Mayors Unite

Posted on February 10, 2008 by billmanzi

I attended an ed-board meeting with the Eagle Tribune and the Mayors that constitute the Merrimack Valley Mayor’s coalition last week. The subject was municipal finance, and the dire condition of the cities and towns of the Merrimack Valley. It was an interesting discussion, and the Tribune has written about it today. I was joined by Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, Amesbury Mayor Thatcher Keyser, Newburyport Mayor John Moak, and Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan. The story is worth a look, and I will continue to write about this issue as we approach budget filing time. Link to the Tribune article here.

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4 Responses to Mayors Unite

  1. sjashe says:
    February 10, 2008 at 10:07 am

    I agree with you guys on the issue of the “poison pill” 70% required union endorsement.
    I worry about having a single, state level program that the towns would lose authority over.. but if we can’t solve the health care crisis regionally, we need to be able to do it state wide.

    I don’t know if its fair to ask for more money, however, unless the formula is fair to the towns.

    Dracut keeps its safety services at a very reasonable rate, and spends the lowest in the area per pupil (while still getting excellent test results).. why should we get less than others who have spent more freely and now find themselves in more dire straights than we?

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  2. Susan Kishner says:
    February 10, 2008 at 10:08 am

    I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Susan Kishner

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  3. Bill Manzi says:
    February 10, 2008 at 10:36 am

    Thank you Susan. As far as my friend from Dracut a few points. I have said that the 70 percent threshold is ridiculous and needs to be removed, but there is a point that has been largely missed. The State GIC has management rights that cities and towns do not have. One of the reasons (beyond economies of scale due to size)that the GIC rate of increase has been half of ours is that they have these management rights. If the localities had these rights many of us would not be clamoring to join the GIC. The submission by the Governor of his new budget included about 50 million in cost savings to Massachusetts by his exercising those rights. We want the same rights. As far as formula aid goes it has been a contentious issue, and I know it appears that sometimes mismanagement is rewarded and efficiency punished. (Well this is government after all). I agree that equity for towns should be a goal of any local aid formula. I do believe that the property tax as a finance tool for ALL local government just does not work.

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  4. sjashe says:
    February 10, 2008 at 11:18 am

    I so agree with you on this (I saw you’re earlier posting on municipal meltdown.. its a good read too).

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