Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Susan Spears
place holder for recorded comment on use of open space/community preservation
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Live Blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
The Town Council would need to make a vote to appropriate the money for these uses. Otherwise, the money would go into the open space fund as originally allocated.
The vote would need to take place before the tax rate is set at the meeting next week.
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Ken Norman
Michael Leblanc is an honorable man, I have worked with him, he does good analysis. I would caution you to use the information he has provided carefully... Let's get Mr Whalen and Mr LeBlanc together and see what they can come up with.
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Michael Doherty
"If there is a problem with assessments, fix that problem, do not address it with it a split tax rate... Franklin needs to be competitive with India as well as Indiana... You increase the pie by selling the properties we are trying to, get them on the tax role."
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Michael LeBlanc speaking
Commercial/Industrial properties
64 properties sold from 2004 to 2007, reduced to 54 for analysis
pre-assessed value of these properties sold $264
difference is 96 million, assessment 36% below what they were sold for
9 of the properties, had an assessed value higher than the sale price
55 were below, Franklin Village was the single biggest difference
family homes
895 properties, presale 384 million 5%
262 were assessed higher than sale
633 were valued less than sale price
From Kevin - Board of Assessors in response to questions from M LeBlanc
more than 50% of the properties provide the information on income and expenses
if they don't supply the information, the business would waive their right to appeal the tax assessment, they may jeopardize their appeal at the state level, they are also subject to a $50 penalty.
there were several properties in the Industrial Park that were assessed for 45.7 million, sold for 67.8 million; the current year assessments went down to 42 million.
Summary: The business are effectively getting a tax break of about $2.5 million that the residents are picking up.
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Jeff Nutting proposed to pick the properties that sold around $1 million, which would be about 20 or so properties, to re-do the calculation and include that years assessed value for those properties to make a determination as to whether there is an undervaluation of business commercial properties.
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
Can you re-cast this spreadsheet to show the assessed valuation at the time of the sale? Could you do that for us?from Stephen Whalen during this discussion
After some clarification, yes, they can and will do that.
Town Council Tax Hearing 1
Time: 5 minutes, 42 seconds
MP3 File
Live blogging - Town Council Meeting 11/28/07
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.
"This is a deceptive piece of information... not apples to apples, oranges to oranges.."
Where in Franklin? #20
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.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Town Council Meeting - Important Agenda Items
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)
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.
School Committee Statement 11/27/07 (text)
During the process of closing the financial books for the 2007 fiscal year, the Town Comptroller discovered irregularities in the school district’s accounts. Specifically, several 2007 expenses were charged against the 2008 budget. This practice is not allowed under Massachusetts Municipal Finance Law.
The Franklin School Committee, in conjunction with the Town Council, immediately ordered a complete legal and financial review of the circumstances surrounding these irregularities. Our effort includes an independent professional audit covering fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In addition, the school district’s finance director has been placed on administrative leave.
Preliminary information indicates that these accounting irregularities may result in a shortfall of approximately $590,000 in the budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007.
However, the internal review and independent audit are still ongoing and the precise circumstances of the problem will not be known until both are completed. We expect the results to be presented to the School Committee and the Town Council sometime in mid to late December.
On the advice of our attorney, the School Committee and School Administration will not discuss this matter publicly or privately until such time as the review and audit are completed. Further discussion before then could create significant budget, legal and personnel issues for the schools and the town that would jeopardize efforts to understand the full circumstances of the situation.
Members of the School Committee and School Administration take this matter very seriously, which is why we have initiated a comprehensive review and audit and took the personnel action we did. We will provide a full legal and financial accounting as soon as possible after the detailed results of the investigation are completed.
Isabella's Menu - Page 2
Isabella's is also a good supporter of local groups and organizations. For a period of time one day during the week, they'll share a percent of the sales. As I go by almost every day coming from the train station, on most days there is a sign up for one group or another.
This is a win-win situation. Good food for a good cause!
Isabella's Menu - Page 1
Isabella's is one of the really good delis and pizza places in Franklin.
We got two full sheets of pizza for the Friday when the Sherlock's gathered at our place after Thanksgiving and did not end up with any leftovers.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Next School Committee Meeting - Tuesday, 11/27/07
I plan on being there in person to hear more about what happened.
We are not the only Franklin!
One post on this blog shows a listing of 27 other Franklins in these United States. We are the second largest according to population:
- Franklin, AL - Population 149, (Macon Co.)
- Franklin, AR - Population 184, (Izard Co.)
- Franklin, GA - Population 902, (Heard Co.)
- Franklin, ID - Population 641, (Franklin Co.)
- Franklin, IL - Population 586 (Morgan Co.)
- Franklin, IN - Population 19,463 (Johnson Co.)
- Franklin, KS - Population 26,513 for the county (Franklin Co.)
- Franklin, KY - Population 7,996 (Simpson Co.)
- Franklin, LA - Population 8,354 (Parish Seat of St. Mary Parish)
- Franklin, MA - Population 29,560 (Norfolk Co.)
- Franklin, ME - Population 1,370 (Hancock Co.)
- Franklin, MI - Population 2,937 (Oakland Co.)
- Franklin, MN - Population 498 (Renville Co.)
- Franklin, MO - Population 112 (Howard Co.)
- Franklin, NC - Population 3,490 (Macon Co.)
- Franklin, NE - Population 1,026 (Franklin, Co.)
- Franklin, NH - Population 8,405 (Merrimack Co.)
- Franklin, NJ - Population 5,160 (Sussex Co.)
- Franklin, NY - Population 2,621 (Delaware Co.)
- Franklin, OH - Population 11,396 (Warren Co.)
- Franklin, PA - Population 7,212 (Venango Co.)
- Franklin, TN - Population 55,870 (Williamson Co.)
- Franklin, TX - Population 1,470 (Robertson Co.)
- Franklin, VA - Population 8,346 (Southampton Co.)
- Franklin, VT - Population 1,268 (Franklin, Co.)
- Franklin, WI - Population 29,494 (Milwaukee Co.)
- Franklin, WV - Population 797 (Pendleton Co.,)
Franklin, WI had come upon the radar during our override election earlier this year. Franklin, WI had a similar override and it failed.