LIST AND SUMMARY OF RECENT ARTICLES BELOW.
Town Meeting is coming up in less than two weeks. It starts on Monday night, April 7, 2014 and looks like it will continue Tuesday night, April 8th.
For the past several years, I have participated in several presentations to Town Meeting in an effort to educate voters about issues, budgets, or proposals that are being presented. Each time, however, I have felt shortchanged.
Find out what's happening in Actonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Of course, I've written about this extensively. The summary is that Town Meeting does not want "both sides" presented because that represents a challenge to the spending plans of our town leaders, who have worked so hard all year slaving away at endless committee meetings to put together perfect proposals. There is no need for debate, therefore; only acceptance, approval, and the outpouring of love and support from the masses.
Therefore, I have no plans to make a formal presentation at this or any future Town Meeting. If you go and expect to be able to sit back, relax, and listen to the full spectrum of proposals and arguments before voting, that won't happen. So either come prepared to think for yourself, ask questions, and make statements, or not. It is up to you.
Find out what's happening in Actonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
There may be other issues at this year's Town Meeting that I have not followed, but for me the big concern is the new regional school assessment and related warrants, and how Acton is paying more than its fair share. If this issue concerns you, I would ask you to review the list of recent articles, refresh your memory where appropriate, and feel free to circulate the list or any individual articles to your circle of friends who plan on staying in Acton for the next few years or longer.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly. You can email me at Allen@TheHomesteader.com.
RECENT ACTON FORUM ARTICLES ON SCHOOL ISSUES
A Tale of Two Towns:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/tale-two-towns
This fantasy piece predicts what may happen not just next year but over the next 10 years as the school assessment really kicks in. Boxborough gets an enormous windfall and has low or no property tax increases while Acton's taxes continue to climb. The imbalance will affect Acton's housing prices relative to Boxborough and give an unfair benefit to Boxborough taxpayers.
I believe this will likely come to pass if we approve the new regional school assessment this year, the first year it has been proposed.
Boxborough taxes to remain level for fourth year in a row:
http://www.actonforum.com/story/boxborough-taxes-remain-level-fourth-yea...
The effects of the regional assessment formula have already started to take effect as Boxborough's property tax increases have stopped.
Regional school grabs extras from Acton:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/regional-school-grabs-extras-acton
Warrant article 22 which approves the transfer of property does not include an appraisal of either town's donation to the Regional School District. The donations should be equitable based on the current value of the parcels, including the debt burden that the region will be assuming.
FinCom sees little picture:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/fincom-sees-little-picture
Acton's Finance Committee does a good job reviewing the school budget but does not examine the imbalanced assessment formula, and thus misses the boat on its responsibility to look out for Acton's long-term financial health.
Acton's single-family property tax bill to rise 3.4% in FY15
http://www.actonforum.com/story/actons-single-family-property-tax-bill-r...
Acton's average single-family-home's property tax bill will rise 3.4% in fiscal year 2015, despite a small reduction proposed by town leaders to lower the increase which would have been 4.4%.
Why are town leaders not surprised by the assessment shift?
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/why-are-town-leaders-not-surprise...
When the school assessment for Acton was first announced, everyone acted quite surprised. But when the news settled in and some cosmetic changes to the school budget were announced, which slightly lowered both towns' assessments, suddenly no one was surprised. But having Acton's assessment much higher than the budget increase and Boxborough's much lower was a big surprise, especially when it is clear from the documentation that the new regional agreement was supposed to balance out the assessments. It obviously failed, so why aren't our town and school leaders surprised?
Assessment shift is the issue:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/assessment-shift-issue
Town and school leaders insist that they are saving a million dollars and that no promises were broken to Town Meeting. Yet the assessment is going up, even higher than the budget increase. The problem is the assessment formula which was supposed to bring roughly equal benefits to both towns.
This article shows by analogy why it isn't fair for Acton taxpayers to pick up the tab for Boxborough.
An open letter to BOS and FinCom:
http://www.actonforum.com/story/open-letter-bos-and-fincom
We urge the other two major boards to reject the school assessment and force the School Committee to reopen negotiations with Boxborough on fixing the formula so the benefits of regionalization are shared, like what was promised to Acton Town Meeting.
Regionalization recap:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/regionalization-recap
This gives a full summary of the Regionalization issue, including the school budget, the savings that were promised, the assessment formula, and whether regionalization saved money.
School budget cuts bogus:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/school-budget-cuts-bogus
This article examines how the schools made superficial reductions in their budget request which had been given a negative review by the other town boards and even some members of the School Committee (SC.) After the minor changes, the SC approved it unanimously.
Regionalization costing Acton extra $1 million per year:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/regionalization-costing-acton-ext...
This article explains how promises to save Acton taxpayers $1 million per year turned into higher costs of $1 million per year. Was Town Meeting misled about the financial benefits of regionalization?
Boxborough Wins; Acton Loses:
http://www.actonforum.com/story/boxborough-wins-acton-loses
This article explains how the assessment formula favors Boxborough over Acton and how several Acton School Committee members voted against the original school budget.
AB School votes new budget number:
http://www.actonforum.com/story/ab-school-votes-new-budget-number
This article goes into the school budget and the assessment formula.
Sad Vindication:
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/sad-vindication
This article explains how fears about regionalization are coming true, just a few months after it was approved. Several town leaders expressed public disagreement with the proposed school budget. The original opposition to the regionalization proposal centered around higher costs to Acton after several years, because everyone was told that the short-term benefits were clear. That turns out not to be the case. Concerns over how Town Meeting doesn't allow "both sides" to be fairly presented are perhaps one of the root causes of these failures.
Our first fair Town Meeting
http://www.actonforum.com/blogs/allenn/our-first-fair-town-meeting
Part Six of the series which examined the decision to approve full regionalization and why Town Meeting failed to fully inform voters. Town leaders participate in misinformation, orchestrated by the Town Moderator. This article hypothesizes how a "fair" Town Meeting would be run. Links to the full series are at the end of the article.
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