April 12, 2013 - Southbridge Evening News

16 SPENCER NEW LEADER • Friday, April 12, 2013
CPA supporters, opponents to host meetings over next two weeks
CAMPAIGNS
Investment vs. tax
The Friends of the Brookfield
Town Hall are behind the drive to
bring the CPA to Brookfield as a
way to finance the renovation of
the century-old Town Hall. But,
Friends President William R.
Simpson said Sunday, April 7, it
won’t just be the Town Hall project
that benefits. He said money would
also be used to increase the amount
of affordable and senior citizen
housing in Brookfield, or possibly
for improvements at Lewis Field.
“It’s really about investing in
Brookfield’s future and doing it in a
very smart financial way,” Simpson
said.
He said last fall the Community
Preservation Coalition, a Bostonbased
group that helps cities and
towns implement the Community
Preservation Act, estimated
Brookfield could raise up to
$150,000 each year.
“Our primary concern with the
CPA is quite clearly it is a tax upon
a tax, and that’s why we’re
opposed,” said William Gillmeister,
chairman of Citizens Against
Taxes Upon Taxes.
His group’s presentation on April
15 will feature a couple of people
from towns that rejected the CPA:
Paul Ferro, a former Marlborough
city councilor, and John DiMascio,
an activist from Watertown.
Gillmeister said it’s no accident
Ferro and DiMascio will speak with
Brookfield residents on the deadline
for filing federal income taxes.
“Aside from the fact that it is a tax
upon a tax,” he said, “I bel, and our
group believes, while it is possible
to repeal the Community
Preservation Act — that is, take it
away, get rid of it after five years —
we don’t believe that’s ever going to
happen. So we believe it is a permanent
tax increase.”
For example, he said, the CPA
cannot be repealed if the money
raised through it will pay off debt.
He cited Sturbridge as an example
of the CPA staying in place, despite
an effort last year to repeal it
because residents felt the money
was being mismanaged.
OPEN HOUSE AND TALKS
Five days after the Citizens
Against Taxes Upon Taxes presentation,
the Friends of the
Brookfield Town Hall and the
Brookfield Cultural Council will
host an open house for the building.
It will include question-and-answer
sessions with Simpson, guided
tours of Town Hall, performances
by the Brookfield Youth Choir
(made up of Brookfield Elementary
School pupils), a children’s coloring
contest, door prizes, light refreshments
and an ice cream social starting
at 1 p.m.
“The idea [is] to just to let people
see the Town Hall,” Simpson said,
“because that’s our mission is to
raise the visibility of what we have
that people don’t know about’
Three days later, on April 23, the
Municipal Facilities Planning
Committee (which has been working
on plans for renovating Town
Hall) will host a hearing and information
session on the CPA at Town
Hall.
Asked why Brookfield residents
should vote “yes” on Question 1,
Simpson replied, “The fact that any
money we raise through the CPA is
matched by the state 100 percent is
potentially very financially responsible
for the town. That’s what really
brought us to it, because we were
looking at the Town Hall and finding
a way to put the project together
in a way that impacted the taxpayer
the least. The Community
Preservation Act came up as the
way [to get] the best bang for our
buck.”
He said the CPA would open up
additional opportunities for the
Town of Brookfield to get grants for
the Town Hall project.
“It can fund half of the Town Hall
renovation at a quarter of the cost,”
Simpson said, “and does so with the
least amount of impact to the property
owners in Brookfield.”
Plans for Town Hall include
installing an elevator from the
basement to the Great Hall on the
second floor, with a stop on the first
floor, making the building handicap
accessible in other ways, and creating
more office space.
“The money and the purpose of
the money, it makes clear we’re
invested in our community,”
Simpson said. “The Town Hall is
now an embarrassment and we
don’t want to end up in a situation
where the Town Hall is condemned”
like in North Brookfield.
“This is an incredible opportunity
to keep it.”
DEBT AND ‘INTRUSION’
Gillmeister said the Citizens
Against Taxes Upon Taxes group,
which has about 30-35 members, is
“not taking a position on the Town
Hall one way or the other. It may
indeed need renovation, but as a
group we believe that the
Community Preservation Act is not
the method to fund that renovation.
It really ought to be funded through
the normal mechanism” of bringing
a proposal to Town Meeting and
seeking a debt exclusion.
“Those are the proper mechanisms
for funding the Town Hall,”
Gillmeister said. “The CPA is not
the way to fund the Town Hall renovation.”
Simpson said a debt exclusion
would still be needed for the Town
Hall project — and that, like the
CPA, would face votes at both Town
Meeting and an election.
Gillmeister also expressed concern
that “there’s no guarantee”
Brookfield would get the promised
100 percent match from the state
(with money raised from a surcharge
on transactions that go
through the Registry of Deeds). He
said — and proponents agreed last
fall — that the state’s matching rate
has not always been 100 percent.
For communities that did not adopt
the 3 percent property tax surcharge,
the rate has dipped to
around 25 percent.
