Update on Groton's Charter Revision

To our Groton Friends & Neighbors....... 10/28/18

Many of you are involved with our need for a Charter Revision in
Groton. Naturally, there has been resistance from those who, I feel,
appear to prefer political "party" control and not individual "citizen"
control. They tend to obscure this by stating that referendums are too
expensive, especially if repeated, whereas I feel that repeat
referendums simply reflect poor connections between town government
officials with their citizen taxpayers.

So, please note the following for when you vote on 11/6/18.

1) The RTM's role as "fiscal watchdog" has deteriorated over the
years. More recently, they have "tweaked" the Town Budgets, with no
significant revisions from the Town Council recommendations. In
addition, per one source, party town chairpersons often have to go find
and convince enough people to run for all those (RTM) positions. This
may explain why RTM member attendance is low, according to the Town,
with an average absentee rate of 25%.

2) The recent large, diverse Charter Revision Commission had a strong
majority vote, with only 2 minority dissents, in favor of their final
revision as submitted to the Council. The Council ultimately rejected
the submission in a 5-4 vote that, by my observation, was politically
charged. In any case, many of you signed our petition for the
Charter to be put back on the ballot, and we are very grateful for that.

3) The Town Council itself already approves town salary & benefit
packages. The RTM is NOT involved in this process, which is almost 80%
of the annual budget. The new Charter permits us, as voters, final
approval of the school & town budgets themselves. The new Board of
Finance would also focus on these areas along with the proper
disposition of large state rebates, a problem that was raised recently.
More authority can be granted to this new board in a later revision of
the new charter. The US Constitution itself was amended 10 times in the
first 3 years of origin.

4) Property taxes are high in Groton, especially when we add the Fire
District mill rates for their Fire/EMS services, and I've publicly
complained about property taxes in the past. I do not feel well
represented by the RTM reps in my area and have therefore directed my
concerns directly to the Town Council with reasonable success.

Lastly, if any of you have questions or concerns, we have the website
at GRTV2018.org which has a section on FAQ (frequently asked questions)
and there will also be an informational session on Tuesday 10/27/18 at
the Groton Public Library starting at 7:00 PM. And thank you for taking
the time to care about this issue, important for us all.

Ed Johnson