Longmeadow Property Taxes- Part II

This past February I researched historical property taxes for Longmeadow and compared them to the surrounding towns of East Longmeadow, Hampden and Wilbraham.  These results showed that Longmeadow has had significantly higher property taxes for the past 20 years vs. all of these surrounding towns.

This past week, information regarding a second bond ($17.5 million) that will be issued by Longmeadow in mid-October for the remainder of the required $44.1 million financing was presented to the Select Board.  This second bond will have a duration of 20 years at an interest rate estimated at 3.65%.

With this information I have now projected Longmeadow property taxes for the next 10 years (--> 2020).  These projections include both the allowable 2.5% increase and the financing costs for the new high school.   There are no additional capital projects (e.g., new DPW facility) or operational overrides included with these projections.

Click chart to enlarge

For the average property owner (assessment = $351K), taxes will increase from $6,584 (FY2012) --> $8,824- an increase of 37.5%.  It should be noted that 27.1% of this increase is related to the 2.5% annual increase that is allowed by law without an override.

Individual property owners can take the projected mil rates ($/$1000) + their current assessed values (see Vision Appraisal Database) to estimate their future taxes.

The official FY2012 mil rate will be established in December so the first steps of the LHS financing impact will not be observed until the 3Q (due Feb 1, 2012) and 4Q (due May 1, 2012) tax bills are issued.

It should be noted that these projected numbers are not official and are subject to change as the specifics of the actual school project bond issuance are finalized.

Now that the dust has settled....

During the past couple of weeks, there has been some pretty harsh words spoken by Select Board chair Mark Gold about the School Committee's manipulation of the budget.   School Committee chair Jennifer Jester voiced her displeasure of these remarks during comments of the September 12 SC meeting.  A video clip of Mr. Gold's comments were posted in a previous Buzz posting.  Below is a LCTV video clip of Ms. Jester's comments....



In Ms. Jester's remarks she states that "the budget is managed in "a transparent and open manner so that all residents are aware when line items are changed".   This was certainly not the case with regard to the new Superintendent's salary. See two previous Buzz posts- Longmeadow Town Manager and School Superintendent Contracts (10/6/10) and Here We Go Again! (7/3/11) for details.

Until recently the only FY12 Budget that was posted on the Longmeadow School Department website was dated 2/11/11.  It was only recently on Sept 14 (through my request) that a more accurate FY12 budget dated 6/24/11 was posted for town residents to view.  However, this latest posted budget does not reflect recent salary increases for key school department administrative personnel.

It would be helpful for people interested in current school dept budget information if the some of the key salary line items were subdivided.... For example, High School Principal line item contains 4 FTE's.  It would be more "transparent and open" if the individual administrative salary items were listed and not grouped together particularly since such a large portion of the School Dept's budget is salary related.

The School Committee should post updated School Department budget information on the LPS website on a quarterly basis.

The School Committee as well as the Finance Subcommittee meeting minutes are not posted in a timely manner.  For example, the May-August SC minutes were not posted until September 7 and Finance Subcommittees May - August minutes were not posted until September 14..  See list of posted SC meeting minutes.  The Operations Subcommittee does not post meeting minutes.

I would recommend that meeting minutes of both the SC and the Operational/ Financial Sub-committees be posted as they are approved, not 3 months later.

The Select Board does post minutes on the town website but not in a timely manner- the last set of SB posted minutes were for the June 28 meeting.  It should be noted that the Select Board Operations and Finance Subcommittees do not post meeting minutes on the town website. The Select Board needs to do better.

I do want to commend one earlier action by Rob Aseltine when he initiated as Chair the posting of all information relevant to SB meetings before the meetings take place- here is the link to this information.  These documents particularly those containing budget information are very useful when watching meetings.  The School Committee should consider a similar initiative.

The SC and SB need to work together- not against each other and both should strive to operate in an "transparent and open manner".  There is still room for both groups to improve.

Another SC Candidate Provides Answers

Before the joint SC-SB interview session for the two vacant SC seats on September 12, I invited the eight candidates to provide answers to four questions.

Hal Etkin has already provided his answers in a previous post.

In this Buzz posting James Desrochers provides his answers ...

I would like to preface all of my answers below with the perspective that if I were to be selected as a member of the school committee my first object is to gain an in depth understanding of the issues and challenges of our school system. This knowledge that I gain will in all likelihood modify my thoughts and therefore the answers I have provided below.