Gillmeister also called the
method of applying for the income
and senior citizen exemptions, and
the documentation needed to prove
them, “intrusive.” He said residents
would have to apply every year for
the exemptions, “which is very
intrusive. It’s an invasion of privacy,
and just to get an exemption for
it. And we think that is wrong. A lot
of people are not going to take
advantage of it because it’s intrusive.”
“You have to prove your income
to get the exemption,” Simpson
responded. “Otherwise, anybody
could apply for it. It’s similar to an
abatement.”
He added the application would
be a “couple of page[s],” and not
much would change from year to
year.
continued from page 1 Friends get $750
percent, while the remaining 5 percent
can be used for expenses for
grant for CPA
implementing the act.
advertising
BROOKFIELD — The Friends
of the Brookfield Town Hall
announced last month they got a
$750 grant from the Citizens’
Housing and Planning
Association to promote the affordable
housing aspect of the
Community Preservation Act
before the April 30 ballot vote.
“The Friends will be using
these funds to advertise the
importance of affordable housing
in Brookfield,” Friends President
William R. Simpson said in an
email to local reporters.
“Currently Brookfield does not
have a housing production plan,
which is an important tool in
managing [Chapter] 40B [affordable]
housing projects as they
come forward. The CPA will provide
dedicated funds that can be
used to create this plan and support
any other affordable housing
projects.”
Simpson said anyone with questions
on the Community
Preservation Act can call him at
(508) 867-6897, or visit the Friends’
website at www.friendsofthebrookfieldtownhall.com
or the
Community Preservation
Coalition’s website at www.communitypreservation.org.
David Dore may be reached at
(508) 909-4140, or by email at
ddore@stonebridgepress.com.
NB Animal Control to
give out dog, cat food
NORTH BROOKFIELD — North
Brookfield Animal Control has dog and cat
food available to residents that may need
assistance with their dogs and/or cats (to
include the feeding of feral cats in their
area).
If you or someone that you know needs
NEWS BRIEFS
food, please call Officer Christopher Donais
at the North Brookfield police station at (508)
867-0206 to arrange delivery or pickup.
Warren police to hold
drug take back program
WARREN — On Saturday, April 27, the
Warren Police Department will be participating
in its fourth National Take Back
Initiative.
It will take place
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Warren Fire
Department at 1012 Main St. (Route 67) will
be the drop off point for any prescription
drugs that you may want to get rid of. This is
a “no questions asked” program.
This national initiative provides an opportunity
for the public to surrender pharmaceutical
controlled substances and other
medications to law enforcement officers for
destruction. Expired, unused or unwanted
controlled substances in our homes are a
potential source of supply for the increasing
abuse of pharmaceutical drugs in the United
States and an unacceptable risk to public
health and safety. This initiative addresses a
vital public safety and public health issue.
FREELANCE
REPORTER
WANTED
Do you have a nose for news? Are you a writer at
heart? Do you love to capture the moment you’re in
with a photograph? Do you have an interest in the
goings on in Auburn, and want to get involved in your
town?
The Auburn News, your best source for weekly local
news, is looking for a hard-working, flexible freelance
reporter to cover Auburn.
Job will include writing four to six stories per week,
photography, information gathering and networking —
you will be the face of the town you cover!
Candidates must be able to work nights and weekends.
Experience in newspapers and with AP style is
desired. Residence in southern Worcester County is preferred,
but not required.
The is a freelance position and paid by the story.
Stonebridge Press is an equal opportunity employer.
So what are waiting for?
Send your résumé to Editor Adam Minor at
aminor@stonebridgepress.com,
or mail to
Auburn News,
ATTN: Editor,
P.O. Box 90,
Southbridge, MA
01550
Many Americans are not aware that medicines
that sit dormant in home cabinets are
highly susceptible to diversion, theft, misuse
and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse
in the United States are increasing at alarming
rates, as are the number of accidental
poisonings and overdoses because of these
drugs.
Studies show that a majority of abused prescription
drugs are obtained from family and
friends, including from the home medicine
cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not
know how to properly dispose of their
unused medicine, often flushing them down
the toilet or throwing them away — both
potential safety and
health hazards.
“Your active participation
and involvement
would be most
beneficial to our
mutually shared
goals of educating the
citizens of our communities
about the
dangers of prescription
drug abuse,” said
Warren Police Chief
Bruce Spiewakowski.
“Not only will the
‘Prescription Drug
Take-Back’ provide a
mechanism for individuals
to surrender
unwanted and
expired prescription
drugs, it will also
raise drug education
and awareness, thus
lowering the current
demand for these
drugs, and provide
other useful tools for
information-sharing.
Targeted groups or
individuals are people
who have expired
medications or no
longer needed prescription
drugs and
who have no safe
means of disposal. By
providing a safe
method of disposing
of unused prescription
drugs, we in law
enforcement will help
close one method in
which users obtain
drugs.”
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