Saw a list on the City website of "proposed" cuts for departments other than schools if the override fails. Remember that "proposed" can mean whatever you want it to mean, but one thing it doesn't mean is "actual". Could they City possibly being disingenuous? Talk about reaching a new low. Just a couple are:
Council on Aging - reduce Milano Center hours to 8AM - 1PM, cut minibus transportation by 70&, and reduce volunteer coordinator to 2 hours a week. Total savings - $48,214, or just slightly more than the cost of a special election. Nothing more than a cynical bald-faced attempt to frighten seniors into voting for an override. Throws a bright light on the lengths these people will go to get their way. Disgusting.
Police Department - Eliminate MVMMS resource officer, cut detective position, cut drug task force officer, cut one full-time police officer. Total savings -$138,000. That should tell you all you need to know about the regard in which the City holds the PD, and about the veracity of the supposed "public safety building project". Incidentally, there are zero cuts proposed for the FD. That's not their fault, but it's illuminating nonetheless.
Those are the two that got my attention right away, but there are many others, including Public Works, some of which are real eyebrow raisers. These are the kinds of scare tactics that really undermine confidence in city government, which is the primary reason the override will fail. Apparently these birdbrains never learn.
The link is here: https://www.cityofmelrose.org/home/news/city-departments-face-substantial-negative-impacts-without-override
It's called the "That's a nice city you have there, it would be terrible if something were to happen to it" approach, though I've seen worse.
They should itemize the relevant line item costs. Some of those things should have been cut in the past given the whining from the City in the past, but, oh, that's right, there's the few million of annual free cash.
Attempts to scare people into voting for the Override is on schedule. The feedback ONE MELROSE receives as they knock on doors: the majority of voters OPPOSE the Override! Very few people trust either local or national government. Dolan’s antics and Infurna’s reputation have contributed to credibility issues. People do not believe any “facts and figures” coming from City Hall. Everyone is worried about money. The Global economic slowdown continues. The National Debt is skyrocketing due to crazy Trump’s tax cuts and the Republican’s loss of moral authority. Personal credit card balances are at an all time high. People live paycheck to paycheck. The crazy politicians lie and coverup when it suits their purposes. Voting No on the Override!
Front page headline in Today’s Boston Globe “ Smaller tax refunds, big headaches. Filers who depend on money fume; experts blame complex code and how new law was implemented.
You’re ridiculous. I could have written your comment for you before the Mayor released these budget cuts. “The numbers are fake, nothing is going to happen, no one can be trusted.” This is EXACTLY what City officials have been saying was coming: although the Override is directed towards as schools, the impacts of no override will be felt all over the City due to mandatory minimum funding for schools.
There was an idiot in another thread saying: “My senior mother was told that if the override doesn’t pass that the Milano Center will be affected...disgusting scare tactics.” Well - dummy - yeah that is happening if the override doesn’t pass. The City told you it would happen, but you said “fake news.” Now that they have put it on the “cuts list” you still are saying “fake news.” So what are you going to say when it actually happens?
For the others “Guns and Hoses” idiots...see what happens with no override? Not a good day for public safety in town.
I also am thrilled that we are getting the old familiar refrains of “LINE ITEM BUDGET CUTS OR NO TRUST.” Last week it was “tell us what the cuts in non-school services will be or no trust.” Let’s get the FORSENIC AUDIT tin-foilers in the mix as well. You present no alternative solutions, just “nah-nah-nah-nah” responses as the facts are piling up in your face.
Stop whining and get a different slant. You’re tiring.
I think we've reached a point where saying $3M is disappearing without questioning it is more of a tin foil hat position than those who do question it. Run some high level numbers and see if you come up with a $3M hole? We're getting our 2.5% increase plus new growth on the revenue side for the tax levy. For hits the mayor notes the following:
"Contributing to our shortfall this year is a significant increase in health insurance rates, which stayed flat last year, as well as proposed state aid that is less than half of what we received last fiscal year"
Melrose has received their GIC budgeting guidance for 2020 and it is a 3.3% The second part regarding proposed state aid is patently false.
So we finished last year flush with $3.6M in free cash and a strong bond rating - two data points on which the city can not impart their narrative, yet from the city we're told we need $3M in cuts.
Riduculous, idiots, dummy - sounds like a OneMelrose flak to me. Go away.
That's the list of so-called "proposed" cuts - proposed in this case meaning pulled out of someone's a$$ to scare a specific segment of people into voting yes. It's bull$hit, and you know it too. It's why you're getting so desperate and nasty. You fool no one.
