At their meeting on Tuesday (May 12, 2009), members of the Acton Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the town and school administration that they "should implement programs as to operate at a level of 97% of the approved FY2010 budget."

In other words, the FinCom is now recommending that town and school administrations reduce their spending by 3 % from the level that was presented to (and approved by) the annual Town Meeting on April 6th, just a few weeks ago. Interestingly enough, that is even more than the reduction proposed by the Acton Voters Group amendment which – as everyone will recall - was opposed by all the town boards including the Finance Committee (and, of course, "debunked" by Peter Ashton who called it "risky" in his article in The Beacon). Town meeting did not support our amendment.

The FinCom calls their recommendation "The 97 % Solution."

Solution to what?

To the fact that the Commonwealth is not going to live up to the promises of not reducing "state aid" to the towns and especially not to the schools, even for the current fiscal year (which is almost over), that Acton will not receive the amount of "state aid" that was assumed by the Acton Leaders Group for the budgets recommended to town meeting.

Why?

To quote the document written by Finance Committee member Bill Mullin : "State revenues are shockingly below expectations." Yes they are, Capt. Renault. And very likely will be even less than our professional politicians on Beacon Hill have predicted and are now admitting, causing further cuts (real cuts) in state payments to the towns and more self-defeating "revenue enhancing" legislation (higher taxes).

Will the town and school administrations follow the FinCom's recommendation?

We certainly hope so, but some of the hiring decisions for FY2010 have already been made. We expect to hear from our town and school officials that there is no choice now but to use more of the town's reserves. That requires another town meeting vote -- possibly at the Special Town Meeting already scheduled for June 23rd. The Acton Voters Group will --- once again --- explain why using up reserves is a sure path to an override, and why further spending reductions are not only possible but are the only realistic choice for Acton's financial stability.

Maybe somebody will listen this time.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

This year's Annual Town Meeting will make it easier for people to participate.

The business of the town meeting -- the Articles as described in the Warrant (the Index is on page 3) -- have been carefully arranged to make it much more likely that important decisions such as the budgets will be discussed and voted early in the evening and at reasonably predictable times (although the Moderator has considerable control, it is still possible for town meeting to decide, by a vote, to rearrange the schedule). All sessions start at 7:00 PM and will end when the vote is taken for whatever Article is being discussed at 10:30 PM. The intended agenda is as follows:

First night, Monday April 6th:

This session will deal with most of the financial or "money" articles, especially the three main budgets (Articles 11, 16 and 18).

Article 1 -- "Choose Town Officers" is a routine housekeeping Article which takes some time to vote all the motions but seldom involves any debate. It provides some extra time for people to get through the check-in process, especially if the turnout is high.

Article 2 will be "passed over", it is always included in the Warrant in case some action is needed, there is no need for any budget transfers this year, therefore this should take just a couple of minutes.

Articles 3 though 9 are the "Financial Consent Agenda", most will probably not be discussed, Article 7 will be.

Articles 10 through 19 (and possibly 20) are the main business of this session. These are all "money" articles. If you are interested in the town's finances, April 6th is the town meeting session that you should attend.

It is possible that there will be time for more Articles -- the next six (21 through 26) are those that will be presented by the Acton Voters Group.

Second night, Tuesday April 7th:

Town meeting will resume, this session will deal with as many of the remaining Articles as time allows, with the exception of the "WR Grace" ones, Articles 49 and 50.

Third night, Monday April 13th:

Some "housekeeping" matters will be done at the start, 7:00 PM, to allow as many people as are waiting to check-in to be seated. The first order of business will be the "WR Grace settlement" Articles (49 and 50). This is definite because the retired judge who dealt with the proposed settlement will attend, and he is only available that evening. After these Articles are voted, any remaining Articles will be discussed and voted.

This is the "plan", town meetings tend to be unpredictable, some Articles may take a lot more time than expected and others may take a lot less. Everyone is encouraged to attend all the sessions, but if you have an interest in a specific issue, this should help you to decide which night is the most likely time that it will be discussed.

Acton Voters Group is gathering further information about his town meeting, we will have it for you before and/or at the town meeting. If you have questions, please send them to us.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

The editorial in today's issue of The Beacon, once you get beyond the inaccurate and flowery opening sentence, is all about Acton Voters Group's (AVG's) decision to decline The Beacon's offer to publish a commentary on our proposals for Town Meeting, "side-by-side" with one by Peter Ashton.

