Override & debt exclusion info in the archives

Now that the "O" word (override) has been mentioned, there is a bunch of information in these  archives that may be useful to provide the historical perspective. 

Long time readers may recall that Franklin Matters came to be during the 2007 override and the domain officially was born in Nov 2007. 

The 2007 Override is noteworthy as it is the only successful override Franklin has passed in its history to date. It passed because there was unified support across the Town Council and School Committee. The succeeding overrides (2008 & 2010) failed because that unity did not exist. Some naysayers among the Council and School Committee created enough doubt and discord that success was unattainable. 

There also was a special ballot question on the State election of 2014 to provide $1.5 million to fund road maintenance that failed significantly. As it was a Sate election, Franklin turned out at 59% (normal for State elections) and 8289 voters said No, 3583 said Yes. https://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/10/ballot-question-5-dedicated-override-to.html

Coming out of the 2008 override failure there was recognition that a long term financial plan needed to be developed. A committee was created and began work on that in early 2010. The Financial Planning Committee changed to the Long Range Planning Committee. The first report they produced is now what we see each year when the Town Administrator publishes their 5 year outlook.

The Joint Budget Committee is the current working group to help with these long range and financial planning matters. They have not met frequently enough so we find ourselves now in a position where some folks understand the situation and many do not. The Joint Budget should meet more frequently (at least quarterly, in my view) rather than the annual meeting they have had in recent years.

The archive has links to collect the information pasted for each of the elections. 

• Franklin Override - 2007
• Franklin Override - 2008
• Franklin Override - 2010

There is also a spreadsheet with the specific ballot question history for both the debt exclusions (i.e. schools) and override votes. 

• Franklin Override - Debt Exclusion Vote History

Some of the links break as the Town and School pages were updated twice since then (and neither upgrade maintained link integrity). 

If you find a link that might be valuable for your research, let me know, I might have the individual document in my own archives and can find and update the link accordingly.

Additional archive links can be found in the Key Link tab https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/important-links.html

Lincoln St road work during Aug 2014

On this day: May 22, 2007 Franklin voted for the first operational override

On this day, twelve years ago, 8759 Franklin residents went to the old high school field house to cast their votes for an operational override. The vote was successful and historic. 

While Franklin has successful passed debt exclusions for several school buildings (including most recently for the new high school in 2012), this was the only operational override passed.

"The votes came in to pass the first operational budget override in Franklin's Prop 2 1/2 history.
The final tally was 5,028 for and 3,722 against with 9 blanks and 8,759 total votes cast."

https://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/05/vote-tally-override-52207.html

The override collection for the 2007 vote can be found here
https://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2007/04/franklin-override-collection.html

Yes, this was the beginning of Franklin Matters. The domain and new website came online in November 2007. Links to the prior posts on my personal blog are still valid in the archive where needed.

Franklin failed to pass operational overrides in 2008 and 2010 and has not had a vote scheduled since that time. However, next year maybe an opportunity.

Franklin override collection for 2010 (FY 2011)
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/05/budget-override-collection-fy-2011.html

Franklin override info for 2008 (FY 2009) (not a single collection; I learned as I went along to do so)  https://www.franklinmatters.org/search?q=override%2C+2008

On this day: May 22, 2007 Franklin votes for first operational override

Budget - Override Collection - FY 2011

The following links provide access to information on the budget for Fiscal Year 2011

Additional items will be added here as they are found/prepared.

If you are looking for something in particular regarding the budget and don't find it, please let me know.

Letter from Scott Mason, Town Council Chairman

• More 'Yes' than 2008, but not enough
• Override fails by 323

Now what?


Letter from Ed Cafasso

Joint Statement on Override - June 8th
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/joint-message-on-june-8th-special.html

Scott Mason Interview on the whole gamut of topics around the vote on June 8th
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/fm-69-scott-mason-part-1-of-2.html
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/fm-69-b-scott-mason-part-2-of-2.html

Town Fiscal Year 2011 Budget document and cover letter
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/FY%2011%20Budget/

Budget Workshop (held Jan 25, 2010) to prepare for the budget
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-workshop-collection-12510.html

Finance Committee budget hearings
May 4th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050410.html
May 6th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050610.html
May 10th  http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-051010.html

