A Schools Override Forum will be held on 2-28. Questions can be submitted ahead of time but “live” questions will be taken. Another flawed process. The attempts to control will backfire. The topics and emphasis have already been decided. Cherry picking the topics won’t help pass the Override.

The Government is still closed. 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. 40% of Americans could not cover a $400 emergency. Worldwide economic growth is slowing. Recession fears are widespread. The Wall Street Joutnal reports cities are stashing away money because of the imminent recession.

Tax bills went up significantly this year WITHOUT the Override. Anxiety about financial security is everywhere including Melrose. The MEF and ONE MELROSE are delusional, if they think the Override will pass.

The Conference Board Business Research Group surveyed CEO’s of major corporations across multiple industries. The #1 concern of business leaders is a 2019 Recession. Last year, there was very little concern about an upcoming recession. The end of the 1sr quarter will show drastic changes. Melrose cannot afford an Override. Most people cannot pay more taxes. No on the Override!

Live questions will be taken? Or won't be taken?

I keep hearing the city is growing so we have to pay more to keep up with the growth. What is the cause of this growth?

Why are long time residents being asked to shoulder the burden for this growth when they did not ask for it to happen? It's not a positive.

It is actually the tax base that has been growing significantly due to hundreds of new rental and condo units coming on line over the last several years. The tax base also grows when owners decide to renovate or add to the square footage of their home. In short, their has been significant growth in the tax base recently, thus significantly increased tax revenue for the city. So an "educated voter" may ask: Why is there a need for a major override with the recent increase in tax revenues from new construction?

Well then perhaps you'd care to explain why when these developments are proposed, city officials fall all over themselves touting the increase in tax revenue they are expected to generate?

Maybe it's you who needs a different slant.

It’s called new growth. This allows city to get additional taxes via the levy in the year the new growth comes on lines. So if there is a new development city can collect in excess of the 2.5 in the year of the new growth.

New growth does in fact include additions to existing structures. Please don't pay attention to "Come on man" she has no idea what she is talking about and is just a shill for the uninformed "yes" voters.

Educated and informed voter.We do have.Just to get even basic information in order to make informed decisions on important votes. The voters will do April 2 2019.

More gibberish from "Come on man".

Why don't you get educate by the mayor. She can show you one of her simpleton 3rd grader pie charts on where our tax dollars are spent??

I can't believe you are complaining. You probably would walk blocks to get your coffee downtown. Why aren't you worried about the bigger problems in Melrose schools?

There are no existing checks and balances for are school;s.Just look at the things that should not have came to light.

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.

While the Melrose Community Page (MCP) on Facebook has contributed a great deal when it comes to having a forum for the routine stuff--where to look for a reputable house painter, alerts when there is a traffic accident, lost pets, shout-outs for notable community events--it is the belief of quite a few that the Melrose FB Community page has done great damage overall when it comes to public discourse over the most important topics. The owners/moderators of that page are hugely biased and will not tolerate anything "negative" if it goes against their personal views, though they actively encourage less than ethical posting if it is in synch with their "all is wonderful and Melrose is One and Open to All" view.

There is a saved collection from that MCP of long strings of literally hundreds of comments on certain hot-button topics (schools (OCR, Override, bullying), MHS Red Raiders, Mystic Valley charter school, water rates, and many others), many of them containing truly hateful and personalized/targeted bullying that were never removed, while others have had relatively innocuous posts removed and been blocked as posters afterwards. Anyone who somehow believes that MCP site is operated fairly is sorely mistaken. It reeks of the personal bias of those who run the site, and that personal bias is totally centered around a sycophantic and infantile "support" of the majority of the politicians (the minority voice is mostly absent in any discussions on that site), the realtors, the school administration.

To quote from another string here: "The page is controlled by Melrose cheerleaders who have done immeasurable damage by squashing the facts and open discussion. Improvement comes from acknowledging your mistakes and discussing opportunities for improvement. The Melrose cheerleaders have no interest in improving the system because they will not acknowledge failure or that there IS room for improvement."