JMA is spot on in revealing that Infurna's claims of a "significant increase" in health insurance costs are more bull$hit. A 3.3% increase in this day and age is pretty normal, especially when combined with last year's "flat" figure.
Infurna's claim that state aid is less than half of what we received last year isn't just patently false - it's an outright lie. State aid is scheduled to to increase by $76,000.00. The City had hoped for a 1.5% increase, and instead is getting a .7% increase. She took that difference and turned it into another pile of bull$hit designed to scare people.
The entire override is based on lies just like these. Every time the woman opens her mouth something other than the truth comes out of it. I suppose it's possible she's just too dumb to know the difference, but I don't think so. November can't come fast enough.
These aren’t scare tactics, rather they are pretty measured and realistic consequences of the failure to match revenue to expenses/services. If the City wanted to scare people, why not do the following:
1) Close Milano Center full time;
2) No more street trash pickup...you need to drive your trash to the town yard;
3) Plowing City streets once only at the end of a snow storm;
4) Eliminate DPW services to City Parks and Fields; and
5) Cut Building/Electrical/Fire Inspector time by 80%.
You guys are the experts at coming up with crazy ideas...maybe they should have enlisted you all for help. Oh, right, you’re only good at labeling the facts as “bull****” and “fake” and that all of those working for the City are “cronies” or “illegitimate” and part of the “Shadow State of Dolan.” For all of your repeating claims of “boatloads of free cash” and “bond ratings” you haven’t ONCE suggested an alternative budget or revenue source.
Get a different slant.
The reason you don't see many administration supporters posting here is because every time they do try to pass on the administration's propaganda, they are totally and thoroughly debunked with facts they can't dispute.
The administration is scared to death of this site, both now, and in it's prior incarnation. Why else do you think Dolan banned access to it, a practice that continues to this day?
This is the only place where voters can get even a portion of the truth. They certainly can't get it from city officials, who continue to mislead, obfuscate, and outright lie about all things fiscal. Melrose is a house of cards. The sooner that house of cards collapses, the sooner we can get a mulligan and fix the mess we've allowed to happen.
Measured and realistic? You mean like these two outright lies?
"Infurna's claims of a "significant increase" in health insurance costs are more bull$hit. A 3.3% increase in this day and age is pretty normal, especially when combined with last year's "flat" figure.
Infurna's claim that state aid is less than half of what we received last year isn't just patently false - it's an outright lie. State aid is scheduled to to increase by $76,000.00. The City had hoped for a 1.5% increase, and instead is getting a .7% increase."
Go away.
The "boatloads of free cash" and "bond ratings" are not claims they are documented amounts/ratings.
Can you provide any detail as to how we are suddenly in a $3M hole in one year. You can use either your own or the city's data. Do you believe the city has shown this, or do you believe they are not required to?
Asking to prove that there is a budget crisis is not conspiratorial by any means. There are many documents the city could provide that would show this:
- a statement of operations trend
- a trend of declining free cash balance
- a trend of declining revolving accounts
- "Visual Budget" with Actuals beyond 2016
The absence of these logically leads one to ask why, and it is healthy.
Anyone who gives these incompetent administrators power to take more money from us is off their rocker. Don't people donate for those hanging baskets downtown? Does the middle school really need a resource officer? Would the city feel it if they let one full-time officer go. Not much happens anyway. And why not the fire dept. They really never had anything to do.
Be leery of falling for their playbook:
1) state that we have a $3M defecit all of a sudden
2) itemize the draconian cuts if the override fails
3) electorate either a) loses their mind over the results of these cuts or b) begins bickering about whether a policeman is worth more than a dpw person, flower baskets (you're right though - city just hangs and waters), etc, etc.
All the attention has now been shifted to #3, and you have ceded the argument on #1. They have not proven #1 yet by any means, so you should refuse to move on until they have if you want to counter their playbook.
I don’t believe or trust any “financial data” coming from Illegitimate Gail. In Melrose, neither elected politicians or department heads have proven themselves to be trustworthy. Words and actions matter. Once trust has been violated, it is almost impossible to get back. Reputations lost are gone forever. The failure of the Override will be traced back to the lies told and coverups practiced in this city for decades.
Incidentally!!! The FD runs a Fully staffed Paramedic Ambulance That does roughly 1600 transports annually in the city and roughly 50 transports last year in mutual aid (a number which could grow given our neighbors contract their Ambulance services to Private contractors who often spread their resources thinly ) all totaling well over $1 Million in revenue back to the city. With an aging population in the city and ability to bill out health insurance at no additional cost to taxpayers, The FD does more than their share to support their own budget.