Former Elected Official Urges Support for Override

To the Voters of Melrose

As a former elected official who served eight years on the Melrose School Committee (1998-2006) and ten years as an Alderman at Large on the Board of Aldermen (2008-2018) I want tell you why I support the Proposition 2 ½ override on the April 2nd ballot. Various individuals, elected officials and organizations have offered you the facts, as they see them. Heated discussions are taking place around Melrose, in our newspapers and on social media. I am not going to repeat the facts coming from City Hall or dispute the ones coming from the Taxpayers Alliance. What I am going to do is tell you that for over ten years the City of Melrose has been running at a near deficit! We have lost millions of dollars in State and Federal aid, while our grants and reimbursements have been shrinking. Our employee health insurance and pension obligations have increased, our school population has grown significantly and we are struggling to meet the needs of all students. Despite all this, we have had a “balanced budget” at the beginning of every fiscal year. Our downtown has flourished and Melrose become sought after by developers and entrepreneurs. Our home values have increased exponentially. Our schools are graduating more students going on to higher education than ever before.

How has this happened you may ask if we are just getting by? The answer is good fiscal management, smart zoning, cooperative labor agreements and private growth. Our unions, recognizing our difficult financial position, took a 0 % increase when necessary. They voted to join the GIC health insurance at a time when that system was still untested and not mandated, saving the city millions over the years.

Our reserves, required by the Department of Revenue, have been sufficiently funded to give us good bond ratings, allowing us to borrow money at lower rates than many other communities. That’s helped fix our roads, improve our school facilities, and repair our water and sewer systems. Our department heads and elected officials evaluated every position, created smart growth zoning and squeezed the most out of every expenditure. And you, John and Jane Melrosian, have supported this with your votes and your taxes. Why?

Because public investment leads to private growth in a capitalistic democracy! Because with every public expenditure comes private opportunity. Opportunity to start your own business in one of our re-zoned neighborhoods, hiring local employees who will then use their wages to boost the Melrose economy; opportunity to stroll downtown to shop at a local business or dine at a neighborhood restaurant that may give your child their first job or make a donation to their sports team or school program; a chance to exercise at our YMCA or other fitness center where you can learn healthy habits maybe resulting in lowering your medical expenses; to bank at our local financial institutions where you can get a home improvement loan employing local tradesmen and increasing the value of your home. Melrose DPW maintains our fields and green spaces ; they remove the snow banks downtown so people can get to our businesses bringing new people into our community showcasing its desirability. Melrose makes sure our library is funded so you can access the internet without cost and perhaps run your web based start-up from their reference room; to provide a safe space for your student to study after school so they don’t go home to any empty house; to enrich your preschoolers’ social skills at story time.

Melrose offers our seniors a place to gather, to eat a nutritious lunch and provides them with transportation so you don’t have to take time off from your work to drive them to the doctor, dentist or the mall.

Individually we have each contributed to these investments with our tax dollars. But, collectively we have generated the private growth necessary to make Melrose a more valuable community. These advantages have resulted in the growth of your financial nest egg – your home. According to the Zillow home value index, in 2009 the average home value in Melrose was $380,000. Today it is $633,000, an increase of almost 70%! Our public expenditures have increased your personal investment portfolio. Even if you never had a child in the Melrose public schools, never used the Melrose Public Library, never called upon our public safety officers, never enjoyed a performance at Memorial Hall, you’ve reaped the benefits of private growth above and beyond your personal expenditures. So even if you’re not planning to sell your house any time soon, its future value, its potential to help you live comfortably as you age, it’s ability to increase your family’s wealth after your gone, needs to be maintained. I believe Melrose needs this override for many reasons but primarily to continue to grow our personal investments and advance the private opportunities that help Melrose offer us the quality of life we value so dearly. Responsible budgeting, excellent schools, safe streets, and reliable municipal services are all the result of public investments that pay off when the private sector seizes the opportunity to join us and help make Melrose a great community for all.

That is why I’m asking that you join me by voting YES on April 2nd.

Sincerely,

Mary Beth McAteer- Margolis

Former Chair. Melrose School Committee

Former Alderman at Large, Melrose Board of Aldermen