Midnight Meeting Okays Meals Tax

A hardy band of voters stuck it out in the humid high school auditorium Thursday night, extending the usual 11 p.m. mandatory end time of the spring town meeting by an hour, and winding up at the stroke of midnight.

A well-informed audience was not shy about demanding information and justification for the proposed expenditure of $73 million in combined town and school budgets, and endorsed both an increase to the meals tax and a $200 service charge for anyone taken into protective custody by police, in an attempt to revive a flat-lined revenue stream.

A one-time infusion of $1.8 million in free cash was dispersed in several areas, including a portion to the schools, and $1.5 million will be borrowed to pay for various capital items and projects -- badly needed road and other infrastructure improvements that have gone untended for years, and equipment for the DPW.

Voters also endorsed the beginning of a fund designed to tackle the mounting cost of accumulating health care and retirement benefits accruing for current and retired employees, the so-called "unfunded liability" that now stands at over $70 million. The $300,000 that will be deposited in the Employee Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund this year is just a drop in a very large bucket, but the finance committee is laying the groundwork for the accumulation of the fund by using the services of an actuarial firm to determine the exact costs, using projected retirement dates of current employees.

The finance committee's Jack Goldberg told voters while the fledgling fund will begin with the $300,000, benefits earned by employees and retirees just this year total $2.9 million.

"Municipal budgets are cash driven," he said. "These are benefits earned now, but not paid until the future. We are making no provision now for active employees, but the law now requires us to show it in the records."

Finance committee chairman Andy Gazzolo also drew attention to the tendency of residents to react with complacency to the term "balanced budget," while largely ignoring mounting expenses that are looming in future years.

He observed while the town had almost $2 million in so-called "free cash" to use this year, that money will not be available in the future, creating an immediate $2 million gap for the next year. At the same time, he said, the school committee was using over $1 million in one-time stimulus funds to hire 15 full time teaching positions, again, money that will be missing in next year's revenue stream.

Town Hall officials highlighted again and again the mounting health care costs and salaries, and the lack of revenue increases to counterbalance the costs of living in Mansfield.q

"Labor costs cannot increase at rates greater than revenue," said Greg Arnold from the finance committee. "We have to stop diverting debt and capital line items to supplement labor costs."

The addition of .75 percent to the meals tax, a provision allowed by the state legislature to help communities add to their revenue, was a point of contention, with numerous speakers lined up at two microphones to comment. The finance committee did not support the article, and the selectmen were split down the middle, some saying the 75 cents added to a $100 bill at a restaurant was small change that would net the town $250,000 a year, and others regarding it as another tax on small businesses and residents.

"Stop funding the beast!" insisted Mansfield state representative Jay Barrows, who said government was "huge." Barrows said he wanted out of town customers to see Mansfield as a "fantastic place where we're not going to gouge you." Barrows said he had voted against the measure at the State House, and called it "bad tax policy."

But Gladiola Terrace resident Pam Gagnon said she had been listening to town and school officials repeatedly refer to revenue problems all night. "We're turning our backs on $250,000?" she asked. "That's a million dollars in four years for doing nothing - we're not in a position to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Frank Delvecchio said, "I'm still going to continue to eat, this isn't going to stop me. We have plenty of legitimate ways to spend this money. This is a good down payment on our free cash."

One woman noted, "Everyone needs a rainy day fund, and it's pouring. We don't have time to be philosophical." She said band had been taken away from her fifth grader last year due to school budget cuts, and class sizes were increasing. She also was angered that Barrows was allowed to address town meeting at all, saying, "It's not right to have (Rep.) Barrows up there - you could have swayed the whole vote."

The meals tax increase passed, 105 - 57.