 1.  What is the best way to improve the quality of education in our schools?

Having had my daughter graduate from the Longmeadow school system and currently having my son in high school I feel the school system does a fine if not excellent job of education in many areas. However as in everything there is opportunity to improve. I believe the following actions would improve upon the current high level of education our students receive.

• Strengthen our ties between the high school and local colleges. The focus should be on mentoring and guidance to individual students and clubs.  
• Strengthen the ties between the high school and middle schools for the same purpose.  I would like to see the current high school club process strengthened. They provide a key opportunity to create excitement with the students and link what they are learning in class to fun and exciting activities.  We need to take more advantage of the Science Technology Math and Engineering (STEM) money available to help students explore areas in math and science.  
• We need to continue to fund and build our music program. With my whole family involved in music I have found that it creates excitement and creativity of thinking that otherwise may be missed.  Ensure that the physical facilities provide an environment that teachers and students feel positive about.   
• We need to create a clear vision on where our educational system is going which will allow our entire community to rally behind the vision to move forward. 

2. What is the biggest challenge the school district faces, and how would you try to solve? 

Given the economic times we are in the challenge of balancing the needs of the teachers, parents and community while delivering a quality education is one of the biggest challenges that I see. I would work with all the stakeholders to develop plans forward that create the value we want to deliver for our community. This isn’t a silver bullet for this type of effort. It requires working together and compromising where needed to create a plan that everyone can support and work toward.

3. What is the attribute(s) you bring to the board that should cause School Committee/Select Board member to vote for you?

I am an energetic person with a great deal of experience in the corporate world. I am now in a position to use my energy and skills gained over many years to help the school committee address the challenges it faces and add value. I believe that my desire to participate in the process of clearly understanding the challenges we face in providing the best education for our children and my willingness to work as a team member to create solutions is key. My background in leading and participating on teams, large and small, to create solutions to significant challenges in the engineering environment will help me provide value to the board and the town.

4. If appointed to the School Committee, name two priorities you'll bring to the position over the next 9 months? 

I will focus on is gaining a deep understanding of the many challenges in front of us. I believe that gaining an in depth understanding of the challenges will allow me to add value to the committee, school system and community.While I am working on learning as defined above I will work with the stakeholders in addressing the biggest challenge that I see today which is delivering value in today’s economic environment as previously stated. 
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The remaining six SC candidates who have not as yet participated are invited to submit their answers for posting on the Buzz prior to the SC/SB meeting on October 3 during which the two vacancies will be filled.

These two appointments to the School Committee (2 of 7 members on the committee) will be very important to the future of our town.  These two new SC members will likely be casting deciding votes on a number of important decisions over the next 9 months.   

I would encourage all town residents to make their choices known to School Committee and Select Board members.  Select Board email addresses can be found on its webpage. 

School Committee member official email addresses are as follows:
jjester@longmeadow.k12.ma.us
jfitzgerald@longmeadow.k12.ma.us
awray@longmeadow.k12.ma.us
mclark@longmeadow.k12.ma.us
lflynn@longmeadow.k12.ma.us

School Committee Candidates

On Monday, September 12, 8 candidates were interviewed for the two vacant seats on the Longmeadow School Committee in a joint session of the Select Board and the SC.

Below are photos of the candidates who participated.

I listened to this 2+ hour session and found many of the questions- particularly those from current SC members- focused upon asking the question as to whether or not the candidate supported education in Longmeadow at whatever cost.  Questions included asking whether or not the candidate was in favor of Proposition 2½ overrides or whether or not the candidate supported the new high school project. Answers that were tempered with economic reality were in some cases greeted with obvious disappointment and framed to suggest that the candidate was against quality education.  It's interesting that one of the vacant SC seats was caused by a job loss and subsequent relocation and one of the candidates applying for the position was also affected by a recent job loss.

A number of these questions/ answers were captured and can be replayed below.

The School Committee clearly needs a change in membership to better balance the fiscal responsibilities between the education needs of the child and the needs of our town.  After listening to the questions/ answers during this interview session, it is quite clear that the voting for these appointments is setting up to be along Democrat/ Republican party lines even though SC Chair Jester stated during these interviews that the SC itself is strictly non-partisan.

