New Voice At Financial Forum ... But Did You Hear?

If not for Henrietta Marotta, Wednesday night's Financial Forum at the RCTV office on Main Street would have been just another in a long line of Reading override discussions. Until Marotta spoke up, it was the usual audience listening to the usual town leaders talking about the usual subjects, this time in the form of questions emailed to the Finance Committee.

But Marotta, who lives "off Libby Ave" and moved to Reading in 1977, wasn't going to sit still, not after going to the library first, then town hall, before finally finding the meeting she was looking for. Marotta told the 17 town leaders seated in front of her that she didn't have $500 extra to pay if the override passed. She wanted to know why developments like Reading Woods didn't provide enough money to avoid an override. And she said the override was going to push seniors out of town. Her last complaint was that none of the town leaders introduced themselves. "I have no idea who they are," she said just before leaving.

A back-n-forth between the diminutive Marotta and town assessor Victor Santaniello was almost entertaining. Santaniello said he'd help her apply for the Reading senior tax break and their discussion continued into the hallway. Santaniello seemed determined to make her visit pay off in tax relief.

The Financial Forum was an attempt by town leaders to give residents one last chance to ask questions before Tuesday's override vote and Finance Committee chair Peter Lydecker said he received roughly 25 questions. RCTV set up a main room as well as an overflow room with an additional 45 seats. But those 45 seats were unused, with only 25 people showing up to listen. For the most part it was the same people who have attended every budget meeting going back to December. Before them sat members of the School and Finance Committees, Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, School Superintendent John Doherty, and members of the Board of Selectmen.

If there was any hope of turning the forum into a rally for Yes For Reading it ended quickly when longtime resident and town meeting member Bill Brown stood up and said the wording for the school portion of the override was illegal and he may go to court to stop them. As always town officials walk a fine line with Brown, trying not to disrespect a man with decades of service to the town but also not wanting to get bogged down in issues they feel had already been dealt with or simply weren't important. A dispirited Brown left the forum midway through.

Between Brown at the start and Marotta at the end, there were questions about overrides in other towns, where Reading tax dollars go, the role of fees, and the new growth in town. Nothing was new but the assembled officials tried to answer the questions like it was the first time hearing them.

There's no way to tell if the night accomplished anything, in part because RCTV has no way to know if anyone watched. Comcast and Verizon won't tell RCTV officials information that would clearly benefit the local station. If everyone in town watched, questions were answered and issues explained. If no one watched, it was pretty much a wasted effort. Like many things involving the override, we won't really have answers until April 3.

Photos by Bob Holmes