Mayor Proposes 2 Percent Increase to Budget
Kevin Dumas' plan includes higher costs for water and trash services.
Attleboro residents would see no reduction in city services, but have to pay more for trash pick-up and water in Mayor Kevin Dumas' $125.7 million spending plan for fiscal year 2012-13, which begins July 1.
Dumas presented the proposed municipal budgets to the City Council during a rare Friday evening meeting. The proposal includes $110.2 million for the general government budget (2.11 percent increase from 2011-12), $6.3 million for water service (2.32 percent decrease) and $9.2 million for wastewater service (2.38 percent decrease).
Dumas' plan calls for the cost of annual trash service to go up $5.68 and for a a 50-cent hike on bag fees. This would be the first increase in four years. Dumas told the council it was needed because of "contractual increases and tonnage requirements."
To maintain a balanced budget, Dumas proposed an increase in the water fee by 26 cents per 100 cubic feet. No cost change was planned for wastewater service.
Dumas said he was proud city services would not be reduced.
"This [general government] budget not only maintains the critical services of public safety, but also continues to provide the quality of life enhancements that many other municipalities have been forced to go without," Dumas said.
A public hearing on the budgets will take place June 19.
Attleboro-Seekonk Patch will attach the proposed budgets and related documents to this article later today.
Heather
8:15 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
As if we already don't pay enough, first the tax increase and now this!
Jonathan Friedman
3:17 am on Sunday, June 3, 2012
I have added the proposed budgets and a document containing an analysis of the water and wastewater department enterprise funds as attachments to this article. Since these are long documents with lots of numbers, some tiny fonts were used. I recommend clicking the "zoom in" feature when reading (click the magnifying glass with a plus sign in the middle, located right below the document). If you have any problems reading the documents, send me an email or give me a call.
Jerry Chase
11:30 am on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Note that the infamous "Indirect Costs" in both water and wastewater (sewer) are about 14% of their entire budgets. This is too high. "Indirect Costs" are a means,
an accounting sleight-of-hand, to charge certain expenses---some dubious---to the
water and/or wastewater accounts. Because these two 'enterprise' accounts are
NOT limited by the Prop. 2 1/2 law, such accounting transfers create more room in the regular general fund budget for more spending. It's the ol' "monkey and the shell game". How can we fool 'em again today?
I don't believe that there can be any justification for Indirect Costs to be more than
11% (tops) of the total enterprise account budgets. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the Council will not address this. For some city councilors, it's a matter of sacrosanct faith!
G. F. Chase, former councilor