Format: Methuen will once again enter teams in the Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League. Games are held on Sundays.
Who Is Eligible: This will be a co-ed program for Methuen residents in grades 3 -8.
Teams: U11, U13 and U 15
Registration: Will take place on Monday Jan. 11 from 6 -9pm at Fuddrucker’s Restaurant -Rte. 28
Methuen, MA
Fee: $140.00 per player DOES NOT include equipment. Equipment information will be available at Registration.
The race for U.S. Senate has tightened, according to the latest Rasmussen survey, with Republican Scott Brown pulling within nine points of A.G. Martha Coakley. Rasmussen had a couple of tidbits that caught my eye.
Both candidates get better than 70% of the vote from members of their respective parties, but Brown leads 65% to 21% among voters not affiliated with either of the major parties. In Massachusetts, however, Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and it is very difficult for the GOP to compete except in special circumstances. Eight percent (8%) of Democrats remain undecided while just 3% of Republicans are in that category.
The Brown lead amongst independents has to be troubling to Democrats, even if it turns out to be non-fatal in this case.
A second item of note:
Special elections are typically decided by who shows up to vote and it is clear from the data that Brown’s supporters are more enthusiastic. In fact, among those who are absolutely certain they will vote, Brown pulls to within two points of Coakley. That suggests a very low turnout will help the Republican and a higher turnout is better for the Democrat.
Brown is out working, as you might expect from a candidate that is behind. And some of the enthusiasm is to be expected from the Party that is out of power. But some is being generated by Brown’s willingness to work, which stands in contrast to the very laid back approach taken by Coakley.
Coakley’s campaign, or lack thereof, has come in for some withering criticism, as she appears to be playing to run out the clock on Brown. The Globe has highlighted her passive campaign in two critical columns, the first by Brian McGrory titled “Where’s Martha Coakley?” Today’s Globe featured a column by Joan Vennocchi talking about the “coolness” of Martha Coakley helping to put Brown back in this race.
Coakley released her first general election ad this week. I have attached it for your viewing pleasure. The message to Martha from many corners appears to be: step it up a notch. This could be a real race.
U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd from Connecticut will announce today that he is not a candidate for re-election this year. Dodd’s announcement takes away the potential for a Republiucan victory in Democratic Connecticut, as his poll numbers have shown him to be very vulnerable to a challenger. It could clear the way for popular Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to take on the Republican nominee in November.
In North Dakota Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan announced he would not seek re-election, avoiding a potentially bruising battle with popular Republican Governor John Hoeven, who had been undecided about the race. Hoeven will likely now take the plunge with an open seat available. In light of that Democratic prospects for holding that seat are pretty slim.
The Dems are playing defense, with an out all Republican assault on the Obama Administration playing well in red states, making the task of holding those House and Senate seats for incumbent Dems an uphill fight.
Will be doing the mid-morning show today on WCAP, 980 on the am dial at 10:15. Everybody gets it!
Please join us at The Inauguration Ceremony of Mayor
William Manzi, the Methuen City Council, and the Methuen School Committee
On Monday, January 4, 2010, 7:00 pm. At the Searles Building, the Great Hall.
Reception to immediately follow refreshments to be served.
The Washington Post has produced two columns that hit very similar themes. The first, by David Ignatius, talks of the California budget crisis in the context of continuing political gridlock between the two major parties. Ignatius hits a recurring point from both columns.
What’s worrisome this year isn’t economic decline but political dysfunction. And nowhere is that clearer than in California, where politicians — despite some serious bipartisan efforts — haven’t been able to make the decisions that would put the state on a sound financial footing.
The political forces that generate deficits are just too strong: a Democratic Party in hock to public-employee unions and a Republican Party in love with tax cuts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger labored mightily in 2009 to close a $60 billion budget deficit, hammering out a plan that included $32 billion in spending cuts and $12.5 billion in temporary tax increases.
