This internet radio show or podcast is number 81 in the series for Franklin Matters.
MP3 File
In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as the 2010 calendar year draws to a close. This segment will review the major events that occurred each month from July through December. The notes that go along with this segment will contain links rich with the details.
July
The introduction of the new trash/recycling process
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/03/franklin-ma-trash-collection.html/
Third Thursday occurred on July 15th
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/third-thursday-july-15th_16.html/
The Affordable Housing Strategy and Plan was out for review
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/affordable-housing-strategy-and_28.html/
The Native Plants of Franklin series by Michelle Clay was introduced
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-your-name-summary.html/
August
opened with Bill Glynn of the School Committee holding a “Sit and Chat” on the Town Common
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/bill-glynn-sit-and-chat-summary.html/
Town Council meeting on the 4th
Affordable Housing Strategy approved
Economic Development Areas established along Grove St
DelCarte house purchased on Prospect St
The Spanish War Memorial gun was removed
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/town-council-080410-notes-from-meeting.html/
School Committee meeting of the 10th covered the District Improvement Plan amongst other items
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-committee-081010.html/
The Franklin Matters survey on the trash/recycle process results were published
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-trashrecycle-status-survey.html/
Town Council meeting on the 18th
Underground utilities for downtown were discussed
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/town-council-081810.html/
Third Thursday occurred Aug 19th
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/third-thursday-august-19th.html/
School Committee meeting on the 24th
Middle School Improvement Plan was reviewed amongst other items
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-committee-082410.html/
The survey results to pay for the underground utilities were published
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/franklin-ma-underground-utilities.html/
The School Committee added a meeting on Aug 31 due to late word on the receipt of additional stimulus funding which they chose to spend part of reserving part for next years budget cycle..
September
Finance Committee and Town Council initially looked at a proposal for funding the design and permitting for repairs of the dams on the DelCarte property
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/09/fm-72-week-ending-91210.html/
School Committee on Sep 14th
Elementary school Improvement Plans amongst other items
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/09/school-committee-091410.html/
Town Council meeting of Sep 29, 2010
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/09/town-council-092910.html/
Executive summary for the Traffic Changes
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/09/improvement-project-traffic-changes.html/
Project presentation from May 2010
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/downtown-improvement-project-live.html/
Downtown Partnership letter in underground utilities
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/09/franklin-downtown-partnerships-letter.html/
October
Town Council meeting of 10/6/10
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/town-council-100610.html/
DelCarte - Town Council discussion
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/live-reporting-delcarte-proposal.html/
Where is the DelCarte property?
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/where-is-delcarte-property.html/
Photo tour of the DelCarte property in May 2010
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/franklin-ma-delcarte-tour.html/
Economic Development Summit fostered by Councilors Jones and Powderly along with the Dept. of Planning and Community Development
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/franklin-economic-development-summit.html/
The School Committee met on Tuesday 10/12
Most of the night was spent on the high school reviewing
The school improvement plan
The senior project
The school discipline process and statistics showing the improvements
Copies of the presentations are posted to Franklin Matters.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/school-committee-101210.html/
Town Council meeting 10/20
a bunch of presentations from the DPW on their operations (water, sewer, and snow/ice storm preparations.)
The Council also completed the public hearing on the underground utilities, determining not to pursue putting them underground due to the expense
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/10/town-council-102010.html/
On the weekend prior to Election Day, November 2 I spent time on the weekly podcast providing information on the ballot questions, in particular the two charter questions
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/10/fm-75-charter-changes-vote-nov-2.html/
November
The election of Nov 2 resulted in one of the two charter changes passing. The technical changes passed, the proposal to move the Treasurer/Collector to an appointed position failed.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/charter-question-4-yes-question-5-no.html/
Town Council Nov 3, Senator Richard Ross came to visit and speak with the Council, Jeff Nutting spoke to provide an extensive outlook on the FY 2012 budget
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/11/fm-76-fy-2012-budget-outlook.html/
School Committee meeting on Nov 9th
heard the capital budget as well as the DPW presentation on snow storms
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/school-committee-110910.html/
School Committee meeting on 11/16 - Mostly about MCAS
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/school-committee-111610.html/
Town Council 11/17 - heard about the proposal to form a cable access non-profit to run the cable TV operations on behalf of the Town. The second major item on the agenda was the initial presentation on the proposal for a new zoning district downtown along with a host of changes to bylaws and signs, etc.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/town-council-111710.html/
I took the opportunity to provide feedback to both the SchCom and TC on back-to-back nights encouraging their outreach efforts and also reviewing their attendance records which I have been updating and publishing with each meeting.
