.Prop's program and how many people would it take us to implimate gathering and posting the data? If we are employing the same number of people as we did 20 years ago, without outsourcing how many more would we need to employ to handle the increase in volume of work these depts. now generate compared to 20 yrs.ago? I don't know for a fact either whether or not we are saving in these areas, but I tend to think we are. And, I think we could save more by consolidating the two depts. Cross train the staff and downsize through attrition. Both these depts. experience peak and down times for work load; both have up-front and supporting duties; one is setting the standard the other is collecting--the public and our budget would be better served if they were combined.

By money matters