UPDATE 2:00 PM. So yes--thanks for asking, I will be live-blogging the illustrious SB 7:00 PM segment tonight concerning the Override. And if I had to guess, it will indeed start pretty much on time (one thing Princess Stephanie does better than Mussolini). I would love to have Catherine Sanderson at the meeting also live posting to her blog, but she has a School Committee meeting tonight and that will prove more important than tonight's Select Board dog and pony show.
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ORIGINAL POST 10:00 AM Thus far the property tax Override campaign has been about rocky as the dark side of the moon. The Select Board had hoped to slam dunk the Override amount ($1.9 million) tonight and the structure they most prefer--lump sum general Override--but instead they will simply take "public comment" starting at 7:00 PM.
So Overriders will pack the meeting, demanding the Select Board "save our schools"--even though up to this point the School Committee has not gotten on board. And neither has the Jones Library, but that is less surprising since they did not join the lemmings parade three years ago.
The Republican Reports
So, since this would be adding $1.9 million to our taxes for every year from now on, does that mean we will get to earmark it for the schools each year?
ReplyDeleteGood question.
ReplyDeleteI think it always comes down to what, ugh, Town Meeting has to say.
I would defer to Mr. Kelley's superior knowledge on this topic (it's his obsession, after all), but my understanding that the only thing that is enforceable is the authorization (and the size of that authorization) to tax over the 2.5% limit. The allocation of money that goes along with that ballot question is simply a statement of intention by the powers that be. The final arbiter is, as Mr. Kelley points out, a certain body of folks that you may have heard of, but nobody pays attention to or cares to run for, called Town Meeting. But I think that the "earmarks" are pretty much gone with the wind at least after FY11, and then the additional tax money is free to be spent however.
ReplyDeleteRich Morse
Very good Mr. Morse, go to the head of the class.
ReplyDeleteStill of muck and cridders at the bottom of the well... Let it dry up, shovel out the sludge, rinse it out, clean it out and THEN re-fill with fresh clean water. Otherwise whatever you add now, will become spoiled and wasted...
ReplyDeleteThink Amherst, think.
My guess is that the SC meeting is going to be a far, far better show than SB.
ReplyDeleteAre we sure that Stephanie O'Keeffe is not really HAL The Computer from Stanley Kubrick's classic movie "2001"?
ReplyDeleteAs Spock would say, "fascinating."
ReplyDelete