Franklin TV & Radio Programming Guide: Week ending

The school Spring break has come and gone. I trust if you went away (or stayed around) that your time off was restful and rewarding. If you did go away, what happened while you were away? The detailed listing of each days post can be found below. How would I summarize the events?

Let's work back from Earth Day. If you celebrated by helping out on either Sunday or Saturday, you did good.

The MA House of Representatives submitted their budget proposal for FY 2013. This follows the Governor's budget released in January and precedes the Senate version expected sometime in May. If there are still differences among the three budgets, there is a conference session to work out the differences before the Governor signs the full budget by Jun 30.

Why are we watching the budget so closely? Approx 30% of the Franklin revenue for our local budget comes from MA. That dollar amount is critical to our decision process. The House for example has announced an increase in the amounts allocated for local aid (compared to the Governor's budget). This is good news for Franklin assuming the dollars hold up through the remainder of the cycle.

The Finance Committee has been holding their budget hearings working their way through each of the Franklin department budgets. Apparently they have only the School Budget to review and that is coming up this Wednesday (Apr 25). I have not had a chance to review the video archive for those hearings some of which should be available on the Franklin website.

Franklin meetings via video on demand:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewCalendar.aspx?siteSKU=L7qhQ46xin%2fr3Z0jcDVCNw%3d%3d

The School Budget is up for review at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Apr 24. It may be an oversight but the agenda (as published) doesn't list an action item for the School Committee to approve the budget before it goes forward. Not a critical matters, the agenda can be adjusted to add the approval easily.

This weekly summary is my public service effort for Franklin and I can always use your help. How can you help, you ask? If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.