the Mayor's budget.... all 296.4 Million of it
Have any of our readers heard anyone talking about the Mayor's budget? I'm just a tad surprised knowing that it's an election year, some of the want-to-Be's haven't weighed in. The school is not getting what it wants, even though it's 3.6 above this years budget.
It's funny to see the party loyalists calling out their own. Notice.. no one really pays much attention, it's political theater paid for by us.
The Mayor is getting this diversity and inclusion officer, working under the Mayor.. another fall on the sword position for the Mayor. I hope I live long enough to see how this will effect our all white people in all white Framingham.
The BOh will get a person who deals with the opioid crisis. I don't know if that's a clinician, MD, PhD, street outreach worker, but I read that the position will be funded from marijuana establishments, set to open in the city. So the Mayor or her COO has already spent some of the revenue.. that we will someday have, but don't now.
We know now that the Planning Board, EDIC and Conservation Commission will merge, allegedly to stream line the process.. they will eliminate one position... wooooooooooow
Edgell Grove Cemetery will become the responsibility of the Parks Dept, required by the charter.
The biggest savings the Mayor and her staff could come up with is centralizing copying services.. savings of 2,400.00 US dollars.
On a sad note, the MWDN did a piece on the Mayor's budget. As in many articles lately, key, relevant and accurate pieces of information are omitted. LIKE: In the the real budget, the FPD is getting 3 dispatchers.. funded by marijuana revenue.. someday. I thought we already had three.
The reporter writes that the city will see a bump from the first batch of marijuana dispensaries... they just cant say pot shops. He writes that the budget doesn't rely on pot revenue and isn't expected to be substantial in the coming fiscal year.
I've finally had it with the Mayor and her advisors. Why in the world would she NOT want the taxpayers to benefit from the sale of pot here in the Ham? As of the April 1, 104 million is ales with less than the 15 stores that are going to begin operation. Framingham, the 15K voters who voted for legalization and I submit are mostly tax payers, have been left to wonder, what kind of a business is she running. She proposes raising the levy to 2.5 %, which she could have raised it higher, since we've had 2 years I think at a lower rate. That equates to about 159.00 dollar increase in your property taxes, along with a 2% increase in Water and sewer and the increases in evaluation, I think the average may exceed 300.00 this year.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 7:53 PM
9 Comments
9 Comments:
The Senate budget is out today and our friend Karen is expecting 130 million in additional revenue from pot sales. It's not enough to solve all our problems, but this is a number that should be higher by now and will continue to grow as more stores come on line.
We can not operate a city solely on funding from shops that have not even been approved to open yet. The later we open the less business we are likely to get. More competition means less crowded stores means less money from any one store. If we wanted to reap the huge money we should have opened these stores sooner. Why are we always the last to move on things?
This budget is a clear indication of the lack of understanding of our current administration. So much of it does not make sense. As to others not weighing in on this, 7 of the 11 district councilors are not running, so they have no horse in the race and I am sure given that fact we will hear plenty from them when the budget discussion and meetings start. I want to hear what those considering running for office have to say.
Our mayor was not experienced in political skills and has never managed a budget anywhere near the amount of the city budget here. We elected here with the beleif she would learn from those with experience, and hire experienced people who she would listen to. She has not done that. We will need to survive her ineptitude for the next 2 year and then hopefully we can elect someone who has some knowledge of how to do the job and how to fix the mess this mayor will be leaving behind.
If revenue from pot sales is in the state budget, it surely should be in Framingham's is all I was saying.
I was agreeing with you Jim, it should be included, but we need to move on getting them open soon in order to actually get that money in!
The budget is long and most people are not going to bother reading it. Hell TM members did not even all read the budget they were voting on. I think we need to have a public forum to discuss the budget with residents BEFORE the voting starts at the DC and School Committee meetings. Unless we get enough people involved who are willing to publicly speak on the issues with the budget nothing is going to change. We have all seen ow the mayor and DC work, which is not at all encouraging. The residents need to get involved and hold both branches of our local government accountable. That is the only way we will see any improvement in the budget or achieve any equitable changes to the budget. As my mother always said the squeaky wheel gets the oil so all of us a residents need to start squeaking loudly
Two interesting and connected posts today. If you don’t vote then you don’t have a voice in the budget because the only real voice we have is the one we use to choose who will represent us. The costs to live in Framingham keep going up. But them the costs to live just about everywhere are going up. Not much we can do about that. What we can do is have a voice in where that money is spent and where it comes from. For me the more businesses we have in Framingham means the less I have to pay in property taxes. And if those businesses are pot shops then I can pay significantly less in property taxes then if a new liquor store comes to Framingham. Seems pretty simple to me. You want to improve our schools, repair our failing infrastructure )which is clearly an issue based on what the mayor said about options for the BOH move) and update our equipment then you have to pay for all of those things. It either comes out of the pockets of homeowners or out of the pockets of businesses. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the option that does not leave me with no money for food.
Is there a place where the public can actually see the budget to make educated decisions?
it's on the Town web site... first thing you see.. click on it and it comes up as a PDF file. I printed the entire package. https://www.framinghamma.gov/
Thanks for the info on where to find the budget. We should all take a look at this as it will impact everyone who lives here. If you own a home your prpoerty taxes will be going up and if you rent you can be sure you landlord will up your rent to cover his expenses. It sucks for all of us
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