Superintendent and Mob only care about a green wave $$$ and that's all. Vote NO on the override and start cleaning the swamp.
If it’s not for police and/or fire, I’m voting no. Schools have had their shot. Time to update our public safety buildings. The city should be ashamed to keep the buildings active in their current state.
Contradictory data and information..After the last override failed the next yer the schools had highest MCAS test scores in the region. 6% increase..that is massive. Nobody gets 6%.. Yes votes when there was no literature to the "law". Yes at the very beginning when the number was about half. I am not saying no or yes but how do you get yes yes yes when there was nothing but air? I keep hearing if you vote NO then you better have a very good reason why. Really? Shouldn't the people asking for over 5 million have all the reasons why. It goes both ways and as of right now their data is incomplete with them admitting there is no actual plan for the future. Are they just going to keep asking for money and throwing it in the wind and hoping money buys a solution. Was it not the same people after Dolan who said the schools and town are in great shape? The people in power at the schools seem to be the problem but the same people who blame Trump for the way the country is will not blame the president of the school? I get so tired of hearing one thing and then another that contradicts it...such hypocrisy. You can't even ask a question because most of the Yes people jump down your throat or act with absolute disrespect. Yes I have seen it way to many times. Funny part is some of the people they trash are not No voters..such a shame.
They can keep throwing data at the voters but yet their is so much out there staying they are wrong.. Even the plan res they are using show they are wrong..Who is getting rich from this? The tax payers suffer for the 1%?
Will we know exactly what the plans are for the Beebe before the override vote? What’s the plan ?
It is big dark secret, just the way they want it.
I just can’t vote for this override. If they thought this through and waited until November or until we had an elected Mayor I probably would have considered a YES vote. This is a lot of money to give to schools. It was just so rushed. I actually expected it to be on the fall ballot and was surprised how fast this was jumped on after Rob Dolan left. Where will the 30/40 K for special election funds come from?
Melrose has not passed an override in 25 years. What does that matter. That is proof alone that there is no need and never was.
The newcomers who think they know what's best for everyone are self-serving hypocrites . They are ramming what they think is best for themselves and their families down the throats of everyone else. Very selfish. The elderly and those without children are expected to happily pay extra because these people want their little darlings to have the best of everything in a middle class community. Should have moved to Lexington. Couldn't afford it? Don't make that my problem.
They do not care that I am going to have trouble paying for the rest of my utilities as long as their child has everything. The leftist socialist leanings that they are accused of couldn't be further from the truth. These people don't care about others. They are attempting to burden others to get what they want for themselves.
I stay because this where I live. Why should I be driven out?
Let the games begin.
Thanks to Melrose Messages, Melrosians were able to get timely information and opinion on these big stories.
They don't care because none of the money for water is in their budget. They xxxxxx it from the residents of Melrose.Just look in April and May . Opinion maybe it free for the city??? May that is the way it is done,
Public Safety is what has been most seriously ignored and shafted. Voting NO on April 2 2019.
The Mismanagement lack of Transparency and Coverups. No on any Override.
It is big dark secret, just the way they want it.
We choose not to pay for the Override because we are worried about our job security, the long term impact of Trump’s tax cuts, predictions about a recession in 2020 by renowned economists, the volatile stock market, the costs of bonded fire and police stations coming to Melrose soon, the doubling of our health insurance payments, the lack of transparency in Melrose government, the cost of water and sewer mismanagement, installing an Illegitimate Mayor without an election, the scare tactics used to justify the Override, the fact that the Chair of the SC is a convicted felon who scammed seniors and never made restitution, the way One Melrose runs their YES Campaign and because we know too many stories behind the “story”. We are voting NO and telling all our family and friends to do the same.April 2 2019 voting no.
Thanks to Melrose Messages, Melrosians were able to get timely information and opinion on these big stories.
