Town of Braintree

Slash Budgets to Fund Needs

Dec 29, 2004
I as one taxpayer would welcome an override if the town leaders would do the following - slash each department's budget paid by taxpayers by 5% for the next year including the budget busting Schools. We have (round figures) an $80 million budget. A 5% budget slash will save $4 million dollars. Yes, only way to do it would be with layoffs as our budget is about 80% payroll. Then, our Selectmen haul in the BELD Commisisoners and air out what the hell is going on with a 12% pay increase contract with their employees and now BONUSES being paid. Then, haul in School Committee - showing backbone leadership - and condemn their 10% 4 year contract settlement. That's leadership. What will we do with the $4 million saved in one year? Fund our capital needs based on our department head priorities announced at a public forum that taxpayers and town meeting members can grill the department heads alike hosted by the finance committee. That's leadership before we start speaking about overrides. If that were done, I'd be more than willing to CONSIDER an override the following year. If we took the Plaza out of the equation, our crime stoppers would be able to absorb a 5% staffing slash. Let the Plaza pay for any police response over and above their taxes paid. I would guess at least half of our police calls are for Plaza issues.
Same with K Mart Plaza and Pearl Plaza.
Sell off Water Building, Monatiquot School, Eldridge School, Foster School and former BELD building on Allen Street and use income to pay for school building improvements, water office costs at Torrey and pay for minimal pay raises to our employees. Get Smart, Selectmen and Finance Committee members, and then get TOUGH!

-By Plain and Simple

Reply to This Message

Why is it so plain and simple to get tough when tough times arrive. TMM12 has posted where the money has gone. Any department over the past 9 years of his analysis that has exceeded 2.5% each year needs to be asked to slash their budgets this coming year by say 5%. Where's the backbone?

By Plain and Simple

Schools Eating Taxes, Yum Yum

Let's face it, folks. Our School Department is our biggest tax drain - not that it should be, but at the alarming rate of over 5% per year in the last nine years? That doesn't include the Capital Outlay dollars we have allocated to them as well to fix their schools? Hmm, wonder how well they succeeded? For instance, in FY97, we approved $133,600 for schools.
Technology upgrades was $100,000 alone.
In FY98, we allocated $1,261,000. In FY99, a whopping $834,800. In FY00, we gave them $779,558. In FY01, another $575,800 was allocated to Schools Capital needs. In FY02, $890,979. In FY03, $445,000. In '04, anothere $290,000. Now, in FY05, they got $732,000 in capital dollars from us taxpayers. By my calculations, our Braintree Public Schools OVER AND ABOVE THEIR OPERATING BUDGET has received $5,242,727 in capital outlay monies to fix their buildings and to purchase new equipment. That doesn't take into account the bond issue floated for over a million additional bucks for the school by school consultant analysis of what's wrong with our buildings and what it would cost to bring all the schools up to snuff. Remember the sum of $125,000,000 floated about (and that didn't include the high school). We've been duped, stuped and betrayed by our School Committee and administrators for bleeding our tax supported dollar appropriations each year through this budget struggle the past couple of years in particular. When will be grab hold, squeeze and say NO when we can't afford this bleeding any further?

By TMM12