From what I heard the top choices that would improve this fiscal balance would be to appoint Jeremy Powers and Gerard Kiernan to the vacancies on the School Committee.  Both individuals are strong candidates with very different skills and knowledge and would clearly strengthen the School Committee.  I urge all SB + SC members to make their candidate selections based upon what's best for our town.

I ask all town residents to watch the full replay on LCTV and then to email, phone, Tweet, Facebook, etc. all of the Longmeadow SC + SB members with their two choices. Appointments to the two vacant seats will be made in another joint SB/SC meeting on October 3.

9/11 Longmeadow Remembers Memorial Event

Here is the video produced by LCTV for the 9/11 Longmeadow Remembers event on the Town Green- 9/11/11.

School Committee Candidates Answer Questions

Below is a summary of the candidates seeking an appointment to one of the two vacancies on the Longmeadow School Committee.  They will be interviewed at a joint Select Board/ School Committee tomorrow night (Sept 12) starting at 7 PM.  The interviews will be broadcast live on LCTV-12. The two appointments are currently scheduled to be made at a second joint SB/SC meeting on October 3.

School Committee Candidate	Resident	Occupation	Applying?
Charles Gebron	45 yrs		*
James Cass	15 yrs	Teacher	1
Gerard Kiernan	16 yrs	Dir., Business Operations	1 + 2
Jeremy Powers	1 yr	Attorney	1 + 2
Dan Zwirko	21 yrs	Legislative Aide	1 + 2
Owen Humphries	17 yrs	Retired- Project Manager	1 + 2
Diane Nadeau	23 yrs	Local Business Owner	2
Hal Etkin	10 yrs	Attorney	2
James Desrochers	27 yrs	Local Business Owner	2

There are 5 applicants for the School Committee vacancy #1 and 7 applicants for the School Committee vacancy #2.
*Rev. Deacon Gebron unofficially informed LongmeadowBuzz that he was withdrawing his application.

In an effort to provide town residents as well as School Committee/ Select Board members with a better knowledge of who the candidates are and why they should be appointed, last week I asked each candidate to provide answers to a series of four questions.  Only one candidate (Hal Etkin) elected to share his answers which are shown below.  Hopefully, during the interview process the other candidates who decided to not participate will be able to share their answers.

Hal Etkin's responses

1. What is the best way to improve the quality of education in our schools?

I would investigate the possibility of creating a system among the teachers and schools in which each is rewarded based upon the students’ academic testing and performance.  Teachers, guidance counselor and administrators who are exceeding performance objectives should be noted and compensated accordingly.

2. What is the biggest challenge the school district faces, and how would you try to solve it?

Fiscal management and accountability.  The School Committee should constantly seek ways to save money.  Many of the citizens in the community live on fixed or reduced incomes.  Governmental officials must work hard to save money in this difficult economy.  The school budget is one of the biggest expenditures to the town.

3. What is the attribute(s) you bring to the board that should cause School Committee/Select Board members to vote for you?

I have been told that I work well in a team environment.  I am also a good listener.  As a school committee member, I think the ability to listen to and work well with others on a committee is extremely important in getting things done quickly and efficiently.  In addition, we are the proud parents of a student in the system and I have experience in teaching and education.

4. If appointed to the School Committee, name two priorities you'll bring to the position over the next 9 months.

Fiscal management and accountability.  Although these two issues are very important to me, I also want to listen to and consider the priorities of other committee members and Longmeadow residents. 

These two appointments to the School Committee (2 of 7 members on the committee) will be very important to the future of our town.  These two new SC members will likely be casting deciding votes on a number of important decisions over the next 9 months.  Let's hope that our elected SB/SC members avoid political squabbling and appoint two qualified people that will protect the interests of all town residents.

9/11 Longmeadow Remembers- Followup

 

A HUGE thank you to the 9/11 Longmeadow Remembers Committee for organizing this special event on the Town Green.  In addition, a special thank you to all of the participants as well as the 250-300 town residents who attended this event.  LCTV and its team taped the event for later viewing by town residents and others who missed it.  Visit the Longmeadow Buzz later this week to view a web broadcast.

9/11 Longmeadow Remembers Memorial Event

Select Board Chair Criticizes School Committee Actions

At last night's Select Board meeting Chairman Mark Gold criticized the Longmeadow School Committee for their recent and past actions regarding line item transfers for salary increases.

