2009 Annual Report.pdf - Town of Milton

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN
To the Citizens of Milton:
The makeup of the Board of Selectmen remained Kathryn A. Fagan, Marion
V. McEttrick and John Michael Shields in Fiscal Year 2009. John Michael
Shields was re-elected to a three year term in April, 2009. On May 1, 2009 the
Board elected John Michael Shields to serve as Chair, Marion V. McEttrick to
serve as Secretary.
Fiscal challenges continued to dominate most of the Board’s time in this fiscal
year. A sluggish national economy turned into a deep recession, causing a
rise in unemployment and an increase in foreclosures on an unparalleled level.
Milton was not immune from these national problems.
A remarkable dip in state receipts led to over a million dollars in reductions
in local aid during the fiscal year.
The Board of Selectmen took a pro-active approach to what amounted to a
crisis. Department heads and management personnel were asked not to take
pay raises. A hiring freeze was put into effect. Overtime spending was monitored.
At the Annual Town Meeting in May, the Board joined with the Warrant
Committee and the School Committee to ask Town Meeting to support a 3.4
million dollar Proposition 2 1/2 operating override. The Board felt strongly
that to maintain a quality of life that all Milton residents expect, in light of State
cut- backs to local aid, a tax increase was necessary. The Town Meeting agreed,
and the voters subsequently concurred, with a positive override election vote.
The Board is aware that raising taxes in the middle of a deep recession is
not something to take lightly. We are extremely grateful to the people who voted
for the override to keep services level with past years. We also are cognizant of
the fact that some are dealing with individual crisis’ with household finances
due to current circumstances.
Additionally, the Board called for two additional Special Town Meetings in
this fiscal year with Warrant Articles for further budget reductions to respond
to budget shortfalls. One was in October 20, 2008, another on February 23,
2009. We continue to work with our legislators, our colleagues on other Boards
and Committees, and our professional management team to provide the services
that people expect in Milton, even with these challenges.
COMPARATIVE TAXATION LEVELS
It is interesting to note where Milton ranks compared to other, similar communities.
The following tabulation is from 1990 through 2009. Zero is the high-
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