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A Busy Winter for Westwood

by Dave Atkins

There are no shortage of potential topics to discuss in this town. Ideally, each one would start as its own post, but I just wanted to list out some of the things I'm wondering about that are not being covered by the press extensively and/or are not in a finalized state where the town would have published anything.

Last night, the Economic Development Advisory Board met after being completely re-organized. Regardless of what is going on or not going on with Westwood Station, what is the purpose of that? What is the town doing to promote business development--both small and large? A few years ago, an economic development director was hired; then she left and went to Needham. Is there any kind of association of Westwood small business owners I could join? Or start?

The Pedestran and Bicycle Safety Committee is meeting tonight. I posted it officially at town hall as required by law and on the town website, but haven't even posted it here on my blog. We have a lot going on and I'm happy to respond to questions.

The Dunkin Donuts on Route 1 was robbed at gunpoint last Tuesday. Yes, there was a story in the Westwood Press but it would be good to learn more.

FinComm met on Tuesday night. Was that about the Library...or the budget in general...or prep for discussing the warrants for the town meetings coming up? There is a lot of specualtion but I would suspect the majority of residents are not paying attention yet--until the override campaigns start. There is a blog about the Library project and plenty of information and meetings going on, but it would be great to hear what people are thinking and start the discussion earlier before it turns into a campaign.

The challenge of municipal finance in general is a complex topic that could stand some reasonable discussion that is not framed in crisis. It sounds like the dire circumstances predicted at the last Board of Selectmen meeting I attended are less dire now, but I don't know.

The meeting warrants are open for two Town meetings. Last year I was criticized for observing that the warrant had closed in January and so no one could get anything on the agenda for the May meeting.  So if you have anything for next year...you have a few weeks now to either convince the Selectmen to include it or gather petition signatures. I'm not looking to re-open a debate on the process of Town Meeting, but now is the time to prepare so if you have something, it can be proposed, discussed, etc.

There is an active Government and Charter Study Task force meeting twice a month to consider improvements to town governance. So, for those who felt their efforts last year went down in flames...it's worth a look to see the work that is actually being done now.

In December, the Town will hold an "ascertainment hearing" to hear from residents what their needs are vis-a-vs the Comcast and Verizon television contracts. The hearing will concern, among other things, the amount of operational budget available for community access tv programming. The nonprofit WestCAT was formed almost two years ago (I'm on the board) and we have now hired a person to build out a station here in Westwood...

Submitted by Dave Atkins on November 19, 2009 - 7:12am
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Comments

In one year, how much could your taxes go up?

Submitted by David Feyler on February 4, 2010 - 8:26am.

 

We vote in the Library that's $150.00 then add the 2% increase in.

Next year if you look at past overrides we are probably looking at a 3.5 to 4.5 million dollar operational override. When you have an operational override that is unlike the library override which goes down over time. It would be at least $500.00 per household added onto your taxes. So in less than 1 year we could be looking at raising our taxes $700.00 or more for the average household. We can't just push for overrides. A few years ago ,Mr Cummings came up with an idea that would raise a couple million dollars a year for the town. It is very easy to sit on a board and say ok what do we have to do to get an override to pass? threaten jobs? cut services?When I say easy , I don't mean it's easy to ask the residents for more money , but it is alot easier than researching ways to raise revenue like Mr. Cummings did.

Westwood Station was supposed to pay the town $ 2.5 million for fiscal year 2011. I believe the BOS waived that because they did not go vertical. On the other hand ,if you ask the town if CC&F has gone vertical to cover their special permit,  they will probably argue yes. So why does CC&F get to have their cake and eat it also? The State is willing to put up over $ 55 million dollars , and trust me our town IS going to push us to vote yes on the other $ 6 million needed for the I-Cubed account. They are getting all this money ,and we need cash bad, but as soon as a shovel goes in we only get $ 500,000 when before it was $ 2.5 million. I realize they are not building as much, but come on, they are making out like bandits.

We need people in office that can think outside the box. Residents that get voted into office that can think of ways to generate money for the town without always thinking override. If we accept the Library this year , just remember there is a big override coming next year and it all just keeps adding up.