December 17, 2024
Joint Budget Subcommittee
- Town Council: Tom Mercer, Brian Chandler, Melanie Hamblen, Cobi Frongillo
- School Committee: Dave McNeil, Ruthann O'Sullivan, Paul Griffith
- Finance Committee: George Conley, Natalie Riley, Nicole Corbisiero, Lauren Barnes
Re: FY26 Budget deliberations
Dear Joint Budget Subcommittee:
We are writing to request that the Joint Budget Subcommittee prioritize no further budget cuts or reductions in service to municipal departments as part of Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget deliberations. Any further reductions in service will jeopardize public health and safety, increase revenue loss, create non-compliance with federal, state or local laws and regulations, and diminish the overall quality of life in Franklin. Given that many of the budget meetings this past fiscal year went late into the night, with significant public feedback, we as department heads feel we have not had an opportunity to speak at length about our own departmental budgets and what cuts and/or reductions will do to our operations and the services we provide to the residents of Franklin. With that said, we thought a letter to the Committee may be more appropriate, productive, and efficient.
At the September 11, 2024 and October 23, 2024 Joint Budget Subcommittee meetings, as well as in other public meetings of individual committees, there has been mention of detailing specific cuts to the municipal budget, but no mention of detailing the schools. We believe the Town Administrator has already laid out the next level of cuts as part of his presentation in June and further discussion on this matter is ill conceived and unproductive.
At the June 26, 2024 Town Council meeting, the Town Administrator went through the exercise of outlining four tiers of proposed reductions in various budgets across municipal departments to be rerouted to the School Department in an effort to help plug the School's structural deficit. We commend the Town Council, Town Administration, Finance and Human Resources staff for working diligently to identify departmental redundancies to creatively streamline services and cut almost $1.2 million of expenses out of the municipal budget to be transferred to the school budget, while also minimizing the impact to core services and staffing. As illustrated in the presentation, Tiers 2 through 4 would cut an additional $3 +/- million from municipal departments to be transferred to the schools.
Now that the Town is entering FY26 budget discussions with a projected $3.9 million structural budget deficit based on current assumptions, we would like to briefly outline the consequences of an additional $3 million in cuts. At a minimum, the scale of these conceived cuts would have the following impacts:
• Significantly jeopardize the public safety of Franklin. With reductions to police officers, firefighters, paramedics and public infrastructure, any further cuts would have remarkable and irreversible effects on a myriad of issues from traffic enforcement to response times of police, fire, and ambulances services, as well as snow and ice removal, tree trimming, street lighting, pedestrian safety and signage. Further cuts to these departments risk the accreditation of both the Franklin Police Department and certified IS0-1 Fire Department (which the DPW has a significant role in as well). Call volume has skyrocketed and expectations are higher for public safety and public works. Further cuts undermine these trends;
• A counterproductive decline in ''Local Receipt" revenues. Local Receipts are revenues generated by departments and offset the costs of town staff salaries and expenses for services (many of which are required in state laws). Cutting smaller departments such as Administration, Assessors, Town Clerk, Elections, Planning, Conservation, Building/Inspections, the Senior Center, Recreation, and the Library reduces invaluable Town services and, in turn, reduces revenue to the Town. Town staff have worked tirelessly through the past five years to rebound from the pandemic revenue losses;
• A decrease in "New Growth" tax base. With fewer staff to administer land use projects or home improvement permits, permitting could slow down potential projects that constitute "New Growth" and help grow the tax base. Franklin has seen a drop in New Growth of almost 35% in the past five years due to market forces. Any cuts to the general administration of the Town could further reduce this revenue source;
• Noncompliance with federal, state and local regulatory compliance. Town staff perform a great deal of mandated regulatory compliance as outlined in state laws. The federal and state government are placing greater responsibilities, statutory requirements, and mandates on local governments. If cuts occur to our permitting departments, the Town Clerk's office, and/or finance staff, or Administration, the Town risks timely compliance related to grants, elections, permits, building code, health inspections, licensing, public records, the Department of Revenue and much more;
• Exposing the Town's AAA Bond rating to a downgrade, raising interest rates for borrowing and eating up a greater part of the budget pie when the Town borrows for projects like the Remington-Jefferson remodel, Police Station and Horace Mann roof replacement;
• A loss of quality programming, decimation of community lifelines, reduction in the quality of public amenities, inclusive of open space, conservation and recreation areas, and the fracture of cultural and historical pillars. The deprivation of these community cornerstones predominantly affects our most vulnerable residents. Elimination of these programs that engage and create the entire community will result in reduced resources for community connection and mental health services to individuals and families of all ages. In the wake of the failed override, many residents called for the closure, or reduction of hours, at the Public Library, Senior Center, Recreation Department and more. Any reduction in these services would have substantial impacts on the mental health and quality of life in our community; and
• significant impacts to recruitment, retention, reform and staff morale. Our departments have worked tirelessly on recruiting qualified candidates and ensuring we have a strong retention strategy in order to help reduce turnover, saving the Town money and improving productivity. As an example, the Franklin Fire Department has spent a great deal of time and effort making substantial reforms within the department, including improving how the Town collects the revenues associated with increased services requested (EMS calls). These reforms are intended to benefit the effectiveness and efficiency of the Department. If a message gets sent that the increased revenues collected are not being reinvested back to the Fire Department, as intended, confidence and morale are impacted, influencing our emergency services. This same dynamic can be echoed in almost all municipal departments.
