Figment

The money (capital) that we are freeing up is budgeted for trash collection so it is encumbered already and not availabel for anything else.

I hear other unions are settling for no raises this year, despite what the school department did. It was also mentioned that the school department raises came out of their operating budget. All of the departments have been asked to level fund their budgets this year and are complying with this request. I think the problem arises when you have negotiated step raises for employees that exceed the amount of money that can be raised via the levy.

In my opinion, the school department is the main culprit here because they have gotten a very sympathetic ear from the FinCom, which gets them additional money, and then continues to march out of step with the rest of the town.

Oddly enough, not one person challenged the school committee incumbents this year.

Vote No on 2 1/2

I mistrust Braintree government to spend our tax dollars correctly.

I say no to municipal raises in this lousy economy while the rest of us work for no raises. It's not any better anywhere else so why job hop from one lousy situation to another ?

What I expect from our town spenders is to get tough like the companies many of us work for and get lean with the payroll dollars. I have to absorb jobs of colleagues whose jobs have been outsourced. My job would be elminated if I didn't agree to take on extra duties that came with the reorganization imposed upon me.

Our town employees don't realize how lucky they are to have a cushy no heavy lifting town job and at the pay level most level headed people would enjoy ad not complain about. But nooooo......
Our town employees complain about not getting raises but what they don't mention is the automatic other raises they get like annual negotitated step raises and other pay perks. Then on top of all that, they have the gall to ask for more.....inflate the pay grid is what's its all about.

If the raises go though, it will have to be paid for by layoffs cuz I plan on voting NO and encouraging anyone else to vote NO as well.

I will live with bad roads and broken buildings until I see real reform in our town government. We will not burden the homeowner by increasing taxes. I don't care abaout tax deductible arguments. That is just a red herring to get you to buy into the notion that our town is going to ignore housekeeping while they tax you out of your home.

At least with bad roads, traffic will slow down and that benefit comes free and you don't have to hire police to monitor traffic which you wouldn't get anyway.

By Sandpebble

The One in the Opinion Section

There are two writeups in the Braintree Forum, the one in the Opinion section
is poor at best and espouses the selectmen's line! The second by John Carlson is excellent! The truth is Beld was told to shut down the link by the selectmens office!!

The truth as I see it is the link was shut down by an Email from BELD to the neighborhood link owners as directed to BELD by those on the Board of selectmen who are pushing the hardest to pass an exclusion/override to fund the raises for School, Fire, Police!

Again in my opinion these three should be removed from office at the soonest opportunity and be replaced by a smaller board of selectmen of a total of three! The argument for passage of the override by one of the Brotherhood of the Rose is that the trash fee will go away! If the exclusion fails will they double the trash fee to punish us further? The trash fee is a pittance compared to an $12,000,000 dollar override!

The absolute arrogance of these elected officials in particular he of the challenged follicles is astonishing, where did he grow up in an gulag? To attempt to enforce his will on those who elected him, under false pretenses, shows an arrogance beyond belief, does he think we are stupid? Its time to dump this crew and try for fewer, elected leaders who know their place and know who really is in charge in Braintree and to get this runaway wage busting budget under control again! No school pay raises that was done behind our back and needs to be rejected!

By The Absolute Arrogance of These

response to Anonymous

If as you say the ''money being freed up is budgeted for the trash collection'' then how can we say, in all honesty, that the debt-exclusion is for capital needs only? Why is a fee for trash, funded from our operating budget, constantly linked with an override for capital needs? If on the other hand the monies currently in our budget, and as of today we are working on correcting a deficit budget, how does the trash fee miraculously dissappear? Too much importance is being placed on this trash-fee, this fee should not be justification for spending money we do not have. I simply do not think it wise to make this fee a priority, nor to make it a deciding factor for voting an override. I believe the Ledger quoted Mr. Hubbard as saying, and I will paraphrase: '' we need an override for salaries, insurance costs, and utility increases, in order to get our financial house in order.'' So which is it operating or capital needs? I think we simply need money and an override is the only means of temporarily filling the pot. But without correcting the problems we have created, how will we meet next years, and the years to follow, budget(s)?