"It's just too big a deal to leave to chance"

I mentioned having a choice on where to go Thursday evening: The Financial Planning Committee or the WASTED panel discussion at Franklin High School. I chose the Financial Planning meeting and did my reporting here.

Our teen drinking problem, really more broadly terms substance abuse problem, because it is not just drinking, touches all the communities around us. Here is a report on the effort in Medway.

MEDWAY —

Marilyn Belmonte has a message for parents who say underage drinking is just a matter of kids being kids: It's a whole new world out there.

"There's a real change in the mentality," said Belmonte, a youth substance abuse prevention coordinator, to a group of parents assembled at Medway High School Wednesday night for "Turning Off the Tap," a presentation about underage drinking.

Recent incidents like the alcohol-related death of Plainville teen Taylor Meyer last October have moved the subject to the front burner, and the program detailed alarming new trends in teenage alcohol use, including extreme drinking games and binging.

"It really has changed," Belmonte said. Kids in the instant-gratification age are looking for quick fixes, and new trends, such as flavored alcohol. Walk into any store, she said, and you'll find shelves lined with attractive packages of vodkas in kid-friendly watermelon and cherry, perfect for teens looking to consume straight alcohol. Add in energy drinks as popular mixers and you've got the perfect storm, she said.

"They're mixing alcohol, which is a depressant, with energy drinks, which are stimulants, and the battle gets fought out in the heart," said Belmonte.

Parents can help by laying down the law. Recent studies show that the kids least likely to drink are those whose parents make it clear that such behavior is off limits.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here.

"What is the town is doing to control costs?"

I had a choice last night: Attend the WASTED panel discussion at the High School or continue my live reporting from the Financial Planning Committee meeting. It was not an easy choice. Our teens need attention and help. But if we don't have a good explanation for what the Town is budgeting for and why, some citizens will continue to dwell on negatives forcing the Town into some serious troubles with all operations never mind taking care of our future (via our children, young and old).

My report on the meeting can be found here.

The Milford Daily News report is here:

Franklin financial questions to be answered

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

The long-range financial planning committee is still hammering away at its three-year plan for the town, and will soon be soliciting feedback on its work from a selected cross-section of residents.

The committee already has a list of 50 frequently asked questions about town finances, compiled earlier by School Committee member Matthew Kelly, but they want to be sure they thoroughly address residents' concerns.

Committee members will narrow Kelly's list to about 15, answering common inquiries or misconceptions about town financial matters, including Proposition 2 1/2 tax override questions, in a public format.

"The purpose of this is to serve as a sanity check to make sure our report is answering the questions that interested citizens are likely to have, or should have," Kelly wrote in his report.

Financial Plng Comm 02/05/09

This is the summary of the live reporting for the meeting 2/5/09

• Live reporting - Financial Plng - continued
• Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee - 2/...

The Green Reel: "Everything's Cool"

The Green Reel: a series of films for sustainable living will be shown on Sunday evenings this winter.

What: "Everything's Cool"

When: 7:00 PM on February 8, 2009

Where: Agudas Achim, 901 North Main St, Attleboro or directions here

Free and open to the public.
For more info: 508-695-2389

read more about the file "Everything's Cool" here

Sponsors:

Agudas Achim
Crystal Spring Center
Simply Keep It Local
Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary
Citizens for a Sustainable Local Economy
Murray Unitarian Universalist Church
Green Committee of First Universalist Society of Franklin
New Dawn Earth Center
Oake Knoll Ayrshires
Franklin Area Climate Team
White Barn Farm
St Mark's Episcopal Church-Foxboro

Public Transit Funding in Serious Peril

I received the following press release from GATRA this afternoon:

Taunton –

The proposed fiscal year 2010 budget released by Governor Deval Patrick has severely cut back on the Administration’s commitment to provide for local public transportation services. This proposed budget only provides for 49 million dollars of the 64 million dollars needed to fund the 15 regional transit authorities operating regular bus and demand response service throughout the Commonwealth. The Regional Transit Authorities are the only remaining reimbursable line item left in the state budget and this proposed budget is actually paying for services that are operating now. “Due to the fact that we are already eight months into our fiscal year drastic cuts in service will need to be made in order to make up for this reduction in funding,” noted GATRA Administrator Francis Gay.

