A week ago the Town held our Financial Town Assembly. It attracted 20 residents. There are 8,000 people in Hopkinton. The town tax rate was set to increase by 8-9% and only 20 people showed up. This is probably the saddest commentary on the apathy that inflicts this Town, sadder than anything I’ve seen in the past decade- although the ongoing scandal in the Hopkinton Police Department that seems to never make the newspapers is also quite telling.
We find out now that the Town Council has been able to shave a little more off the budget and the tax rate will only increase by 5.7%.
Two questions arise:
1. The citizens obviously don’t care. No one could be bothered to show up to the meeting so why did the Town decide to cut the budget a little more?
2. Why couldn’t the Town make these cuts in the first place?
I don’t really have an answer to either question. I suspect that the answer to #1 may be that the Town was unsure it could get a waiver to increase taxes 4-5% above the state cap. Assuming this answers question #1, it also answers question #2. There is another scenario. This one is a bit more cynical: Perhaps the Town could have cut the budget by the Financial Assembly Meeting but felt it would look better (and look like they were doing their jobs) if they put in some EXTRA effort after the fact. I’m not sure what the answer is. I am surprised that the Town could change the budget after the Financial Town Meeting. I would have expected that there was a prohibition against that. I guess not. The Town Council, Manager and Finance Director had all Spring to cut the budget to the bone. They waited until after the FTM to do it. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
As a final shot across the bow of the collective Town Council, I would like to argue that they still have not done enough. Consider that the Town is going to allocate $100,000 of left over FY 2010 funding to expand the Town Hall. This will mean that instead of being in 3 buildings, all Town offices will be in 1 building. Thats just great. But if they used the $100,000 for the next budget instead of frittering it away, the budget increase would be even less. In the worst economic climate since 1929, the Town of Hopkinton is embarking on a project to expand Town Hall. Most of us use the roads. They’ve cut $50,000 from the resurfacing budget yet decided a larger Town Hall is a critical need. When was the last time you went to Town Hall? When was the last time you cared that you had to go to 2 Town Buildings instead of 1? It seems pretty darn wasteful and foolish to me.
May 14, 2010 at 4:48 pm
what ticket are you running on this year? i look forward to see you put your money where your mouth is and run….YOU BIG DUMMIE
May 17, 2010 at 5:23 pm
still waiting to find out what ticket i can look for you on this fall’s ballot. please advise so i can start telling people to vote for you
May 19, 2010 at 2:28 am
Hm oh well must make sure scuncio has MONEY! But has anyone checked out what he has done with cars.money,property from drug arrests ? Did he dispose of them properly according to 60 pages of fed’l regs,was town notified of proceeds made from sales.Gee that would certainly help !
His cyberstalking reservist : ben c tickner’s wife tanin is divorcing him [wonder why]. Hm following scuncio’s path 3 wives some chief of police ! No morals !!
May 20, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Well get ready ! The FBI is in town !
June 5, 2010 at 12:36 pm
what?? you dont answer my question? and if you are such a big mouth, why aren’t you posting my simple questions about where on the ballot we can see you this fall? yea, youre the model of free speech. its all fair as long as you can throw the attacks. loser. get a life you pathetic excuse for a person
July 26, 2010 at 1:54 am
Yawn. I’ve been asleep for the past 3 months and haven’t bothered to check the blog. Now that we’re into election season I will happily answer your retarded questions more promptly. Your answer is Daffy Duck. That’s my name, I’m a write in candidate.
Clearly, you are the persona of American stupidity. Free speech relates to the Constitution, not private enterprise. This blog is mine. I can publish any of your foolish comments or not. Just as the newspaper constantly rejects your idiotic letters to the editor. The fact is, however, it is fun for other people to watch you be stupid and for me to berate you. So I have published your moronic commentary. “Fred G Sanford”? Pathetic.
If anyone is counting, I have called him the following pejorative comments all in a single paragraph: Fool, idiot, stupid, moron and pathetic. That’s 5 to 2. He only called me pathetic and loser. Although “big mouth” probably wasn’t a complement.
June 11, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I just want to say that I just happened to stumble upon this site (google is my friend) and it is refreshing to see that there is someone else in the town that has the same thoughts as I do.
I want to say “Big Deal” you have 3 buildings for the town. You can spit from one building to another and it ain’t going to hurt anyone to do a 100 yard walk to go somewhere. I know that personally I wish I could walk more during the day.