Yes we declined, and, to answer one of the editor's (perhaps rhetorical) questions : No, we are not afraid to "...face more number-crunching scrutiny...". If we were afraid, we would not have suggested that the other "point of view" be written by the Finance Committee – a more suitable choice than Mr. Ashton.

The reason for our decision is very simple. As we explained to Mr. Robert Burgess, The Beacon's editor, our proposal to offer a budget choice at town meeting is an alternative to the "official" budgets that will be recommended by the Finance Committee, the Board of Selectmen, and the School Committee.

Mr. Ashton does not bring anything to this discussion other than his self-appointed role as a stand-in for the town's leadership. Why should AVG debate anything with him ? When Charlie made this point to Mr. Burgess, he replied that he "sees both of you (Charlie and Peter) as leaders of unelected grassroots organizations". Charlie wrote back a longer note, asking Mr. Burgess to please explain what "grassroots organization" Peter Ashton represents. Mr. Burgess never answered the question, simply informed us (referring to the "side-by-side" commentaries) that ".... this is the way we decided to do it."

For those of you who are interested, this is what is publicly known about Peter Ashton's efforts to oppose AVG's proposals:

The Website that Peter set up, "Together For The Future of Acton - Again" ("TFFA") did not have anyone's name on it, not even his, until about a week ago. Everyone publicly associated with this effort is a current or past town official : the Website domain name is owned by selectman Paulina Knibbe, TFFA flyers were distributed at the transfer station by the chair of the Board of Selectmen, Lauren Rosenzweig, ex-selectmen Nancy Tavernier and Peter Ashton, as well as FinCom member (and Peter's wife) Mary Ann Ashton. If there are other Acton citizens involved in this effort, they are invisible. The entire website is devoted to praising "our leaders" (i.e. themselves), criticizing AVG and promoting the candidacy of Mike Gowing. It is nothing more than a proxy for the "official" town positions on everything, an anonymous stand-in for the current majority of the Board of Selectmen, masquerading as just another group of unbiased Acton residents.

In the editorial, Mr. Burgess writes : "He (Peter Ashton) is also the leader of Together for the Future of Acton, Again, a group the rises [sic] to confront fiscal conservatives' attempt to derail the establishment's plans." [emphasis ours]. This confirms Peter's role and purpose. By using pejorative words such as "... attempt to derail ..." to describe the efforts of a group of concerned Acton citizens whose purpose has been to provide clarity to the proposed spending of more than $76 million and to offer a reasoned alternative to the voters, Mr. Burgess discloses his bias -- to which he is entitled.

Mr. Burgess states that our decision "just doesn't add up". It does for us. And if you compare the numbers you will see at Town Meeting, we hope they will "add up" for you as well.

Please come to the town meeting on Monday, April 6th. The budgets and AVG's proposed "no tax increase" changes will be discussed and voted that night. The new town meeting schedule is intended to get to these important issues well before 8:30 PM (it could be sooner). Attendance is expected to be high, we suggest that you plan to come well before the 7:00 PM starting time.Please come to the town meeting on Monday, April 6th. The budgets and AVG's proposed "no tax increase" changes will be discussed and voted that night. The new town meeting schedule is intended to get to these important issues well before 8:30 PM (it could be sooner). Attendance is expected to be high, we suggest that you plan to come well before the 7:00 PM starting time.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

Last week, the Acton Finance Committee issued a press release about the cost savings which were sent to them --- at their request --- by concerned Acton citizens (they have a list of more than 100 suggestions).

That press release stated:

"Over the next six months, the Fincom will conduct detailed analysis of these ideas and will look forward to bringing them to the town in the future."

Why the delay?

In these difficult economic times, everyone is reviewing their spending plans and making necessary adjustments --- and making those adjustments quickly.

Why can’t Acton do the same?

Acton’s town and school budgets are “bottom line budgets”. The Town Manager and the School Superintendent, with the approval of their respective committees, decide how to spend – or not spend – the appropriated funds. Both have already implemented some cost saving measures for the current fiscal year, and more can be done right now if they wish – further town meeting approval is not required.