GATRA’s Advisory Board will be meeting in late February to discuss the current budget implications and to devise a plan moving forward. In the meantime the GATRA Administrator is asking residents throughout the GATRA region to contact their local Representatives and Senators to ask them to adequately fund public transportation services in the region when devising the House and Senate versions of the budget. If the proposed budget number stays anywhere near what the Governor has recommended there will be significant deficits for all the Regional Transit Authorities statewide.

GATRA is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of 15 Regional Transit Authorities in the state with an operating budget of more than $22 million. GATRA’s management companies operate more than 90 vehicles providing over 775,000 customer rides in 26 communities.

You can chose to do one of two things:

1 - Stay tuned to find out what this means to the Franklin routes.

or

2 - Take action and contact your local Representatives and Senators to ask them to adequately fund public transportation services for Franklin

Your choice.

Live reporting - Financial Plng - continued

There are elements within each department where no matter how well we do planning, the factors are beyond our control.

The schools are data rich. The key measures are MCAS scores, per pupil expense, comparisons on administration, teacher salaries, and class size.

The issue with the schools is the decrease in local support of the budget, i.e. the state is paying more and more as a percent of the total school expense. We will soon get to a point where we hit the minimum level for the town to support the school. When we hit that, by law, the town side of the budget will definitely take a hit as the schools will take the money.

Compelling story behind accreditation that we are missing out on except for the high school, and even there, we are in tough shape with a "warning" status now and unless something happens with the facility to help the science labs and technology

Graduation Rate at Franklin High School

• 92% 2006
• 94% 2007
• 96% 2008

We have increased the graduation rate despite the losses of teachers. What that means is that there are 14-16 more students who walked out the door with a diploma in their hand than did in 2006.

March 5th is the planning point for trail review with the focus group. Maybe we should wait to set the forum date until we have the deliverable?

We need to have something when the numbers for the 2010 budget come out.

Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee - 2/5/09

Attending: Roche, Bartlett, Cameron, Hardesty, Nutting, Wilschek, Kelly, Ogden, Trahan,
Absent: Whalen, Zollo

Zollo sending info to Hardesty
Whalen acquiring data, Jeff to help with Town figures

The more data that is easily available, the better story we should be able to tell

Assumptions - these are the types that we would have. We already have the beginning of a model with assumptions already built into it. In some cases (i.e. the big ones only), we may pick a point to do a range, and explain the range, why, wherefores, etc. This range also allows a sensitivity analysis to be done on the numbers.

After 5-6 on the expense side and another 5-6 on the revenue side, there really isn't something that significant.

Kelly provided the Frequently Asked Questions. Many of which have been or at least can easily be answered, some will be addressed by the report. If any are left, they still should be answered via hand-out or other publication (i.e. I have offered to post the FAQ's with answers here).

The Governors proposal would increase a maximum of 2% in the hotel and the meals tax.

Franklin would stand to gain a total of about $1 million from the combined taxes.

Nutting: "I can't think of a year when the town did not have revenue growth. Even when they cut lottery, the school population growth was still generating Chapter 70 increases for Franklin."

We are almost ready to start the financial model. Year 1 in the model needs to be fiscal 2010.

HR Matters - provided previously, should be all set on this now. Did send this to Hardesty in softcopy.

This is where we have been, this where we are, this is where we are going. These are the three chapters of the story we need to tell.

Road discussion, even with our plan we are falling behind. We are using state money or water money to work the roads. If the water main work gets done, we do the road. If the water main doesn't need work, it won't get done. The Town hasn't budgeted for road repair since 2002 or 2003.

The underfunded liability for GASB 45 needs to be outlined.