I will say that the reason I think that alot of ppl didn’t go out and vote was because of the fact that if they voted against it the taxes would go higher because our charter says we have to revert to last years budget. So they probably just thought…well who cares. If I go vote against I’m screwed and if I stay home and it passes well I didn’t waste my time going down and trying to figure out which of the 3 ‘oh so largely spaced apart buildings’ I need to vote in.
The other thing that I am little mystified by is a comment made by our TC at the last TC meeting that stated we can only change our charter every 5 years when the commission meets. (this was in respect to the fact that our budget reverts back to last year). In our charter it says…and I quote… 1210 – Amending the Charter.
A.
This Charter may be amended at any time or a new charter adopted at any time in the manner provided by the Constitution of the State. Should two (2) or more amendments adopted at the same time have conflicting provisions, the one receiving the largest affirmative vote shall prevail….so how does that make it so that we can only change it every 5 years? Beats me.
I’m going to stop writing now cuz I am getting more and more frustrated. Thanks again for a wonderful blog and keep it up!
July 26, 2010 at 1:57 am
Yes, the Charter can be amended at any time. The Council only has to institute a Charter Revision Committee. However, the Council was very unhappy with the results of the last revision and fear that if they institute another one, it will do more things they do not like. The Council during the last revision was opposed to most of what the Review Committee did and fought them tooth and nail from what I was told.
November 3, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Been in town short while and the town council is a dictatorship. They cannot dazzle with brilliance so confuse with bullshit and sorry to say, there are a lot in town that dont get it, dont’t care or are just plain stupid. Buck’s bang the gavel and shut them up works everytime when questions of his actions are made and the puppeters just follow. He did lose his parrot Landollfi, “banker” which means he is a loan office telling people to fill in the questions and I’ll check your credit for the loan. Buck continues giving away the taxpayers money by claiming he is a negotiator, never knew that was a vok tech class. The whole state is cutting back, Buck is giving away. Then over 1500 uninformed voters voted in a former socialist turned independent who is a renter who pays no taxes to the town work for his father and never put up a sign, a flyer or answered the paper when contacted. Not sure if he lives in town, did not want to win because he showed no effort, or is missing. He has not attrend a town council meeting in over a year and probably never attend one futher back than that. Hopkinton, you know what people say about the souther part of the state, I’m finding is to be true. And the least of our problems is what the chief is doing. He must be doing something, we are safe, and isn’t that his job.
August 5, 2011 at 1:36 pm
8/2/2011 Providence Journal on Central Falls Bankruptcy.
“There was no plan at the time other than to come back every six months asking for more money. Remember these are structural (leadership) problems. They (taxpayers) were making monthly payments that they could no longer afford. With such a small tax base, how do you deal with it? That’s what Chapter 9 allows you to deal with. So that you can have a plan in place.
This is the direction Hopkinton is headed.
I thank you marilyn and iamishmael for your support.
Yes, the majority of Hopkinton residents don’t get it. They don’t get it because, and I respect their position, they have busy lives and the last place they want to be is at a town meeting that last over 2 hours because of the repeated questions and nostalgia stories. What I don’t understand is why they don’t listen to both sides of a story. I’ve said things that they don’t agree with, but instead of calling, emailing or stopping by my home to question my validity, they label it as mudslinging.
They are allowing themselves to be sheep lead to slaughter. They accept deception by not questioning incomplete answers to questions:
1) The greatest is; “longevity is gone”, yes it is, for any new hire’s, but for every current employees’ it remains. Most residents don’t understand what longevity is and what it cost them. Also, COLA’s (cost of living adjustments). But, you have to be hiding under a rock to not know that the State of Rhode Island and every city/town is doing away with them. Look at Central Falls, bankruptcy. Bankruptcy, when the residents can no longer afford to pay the taxes for the bills that that leadership has accumulated.
2) Accepting “your taxes didn’t go up”, well, $15.69 to $19.34 is up, no matter how you slice it. It is a documented fact that Hopkinton is listed in the top 10 taxed cities/towns in Rhode Island.
3) Bond rating is great, it should be, the taxes are raise annually to pay the bills. Remember Central Falls use to pay their bills!
4) Closed eyes as to what is happening? When a candidate is backed by a local businessman, political hack and land owner, that 6 months earlier he did not even know, (did not support him in the general election in November), but when the candidate joins the planning committee after the election and suddenly gains this man’s support for council. This leaves me to be suspicious.
Johnny, your right I gave it my best and lost. And yes, you the person who claims someone is a gutless coward, are a gutless coward! YOU SEE MY NAME! I am a man with an opinion and believe in the facts I say and will back it until proven wrong, not hide behind multiple screen names like a mama’s boy, calling other’s names while peeking from behind her apron. Calling yourself Johnny?