Some of the suggestions from the FinCom list can be implemented quickly, especially the energy-saving ones which are consistent with the selectmen’s “Green Acton” priority, such as “turn off school campus parking lot lights when campus is not used”. Others may take longer but much more can be done for the next fiscal year, which does not start for another three months.

For the complete FinCom list of 100 proposed cost savings, see: this document

Join Acton Voters Group in requesting that the Acton Finance Committee start recommending cost reductions now – not sometime “in the future” as the FinCom press release states.

Write to them directly at fincom@acton-ma.gov and please cc: us on your message.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

BUDGET BUTTERFLY
Budgeting metamorphosis

Current Acton Leadership Group Plan mirrors Acton Voters Group proposal from last October's Special Town Meeting.

Or how the ugly and "irresponsible" Acton Voters Group chrysalis become a beautiful "prudent and cautious fiscal management" Acton Leadership Group butterfly.

The beautiful butterfly:
The "Multi Year Plan" budget amounts for FY10 shown on Page 18 in the Warrant for the April 2009 Town Meeting are :

Municipal Budget	$ 24,276,000
APS Budget	$ 25,754,000
ABRSD Budget - Acton share	$ 28,073,000

The ugly chrysalis:
The budget amounts for FY10 as shown in the Multi Year Plan suggested by the Acton Voters Group (AVG) for the Special Town Meeting last October, as printed in that Warrant (page 15) were :

Municipal Budget	$ 24,488,000
APS Budget	$ 25,898,000
ABRSD Budget - Acton Share	$ 28,540,000

At the October 2, 2008 Special Town Meeting, we heard from the Board of Selectmen, the Finance Committee, the School Committee and the "Preserve The Reserve" Group (Peter Ashton) that the Acton Voters Group suggested budget numbers were unrealistic, irresponsible, and would require significant service cuts and major layoffs (70 teachers was the number predicted).

Compare the butterfly to the chrysalis -- all three town and school proposed FY10 budgets are now lower than the amounts suggested by AVG last October. And no services are being cut and no layoffs are underway or planned.

While Acton Voters Group is pleased that town officials have finally come around to our way of thinking, it would have been nice if they had done so prior to last October's town meeting so that the voters would have been given correct information at the time.

Now that the economy has gotten worse, Acton Voters Group thinks more needs to be done, and that it can be done with your help. Please attend the upcoming Town Meeting and support the Acton Voters Group proposals.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

Town Meeting Article 26 is a non-binding resolution asking the town boards to present all capital items to town meeting as separate warrant articles.  This asks that the Town Meeting be allowed to look at and approve the purchase of all items costing more than $25,000 and having a useful life of five years or more.  Yes, this year’s warrant has a capital article for $270,000.  But that is only a fraction of what is actually being spent on capital items.  Why are some capital items in the article, but most are not?  This year’s capital article shows you a single dump truck, a pickup truck, a tractor, an SUV and some Senior Center improvements.  Why are these listed for our approval but not many others?  Why is there a $185,000 excavator in Article 7?  Do we really need to spend that much money to feed the $300,000 wood chipper at the transfer station that we bought last year?  Do we really need the pile of mulch at the dump to get any bigger?

Acton is proposing to buy a new $525,000 fire truck this year.  Do you see that in the warrant?  It is there, at the bottom of Article 10, the new Ambulance Enterprise Fund.  At the combined, all-day Saturday budget meeting, the Fire Chief gave a very good, safety based, explanation of why we need it.  We believe that town meeting should hear about these items and decide on such a large purchase separately from the general expenses of the Ambulance Fund.

This resolution does not ask to cut any items from any year’s budget.  It just asks the town officials, at future town meetings, to list all capital items they want to purchase that cost over $25,000 in separate warrant articles.  How could anyone possibly object to telling us how they propose to spend our money?

This is a "non-binding" resolution. It does not force the town or school to call a special town meeting in order to purchase a capital item in an emergency. But it does strongly suggest that items that can be put off until the next town meeting should be put off, and items that are for next year's budget should be brought to town meeting for a vote.  Several times in the recent past items costing over $90,000 have been funded at the end of the fiscal year with left over money that should have been returned to reserves.  For example, our new brick walk at the town hall and the actor dressing rooms that are being built at NARA.  No taxpayers voted on these as capital items and they were not part of any approved budget.

