Councilors Stefanini & Cannon Mislead Framingham Residents on Finance

On December 16, 2023, the MetroWest Daily News ran an article on the resignation of the Framingham Chief Financial Officer (CFO):

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/news/local/2023/12/16/framingham-ma-chief-financial-officer-louise-miller-resigning-dec-31-accounting-positions-unfilled/71934230007/

That article reports how Framingham City Council Finance Subcommittee members Mike Cannon and John Stefanini let fly a barrage of criticism directed at the departing CFO, which not only was disturbing in its intensity, but was delivered with no alternate viewpoints to balance their bias.

Mike Cannon was quoted as complaining about delays in financial reporting and an associated lack of transparency, and John Stefanini was quoted as complaining about being blind-sided by new financial data popping up just before the December 5, 2023, City Council meeting.

Let's fill in the complete picture.

The true reason for the problem Mike was grousing about is that the city is so strapped for money that it has lost vital staff, and that included both the City Accountant and the Assistant City Accountant, who run city financial reports. So, the problem runs much deeper than some reports being late, or some issue of transparency.

There is a growing fiscal crisis caused by the City Council, which has to be a major factor in the resignation of the CFO.

The city money shortage has been caused to a great degree by George King, Mike Cannon, and John Stefanini, who have orchestrated the erosion of the city property tax revenue stream for years, by fiercely advocating for annual property tax increases below inflation, with the inevitable result that city buying power has taken a steep nosedive.

When Framingham was a town, this practice of throttling tax increases below inflation started around the time George King was appointed to the Town Finance Committee in 2014. George is without a doubt its prime architect. That erosion of the city property tax revenue stream accelerated enormously when Framingham became a city, and George King took control of the City Council Finance Subcommittee. Cannon and Stefanini have been excellent accomplices, as George navigated the city towards a fiscal cliff.

The chart shows the enormous annual losses in municipal property tax revenue in the last decade:

The accumulated property tax revenue loss since 2013 has been $232.9 million, an enormous amount of money.

That loss of revenue is causing city staff shortages, and depleting money available for capital projects so that roads are deteriorating, school roofs are leaking, and water & sewer maintenance is in trouble too. The maintenance backlog is $100 million for roads, $100 million for school roofs, and $200 million for the water & sewer system.

Further, the city has diverted $10 million/year in state Chapter 70 education aid to replace school roofs, instead of supporting the educational needs of its intended targets: low-income, special needs, and non-English speaking students.

That is the overall grim financial and educational picture.

What makes things worse is the amazing fiction in John Stefanini’s quote for the MetroWest Daily News, which reported his input on new growth as follows:

‘Stefanini told the Daily News that the Finance Subcommittee was notified at the last minute of the incorrect [new growth] estimate, forcing it to put the burden of making up the difference on the tax base.

“We had a $2 million calculation error in setting our tax rate this year, resulting in residents paying an additional $60, on average," Stefanini said. "Our new growth was half what it had been previously, and taxpayers had to make up the difference. If that information had been made available to the Finance Subcommittee in a timely fashion, we might have very well made adjustments to the budget, rather than increasing taxes. At 4:30 p.m. at the day of the hearing, we were given an updated number with no explanation.”’

This quote is simply wrong on the timing of when the Finance Subcommittee got the updated data. The City Council Finance Subcommittee was given the updated numbers on November 20, 2023, not at 4:30pm on December 5, 2023, as John would like us to believe.

This is shown in this video clip from that November 20, 2023, meeting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSiRXn71Gb8

The new growth numbers are accurately reported there, by the City Assessor, to the Finance Subcommittee, and a rational discussion follows, in which George King says he is not surprised, and John Stefanini is completely silent.

So, there you have it.

A media circus featuring unjustified laceration of the CFO first by Mike Cannon, and then by John Stefanini.

They want us to believe that all the blame for the fiscal and other problems in Framingham should fall on Louise Miller when they should be looking in the mirror to locate the true culprits.

It seems the wolves are out after Louise, an approachable, competent professional, who has done a good job in Framingham in a very difficult financial climate, which she inherited on arrival.

In such circumstances, she deserves a very robust defense, and the community deserves a very serious explanation of how we got where we are, and what steps will be taken to chart a completely different financial course than the one the City Council has us on.

Without a big course correction, it is hard to see how anyone would want to be the next Framingham CFO.