Voters: Time to meet the candidates
Published on March 22nd, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Candidates vying for open-seats on the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and Planning Board expanded on their political platforms during a forum organized by the Chamber of Commerce Tuesday night.
Sponsored by the Montvale Plaza, the event featured 10 of the13 challengers seeking a spot on the three elected boards. Incumbent Selectmen Chair Bob Sweeney and School Committee candidate Mat Whooley did not participate in the forum.
With the town's financial woes dominating the platforms espoused by the challengers, three of the five citizens running for the Board of Selectmen took a formal position on the upcoming $1.2 debt exclusion question - which will sit next to the candidates names on the April 4 election ballot.
According to Finance Board member Dan Doherty and former Selectman Charlie Smith, the temporary tax override was necessary given the town's $1.8 million budget gap.
Recalling his last term on the Board of Selectmen, Smith referred to the decision to impose a $150 trash fee. Saying that he voted on the measure with the understanding that town officials would work twice as hard to find another solution, the former Selectman charged that the promise was left unfulfilled.
So while Smith supported the debt exclusion given the consequences of not approving the tax increase, he felt that action needed to be taken immediately to solve the reoccurring budget woes once and for all.
" I believe the debt exclusion is a necessary evil. But unfortunately, it's a band-aid. Let's make Stoneham a stop-in town, not a drive-through town," Smith said. "But if it preserves the jobs of the police who protect this town, I think [the debt exclusion] is a necessary evil."
"We have to make the ship that runs this town run smoother. We have to be proactive, not reactive. We can't just sit back and wait for somebody to throw money at us," Smith added.
Disagreeing with Smith, Doherty argued that town officials had done everything in their power to avert the need for a tax increase. According to the Finance Board member, the deficit could be attributed to stagnant state aid and soaring expenses, not the inaction of the local government.
"The future is now. Short-term or long-term, we need to solve the budget gap. The debt exclusion, although a short-term solution, is necessary to keep the level of services within this town," Doherty commented.
"From '03 to now, if you look at operating budgets, [you'd see] they're relatively flat. So the debt exclusion is not because we're ineffective or inefficient," he argued.
Opining that the debt exclusion sent the wrong message, Selectmen's candidate R. Paul Rotondi argued that the ballot question provided the wrong vehicle for solving the town's budget woes.
Insisting that the town had not done enough to streamline government functions, the former School Committee member believed that current town officials rely to heavily on increased revenue streams as a solution.
"It's a short-term solution. Secondly, it sends the wrong message. Our debt as a percentage of its value is higher than any surrounding town. We have to stop that," Rotondi argued.
"You have to realize that a $1.8 million shortfall based on a $58 million budget is equivalent to three percent. We have to be more efficient in how we operate the town,"
advocated Rotondi, specifically referring to introspective cost-cutting techniques that businesses utilize to reduce unnecessary expenses.
While agreeing that the debt exclusion was a short-term solution, Selectmen's candidates Heidi Kelf and Andrew Celentano didn't take a firm stance for or against the ballot question.
According to Celentano, the ultimate decision on the tax increase resided with the citizens of Stoneham.
However, the Newcomb Road resident believed that other funding vehicles existed outside of the debt exclusion, including a potential sale-leaseback of some of Stoneham's schools and a more business friendly approach in Town Hall.
"I agree that the debt exclusion is a short-term solution. Nobody wants to pay more money. If we had to do that, I would say lets do a sale-leaseback of one of our schools," said Celentano.
"We have to be more pro-business. I hear from a lot of people that Stoneham is not pro-business," the Selectmen candidate added.
Advocating for a similar approach, Kelf considered a debt-exclusion to be a last resort measure, saying that town officials needed to be more resourceful.
But according to Kelf, while little things like selling advertising space on water bills, selling benches, and holding fairs and similar events needed to be actively pursued, the true path toward restoring town services meant bolstering the commercial tax base.
"I would see that as a last resort," the Selectman's candidate said of the debt exclusion. "We have a fiscal problem, but we need to be more resourceful."
"The fastest way to the bottom line is going to have to be to turn around our commercial tax base."
With the candidates commenting on a wide-range of other issues, from the openness of the town's government to the best ways to encourage business growth, the Chamber of Commerce's Meet the Candidates Forum will be rerun on Stoneham Community Access television starting this Friday.
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