And yet there is so much polarization, and beyond that polarization is the desire to score cheap political gain when the governing party must make difficult decisions. Obstruct, block, and simply take positions that are diametrically opposed to positions taken under different circumstances, and you have a ticket to political and financial oblivion.
The second column, written by Ezra Klein, talks about the California dysfunction and how that same dysfunction has manifested itself in Washington.
Ever since Newt Gingrich partnered with Bob Dole to retake the Congress atop a successful strategy of relentless and effective obstructionism, Congress has been virtually incapable of doing anything difficult because the minority party will either block it or run against it, or both. And make no mistake: Congress will need to do hard things, and soon.
Yes, they will need to make exceedingly difficult decisions that will anger the base of both Parties. But who will step up and lead when it comes time to govern instead of seeking short term political gain? That leadership is not yet apparent.
Read the Klein column here.
Read the Ignatius column here.
The President used his weekly address to show the measures he is taking to fight the battle against terrorism and Al-Qaeda specifically. He is trying to blunt the obvious Republican thrust that somehow his administration is soft on terrorism. With the President on vacation in Hawaii. the Administration is taking care to show that he is fully engaged on this issue. Today’s Washington Post has a piece on the difficulty of vacationing in the current atmosphere.
Scott Brown has put out a 30 second ad which is quite clever, where JFK morphes into Brown delivering a message espousing tax cuts. Of course back when JFK cut taxes the top marginal rate was in the ninety percent neighborhood. And we did not have deficits that were quite as substantial, or that consumed as much of GDP as the current deficits. Still, a clever ad by Scott Brown. Probably won’t help much, but we will know that real soon.
Today’s Tribune has a story on pension funding by the City of Methuen. The online version has a headline which reads “Mayor says City not able to pay pension money today”, which is not what I said. I said that we would not make the payment today, because it would be financially imprudent to do so. We could make the payment if we had to. The story also did not mention the fact that the State Department of Revenue yesterday certified Methuen’s tax rate, allowing us to get our tax bills out on time. Getting the D.O.R. certification was made difficult by the refusal of the City Council to fund the pension obligation, which put our budget technically out of balance (an “appropriations deficit”). The finance team worked very hard on this for two days, and I would like to thank Tom Kelly and Ann Guastafero for their hard work. My thanks to Bob Nunes and the team at the Department of Revenue for all of their help and hard work as well. Whatever your thoughts on the City Council tax vote I think all sides agreed that getting a tax bill out on time was critically important to Methuen, and in light of that importance everyone should know that the certification has occurred. Happy New Year to all. I am grateful that I will not be spending New Years Eve with the team from D.O.R., as much as I have enjoyed their company for two days.
I am back from a Christmas respite from blogging. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. As you likely know the Methuen City Council is faced with a vote on tax classification, which has brought forward a torrent of misinformation and a fair share of demagoguery and political theatre. Lets look at the facts and try to set the record straight.
Two weeks ago the City Council, by a 7-1 vote, approved a classification factor of 170. That factor would have led to an average residential tax increase of $88.04. It would have raised approximately $62,030,425 through the tax levy. The classification factor of 170 was rejected by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and consequently the City Council was faced with the task of passing a factor that could be approved by D.O.R. The maximum factor they would allow is 164, which would lead to an average increase for a residential homeowner of $128.18, and also decrease the commercial burden from $609.92 to $287.32. It is important to note that the factor being set at 164 raises $62,030,425 through the tax levy. That is the same amount raised with the factor set at 170. So the City Council voted to raise $62,030,425 from the tax levy two weeks ago, and now we have some members calling for a tea party because they are being asked to raise the exact same amount, $62,030,425. Interesting. We also heard from some that the City could effectively ignore the Department of Revenue and send bills based on the factor approved originally at 170 by the City Council. Nothing could be further from the truth, and even a rudimentary knowledge of municipal finance would prevent one from making such a claim.