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/11/fm-77-franklin-ma-mid-term-review.html/
December
Town Council met three times this month
on the 1st to approve funding to continue the water and sewer repairs
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/town-council-120110.html/
On the 8th, the tax rate hearing was formally held to set the tax rate for 2011 at $12.95/thousand and keep a single rate
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/town-council-120810.html/
I had updated my numbers and analysis on the tax information prior to the hearing
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/12/fm-79-slidecast-tax-hearing-info-for-fy.html/
and on the 15th the third and final meeting to renew the liquor licenses for 2011
and hear a revision of the downtown zoning proposal
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/town-council-120810.html/
The School Committee met only once, on the 14th
The anti-bullying plan was reviewed and approved
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/school-committee-121410.html/
So we bring a close to 2010, this will be the last of the weekly summaries this year. There will be more in 2011.
The year ahead looks to be a challenging one. The budget situation will likely result in an override vote sometime in May or June. The high school renovation project is also on schedule to come before the voters late next year. The Town Council, School Committee and other Franklin elected positions will be up for vote in November. Whether the high school project will make it to the same ballot remains to be seen.
So fasten your seat belt, the information train here at Franklin Matters and Franklin Matters Weekly will continue.
In case you missed the mid-year (Jan to Jun) review, you can find that here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/07/franklin-ma-2010-midyear-review.html/
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.
As always - If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
FM #80 - Week Ending 12/12/10
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close Sunday Dec 12, 2010.
Time : 8 minutes, 43 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 80 in the series for Franklin Matters.
In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as this week comes to a close on Sunday Dec 12th.
This past week, the Town Council approved the smallest capital budget in recent years. While we have 2.1 M in 'free cash' the joint decision (administration and Town Council) was to keep $500,000 for snow/ice and $800,000 for unemployment insurance expense. The snow and ice budget has been growing closer to a realistic number over the years but given the variability in NE weather, and the tightness of the budget recent years, it is better to under forecast it and cover with free cash than to over forecast it. The unemployment insurance pool is being created in case an override fails come May/Jun 2011 and there are a large number of Town and School employees laid off.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering this capital budget:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=5qFm%2baJMGjV57Fyb%2f6R%2fsg%3d%3d
As much as some folks still think that the Administration is incompetent, the actions and their results have some quite the opposite. Their performance has shown a high level of stability in the overall budget with lots of alternative planning.
Just flash back to the chart in the appendix for last week's slide cast, the one slide I think makes this point. Look at the variation in free cash over the years. The variability has narrowed in the last several years. The revenue forecasts have been closer to reality, the budget expenses have been managed very closely. Both of these combine to result in 'free cash', which is not 'free' nor really cash. Free cash should be created each year, in a tight and acceptable range, especially given the size of the operation Franklin is running.
Back to the Council meeting, the tax rate was set at 12.95 as calculated and expected. It also continued the single tax rate that I believe rightly should be used here in Franklin. You can disagree if you choose, but the numbers speak for themselves.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the Tax Hearing:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=3dwRSxWPYuVy9u0sTBN5kA%3d%3d
As another sign of good financial management, Franklin is going to fund some $2 M for school repairs with a bond issue. The bond issue will fit within the operating budget and not result in an override consideration. The Council has been operating with a policy of using up to 3.5% of the total operational budget for debt service and has been building some capacity in this area in the last year or so with more expect in the next year as debt retires. This is a good financial maneuver and you can hear more of the rational behind it during the Council discussion
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the school bond issue:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=RcYKs%2b0J6JuGZPLL%2fsGOyg%3d%3d
Looking ahead:
School Committee meeting on Tuesday and the next Town Council meeting Wednesday
School Committee agenda is published, the Town Council is not yet available.
School Committee has the anti-bullying plan is the major item on the agenda. The plan was released a couple of weeks ago for feedback and will be voted on during the meeting Tuesday.
While the TC agenda is not available, I did receive an advance copy of the revised approach to the downtown commercial zoning changes. If you were confused by the initial plan, you were not alone. The plan has now been split into three parts, the first part will be discussed Weds. The cover memo and supporting documents were published on Franklin Matters Sunday and the link is included here.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/approach-revised-for-downtown.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.
As always:
Thank you for listening.
