Franklin is not alone in struggling to fund their schools & town budget

Via Boston Globe: 

"Nearly five years after Massachusetts lawmakers overhauled the state’s school funding formula, districts are struggling to balance their budgets for the upcoming school year, prompting many to consider cutting programs and staff or asking taxpayers to dig deeper. 

The chief culprit, district leaders and advocates say, is the high rate of inflation that hit the US economy in recent years, much higher than the adjustments used in the new funding formula that was revamped to reflect modern-day costs. 

The failure of the new formula to accurately capture inflation could be collectively costing districts hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, according to Colin Jones, deputy policy director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan research institute. 

Voters in Belmont, Harvard, and Westford will be considering hefty property tax hikes at the polls this spring, which, if they fail to pass, could result in significant cuts to school and town services. In Belmont, for example, if voters reject an $8.4 million override on April 2, school leaders have said they will need to close the Mary Lee Burbank Elementary School, eliminate dozens of teaching and other positions, and make deep cuts to extracurricular activities."

Continue reading the full article online (subscription may be required) ->

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/12/metro/massachusetts-school-funding-budget-cuts/

Franklin is not alone in struggling to fund their schools & town budget

Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds | Inflation | The Guardian

"A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.

The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative thinktank, found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic, according to the report.

Prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%, according to the authors’ calculations, which were based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Income and Products Accounts.

“Costs have come down substantially, and while corporations were quick to pass on their increased costs to consumers, they are surprisingly less quick to pass on their savings to consumers,” Liz Pancotti, a Groundwork strategic adviser and paper co-author, said."

Continue reading the article online (contribution may be required)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits

Direct link to report referenced ->

https://groundworkcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/24.01.17-GWC-Corporate-Profits-Report.pdf

The Groundwork Collaborative thinktank found prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%. Illustration: The Guardian

CommonWealth Magazine: "Old laws, like Prop 2 1/2, need to adapt to times"

"I’VE BEEN STRUGGLING to find the right metaphor for our current economic situation. After the great recession of 2007-2009, my go-to was a staircase: the recession had knocked us down a flight of stairs and it took us a decade to climb back up.

But that won’t do today. If COVID knocked us down the stairs, our response was to leap–like some superhero–up and out of the building. Only afterwards did we realize we don’t know how to land.

Or how’s this analogy…to avoid a dangerous tangle on the highway, we successfully accelerated around it–only to discover that our brakes aren’t working well.

You get the point. For the first time in decades, the problem with the US economy is that it’s running too hot, with plentiful job opportunities driving unsustainable wage growth and consumer demand keeping inflation above healthy levels.

Fixing all this is mostly a job for the feds. But lawmakers here in Massachusetts have an important role to play: they need to adapt."

Continue reading the article at CommonWealth Magazine ->

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/old-laws-like-prop-2-1-2-need-to-be-adapted-for-times/ 

CommonWealth Magazine: "Old laws, like Prop 2 1/2, need to adapt to times"

From the heat to the proposed 'friendly 40b' process, to the 5 year fiscal outlook, we cover these and more in this Talk Franklin episode - 07/26/22

FM #832 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 832 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my "Talk Franklin" conversation with Town Administrator Jamie Hellen and Marketing & Communications Specialist Lily Rivera. We had our conversation at the Municipal Building in Jamie’s office. 

Topics for this session

• This heat wave broke, the drought is continuing 

• Weekly Farmers Market, Concert on the Common, food trucks, movie nights

• Hydrant painting contest by DPW, applications due Aug 12, winner announcement in October

• Friendly 40b

• EDC to do their ‘short list’ for the MAPC recommendations at Aug 10 meeting

• Green community presentation at August Town Council meeting

• 5 year fiscal outlook (not published yet but highlights covered)

• Old South Meeting House

• Davis Thayer deed processing underway, discussion in Fall on how best to use it

The conversation runs about 45 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Jamie and Lily. Audio file -> https://anchor.fm/letstalkfranklin/episodes/The-End-of-the-Heat-Wave--Hydrant-Painting--and-the-New-Friendly-40b-Process-e1lrjsg/a-a8ak6mi

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Hydrant painting contest  https://www.franklinma.gov/public-works/news/hydrant-painting-starts-today

40b collection

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/07/what-is-40b-why-is-town-of-franklin.html

Beaver St collection

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/07/what-is-beaver-st-interceptor-why-does.html

Franklin for All webpage 

https://www.mapc.org/resource-library/franklin-for-all/

Green Community story map https://www.franklinma.gov/administrator/pages/green-community 

Town budget page  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget 

Community & Cultural District calendar https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/blog-page.html 

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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From the heat to the proposed 'friendly 40b' process, to the 5 year fiscal outlook, we cover these and more in this Talk Franklin episode - 07/26/22

Washington Post: "Five charts explaining why inflation is at a 40-year high"

"The bumpy economic recovery has had policymakers, economists and Americans households grappling with greater price hikes for groceries, cars, rent and other essentials.

The latest inflation data, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that prices in March climbed 8.5 percent compared with the year before, the highest measure in over 40 years.

The Federal Reserve has launched a major series of interest rate increases to get inflation under control, penciling in seven hikes by the end of the year. But it’s unclear how quickly that action will be able to bring down the rising cost of living, or if the Fed will be spurred to even more aggressive action that risks thrusting the economy into a recession

Persistent supply chain backlogs and high consumer demand for goods have kept prices elevated. And more recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has strained global energy markets and triggered higher gasoline prices. There is no clear answer for when that will change, leaving Americans to feel the strain in their pocketbooks in the meantime. This is a breakdown of how we got here."

Continue reading the article (subscription may be required)   https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/inflation-charts/ 

"Five charts explaining why inflation is at a 40-year high"

Washington Post: "Five charts explaining why inflation is at a near 40-year high" (3 min video)

"The bumpy economic recovery has had policymakers, economists and American households grappling with greater price hikes for groceries, gas, cars, rent and just about everything else we need.

The latest inflation data, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed prices in November rose to a nearly 40-year high, climbing 6.8 percent compared with the year before.

For months, officials at the Federal Reserve and White House argued that pandemic-era inflation will be temporary. But they’ve had to back away from that message, which was increasingly hard to square with what was happening in the economy — and the way Americans experience it.

Persistent supply chain backlogs and high consumer demand for goods have kept prices elevated. There is no clear answer for when that will change, leaving Americans to feel the strain in their pocketbooks in the meantime. This is a breakdown of how we got here."

Continue reading the article online (subscription maybe required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/14/inflation-prices-supply-chain/

Year-over-year changes in overall consumer price index, seasonally adjusted