There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of other capital items in the municipal and school budgets that are not in the $270,000 capital warrant article.  Do you want to know where your money is going?  Please attend town meeting and vote YES on Article 26.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

The Warrant for the Annual Town Meeting is being printed and will be delivered to all households soon.  It is also on the town website, see: http://doc.acton-ma.gov/dsweb/Get/Document-24372/2009%20TM%20Warrant.pdf

The information about the municipal budget is a little difficult to understand.  Acton Voters Group has followed the development of this budget closely and is therefore able to provide the following "Guide to the the municipal budget for the April 2009 town meeting"  (all references to the Table on page 19 are for the "FY10 Budget" column) :

Article 3, "Council on Aging Van Enterprise Budget" includes a $ 50,000 subsidy from taxation, which is the "25% absorbed by the Town" mentioned in the Summary.    The amount is shown in the Table on page 19, 3rd and 10th lines from the bottom.

Article 7, "Recycling and Transfer Station Enterprise Budget" (formerly known as NESWC) includes a proposed purchase of an excavator for $ 185,000.   This amount does not appear in the Article description or in the Summary, it is only shown in the Table on page 19, 2nd line from the bottom.

Article 10, "Ambulance Enterprise Fund" includes a proposed purchase of a fire department pumper for $ 525,000, per the Summary.  This is NOT included in the Table on page 19 or in the ALG "Plan" on page 18.

Article 11, "Town Operating Budget" -- the amount that will be requested is $ 26,328,141.  This is shown in the Table on Page 19, the 5th line from the bottom.

Article 13, "Capital Improvements" -- this Article does have the details and the dollar amounts for the proposed purchases, and the total amount is also shown in the Table on page 19, 4th line from the bottom.

The $ 455,000 shown as "Capital" in the Table on page 19 (11th line from the bottom) is the total of the $ 185,000 in Article 7 and the $ 270,000 in Article 13.

The amount shown in the Manager's message on page 7 ($ 26,461,660.89) does not match the Table on page 19 -- it is probably an earlier total which was changed after the message was written.

The amount shown as "Municipal Budget" for FY10 on page 18, the ALG "Plan", $24,276,(000) is the "Plan Amount" shown in the Table on page 19, 6th line from the bottom.

"Excluded debt" means the total amount of principal and interest payments due in the fiscal year for the borrowing that is paid by additional taxes under the "debt exclusion overrides" that were approved by Acton voters -- both for the municipal and for the local school projects (the payments for the Regional School District projects are in Regional School District budget).

"Inside debt" means the total amount of principal and interest payments for multi-year borrowing which is not covered by extra taxation, it is "inside" the levy limit per Proposition 2 1/2.

Note :  One of the Acton Voters Group Resolutions (Article 25) asks that the appropriation for Debt and Interest be separated from the "municipal budget" for improved clarity and transparency.  We will explain this in more detail in a future update, before town meeting.

---

There are a couple of other Articles which request an appropriation, such as the $2,000 in Article 9 for the Acton-Boxborough Cultural Council and the $24,500 for the Community Shuttle (Article 15) but these are minor.

Town meeting will also consider Articles 49 and 50, the "Proposed WR Grace settlement", which will determine if voters want to accept the $ 1.5 million reduction of the WR Grace sewer "betterment"and if so, how it would be paid.  There is much more detail still needed to fully understand the options.

If you have questions on the budgets as shown in the Warrant, please let us know.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick:  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie:  AVG@stolab.com

You will hear a great deal, between now and Town Meeting, about the tight budgets being presented by Town leadership. You will, no doubt, hear about the programs that Acton will struggle to fund. And you will be asked to support your town.

Acton is a good place to live. It is also expensive.

As a percent of home value, we are one of the highest taxed municipalities in the Commonwealth. You will be asked to pay the maximum 2 ½% increase next year, on top of your $8400 tax bill if you own the average valued home in Acton – slightly over $500,000.

The multi-year plan included in the Warrant suggests you will be asked to pay the 2 ½% increases in the next two years as well and this will cost the average taxpayer $1200 extra over that three year period. You will also be asked to support deficit spending (using reserves to balance the books) which eventually will lead to overrides and ever increasing taxes.