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters Weekly to listen to this podcast
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Time : 8 minutes, 43 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 80 in the series for Franklin Matters.
In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as this week comes to a close on Sunday Dec 12th.
This past week, the Town Council approved the smallest capital budget in recent years. While we have 2.1 M in 'free cash' the joint decision (administration and Town Council) was to keep $500,000 for snow/ice and $800,000 for unemployment insurance expense. The snow and ice budget has been growing closer to a realistic number over the years but given the variability in NE weather, and the tightness of the budget recent years, it is better to under forecast it and cover with free cash than to over forecast it. The unemployment insurance pool is being created in case an override fails come May/Jun 2011 and there are a large number of Town and School employees laid off.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering this capital budget:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=5qFm%2baJMGjV57Fyb%2f6R%2fsg%3d%3d
As much as some folks still think that the Administration is incompetent, the actions and their results have some quite the opposite. Their performance has shown a high level of stability in the overall budget with lots of alternative planning.
Just flash back to the chart in the appendix for last week's slide cast, the one slide I think makes this point. Look at the variation in free cash over the years. The variability has narrowed in the last several years. The revenue forecasts have been closer to reality, the budget expenses have been managed very closely. Both of these combine to result in 'free cash', which is not 'free' nor really cash. Free cash should be created each year, in a tight and acceptable range, especially given the size of the operation Franklin is running.
Back to the Council meeting, the tax rate was set at 12.95 as calculated and expected. It also continued the single tax rate that I believe rightly should be used here in Franklin. You can disagree if you choose, but the numbers speak for themselves.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the Tax Hearing:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=3dwRSxWPYuVy9u0sTBN5kA%3d%3d
As another sign of good financial management, Franklin is going to fund some $2 M for school repairs with a bond issue. The bond issue will fit within the operating budget and not result in an override consideration. The Council has been operating with a policy of using up to 3.5% of the total operational budget for debt service and has been building some capacity in this area in the last year or so with more expect in the next year as debt retires. This is a good financial maneuver and you can hear more of the rational behind it during the Council discussion
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the school bond issue:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=RcYKs%2b0J6JuGZPLL%2fsGOyg%3d%3d
Looking ahead:
School Committee meeting on Tuesday and the next Town Council meeting Wednesday
School Committee agenda is published, the Town Council is not yet available.
School Committee has the anti-bullying plan is the major item on the agenda. The plan was released a couple of weeks ago for feedback and will be voted on during the meeting Tuesday.
While the TC agenda is not available, I did receive an advance copy of the revised approach to the downtown commercial zoning changes. If you were confused by the initial plan, you were not alone. The plan has now been split into three parts, the first part will be discussed Weds. The cover memo and supporting documents were published on Franklin Matters Sunday and the link is included here.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/approach-revised-for-downtown.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.
As always:
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me
Thank you for listening.
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters Weekly to listen to this podcast
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
FM #79 - Slidecast - Tax Hearing Info for FY 2011
This internet radio show or podcast is number 79 in the series for Franklin Matters.
In this session, you give me about ten minutes (actually 13 in this case) and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin.
Show notes:
In particular, we'll prepare for the Town Council meeting Wednesday, Dec 8th, where the big item on the agenda will be the annual tax classification hearing beginning at 7:10 PM.
This is the time and place where the Town Council determines (1) to keep a single tax rate or decides to implement a split tax rate and (2) sets the actual rate.
I have reviewed the data provided by the Board of Assessors for this hearing. I have also spent some time on the Dept of Revenue website updating my files with historical data on Franklin's budget, tax rate, etc.
I have updates last year's slides to share information that I think will help us all understand the overall situation.
Page 2 shows how the tax rate is calculated. Starting with the levy limit from 2010, 2.5% is added. Based upon Prop 2.5%, up to this amount can be added without a special override election. The growth from last year is added. This provides a subtotal. Any prior debt exclusions are added and this provides the maximum levy limit. We can technically achieve this due to rounding factors on the rates. So we have what they call an “excess levy capacity” of $35, 647. This leaves us with the tax levy, the amount that Franklin is authorized to raise this year. The amount is divided by the total assessed values of all the residential, commercial, industrial and personal property.
The package has a number of pages devoted to the property analysis of the residential, CIP to get to this value. The major factor to remember is that due to the overall economic conditions, property values are declining. Divide any number by a declining number and the percent will increase.
