2009 Annual Report.pdf - Town of Milton

REPORT OF THE WARRANT COMMITTEE
FOR THE MAY, 2009 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
As required by Chapter 3, Section 4, of the General Bylaws of the Town of
Milton, the Warrant Committee presents to Town Meeting Members and the
residents of Milton its recommendations for action on the articles that have
been submitted to the Annual Town Meeting convening on Monday, May 4,
2009.
The Warrant Committee recommends that Town Meeting vote appropriations
totaling $86,809,493 (excluding revolving funds and bond issues), of
which $3,376,104 would be contingent upon passage by the voters of a Proposition
2½ override ballot question. The Board of Assessors has advised us that,
without an override, the recommended FY10 budget will result in an increase
in the residential property tax rate from $11.74 to $12.35 per thousand. For
the average taxpayer, with a home valued at $529,533, this means a tax increase
of $323. The recommended contingent or override budget would further increase
the residential property tax rate to an estimated $13.08 per thousand, resulting
in an additional increase of $386. Thus, if the voters pass a Proposition
2½ override ballot question, the total tax increase for the average taxpayer
would be $709.
We acknowledge that the current economic downturn and inflationary pressures
present challenges for many residents and hardship for some. However,
it is our judgment that, in light of the Town’s financial condition (described
herein), the only responsible course of action for the Town’s finance committee
to take is to present Town Meeting with two budgets to deliberate. The balanced
or non-contingent budget will necessitate a significant number of
employee layoffs and reduce the level of service that is currently provided by
most departments. Thus, we recommend that Town Meeting adopt the contingent
budget, but we do not do so lightly and we are mindful of the impact that
it will have upon the Town’s taxpayers, particularly in these difficult times.
Last year we recommended that Town meeting consider a contingent
budget but Town Meeting rejected it. The contingent budget that we presented
would have required an override of approximately $2.6 million, an amount that
last year’s Warrant Committee believed to be necessary to maintain level service
for all Town departments. As a result of rejecting the contingent budget, a
non-contingent balanced budget was adopted resulting in a reduction in services.
It was hoped that some of these reductions would be restored in FY10.
Little did any of us know that we would be in the midst of the worst recession
since the Great Depression. Not only are we not able to restore services in the
FY10 budget we are not even able to maintain the reduced services that resulted
from the FY09 budget into FY10
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