The city is not currently in crisis mode is not needed .No on override APRIL 2 2019.
from the M Free Press:
Opinion: Medeiros: Taxpayers need unobstructed view
Posted at 12:40 PM Updated at 12:41 PM
Submitted by Alderman Monica Medeiros.
Last November, I, as an Alderman, voted against moving the Mayor’s proposed $5.18 million tax override question forward. I felt the city had not been thorough enough in evaluating our financial picture, nor in considering the effects of adding these millions of dollars of new spending.
In preparing for this vote, I learned that our city had much bigger problems than I had suspected. Namely that the executives in our city government have failed to do any long term evaluation of our financial outlook.
I felt it critical to have a full understanding of the financial assumptions the city was making before I could vote to pass such a hefty burden on to seniors and families.
After asking Mayor Infurna for copies of any long range budget forecasts that had been prepared and used by the City of Melrose over the last five years, I was forced to appeal to the Secretary of State’s office for this information only to learn that no such documents exist.
The Mayor’s office directed me to a tool on our city website, “Visual Budget.” In the Aldermen meeting, I asked our CFO & Auditor Patrick Dello Russo if this was the tool he was using to make our predictions in terms of revenues and expenditures. His reply? “We don’t make predictions. This is not a magic show.”
Try as I might, I could not seem to match the “Visual Budget” figures to the actual budgets I had voted on. Days later, Kerriann Golden, our Assistant Auditor confirmed, “The last actual figures reflected are Fiscal 2016,” -- two full fiscal years behind.
The outdated “Visual Budget” data was not only a waste of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on this service, but also so inaccurate that it was actually misleading to the public. Most importantly, it could not have been being used as an accurate tool for evaluating our city’s financial outlook by anyone including our city executives.
Melrose is at a crossroads. Real estate prices have skyrocketed to an all-time high. Many new families have chosen Melrose for its great schools, beautiful downtown and its relative affordability.
Conversely, many of our families, seniors and one-income households are struggling. Recently, a Melrose Housing Authority Commissioner testified at our meeting that the waitlist for housing of Melrose families, seniors, Veterans and the handicap is in the thousands.
Sadly, I hear from residents who are told if they can’t afford this increase, they should move along. But where will they go? After paying their taxes for years, volunteering in our community, donating to all kinds of causes, including our schools, they are told they haven’t paid their “fair share” and should move along. I can think of little that is so cruel.
Even for those of us who are working, many of us are only one lockout or government shutdown away from being in financial peril.
But regardless of income, every taxpayer deserves good fiscal management.
As an Alderman-at-Large, my job is to consider the big picture ramifications of our decisions, especially when it comes to spending and taxation. When it comes to the big picture, the taxpayers deserve an unobstructed view.
If our leaders are not looking forward to ensure we can sustain the costs associated with the hiring of nearly 30 new positions and school department raises (not teachers only) of nearly $2 million included in this proposal, every one of these positions is at risk.
Before final decisions are made, the voters also need to know that large expenditures are waiting in the wings. What’s not included in this override, may be most significant.
This proposed tax increase includes no money for any other city department other than the schools. Although $250,000 is included in the override for the loss of rent from Beebe School, no plan exists to bring this building back online and fund the staff, renovation nor utility costs. As we make room for some Melrose students, we will disrupt the lives of the 30 or so Melrose special needs children who currently attend the SEEM Collaborative who will be uprooted and bussed to a new school outside our city limits.
Plans are in the works for the rebuilding or repair of the police and fire stations, and renovations of the library. Whether or not this question passes, each of these is expected to be presented to the voters in the form of an increase above the Prop 2 ½ limit.
Like our taxpayers, our leaders need a panoramic view before they make decisions that affect individuals so significantly. Financial forecasting in budgeting has been considered a best practice for more than a decade. Melrose can do better. Before any tax increase is considered, our taxpayers deserve an objective analysis of our financial picture and an independent audit of our books.
Demand accountability. Vote NO.