There was a moment during the 1992 Presidential campaign when then-President George H.W. Bush was asked during a public appearance a pointed question by a young man in the audience, and the President asked the young man, “How old are you?” Twenty-five, he replied. “It shows,” said the President. In my formative years, that sort […]
I’m a NO on Override 2019
I’m not voting for an override if one is proposed in 2019. Just so we’re all clear. Has an override been proposed? Not formally, no. Has it been discussed amongst people in a position to push for one? Sure it has. And I’m out. Not because we won’t need one. I know enough about our […]
No, we did NOT increase your tax rate 4.72%*insert eyeroll emoji here*
Ordinarily, I stay out of the media criticism business. Being a journalist is a hard, thankless job, and lord knows the President of the United States does a good enough job on his own of villifying the Denizens of the Desktop without my help. But Jesus Henry Christ, when I woke up this morning to […]
Where Did The Money Go: The honest, boring truth.
Two words after hearing from the School Committee that they’re projecting cutting 65 educational positions if the Town Administrator’s five year budget projections become reality: déjà vu. After five years of trying to get the town to embrace the best practices adopted by other communities dealing with structural deficits, I still cannot get the Board […]
*sigh*…
The following are my decidedly uninspiring thoughts after tonight’s joint Board of Selectmen/Finance Committee/School Cmmittee meeting: No one likes the I-told-you-so guy. But since when do I care what people think? I told you so. I told you we’d be facing deficits in FY20, and that a magical $1,000,000 in new growth for FY 20 […]
The Inside Baseball of Fiscal Projections
Re: State of the Town Message Monday, May 8, 2017 From: eprisby@gmail.com To: Tim McInerney Cc: Anita Patel Guys, I just took a look at the “goal” scenario. I’m not comfortable teling the town that this is realistic. Not only are we assuming $1M in new growth in 2020 and 2021, but we’re also […]
I Need Your Help
In the end, the record will reflect that the math showed us this outcome may well have been inevitable. We were another exurban town without enough commercial revenue to pad the good times, to say nothing of the bad times. We relied on our residential tax base in Trump’s era of “ENOUGH”, all the while […]
