Town Meeting passes level-service budget, demands trash fee
Published on May 14th, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - Town Meeting voters endorsed an approximate $58.9 million budget last Thursday that maintains existing service levels and does not rely on revenues from a trash fee.
Despite that approval, local citizens joined a chorus of school and public safety officials who demanded that the Selectmen impose a refuse charge to restore services lost by budget cuts in years past.
In yet another last minute alteration of the FY'09 spending plan, the Selectmen tucked another $411,000 into the budget just a half-hour prior to the start of the assembly.
That extra money, the bulk of which came by tweaking local receipt calculations, was then added to the school budget. Without those funds, the School Committee would have likely been forced to eliminate high school athletics and layoff two teachers.
"We're basically stretching the envelope and trying to come-up with additional revenues," explained Selectman Richard Gregorio. "We're confident we can fund this budget. I think it's a sound budget."
"We took a risk on our probabilities and said there's some risk, but that risk can be managed," Selectman Paul Rotondi would later say of the last minute influx of revenues.
According to School Committee member David Maurer, the FY'09 spending plan didn't do enough to ensure that Stoneham's children receive an appropriate education.
Maurer also criticized Rotondi's argument that the $58.9 million proposal set services at a base level from which to build onto, as revenues from new developments, cost savings, and increased state aid were realized.
"This is still not putting programs back in the schools. We're still hobbling along here. So as far as this being a base, that's foolish."
Stoneham Police Chief Richard Bongiorno, who also resides in town, agreed with Maurer, claiming that Stoneham's public safety departments were in great need of additional manpower.
Bongiorno, who warned that low staffing levels are forcing the police force to work fatiguing amounts of overtime, implored the Selectmen to implement a trash fee for next year.
Last February, the Selectmen indicated that they would agree to instituting a trash fee in FY'09, but only if the town's employee unions agreed to join the state's Group Insurance Commission (GIC).
Breaking rank with his counterparts, Selectmen veteran Robert Sweeney advocated for the garbage charge, claiming that Stoneham needed to do more than "just get by".
According to San Jose Terrace resident Peter D'Angelo, a former School Committee and Finance Board member, he applauded the Selectmen's stance on the trash fee.
D'Angelo, estimating that Stoneham would save $1 million in health insurance costs by joining the GIC, implored the Town Meeting audience to support the town officials, instead of undercutting ongoing negotiations over the change to the state health care pool.
"That's something that this town must do [join the GIC]," D'Angelo argued. "We can't pull the rug from underneath them. They're in negotiations right now."
According to School Committee members Shelly MacNeill and Joe Viselli, Stoneham's school system has been systematically destroyed over recent years due to budget cuts.
Viselli, who predicted that high school would lose its accreditation unless something was done, claimed that he was sending his daughter to a private high school next year because the state of the district had become so deplorable.
Former Selectman Tony Kennedy later claimed that town officials weren't listening to their constituents. In particular, Kennedy referred to the dozens of speakers who urged the Selectmen to pass a trash fee.
"In my opinion, this is not a good budget. The budget as presented should not be passed. I've listened to speaker after speaker saying they don't like what's in the budget," said Kennedy. "They do not like what you're selling. They do not want what you're selling."
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