Showing posts with label Override Central. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Override Central. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Boston Globe introduces "Budget Blues", a new blog

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:


via Override Central on 9/15/09

We're launching a new blog, Budget Blues, to cover the financial struggles facing Massachusetts communities and their tax payers. We'll write about property tax overrides, budget cuts and some of the spending priorities cities and towns make.

Things you can do from here:

Monday, January 14, 2008

in the news - State report on schools, drive through at 4 Corners

Franklin schools get good review from state
By Michael Morton/Daily News staff
FRANKLIN - In the midst of scrutiny from a budget inquiry, the School Committee received an unrelated state report this week describing the town's school system as "very high performing" and well-managed.

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Franklin re-considers drive-through ban on Four Corners School
By Michael Morton/Daily News staff
Unable to secure any bids to turn the abandoned Four Corners School into a retail site, the town is reconsidering its ban on a drive-through window for the property.

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One sure thing: uneven tax burden
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff
It's rare to feel like joking about taxes, so Marlborough resident Tom Lane couldn't resist the temptation after calculating that his new property-tax bill will be a mere $31 more than he paid last year.

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Compare your town's property taxes
Property taxes skyrocketed over the last decade in Massachusetts. The Globe's Matt Carroll created this chart to compare town by town increases. In the suburbs west of Boston, you can see that property tax increases this year vary widely, according...

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Getting a break on property taxes....
When municipal officials are looking for tax money, or weighing a Prop 2 1/2 override, talk often turns to the tax exempt property in their town: colleges, social services agencies.. even golf courses. Sometimes these places pay what are known...

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Gov Patrick, Salem, and Franklin's situation

Governor Patrick, cutbacks and the saga in Salem

As the city of Salem roils over layout notices, and other towns struggle with tight budgets, Gov. Deval Patrick told municipal leaders Friday that he feels their pain. Patrick said he understands that they are experiencing tight fiscal times.

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Click through to read the details in this Override Central story in the Boston Globe.

Franklin is not that far away from Salem in this case. Financial mismanagement created their shortfall. The Forensic Report was presented Wednesday night to the joint Town Council and School Committee, as I re-read the report and listen to the presentation again, I am not convinced that we are out of the woods on this episode.
"The deficits in 2006 and 2007 raise concerns over the School Department's level of spending in fiscal 2008. There will be more Circuit Breaker available in 2008 than in 2007, as there is no carry over deficit to be applied to the 2008 expected receipts. However, there was a deficit in Special Education Tuitions even with the full Circuit Breaker receipts for both fiscal 2006 and 2007.
In addition, certain other accounts have been in deficit during both fiscal 2006 and 2007. We have prepared the three-year budget analysis, and provided a copy to the interim Director of Financial Operations. That analysis will assist in identification of potential budget shortfalls. However, the schedule is prepared based upon the inclusion of negative revenue items, which needs to be taken into consideration in evaluating the 2008 budget."
From the Forensic Report, page 10. Bold for my emphasis.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Level service, school job cuts in the news around the state

Level-service budgets may no longer be practical

By Aaron Wasserman/Daily News staff

MEDWAY - As they start preparing for the next fiscal year, town officials said yesterday the level-service budgets they have used the past few years are hurting municipal services.

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Welcome to Lawrence's budget woes

More than 40 city workers were laid off last month to close a budget deficit. Then the outgoing City Council failed to approve new tax rates and declined to raise the water rates before leaving office. Now the city assessor...

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Job cuts announced for Salem's schools

By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff

The equivalent of about 80 full-time Salem Public School jobs need to be cut as a result of a $4.7 million deficit caused by underbudgeting and a former business manager's practice of paying old bills out of the current year's budget, Superintendent William J. Cameron Jr. said last night.

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Catching up on Override Central

When the Boston Globe incorporated their new web site a few weeks ago, apparently they also changed some of the RSS feeds. I had time to go checking on these today and found several of them had indeed changed.

What is an RSS Feed?
Stay tuned, I have a Common Craft presentation that explains RSS feeds and how they can be used. I'll post it this week.

In the meantime, here are some article previously published on the Globe's Override Central site that were not referenced here. Click on the article headline to read the full story.

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Newton School Committe bets more than $100,000 on a successful override

NEWTON The School Committee is moving forward with plans to build $1.4 million in modular classrooms to address overcrowding at four elementary schools, even though the district can't afford to staff them unless the mayor's proposed tax override passes next...

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Property tax frustration fuels revolt around US

The Wall Street Journal reports that the combination of falling home values and rising property taxes is fueling frustration around the US. An excerpt from WSJ.com: Falling home values and rising property taxes in many parts of the country are...

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Saugus to borrow $10-million to cover its bills

For the second time since June, Saugus will have to borrow money to pay its bills, including payroll and utilities, until winter property tax revenues are collected. Officials expect to have to borrow $10 million in January to cover expenses....

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How Randolph's schools began to fail

Randolph voters have rejected four overrides over the last few years, but political leaders also see other strains on the town. The social compact is broken, one official says in a story in Globe South. Randolph school leaders say they...

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Natick, Newton consider overrides

In Natick, an operational override question on the spring ballot is looking ever more likely as department heads in Natick ponder how to meet a projected $6.5 million budget shortfall. As it stands, the school system could face some of...

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Property taxes rising on North Shore

Property taxes are going up all over, including the cities and towns north of Boston that were surveyed by Globe North this week for this story. "Almost universally across the state, communities have a lack of money to pay for...

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