Town Forum at Horace Mann School Auditorium (video)
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=mGsI6gdlM4Tf2oFU7LAn9g%3d%3d


Town Council budget hearings
June 9th - meeting notes can be found here
June 10th

Franklin budget for FY 2010
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/FY%2010%20Budget/

Franklin budget documents for years prior to 2010
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/previous

Financial audit reports for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/Audits/

School Department/School Committee budget book
http://www.franklin.k12.ma.us/co/supt/budget/FY2011Budgetbook.pdf (PDF)

School Department proposed cuts to the level service budget (assuming override does not pass)
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/franklin-ma-school-budget-possible.html

School Committee override page
http://franklinschoolcommittee.wordpress.com/override-page/

Schools presentation on budget and need for override
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/franklin-ma-choice-we-have.html

Financial Planning Committee report (long term plan) and documents
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_BComm/financial%20planning%20committee%20report/

A series of posts on State Education Mandates (unfunded mandates)
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/state-education-mandates-collection.html

Invest in Franklin: http://investinfranklin.weebly.com/

The June 8th Special Election Flyer can be found here

The forums and events calendar to hear and discuss information on the Special Election June 8th can be found here

Franklin's override and debt exclusion history
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/franklin-ma-override-debt-exclusion.html

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a Prop 2 1/2 Override?
• What other federal and state funds support the school department’s operating budget?
• Can the town guarantee that the funds from the override will always be spent exactly the same way?
• Why do some citizens disagree with rating agencies about Franklin’s debt?
• How does per pupil spending in Franklin compare with spending in other Massachusetts communities?
• We wouldn’t be in a crisis if we hadn’t spent money on the senior center, fire station and new ball fields.
• Pension costs are killing us, so why don’t town employees fund their own pensions?
• What in the world is free cash?
• I have heard some people suggest we should adopt a split tax rate that makes businesses in Franklin pay more property taxes. Wouldn’t that solve the problem?
• Why do parents pay fees for their children to ride the bus or participate in athletics?
• Can’t we keep using money from the stabilization fund to get rid of our budget deficits?
• My children are in the Charter School. Will the override affect them?
• The town officials have found money in the past. They’ll find it again this time, won’t they?
• What has the town done to try to eliminate waste and bring spending under control?
• I have heard people criticize the way the town is run. If that’s true, why should I give the town more of my hard-earned money?
• Why is the school district continually facing a budget gap?
• When would the impact of an override take effect in Franklin?
• Has Franklin really laid off teachers?
• Why have my taxes gone up so much in the last four years?
• Is it true that we have too many overpaid administrators?
• Why should the community support the school budget?
• Will the override solve all of our fiscal problems?

Significant comment discussion is also found in these articles on the Milford Daily News website

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x1372400798/Franklin-puts-money-aside-to-pay-laid-off-workers

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x1602636112/Franklin-proceeds-with-layoffs

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x1602634672/Franklin-plans-for-layoffs

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x682904107/Franklin-votes-on-tax-override-today

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x682904075/Franklin-planners-OK-Big-Y

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x88774700/Case-made-for-Franklin-tax-override

http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x457996868/Franklin-schools-discuss-cuts

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x88775036/Franklin-principals-say-cuts-have-been-harmful

http://www.milforddailynews.com/newsnow/x644095507/GUEST-COLUMN-Vote-yes-on-Franklin-override



Franklin, MA

Special Election June 3, 2025 - Collection of info on the FY 2026 Override

6 to 3 to 2 to 1, finally

One can pick and choose when it started, there are a number of key points along this budget journey for the Town of Franklin. Go back to the first successful override in 2007. Or to the failed overrides in 2008 and 2010. 

To the failed dedicated override for road repairs for $1M that folks chose not to accept in 2014.  Yes, even after hearing that the Town needed to confirm that money for the override would be spent for a specific item, the voters chose not to fund needed road repairs.  

Whether you call it the “fiscal cliff” or the “structural deficit”, it really comes down to a math problem. More money required to fund existing services than is scheduled to come in due to the 2 ½ override restrictions. You can try to ignore it but inflation is the major driver. Councilor Jones calculated the inflation impact of Prop 2 ½ since 1983 during the override discussions in the run up to the June 2024 failed attempt.

