Franklin, MA: At a glance

In advance of the special budget workshop Monday evening, here is a report from the MA Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services:

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You can view the same report on the MA DOR website here.

The workshop this evening is open to the public and intended to bring the new members of the Town Council, Finance and School Committees up to speed on the budget terminology and process.

The fiscal policies that previous Town Councils have used for guidance, this Council also accepted and it posted on the Town Council section of their webpage:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Council/fiscal.pdf

Note: The 2011 budget is NOT scheduled for discussion. The Governor is scheduled to announce his view of the budget this week. Both bodies of the State legislature will announce their own versions of the State budget and then all three will be negotiated to produce one budget sometime before June 30th.

Last year was an exception in that Franklin did not find out their final numbers until July. The Town Council voted on the final 2010 budget on Sep 16th with some adjustments to the one passed in June.

Franklin, MA: budget workshop

Whalen said the budget workshop will delve into the town's state and local revenue sources and unfunded mandates like special education funding.

School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy urges the public to attend.

"People are typically surprised when they learn about the scope and number of state and federal mandates applicable to school budgets," he said.

 Read the full article in the Milford Daily News by clicking on the link below:

Franklin officials to strategize on town budgets

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

Pulaski Blvd project update

Yes, Pulaski Blvd is in Bellingham but it changes name to Washington and then to King St for those traveling north to come to the i495 intersection. The i495 intersection is under construction to improve, widen and add traffic lights.

Pulaski Blvd starts construction this spring. For folks in Franklin heading south to Bellingham, Woonsocket and points beyond, you might want to consider exploring an alternate route.

This article in the Milford Daily News provides an update on the bids just received to begin work this spring.

Pulaski project on target in Bellingham

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Melanie Graham/Daily News staff

In the News - downtown project

"We want to continue to get public input and allow that input to direct the design," he said.

A major proposed improvement is to create two-way traffic on Emmons, Main and West Central streets.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

View the presentation on this project that was made to the Town Council on Wednesday Jan 20th

Diversity in the state legislature?

Despite an executive branch headed by the state's first black governor, no one keeps track of the racial makeup of the Legislature's work force - not the state Human Resources Division nor any central office in the House or Senate.

Lawmakers can hire whomever they want, however they want, and since they exempted themselves from the public record law years ago, they don't have to tell anyone.

Only 18 of 200 elected officials agreed to provide information on their staffers' race, age and gender to The Patriot Ledger.

Reached last week, no MetroWest legislator, with the exception of state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, responded to the Daily News' request for information regarding staff demographics. Some offices did not return calls. Other offices referred the News directly to the House Speaker's office. Other offices referred the News to the Legislature's human resources department, which then referred a reporter to the House Speaker's office.

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Affirmative action - a hiring policy that encourages minorities to apply for jobs where they are underrepresented - was a phrase first used by President John F. Kennedy nearly 50 years ago. In the years that followed, it was the basis for federal equal opportunity hiring regulations that states, cities and towns had to follow, or risk losing federal aid.

But the same rules affecting all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts and more than 50,000 state employees don't apply to lawmakers, their employees or committee staffs.

Read the full and rather interesting report on this disconnect created by the legislature in the Milford Daily News here

Express Line

The new Express Line was just sent out via email.

If you are not receiving you own copy, you can sign up on the Franklin website here: http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news

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Save File: converted-FranklinMA_ExpressLine_100122-converted.pdf

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to read the document.

More from Gov Patrick of interest to Franklin Matters

Friday, Governor Patrick attended the Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Meeting and outlined proposals including municipal pension relief, a limited early retirement incentive program and a new Green Communities grant program to encourage development of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to relieve local budgets “The Lieutenant Governor and I value the partnership we have built with local officials across the Commonwealth,” said Governor Patrick. “This relationship has allowed us to work collaboratively to bring real change to the way local government provides for the residents of the Commonwealth. The tools we introduce today, coupled with the changes we have already made, will allow us to provide key services in communities today, while reducing local pressure on the property tax.” Learn more here.

• Read more in the Boston Globe. Watch more on NECN.
  

 The full recap of the Governor's activities on Friday, Jan 22 can be found here