The Billerica Taxpayers Association has decided to fight the PArker School debt exclusion prop. 2.5 override.
Our reasons are many. Some of which are:
1) Government just seems to never do without. Taxes are being raised at all levels of government. The sales tax was just increased and next year the President George Bush tax cuts will expire.
2)One of our missions is for transparency in government. One quick look at the make up of the Parker School Building Committee tells us that we have a problem here. Out of the 13 members, at least 7 are school or town employees. An eighth is a school committee member who’s husband is a town employee and she also does business with the school department as an independent contractor for the school buses. Because of these 8 people, if you vote for the override the school gets built outside of the budget freeing up money within the budget as well as the bonding capacity to pay for their own employee contracts. Conflict of interest anyone?
3) The Parker School Building Committee willfully witheld information from Town Meeting regarding a 400 student, 72,000square foot school for $22 million dollars. See their minutes for the April 29, 2009 meeting pages 5 and 6. We could have paid for this school within the budget and our bonding capacity.
I,m with you 100%. I wrote an article to the Lowell Sun, Letter to the editor that got published last week. It was against the school. These people for the school want it all. They withhold information etc.
Unfortunately, this BEHEMTH
I,m with you 100%. I wrote a Letter To The Editor of the Lowell Sun last week that got published. It was against the school. These people for the school want it all. They withhold information and speak half truths etc.
Unfortunately i feel that this will be approved at the polls. WHY? Because historically the people in this town just don’t care to get off there duffs and vote, no matter what the issue is. I hope i am wrong.
Unfortunately Billerica’s finest seem to be at it again. This time it is the kids of the town dealing with the effects. If anyone has stepped foot inside the Parker School recently you will know that it is complete embarrassment for the town. No kids living in this town should ever step foot in a school in that condition. The teachers and staff make it a wonderful place but the conditions are equal to some of the poorest schools you will ever see. As for the comment about the people involved and their “conflict of interest” does anyone really think that people involved in educating children are really putting through these proposals so they can save a modest raise or work in the glamour of a new building. Let’s be honest…it isn’t a country club resort and are teachers known for their wildly inflated salaries(unfortunately quite the opposite)? Those comments are shallow and unfair. I am going to bet that the folks fighting this are also those that were fighting Home Depot project (enjoy your beautiful Mall now. It will be your eyesore forever). I bet Home Depot tax income would have come in handy right about now.
Unfortunately many of outspoken people in Billerica are all about stopping progress and getting in the way. Well, this time kids and education are involved and we all should get out of the way. Also, some are calling this a prop 2 1/2 override which is misleading and inaccurate. We can find money to blow on all sorts of other nonsense in this town but when it counts there are is shortage of people willing to get in the way. Let’s screw this one up and let another generation of students deal with the leaking roofs, mice, bees and god knows what else. I am sure we will pay for it in a variety of health related lawsuits someday.
Do you have any critical thinking skills? Your ignorance of the situation is astounding – the Parker School Building Committee was made up almost totally of Town and School employees or their relatives. The process was flawed from the start – This group was about getting the largest amount of matching funding from the State — With no thought as to the ultimate cost to the people. You have no idea of the real issue, process or its long-term impacts to the people of Billerica. The economic environment we live in today should give you pause for thought – we will not quickly recover from this recession and when the bonds come due for financing the interest rates may be in the double digits. The committee was irresponsible, short sighted, and generally mishandled the entire process – which will come back to haunt us.
The BTA has for years supported a requirement to produce a long-term capital improvement plan for our Town and School infrastructure — this measure has been activily rejected by the School and Town… Perhaps knowing the infrastructure needs and their costs would interfere their irresponsible budgeting and spending. Town Meeting may have been more critical of budgets and the use of rainy day funds — if they would have known we have to replace or repair infrastruture