It is so much easier to blame someone else for the problem. That avoids the harsh reality of the situation our community faces. It seems there are a number of relatives of Rodney Dangerfield (“I get no respect”) who live here. They attempt to dominate or divert the conversation from facing reality. It gets a chuckle, laughed off, and the tragedy remains in front of us.

So the Town took on a massive effort with 

• 6 Joint Budget Listening Sessions 

• 3 Finance Committee budget hearings

• 2 Town Council budget hearings

In the run up to the special election Tuesday, June 3 at Franklin High School gymnasium from 6 AM to 8 PM.

Of the 25,865 registered Franklin voters, 2431 ballots have been cast by early and absentee voters (through 5/30/25 close of business) for this election per Town Clerk Nancy Danello. 

The questions that remain?

1. How many of the remaining voters will turn out on Tuesday? 

2. Will they be Rodney’s relatives? Or will they fund the current services our community needs? 

When will we get an answer?

• We’ll find out by about 9 PM Tuesday evening.

** Town of Franklin FY 2026 override page

https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/1089/Fiscal-Year-2026-Override-Information

Special Election June 3, 2025 - Collection of info on the FY 2026 Override

In addition to the trusted source of info (above) we provide the following:

** Election prep resources

• Joint Budget Listening Session “Watch, Listen, or Read” info  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/02/joint-budget-listening-sessions-fy-2026.html  

• Finance Committee Budget Hearing “Watch, Listen, or Read” info  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/finance-committee-fy-2026-budget.html

• Town Council budget hearings “Watch or Listen” info  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/town-council-fy-2026-budget-hearing-1-2.html 

The More Perfect Union radio show has resumed with an episode on the Special Election June 3

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/more-perfect-union-wfpr-98-june-3rd.html 

The most recent Town Council Quarterbacking session summarizes the Council budget hearings and the all alcohol license transactions they approved in the May 22 meeting

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/tom-mercer-i-condense-2-budget-hearings.html 

** Campaign Reports

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/campaign-finance-reports-for-special.html

** Voices of Franklin

Voices of Franklin: Jane Callaway-Tripp "The Cost of Silence: A Town at a Crossroads" https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/voices-of-franklin-jane-callaway-tripp.html Voices of Franklin: Town Councilor Glenn Jones says "get out to vote June 3" (video) https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/voices-of-franklin-town-councilor-glenn.html

Voices of Franklin: Arielle Shearer - 3 Reasons to Vote Yes https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-arielle-shearer-3.html Voices of Franklin: Aaron Gouveia on keeping Franklin "safe and educated" https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-aaron-gouveia-on.html Voices of Franklin: Councilor Ted Cormier-Leger advocates for voting Yes (video) https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-councilor-ted.html Voices of Franklin: Councilor Melanie Hamblen encouraging civil discourse (video) https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-councilor-melanie.html Voices of Franklin: Mark Minnichelli advocates for Yes on the Override https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-mark-minnichelli.html Voices of Franklin: Rep Jeff Roy on voting Yes for the override (video) https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-rep-jeff-roy-on.html Voices of Franklin: Cobi Frongillo for the FY 2026 Override (video) https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-cobi-frongillo-for.html Voices of Franklin: Councilor Jones advocates for the Override June 3 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-councilor-jones.html Voices of Franklin: Roberta Trahan voting "Yes" for the June 3 Override https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-roberta-trahan.html Voices of Franklin: KP Sompally urges a “YES” vote by June 3 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-kp-sompally-urges.html Voices of Franklin: Donna Grady outlines the reasons for voting "Yes" on or before June 3 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/05/voices-of-franklin-donna-grady-outlines.html Voices of Franklin: One Franklin "Shared Values Lead to a Common Goal" https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/04/voices-of-franklin-one-franklin-shared.html Voices of Franklin: Watch "Franklin Together" on YouTube https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/04/voices-of-franklin-watch-franklin.html Voices of Franklin: Melanie Hamblen supporting the June 3 Override to save town services https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/04/voices-of-franklin-melanie-hamblen.html Voices of Franklin: Selena Cousin's statement at the Joint Budget Listening Session - Mar 12, 2025 https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/voices-of-franklin-selena-cousins.html Voices of Franklin: O'Sullivan - Why I voted 'No' Wednesday night https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/voices-of-franklin-osullivan-why-i.html Voices of Franklin: Time for Listening Sessions https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/voices-of-franklin-time-for-listening.html

Jay & I cover Franklin's Current Issues in this Q&A 3 part series (audio)

FM #1215-1216-1217 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 1215-1216-1217 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Jay Horrigan, Franklin resident, Franklin TV & Radio talent and fellow Board of Directors member for the Franklin Community Cable Access organization. We met to record this conversation in the studio on Thursday, May 16, 2024.  