The alternate FB "Uncensored" site emerged in response to the blocking of certain posters on their site. There is genius there on Uncensored, especially in Ted Cummings brilliant SNL-type pieces. There is also a lot that is hard to stomach, particularly when it devolves into overt racism or other really sick postings (pretty rare lately, which is good). This MelroseMessages site has had its share of troubled postings as well, but usually the worst are either removed, along with any spam, and/or counter-balanced with sensible posts by what seems like a pretty wide spectrum of community members. It also has its genius posts (search Melrose Scallion).

If MelroseMessages posters can continue to bring a seriousness to the real topics (which scares the beejeebers out of the local crooked and ignorant pols), the truth will continue to be available and a real dialogue will fuel the changes and actions that need to take place to correct the ills of this community and make it a better place. This site is truly a real check and balance in a city sorely lacking in fair and balanced coverage of the truth. Thank you Richie and Patty for starting this, and thanks to MelroseCares for the hard work of resurrecting it and keeping it going!

It is big dark secret, just the way they want it.

There are no existing checks and balances for are school;s.Just look at the things that should not have came to light.

How is it that the powers that be would not schedule or pay for a Special Election for something as critically important as replacing the mayor for two years, but suddenly the city can afford to do this for another override referendum?

TIME TO RAISE THE BAR IN MELROSE BACK TO A SYSTEM THAT REPRESENTS ALL OF THE
CITIZENS.

Freedom of Informtiion
For all their talk about becoming an "educated voter", the YES contingent has gone to great lengths over the last ten years preventing residents from receiving this public information when requested. Sadly, they are using YOUR tax dollars for legal services to illegally prevent the release of city/school spending of YOUR tax dollars! Only in Melrose!

Resident here and I’m not voting for this override.

Melrose Taxpayers
How is it that the powers that be would not schedule or pay for a Special Election for something as critically important as replacing the mayor for two years, but suddenly the city can afford to do this for another override referendum?

Educated and informed voter.We do have.Just to get even basic information in order to make informed decisions on important votes. The voters will do April 2 2019.

I'm voting no too. But I can't say anything or post sign in my window for fear that someone will boycott my business. What little people there are here. What happened to my right to my opinion and private vote? "Go along, or get OUT". Whatever. When I'm ready to leave, I'll do just that and leave the rest of these sanctimonious bullies to try and sell their overtaxed properties to someone else.
I'll tell you one thing I've learned living here, it was a commuters dream. Close to 95, 93, Boston, etc. Well, before the massive sellout by trying to build up this city to something it was never intended to be - part of the over-populated belt that the politicians have planned out.

It is transparent why GI was made interim Mayor. I have not heard any other topic since she was sworn in. Think about this people !

Truth and Transparency
Mar 21, 2019 - 9:36PM
Re: Melrose Taxpayers Medeiros: need unobstructed view

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.

New article in Patch making a lot of sense.

The rubber stamping by ALL members of the BOA is why we are voting NO on the Override!
Illegitimate Gail and ALL BOA members have been complicit with mismanagement, lying and coverups for decades.
There is no long range planning or fiscal expertise. Crisis management and impulse decisions are standard operating procedure.
Go along to get along, fear to raise issues, selling out to be part of the “insiders” club.
The political culture in Melrose (especially over the last year) is why the Override will be defeated.
NO Voters may not hold signs or canvass but will go to the polls on 4-2 and send a message to city politicians.
NO, NO, NO and NO!

Just read something on Melrose patch comparing us to reading and Milton. WHY!? We are not either of those communities. They have higher household median incomes, their homes are worth more, in general wealthier towns. Why does Melrose pretend to be these towns instead of comparing us to what we really are; wakefield, Stoneham, parts of Saugus. There is nothing wrong with being middle class, NOTHING. If you want higher taxes, move to a town that’ has higher taxes, problem solved. This override will be like the other ones, no different. Something along the lines of 60 against 40 for (like the others). Until we fix other portions of our budget (police, fire), you will not get the middle class vote for schools. You need to give to get in this town, newbies take notice.

You have based your entire reply on just three words in the prior post - "newbies take notice" - and have again avoided addressing the meat of the post. Do you really think that people don't see your response for what it is?

You mean all EXCEPT Alderman Medeiros

I'll support an override if it will go to city services like police, fire, streets and roads. We need more police patrols nabbing speedsters and crosswalk and stop sign scofflaws. Drivers are out of control and we need to protect our citizens who would like to walk, drive, and bike our streets.