Melrose's Expectations Not In Line With Financial Reality: DeSelm

The following was submitted by School Committee member Liz DeSelm:

The City of Melrose does not have a spending problem -- we have a revenue problem. Our
expectations are no longer compatible with our financial reality, and no school funding reform
from Beacon Hill will save us.

We expect good schools. Our students deserve a quality education, which means we must
preserve reasonable class sizes, offer enrichments such as music and art in addition to the core
subjects, and foster an environment where our students will thrive and be supported as they
develop into young adults.

We expect good city services. These include a library which benefits the entire community, a
fully-funded police department, transportation for seniors, weekly trash and recycling pickup,
weekend hours for the city yard, and regular maintenance of roads and sidewalks.

We expect a lot from our city government, and yet without the passage of the override on April
2nd, we will be forced to reevaluate our expectations.

If we want to sustain the quality of our city services and schools, we need to face the stark
reality that we simply don’t have enough sources of income. Our revenue is restricted because:

● The tax levy artificially restricted by Prop 2.5 has not kept up with inflation. As a result,
the cost of providing expected city services has outpaced the city’s ability to pay for it.
That’s why the “Override” option was created. Knowing such a scenario (inflation
outpacing 2.5%) was likely, the lawmakers who enacted Prop 2 1⁄2 created the override
as a mechanism for municipalities to re-level the tax levy to adjust for inflation.

● We’re a bedroom community. Melrose is a 95% residential city, with only 5% commercial
tax base, meaning that homeowners’ taxes provide the bulk of the funding for city
services and schools. With the restrictions placed on municipalities by Prop 2.5,
municipalities like ours are funded almost solely by the 2.5% annual tax levy increase on
homeowners and through new growth. Because we have so few areas zoned for
commercial business, that potential for new growth is restricted.

● State and Federal grants have dried up. In years past, Melrose Public Schools took
advantage of incentive programs/grants like Common Core, which gave federal funds to
pilot a standardized testing regimen. As those funds have decreased, we have been forced to reduce staff positions, shrink programming, and leave open staff positions unfilled.

We are well and truly on our own. We control our own destiny, and by voting ‘yes’ on the
override, we vote ‘yes’ for a bright future

I wholly support the override, and ask for your support as well. We are One Community, Open to
All, and thus share the burden of preserving the essence of what makes Melrose great