Page 3 shows the tax rate as it has varied throughout the years from 1988 to 2011. I really shouldn't use a line to depict the point in time number for each year, but it is much easier to view the data this way. The tax rate high point was in 1997 when it was 14.21% and the low point (in the period shown) was 8.86% in 2007. I find it interesting that the tax rate dropped for ten years in a row (from its peak in 1997), has gone up for the past 4 years, and yet all you hear about is our tax problem?
There are many reasons for the increases shown. I don't have all the information to explain nor do I have the time this week to do so. What I can show on Page 4 is how the assessed value effects the tax rate. The reddish bars in this case depict the NET change in assessed total value of all the properties in Franklin. Since 2006 the commercial industrial assessed values have been in a decline. In 2006 and 2007, the new grown for CI covered the decline in valuation so there was a net grown for CI. But for 2008, 2009, 2010 and for FY 2011, the new growth has not been able to cover the decline in valuation. More importantly, on the residential side, the decline in valuation has far exceeded the new growth. Hence the overall decline in total assessed values has dropped from 4.9 billion in 2007 to 4.1 billion for FY 2011. With less of a tax base upon which to levy the same amount of tax revenue, guess what, the tax rate will increase. The decline in overall assessed values has driven the increase for 2008, 2009, 2010 and will do so again in 2011.
Well, Page 5 more clearly shows what our tax problem is. The numbers on this chart depict the average tax bill for the period 1988 through 2010. As you can see from the reddish bars, in no year did the average tax bill decrease. The tax rate line from Page 4 is also shown here. Clearly, the tax rate whether it goes up or down seems to have little effect on the tax bill. It is always going up.
Page 6 - shows a table showing the residential vs. commercial/industrial property mix since 1999. It has varied a little each year but generally around 80% residential and 20% commercial/industrial. The high point for residential was 82.12 in 1988 and the low point was 77.04 in 1993.
Page 7 shows the same numbers in a chart format. As there is so little variance, I think this more clearly depicts the small range that the commercial/industrial and residential split has had over the years.
Why did I spend time on the CI vs Residential split? I can hear some folks now saying “let's go with a split tax rate”. With kind of property mix we have, a split tax does not solve our problem. See, the split tax does not increase overall tax revenues, it only shifts the proportion of the pie that each party pays as shown on Page 8. For a single dollar decrease in residential property tax, the CI increase would need to be $4. We don't need to shift the tax burden from one to another. We need to grow the overall tax base. We need a bigger pie.
The best opportunities for grow come from the underutilized CI space we have. You should be aware of the efforts of Bryan Taberner and others in the Department of Planning and Community Development. The Economic Summit held at the former Putnam facility on Washington is a key example of this effort. They are busy working to market the attractiveness of Franklin for CI uses. This is where we need to develop. We don't need additional residential properties which would further burden the school system. In particular, the residential growth we have seen recently has been mostly in the rental unit arena and that is even worse for Franklin than a single family home. We need healthy growth in CI properties to provide tax revenues and provide some jobs for local residents.
Page 9 provides information on the sources of the data that I used to prepare this.
Page 10 provides my contact information if you have any questions or would like to review this further.
One page in the appendix that charts the “free cash” to “free cash as a percent of the overall Town budget. I think the current administration has done very well in reducing the fluctuations that can be seen over the years. The big spike in FY 2001 I believe is likely related to the settlement that the Town won. It ended up in “free cash” before the Town Council moved it to the Stabilization Fund.
For the week ahead:
Town Council meeting Wednesday
Cyberbullying event at Dean College on Thursday. Perry Aftab and the teenangels from the Franklin School District will be presenting an information for parents on bullying.
I would encourage you to participate in these events.
Thank you for listening!
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view this slidecast.
Franklin, MA
In this session, you give me about ten minutes (actually 13 in this case) and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin.
Show notes:
In particular, we'll prepare for the Town Council meeting Wednesday, Dec 8th, where the big item on the agenda will be the annual tax classification hearing beginning at 7:10 PM.
This is the time and place where the Town Council determines (1) to keep a single tax rate or decides to implement a split tax rate and (2) sets the actual rate.
I have reviewed the data provided by the Board of Assessors for this hearing. I have also spent some time on the Dept of Revenue website updating my files with historical data on Franklin's budget, tax rate, etc.
I have updates last year's slides to share information that I think will help us all understand the overall situation.