The setting of the tax classification factor has also set off further misunderstandings about the budget process, and about the impacts of non-action by the City Council. Before the adoption of the municipal budget the City of Methuen entered into contracts with our nine unions that provided an unprecedented level of givebacks by those unions. All nine city side unions, in order to avoid layoffs and service cuts, agreed to give back ten percent of their wage base through these contracts. Municipal managers also took ten percent wage cuts. These cuts totaled close to $2 million dollars. Municipal unions, including the Teachers Union, agreed to changes in the design of our health care plan that saved taxpayers $1.2 million dollars in this fiscal cycle. In return the City agreed to a no layoff policy for this fiscal year. All nine contracts were approved by the City Council. These contracts forestalled the layoffs of twenty police officers and twenty firefighters, as well as scores of City Hall workers and DPW employees. As Mayor I have not filled positions in this budget that had a wage value of over one million dollars, including the Deputy Chief of Police, the Assistant to the Fire Chief, two DPW Superintendents, one Police Captain, six DPW workers, and the Historic Planner. The Land Use Planner for the City has been cut to a 24 hour per week position. We have actually reduced the size of city government, and done so in a significant way. The operating budget of City Government has been reduced in this cycle by approximately $2.5 million dollars. Our problems lay in explosive increases in fixed costs, and a massive reduction in state aid.
Facts and details can be bothersome things, and the call by some to “furlough” employees to further reduce city expenses shows a shocking lack of knowledge about contracts that bind the City, and the devastating consequences the City would face if those contracts were violated. If the City Council does not act to set a tax factor the City of Methuen would likely be faced with a cash flow problem by the end of January that could be as high as $14 million dollars. Contrary to the Tribune editorial this is not a budget “shortfall” but rather a problem of tax collections being pushed further into the future, leaving the City unable to meet payroll or honor its other obligations. Under those conditions I have said that I would have to consider furloughing employees, not to solve a budget problem but rather because the City would not be able to fund payroll. Such an action could be construed as a violation of our one year labor agreements and subject the City to having to repay the ten percent given back by our employees, or $1.9 million dollars. The additional suggestion, that employees be furloughed to reduce City expenses, would be a clear violation of those agreements, since we have furloughed ten percent of their wage base already. That tea would be very bitter and expensive for the taxpayers of Methuen.
Any increase in property tax is a real burden to all, especially in difficult times. As at budget time I stand ready to work in a positive way with the City Council. If some members feel that midyear budget cuts are in order I await their specific suggestions as to which departments and line items should be cut. Our budget protected the Nevins Library, services to our seniors and veterans, and ensured our public safety sector’s ability to deliver vital services to our citizens. We have delivered a budget that is balanced, and we remain over a million dollars below the Proposition 2.5 levy limit. It is a responsible budget, and one that was approved unanimously by the City Council. The Council needs to act now to avert the potentially serious and damaging consequences of their lack of action.
As far as the Tribune editorial of December 23 goes it cites a non-existent budget “shortfall” of $12 million dollars. That is the number I cited as a cash flow deficiency in the event a tax bill is not sent. It is not a budget shortfall. The budget itself is balanced, and setting the classification factor is simply an outgrowth of the budget that was adopted. Why the reference to a budget shortfall keeps occurring is a mystery to me. It is interesting to note that Haverhill and Andover have both set factors, and both raised the average residential tax bill. I must have missed those editorials. And although the Tribune rightly notes that taxpayers are paying for snow removal and trash collection it would be nice to point out that we charge no fees for school athletics or school busing. We provide city wide recycling, and our negotiations for trash tipping fees have resulted in a huge decrease in those costs this year. I have been a careful steward of the public dollar and I have fully participated in the wage cuts that helped us to a budget where we had no layoffs, no service cuts, an increased allocation to our library, and a protection of the services we provide to seniors, as well as being under the Prop 2.5 levy limit by over a million dollars. The budget, and the values that are reflected in that budget, are good values and represent fairly what I campaigned on. I hope that the City Council shares those values and votes a classification factor that allows the City to move forward.
Bill Manzi.com 