I saw many signs prior to the Special Town Meeting vote on July 30th with the “Save Town Services” motto urging a No vote when it came to giving an extra $1.5 million to the School Committee. And now, the same motto adorns signs urging a Yes vote on the override. If we go forward as these signs urge us to do, the School Committee and like-minded Town Officials will have finally figured out the key to raising our taxes.
Every year the School Committee can, by law, put forward nearly 10% budget increases. They can ignore the voters at the ballot box, and then force through their bloated budget requests at relatively lightly-attendeded Town Meetings. Then, the Town Officials can claim that there is nothing they can do, and that we have to support an override or decimate the Town. They realize that the public will be frustrated and divided, but they assume we will head to the polls and vote for an override because we’re told we don’t have any other option. Well, we do have a choice. We can vote NO on September 8th and send a message to our elected leaders that we will not be bullied, threatened or intimidated into a tax increase.
Of this $2.2 million override, $1.5 million is going to fund the deficit created when we gave extra money to the School District. The other $700,000 is going towards increasing the budgets of various Town departments over what was voted on at Annual Town Meeting and at the ballot box on June 16th. Why are we being asked for $2.2 million, when the deficit created by the School District was only $1.5 million? Do the leaders of Bridgewater really expect us to ignore the fact that they’re trying to tack on an extra $700,000 while they are giving Town employees raises of 3.5% and already pay nearly 90% of employee health insurance premiums?
Despite the electioneering to the contrary, the Town will not fold if we vote No. People will not die. And we will not return to the dark ages. If we defeat this override, our Town leaders will finally be forced to do what should have been done years ago. They will give only reasonable health benefits and raises to Town employees. They can take the approximate $500,000 in pending land sales and put that toward the budget and not toward building a reserve account. And, they can request a free management review from the State to find out where there are other savings. Why wasn’t any of this done before going for another override? Simply put, it’s because it’s easier for them to take more of our money than it is to do their jobs.
Vote No on Saturday, September 8th for a more fiscally responsible Bridgewater.