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Residents offer ideas to deal with long-range deficits |
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Written by Bob Sprague
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Sunday, 17 June 2007 |
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Page 4 of 4
Points made in slides:Revenues
- State aid, though increasing, is still $1.3 million lower than in fiscal 2002.
- Revenue from local receipts, including motor vehicle taxes, is flat.
- Department of Revenue’s measure of municipal revenue growth shows Arlington is below the statewide average by 36 percent.
Town expenditures
- Town and school operating budgets are limied to 4 percent growth.
- Demand for more town services is increasing:
o More traffic enforcement.
o More maintenance on an increased number of fields.
o Increased road and sidewalk maintenance and the need to do more on handicapped-accessibility issues.
- Town staffing levels are 12 percent below the fiscal 2003 level (police, fire, DPW are at critically low levels).
- Arlington is well below the statewide average for total expenditures per capita (public safety and DWP are near the bottom of comparable communities).
School budget drivers: revenue
- General town revenues are limited to 4 percent growth.
- Grants are declining as they become targeted to lower-income, low-performing districts.
- Net increase: less than 4 percent a year.
School budget drivers: expenses
- Salaries and most expenses can be limited to a 4-percent increase per year.
- Special-education costs are growing at more than twice this rate.
- This causes cuts to non-special-education programs.
- $850,000 in cuts for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1.
Capital needs
- Thompson and Stratton schools: $16 million to $25 million
- High school: $25 million
- Community Safety Building: $5.5 million
- Veteran’s Memorial Rink: $2 million
- Fire stations: $12 million to $16 million
- Cemetery: $4 million to $8 million
- Roadway infrastructure: $1 million a year
 
 
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