Attendees of this April Town Meeting will be asked to vote for various budgets for municipal and school operations. The primary budgets, that will get the bulk of attention, are contained in Articles 11, 16 and 18. They are what are commonly referred to as the operating budgets.

In addition to the operating budgets, you will be asked to vote for a series of enterprise and revolving funds. These are presented in one line charts with a brief explanation accompanying the charts. In reviewing these funds you should keep in mind that there is more than $1.5 Million of employee salaries, $800,000 of contractual services, about $1 million of capital equipment, and about $1 Million of debt service included in these items. The total of these fund accounts is more than $5.7 Million and adds to the $75.5 Million you are being asked to approve in the three primary operating budgets.

In the various budget articles you are being asked to approve this year are approximately 1100 paid staff, with around 100 of the 1100 employees being paid in excess of $80,000 per year.

The municipal budget that you are being asked to approve includes $600,000 for legal fees just for the town ($50,000 per month). The schools have their own law firms.

You are approving a budget in which the town and schools contribute 85% of the cost of the health insurance premiums for town and school employees, with the more expensive policies costing more than $30,000 per year.

You are asked to continue to support a school program which rewards retiring employees with a bonus when they retire. The school system has spent $600,000 on this one program alone so far in this fiscal year.

You will be asked to vote for close to $2 Million of consulting contracts of various types for town and school operations.

You will be asked to support purchase of a new fire truck at $525,000, a dump truck at $135,000, and an excavator at $185,000.  The excavator is to be used to load logs and branches into a wood chipper, located at the transfer station, on which you spent more than $300,000 last year. That is a half-million dollar investment to produce wood chips, which are not of interest to many people, since they are for the most part produced from diseased trees.  Radio equipment with a price exceeding $200,000 is being purchased through an off-budget fund, and you will be asked to fund a GIS build-out program for $175,000. Additionally you will be asked to fund the purchase of slightly under $600,000 of capital equipment for the schools.

The purpose of listing all of the above is to suggest that Acton is not running quite as lean as some would imply. In a period of difficult economic stresses and increased unemployment, Acton has certainly reduced its wish list, but, continues to increase spending and acquire capital assets.

It seems likely that Acton will continue to be among the most expensive towns in the Commonwealth in which to live on a tax rate basis. We are more expensive than Wellesley, Winchester, Lincoln and Concord among many others.

Acton is in good financial shape. However, there is a breaking point at which taxpayers will no longer be able to support the Acton lifestyle. It is at a different point for each of us. We don’t know where it is for us, but we do know that the erosion in capital asset values and the increasing lack of employment is bringing all of us closer to that point.

Acton Voters Group will offer to Town Meeting attendees an alternative to the usual tax-to-the-max and deficit spending approach of Acton leadership. You will have the opportunity to say no to ever-increasing taxes and use of reserves for recurring operations which will lead to an override once the reserves are gone. At the suggestion of the League of Woman Voters, the three major budget votes will be among the first items taken up on the first night of Town Meeting, Monday, April 6th.   We urge all Acton taxpayers to come to Town Meeting and exercise their right to say "we can’t afford any more of the old budget approach".

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Dick :  dickcalandrella@earthlink.net
Charlie :  AVG@stolab.com

The Warrant for the April Town Meeting is on the town website, see :
http://doc.acton-ma.gov/dsweb/Get/Document-24372/2009%20TM%20Warrant.pdf

We are very pleased to report that in two recent online polls conducted by The Beacon, a clear majority of responding readers supported the Acton Voters Group efforts. The poll conducted just last week was related to The Beacon's story on the AVG proposal for a no-tax increase, no-layoffs budget. The results are in today's edition (page 10) :

58% voted "YES, it is time for town officials to start listening"

Previously, in a February online poll readers were asked :

"Do you support the Acton Voters Group efforts to find out more information about the school budget?"

The majority of those responding also voted "YES."

We are encouraged by this support. We ask you to share these results and we urge you and all your friends and neighbors to attend the Town Meeting which starts April 6th to help decide the future direction of our community. Your vote is very important.

Dick Calandrella and Charlie Kadlec
co-chairs, Acton Voters Group

Are you looking for earlier AVG Member Updates? The 2008 Updates have been moved to our Member Update History page.