Town of Braintree

Vote NO'er

I like your thinking. I seems very logical, so logical, and so good that it is probably not able to be done.
Unfortunately.

By Less Traffic

Duhhh

Isn't that why there is a shift in the tax base? Because of the reasons that you stated, the businesses pay a higher tax rate to the town than the residents. I think that they pay $1.90 for every dollar that we pay. The reason behind this is simple, they use more of the services and roadways so they pay more.

Are you suggesting that this shift in taxes is not high enough?

Shift Part 1

For all the valuable real estate owned by commerce, our Assessor's have devalued their property thereby diluting the amount of tax they pay as compared to the level of infrastructure resources they consume.

Even though their property values are less and pay less in taxes they don't consume less from our infrastructure.

This is my point.

As a result they don't pay on par for the resources they consume from our infrastructure and resources. For their devalued properties, they continue to consume more of our infrastructure resources.

Just think of all the industrial parks in Braintree. The big ones and the pocket ones. Take a peek at Quincy Ave. You'd think you lived in Saugus along Rte 1.

Look at the developers.
They're getting rich.
They have picked up cheap properties and build Mc Mansions on them. Braintree has a low property tax rate and the ultra rich who can afford the Mc Mansions come to town cuz the cost of ownership is low visavis Property Tax. Their investment is protected cuz we live in a desirable crossroad of 128, rte 2, railways and convenient access to Logan Airport.

Just consider the shopping plaza.
Read the Forum's Police report.
The Police Dept wants a full 88 member complement on staff. I wonder how much the Plaza sucks up in that staffing level ? Does your neighborhood / house receive any extra protection for the full 88 member staffing ? Nah..it's going to the Plaza and other commercial interest.

Don't be fooled by the shift.
All the Assessors have to do is to provide a convincing one sided argument
to the Selectman and they vote on it.
Because at the time it sounds logical and convincing. And certainly Mr Young is quite slick in his persuasive and articulate presentations to our yokel okels on our Board of Selectman. He has not been asked to task to explain why commercial properties are valued less. Seems the BOS bites on it hook, line and sinker.

Where's the due diligence in that ?

If our town was purely residential like Dover or Hingham, I'd be more than honored to pay more in taxes in return for the peaceful tranquility of living in a community like Hingham or Dover.
I'd pay more to keep the riff raff out of our town, but Braintree has historically been a whore to more industry and commerce and transportation.

But this isn't Dover or Hingham.
Not even close. We live amongst industry and heavy commerce and overwhelming transportation.
We are asked (no forced) to accept more railway but no an extra penny for our roads that come to our town to use the railways. Not an extra penny for our roads for the convenient access to the highway crossroads. Not a penny more to pay for easy access to the country's 8th biggest airport a scant 15 miles from our Town Hall.

I'm just saying the residential taxpayer is plain and simply overtaxed for the level of residential neighborhoodliness they enjoy.

This is a commercial town plain and simple. We live within the cross roads of major highways and railways and convenient commuter access to Logan Airport.

Until a better taxing model comes to light that matches resources to usage, I will continue to Vote No on any override or debt exclusions that add to the residential burden.

Vote NO on any and all 2 1/2 over rides until Braintree comes up with a better taxing model. Oh... but don't be persuaded by the ''...its for the children argument...''. They are just pawns in the puzzle of guilting you into paying more. It has nothing to do with the children as it does with the raises for the school dept nazis.

I'd like nothing to pay for better education for our kids, but in Braintree you know as well as I do that the kids are not going to be better educated. They'll be the first to suffer cuz the cuts will be aimed at them which is nothing more than holding our kids hostage to an ever more rising demand for more of your tax money.


By Vote NO'er on 2 1/2

Shift Part 2

....and furthermore until we get a stronger form of government with a central backbone (unlike the b.o.s.) capable of standing up to the town unions...

The police and fire depts, well, they will line the aisles of town meeting and intimidate members into voting their agenda.

The only control the voters have is to just not make the funds available.
It's the only tool you have, so vote no.
Once you give it up, hold onto your wallets. Like blood in the water the sharks will be on a feeding frenzy.

The only way for town residents to exert any control over your tax dollars is to deny more tax dollars and force government into efficiency. Government will not have any tendency to economize or become more efficient until there is no money to pay for governments largess.

Governments only know how to spend money.
Let me clue you in on Government's dirty secret.

Spend or lose it.

Government has to spend its budget cuz if it comes in under budget it will be hard put to defend more next year.

I know this to be true because I was once employed in a very large government state agency in a spending capacity. At the end of the year my superiors forced me to find ways to spend the remaining money in my budget or be forced to give it back to the general fund. This fiscal behavior trickles down to municipal government as well.

I bought computers, software, copiers, furniture, two way radios, paper, pencils and many pet projects without the customary justification, you name it, I bought it. And your town behaves no differently.

Have you watched the Finance Committee meetings where department heads come before the Fincom to defend their budget requests ? Duh..we did this last year...so we do it again this year, but this year we need more money cuz prices have gone up. Where is the efficiency in that ?
How many different payroll systems does this town have ? Anyone ever thought of consolodating these ? Just look at the benefits to be gained with that kind of central leverage.

Just Vote NO on any and all 2 1/2 measures and the law of efficiency will take of the rest.

Oh yeah, finally....the trash argument.
If you cave into that argument that we can have it all and be rid of the trash fee with a debt exclusion, you are basically allowing yourself to be bought off with a specious argument at best. They'll throw a specious argument your way while town government wallows in fresh cash to mismanaged any way they want.

Show me a reformed government first, then we'll talk money.

By Vote NO'er on 2 1/2