Two previous Buzz posts provide some additional background information regarding the SC's actions mentioned in Mr. Gold's comments.  Click on the links to review them.

Longmeadow Town Manager and School Superintendent Contracts-  10/06/10
Here We Go Again!- 7/03/11

Watch the video below for Mr. Gold's comments.

Those Vexing Links

Here is Alex Grant's latest opinion column "Those Vexing Links" that appeared in last week's edition (8/25/10) of the Longmeadow News (with permission of the author and thanks to the Longmeadow News).

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A little over a year ago, the Select Board made a decision to deliver us from the perils of a volunteer-run town website and bring us to the promised land of a government-run town website.  Now that we are paying for what the prior webmaster was doing for free, how far has Longmeadow come?

On the supposedly big issue of "links" on the town website, the issue that provoked the hasty defrocking of Jim Moran as town webmaster, the answer is: backwards.  Before, there were links on the town website that were, you know, of interest to Longmeadow residents.  Now, they are gone.  Residents interested in the local Boy Scout troop, the Longmeadow Historical Society, the local running club, and community groups in town now can now go to Google if they know what to search for.  If they don't, residents can rely on the pre-internet methods of keeping an ear to the ground and scanning the bulletin board at Big Y.

In other words, the new government-run website is less useful than it used to be.  But then again, that's hardly a surprise.  In the amount of time Apple can engineer a new iPhone, the town of Longmeadow can start to consider how to deliberate on how to create a new content policy.  The Select Board and the Town Manager first saved the town from Mr. Moran's nefarious links and then spent several months forming a task force and having conversations about what the new website should look like.  

The ponderous process of deciding what content goes on the town website included the recent July 5, 2011 Select Board meeting at which the Town Manager presented a linking policy.  The current policy, which can be found on the town website, is wordy and murky.  The policy identifies certain types of websites which the town will not link to, such as those associated with political or advocacy groups or which promote religion, hate, pornography, or defamation.  (A little ironic that religion and pornography have equal footing).  Also verboten are links to individual home pages.

But that still leaves most of the internet.  The policy then turns to what the town website "may" link to.  Everything is done at the "discretion" of the town.  But whose discretion?  That was the nub of the issue last year when certain members of the Select Board decided that a 2.5 year old link to the Longmeadowbuzz blog became intolerable when Mr. Moran expressed an opinion on the blog about the new high school.  Mr. Moran used to decide on the links, which were among the myriad of decisions he had to make to keep the website current and operational.

According to the Town Manager's proposal, it would be the Select Board making the link by link decisions on organizations like the Newcomers Club.  It is clear that the bar is set pretty high for non-governmental sites: "In rare instances, Longmeadow.org links to websites that are not government-owned or government-sponsored if these websites provide government information and/or services in a way that is not available on an official government website."

The Town Manager would also have an organization wanting a link to submit an application.  Applicants would have to carefully peruse the 13 types of disqualifying factors, such as, "content that a reasonable citizen may not consider to maintain the dignity and decorum appropriate for Longmeadow website."

Wow.  On the one hand, our Select Board members will really earn their stipends as they engage in searching debates about the appropriateness of certain websites.  On the other hand, the linking policy will is so cumbersome that it diminishes the value of the town website.  Websites are constantly changing.  Will the Select Board have to revisit its linking decision every time an organization changes the content to its website?  Will someone be monitoring the linked sites to make sure they do not run afoul of the "appropriate dignity and decorum" the Select Board expects?

There is a much easier and cost-effective way of dealing with the links issue.  Let's just stipulate that a link does not imply endorsement by the town.  Let's also acknowledge that it will be a cold day in Hades when the benign civic organizations in our town, like the Historical Society, would put anything on a website that would be truly disreputable.  And let the webmaster make the day-to-day, common sense decisions on links as Mr. Moran did.

There's just one catch, and it is one that the Select Board created last year.  The Select Board made links a hot-button issue when it ousted Mr. Moran.  No future webmaster, whether a town employee or a volunteer, will dare to link to anything without explicit approval.  One wrong step is apt to be a firing offense.  That's not the way to create a dynamic community website in 2011, but it is apparently, the Longmeadow way.

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Alex J. Grant is a lawyer living in Longmeadow.  
His email address is alex.grant68@yahoo.com .