As Department Heads we feel we have been held accountable over the years and have done our jobs to creatively reform our departments and create millions of dollars in efficiencies and new revenues. Municipal budgeting goes through a through line item-by-line item review each year at the Finance Committee. We believe the public conversation should be less about additional municipal cuts to be transferred to the schools, but rather we think it is prudent for the Committee to begin a deep dive into the school budget to see exactly where there may be reforms, savings or other options, such as addressing unfunded mandates with the state, before cutting more municipal services.
We overwhelmingly support an override for the community, as the passage of an override allows our departments to remain solvent and not be affected by any further reductions. However, we are also willing to continue to work within the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2, as we have been directed to do by the Town Administration for years, in order to prevent staff layoffs or severe service cuts. We encourage the Committee public dialogue to revolve deeper around the School Department and the extraordinary amount of money that is required to finance the Schools in Massachusetts. Despite a declining enrollment of almost 35% since the district's peak enrollment in 2008, schools account for 70% of the entire town budget, leaving less room for other services to thrive. No municipality can survive and thrive on the strength and excellence of its schools alone. All municipal departments including the schools are essential and vital off-springs of a vibrant community. Sacrificing or weakening one off-spring or department at the expense of the other weakens the entire community. As has been discussed many times, most cities and towns in Eastern Massachusetts appear to be facing similar financial concerns relevant to schools, thus Franklin is far from alone. We hope the Joint Budget Subcommittee will take the time to dive deeper into the cost drivers of the school budget.
We hope the School Committee and School District understands and supports our departments, as every department head and member of the town staff work for the School District in some capacity. We are all affected by the financial insolvency in the school budget and desire to see them achieve their goals.
We are proud and honored to be a part of this community and for the opportunity to work with the Franklin Public Schools. As professionals, we all understand how unique our government structure is and that not every community has municipal staff integrated with the schools. As has been discussed for many years, if the Town and Schools did not have this level of collaboration, taxes would likely be much higher and services would be far less effective. We all work exceptionally well together and hope the Joint Budget Subcommittee can work to unify the community through positive engagement rather than dialogue about cutting municipal departments even further.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to our concerns. We appreciate your time and are available for any discussions as the budget process unfolds.
Sincerely,
Thomas J Lynch, Chief of Police
James McLaughlin, Fire Chief
Robert Cantoreggi, Department of Public Works
Felicia Oti, Library Director
Sarah Amaral, Senior Center Director
Mike D'Angelo, Director of Public Facilities
Kerri Bertone, Chief Financial Officer
Karen Bratt, Human Resources Director
Kevin W. Doyle, Director of Assessing
Anne Marie Duggan, Treasurer/Collector
Pam Vickery, Chief Procurement Officer
Bryan Taberner, Director of Community Planning
Breeka Li Goodlander, Director of Conservation
Gus Brown, Building Commissioner
Cathleen Liberty, Director of Public Health
Tracey Taddeo, Animal Control Officer
Rowan Lowell, Museum Archivist
Nancy Danello, Town Clerk
Cory Shae, Director of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy
Shannon Nisbett, Veteran's Officer
PDF copy of this letter with the last page including all the actual signatures
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| Letter to Joint Budget Subcommittee from Town of Franklin Department Heads - Dec 17, 2024 |
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