Selectmen back Rotondi's plan
Published on April 25th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA -With hopes of a united front crumbling last night, at least two Selectmen appear to have left Paul Rotondi's $3 million override proposal unendorsed.
During a tri-board meeting in Town Hall on Tuesday night, four of the five Selectmen espoused skepticism with the so-called Rotondi plan and whether town officials should pursue another tax override.
Two of those members later relented and signed the agreement, giving the board a majority of members in favor of the proposal.
According to Selectmen Chair George Seibold, he had a strong inkling that the $3 million override would fail at the polls, pushing Stoneham into financial turmoil. Instead of permitting that to happen, the Chair argued, the Selectmen should take the safer route and reinstitute the garbage fee for yet another year.
"I've been thinking about this the past couple of weeks. My gut feeling is to think about the trash fee," said Seibold, referring to the $160 charge the Selectmen have imposed the past two-years for rubbish disposal.
With the mere suggestion of another trash fee setting off a heated exchange between Rotondi and the Chairman, the author of the five-year financial blueprint chastised Seibold for "taking the easy way out" and for not trusting in the voter's ability to chose what's best for Stoneham.
"Let me tell you, if you don't do [an override] this year, you'll never get it," Rotondi predicted. "You're telling people, 'I don't trust you. I don't think you know what's best for the town, so I'm going to give you a trash fee, which for the past two-years was supposed to be a one-time thing.'"
"This is the first time we have all the committees together, lined-up and agreeing to go one-way. And you want to throw it all down and say, 'I don't want to do that because I don't trust the voters,'" the first-term Selectman further vented.
Seibold, roused by those characterizations, countered that he was attempting to take a leadership role by recognizing that any override has a huge chance of failing come election day.
And given the consequences of that failure, which would lead to $3 million worth of personnel and program reductions, the Selectman refused to budge on his insistence that a rubbish fee be continued and the override dropped from consideration.
"The town isn't feeling it [this budget crunch]. The only people feeling it are the school system," commented Seibold, who said he would vote to put an override on the ballot, but would not sign onto Rotondi's proposal. "I would love to see an override pass. But if it doesn't, I would hate to see what would happen. It would be crippling."
In addition to Seibold, veteran Selectman Bob Sweeney also didn't sign the proposal last night, as he stormed out of the meeting in protest after being told to "smarten-up" by Finance Board member Andrew Gould.
Gould, the Finance Director for the Town of Salisbury, preceded his comment by forecasting that Stoneham would find itself going into receivership if someone didn't step-up and lead the town.
After chastising Gould for his remark and then departing the discussions, Sweeney returned and successfully passed a motion that calls upon the Finance Board to render an apology for the outburst.
"We're going to be next in line if you guys don't smarten-up and fix this problem," Gould prophesied, referring to similar problems in Salisbury.
"Did I just hear smarten-up? What kind of comment was smarten-up?" Sweeney exploded. "Do you think we're just here playing games? Don't tell any of us to smarten-up."
"As an official, I'm appalled at how this town has been run over the past few years," the Finance Board member shot-back.
"It didn't happen overnight," Seibold chimed in, before Sweeney demanded an apology.
"Well, you're not getting it," Gould responded.
Second-term Selectman John DePinto, who fully supported the five-year financial plan, also admitted that he was wary of endorsing a $3 million override, although for different reasons.
Based upon the Rotondi plan, the town's employee unions will have to negotiate any pay increases within specific budget parameters, which amount to an overall three percent increase for both the municipal and educational sides of government.
However, that three percent figure must account for all annual increases in expenditures, from jumps in fixed operating costs, such as utility and special education bills, to the rising costs of personnel benefits like health insurance.
According to DePinto, the reality of Rotondi's plan is that no cost-of-living increases would be allowed to be negotiated this year, unless the town was willing to accept resulting mass layoffs.
Countering that contention, the financial blueprint's author reiterated that there were other ways to make room for raises outside of that three percent increase, specifically by saving money through retirements, outsourcing services, or making health insurance concessions.
"That's why I like the concept. But the problem I have is if we give an increase and that doesn't happen, we're going to have to lay people off," said DePinto.
"Until the contracts are signed, I will not support an override. I will put it on the ballot, because that's what I promised. But if we pass something we can't afford, it destroys the whole concept of this plan," he added.
Although the Selectman later signed-off on the plan, he stressed that he would oppose the tax increase if employee contracts weren't signed, as he worried about the implications of having an arbitrator award a large cost-of-living jump outside the Rotondi plan's parameters.
Rookie Selectman Frank Vallerelli also later endorsed the proposal, although he warned his counterparts and those on the School Committee and Finance Board that he would not tolerate unfair campaign tactics during the buildup to the election.
The recently elected Selectman, who also had serious doubts about the chances of the ballot measure's passage, referred to specific actions during a previous override campaign that he considered unethical.
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