Franklin charter school to hold pancake breakfast tomorrow
Democrats to caucus in Franklin
Franklin, MA
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After this week's bills are tallied, Franklin Department of Public Works Director Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi said he expects the town to have spent $500,000 to $550,000 of its $750,000 snow removal budget.
"I am concerned," he said. "It hasn't been a good winter to save money. ... We've had over 43 inches of snow in Franklin, and that's what we normally get in a year."
Cantoreggi experimented with only applying salt to main streets and hills earlier in the season to reduce costs. But 50 residents called with complaints about slippery patches in other areas. Public works crews then salted those stretches, he said.
The entire town needed to be salted for Wednesday's storm because the snow was heavy, making it difficult to scrape the roads clear with plows, he said.
"The impact of going to a half-day program would ... lead to a reduction in our foundation budget, which would significantly impact our Chapter 70 money," Goodman said, adding the district's foundation budget for kindergarten is $3.4 million for this school year.
Goodman said it is too early in the budget process to determine exactly how much money Franklin would lose by switching programs.
The district might save money in fiscal 2012 because next year's state aid is determined using October 2010 enrollment, but Franklin would likely lose money in subsequent years, Goodman said.
"This analysis really shows, at least from my perspective, that over the long run financially it's a loser," School Committee member Ed Cafasso said. "The financial evidence is fairly overwhelming that one year of savings would be wiped out every other year."
Joel D'Errico proposed 10 single-bedroom apartments for the building in November, but told the Planning Board Monday he plans to build eight apartments instead. The new building would supplement an existing 10-apartment building.
The reduction may not appease many neighbors who said the building is still too large for the lot at the corner of Summer and Winter streets.
"It's inappropriate for the neighborhood," said Robert Landry, who has lived on Summer Street for 65 years. "There'd be too many cars. It's too big of a building, and it's not conforming with the neighborhood."
D'Errico said his development is a good fit since 21 of 31 residential lots in the area have multifamily buildings. One of those properties has 28 apartments, he said.
"The neighborhood character is 2-to-1 multifamily," he said. "It's changed. It's not what it was 50 years ago."