Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Town Council Tax Hearing 1

The presentation by the Tax Assessors on 11/28/07 and their recommendation for the tax rate for FY 09

Time: 5 minutes, 42 seconds



MP3 File

Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07

Tax rate hearing: Q&A

"This is a deceptive piece of information... not apples to apples, oranges to oranges.."
said by Judith Pond Pfeffer in reference to the discussion around the information provided on assessed value versus sales price of local business/commercial properties since 2005.

Where in Franklin? #20


Where in Franklin? #20, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Let's see if you can identify this building.

The guidelines to play "Where in Franklin?" can be found here.

Enjoy!

Before setting the tax rate

With the library leaking and the museum headed for a new downtown home, the Finance Committee recommended last night that money for the projects be taken from a fund dedicated in the past to open space.

The fund currently holds $1.6 million and is drawn from the town's hotel/motel tax. While that money would remain earmarked for open space, upcoming earnings from the current fiscal year would go to the library and the museum under a plan proposed by Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting and recommended by the Finance Committee.

...

Since the Finance Committee is an advisory group, the Town Council is expected to discuss the museum and library tonight (Wednesday 11/28/07). To use the hotel/max tax for purposes other than open space, the council must make a final decision before setting the tax rate.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Town Council Meeting - Important Agenda Items

Given the recent discrepancy found in the school budget, the agenda calls for correcting this imbalance.

The Finance Committee met tonight as well as the School Committee. I chose to attend the School Committee meeting. We can depend on Michael Morton of the Milford Daily News to report on the FINCOM meeting.

A brief discussion with some members of the FINCOM after their meeting seemed to indicate they propose for the shortfall to be split between the Town and the Schools. The Town piece would be covered by the not yet certified "free cash" (in the mean time from the stabilization fund) with the School piece to be absorbed with additional budget cuts.

Yes, the schools already took a 2.1 Million cut (as the override only covered 2.4 of what they requested) and will apparently need to absorb another $300K.

We'll see what the Town Council does Wednesday 11/28/07.

The scheduled agenda can be found here (PDF file).

Michael Morton's recap of the Finance Committee meeting can be found here.

Franklin School Committee Statement 11/27/07 (audio)

The statement made by the Franklin School Committee regarding the budget shortfall just revealed as read by Chairperson Jeffrey Roy at the meeting 11/27/07

Time: 2 minutes, 53 seconds



MP3 File

an image version of the statement is available here
the text version of the statement is available here

School Committee Statement 11/27/07 (image)

A image of the statement as read by Chairperson Jeffrey Roy Tuesday night at the School Committee meeting regarding the financial discrepancy just discovered.