jackiedoherty.org

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31st May 2007

Reporter’s view of budget hearings

posted in Education, Money Matters |

I was listening to WUML this morning and caught Mike LaFleur from the Lowell Sun giving his impressions of the budget hearing.  Mike’s been reporting on the city budget since 2003 and made some very perceptive comments about the budget process in Lowell.  He also gave the clearest explanation of the politics of taxation that I’ve heard. The council’s position seems to be that taxes should never be raised, despite the fact that Lowell has what is called “excess capacity” which means that we (unlike surrounding towns) have not been taxing up to our levy.  (I’m not sure how the levy is determined, but the excess amount is calculated by the state.) Lowell’s excess capacity is currently $5 million, which means the city could raise taxes by that amount without having to do a 2 1/2% override.  He pointed out that only about 12,000 people vote in Lowell’s local elections and of those, the overwhelming majority are over 55senior citizens on fixed incomes are fearful of tax hikes, and rightly so.

What stood out for me was Mike’s comment that “the schools have been getting whacked for five years and so far there’s been no consequences at the ballot box.” When the schools make layoffs, the council typically feels no painnot like the proposed 11 layoffs from city hall. He said that maybe an advocacy group like “U-25″ of Tewksbury may be needed in Lowell to draw the correlation between what happens in the city council chambers and what goes on in classrooms. Well, now Lowell has Stand for Children and their presence made a big difference at the budget hearings; whether that can translate to the ballot box remains to be seen.  In the meantime, Stand members will be lobbying at the state level for support for the governor’s Municipal Partnership Act and the telecommunications tax in particular, which could provide relief to taxpayers and added revenue to cash-strapped cities and towns.

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  1. 1 On June 4th, 2007, Outsider said:

    Mike is right that the bulk of the 12-thousand or so people who vote and therefor
    decided the direction of the city are over 55. That means they don’t have a
    direct investment in the schools, the kids are grown so there is no outrage.

    As far as an override goes, I could be wrong but I believe because of Lowell’s
    form of government it’s the city council, not a voter referendum, that would have
    to approve an override. Do you really see any member of the city council voting
    for that kind of tax increase? No way Jose!

    So if I am correct and the city council is the deciding factor in an override I
    don’t see how a group like U-25 would work. Yes as is generally the case when
    a large group of people show up at a council meeting pushing for one particular
    vote, our “leaders” tend to cave in. So given the reluctance of the legislature
    to approve the telecommunication and local option hotel tax, where is the city
    going to come up with the $800K?

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