Page 2 shows how the tax rate is calculated. Starting with the levy limit from 2010, 2.5% is added. Based upon Prop 2.5%, up to this amount can be added without a special override election. The growth from last year is added. This provides a subtotal. Any prior debt exclusions are added and this provides the maximum levy limit. We can technically achieve this due to rounding factors on the rates. So we have what they call an “excess levy capacity” of $35, 647. This leaves us with the tax levy, the amount that Franklin is authorized to raise this year. The amount is divided by the total assessed values of all the residential, commercial, industrial and personal property.
The package has a number of pages devoted to the property analysis of the residential, CIP to get to this value. The major factor to remember is that due to the overall economic conditions, property values are declining. Divide any number by a declining number and the percent will increase.
Page 3 shows the tax rate as it has varied throughout the years from 1988 to 2011. I really shouldn't use a line to depict the point in time number for each year, but it is much easier to view the data this way. The tax rate high point was in 1997 when it was 14.21% and the low point (in the period shown) was 8.86% in 2007. I find it interesting that the tax rate dropped for ten years in a row (from its peak in 1997), has gone up for the past 4 years, and yet all you hear about is our tax problem?
There are many reasons for the increases shown. I don't have all the information to explain nor do I have the time this week to do so. What I can show on Page 4 is how the assessed value effects the tax rate. The reddish bars in this case depict the NET change in assessed total value of all the properties in Franklin. Since 2006 the commercial industrial assessed values have been in a decline. In 2006 and 2007, the new grown for CI covered the decline in valuation so there was a net grown for CI. But for 2008, 2009, 2010 and for FY 2011, the new growth has not been able to cover the decline in valuation. More importantly, on the residential side, the decline in valuation has far exceeded the new growth. Hence the overall decline in total assessed values has dropped from 4.9 billion in 2007 to 4.1 billion for FY 2011. With less of a tax base upon which to levy the same amount of tax revenue, guess what, the tax rate will increase. The decline in overall assessed values has driven the increase for 2008, 2009, 2010 and will do so again in 2011.
Well, Page 5 more clearly shows what our tax problem is. The numbers on this chart depict the average tax bill for the period 1988 through 2010. As you can see from the reddish bars, in no year did the average tax bill decrease. The tax rate line from Page 4 is also shown here. Clearly, the tax rate whether it goes up or down seems to have little effect on the tax bill. It is always going up.
Page 6 - shows a table showing the residential vs. commercial/industrial property mix since 1999. It has varied a little each year but generally around 80% residential and 20% commercial/industrial. The high point for residential was 82.12 in 1988 and the low point was 77.04 in 1993.
Page 7 shows the same numbers in a chart format. As there is so little variance, I think this more clearly depicts the small range that the commercial/industrial and residential split has had over the years.
Why did I spend time on the CI vs Residential split? I can hear some folks now saying “let's go with a split tax rate”. With kind of property mix we have, a split tax does not solve our problem. See, the split tax does not increase overall tax revenues, it only shifts the proportion of the pie that each party pays as shown on Page 8. For a single dollar decrease in residential property tax, the CI increase would need to be $4. We don't need to shift the tax burden from one to another. We need to grow the overall tax base. We need a bigger pie.
The best opportunities for grow come from the underutilized CI space we have. You should be aware of the efforts of Bryan Taberner and others in the Department of Planning and Community Development. The Economic Summit held at the former Putnam facility on Washington is a key example of this effort. They are busy working to market the attractiveness of Franklin for CI uses. This is where we need to develop. We don't need additional residential properties which would further burden the school system. In particular, the residential growth we have seen recently has been mostly in the rental unit arena and that is even worse for Franklin than a single family home. We need healthy growth in CI properties to provide tax revenues and provide some jobs for local residents.
Page 9 provides information on the sources of the data that I used to prepare this.
Page 10 provides my contact information if you have any questions or would like to review this further.
One page in the appendix that charts the “free cash” to “free cash as a percent of the overall Town budget. I think the current administration has done very well in reducing the fluctuations that can be seen over the years. The big spike in FY 2001 I believe is likely related to the settlement that the Town won. It ended up in “free cash” before the Town Council moved it to the Stabilization Fund.
For the week ahead:
Town Council meeting Wednesday
Cyberbullying event at Dean College on Thursday. Perry Aftab and the teenangels from the Franklin School District will be presenting an information for parents on bullying.
I would encourage you to participate in these events.
Thank you for listening!
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view this slidecast.
Franklin, MA
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