We spent enough time in the studio discussing current events that our wives were sending out queries as to where we were. The conversation is split into 3 sections to better enable sharing via the radio time slot (less than an hour).

We talk about 

• Jay’s story and what he keeps busy with

• Spend time to answer current issue questions 

• June 11 override vote

• How the $6.8M was determined

• What is an override vs a debt exclusion

• Development of the ‘fiscal cliff’ post COVID

• State vs Commonwealth (no real difference in operation)

• Fund allocation from the override in FY 2025 and following

• Coordination of Town and School

• Explanation of the bigger ‘pie’, budget, etc.

• Franklin TV video archives of Town, School, and other committee meetings

• Condense the Town Council and School Committee meetings via audio as Town Council Quarterbacking and Chalkboard Chat answering the 2 questions: What just happened? What does that mean for us as residents and taxpayers?

• Does the override tie to the redistricting plan?

• School ‘master plan’ va Town Master Plan

• Modular units helped to accommodate the school ‘population bubble’

• Mr G’s analogy on how the redistricting was done, stepping back to better align students with the better school facilities

• How the “Portrait of the Graduate” plays into this

• Teachers are being reduced gradually to account for the decline in school enrollment

Part 1 of this conversation runs about 53 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Jay. Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1215-franklin-current-issues-qa-with-jay-horrigan-05-16-24

Part 2 of this conversation runs about 30 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Jay.

In this second episode we answer more questions

• How does the override provide funds for school teachers’ pay?

• Teacher union president Donna Grady interview provides insights to teacher issues

• Teacher retention issue, is it related to the ‘massive new schools’?

• Better expectation for future funding of the Schools post override

• Difference in level of planning for redistricting, the ‘plan’ vs the implementation plan to work out the details

• Civic engagement, the parents concerned about the redistricting can be involved in the implementation plan

• What is the goal of the Town “master plan”? What do we want Franklin to be when we grow up?

• The issue with the middle school after school activities and late bus, how is that related to the override?

• School funding of buses vs parent cost, a change from $360 to $500 if the override fails, along with other activities and sports fees will increase if the override fails

• Sense of community and ‘commonwealth’ vs the divisive and personal focal points we hear

• Timing of the override June vs. November, better for the students educational experience

• Demise of newspapers, rise of newsletters, flyers sent home replaced by email and PDFs on the schools pages

Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1216-franklin-current-issues-qa-p2-of-3-05-16-24

Part 3 of this conversation runs about 38 minutes. Let’s listen to my conversation with Jay.

• The possibility of an underride and what it would do

• Concern of getting the message out amidst the Presidential campaign ads

• School planning needed for redistricting, 2 summers needed

• Disruption for school year in November if the underride succeeds

• Assuming override passes, when would taxpayers see the increase?

• How does the new apartment revenues flow to the Town (about 10 minutes in P3)

• Tax increment financing (TIF) (Tegra Medical - 2009, Hamilton Technology - 2011, Cold Chain - 2015, Plansee - 2022)

• What’s happening with Davis Thayer

• Redistricting tied to override?

• Redistricting tied to new police station?

Audio link ->  https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1217-franklin-current-issues-qa-part-3-of-3-05-16-24

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Contact info for Jay -> jayhorrigan@gmail.com 

Town override summary page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget/webforms/fy25-override-information 

State vs Commonwealth info ->  https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/whats-the-difference-between-a-commonwealth-and-a-state

Donna Grady interview -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/05/talking-about-teaching-education-with.html 

Police Station Building Committee May 13, 2024 -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2024/01/police-station-building-cmte-agrees-on.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 www.franklin.news/ or  www.Franklinmatters.org/ 

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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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters" 

Jay & I cover Franklin's Current Issues in this Q&A 3 part series (audio)