Credit Default Swaps and the collapse of credit

Some comments here have put the onus for the current banking and credit crisis on bad mortgages given to poor people or Barney Frank. The real cause of the crisis was the extensive use of an unregulated insurance-like financial derivative called a credit default swap. The best explanation I have come across is in this three part series from Money Morning. (Part 1, part 2, part3) The extensive use ...

of these instruments lead many to predict that they would be the downfall of the financial markets this spring when the extent of the subprime loan crisis became apparent. An explanation of how the subprime scam worked can be found (Warning-this link contains crude language)here . See here, here and here for articles which predicted or explain why this crisis occurred.
Click here to read on!

VFW fundraiser for Mid East soldiers

The VFW is raising money to buy phone cards according to this Standard Times story. Here are the details.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9059 is conducting a drive to raise funds to purchase phone cards to be sent to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Donations may be mailed to or dropped off at the post, 144 Cross Road, Dartmouth, MA 02740. The deadline for donations, which will be used solely for the purchase of phone cards, is Nov. 9. For details, call (508) 996-9599.

Contribute if you can. The Standard Times also ran this story today about a unit (the 772nd Military Police company) being deployed to Iraq.
Click here to read on!

State cuts community policing grants

Charis Anderson of the Standard Times has an article up here about cuts to local community policing grants due to the Commonwealth's fiscal troubles. The Dartmouth PD stands to lose $8,500 of a nearly $36,000 grant. The programs ...

... listed in the article include,

the UMass Dartmouth off-campus housing program, alcohol and tobacco enforcement, the after-prom party at Dartmouth High School and underaged drinking programs

Click here to read on!

Are our income tax systems unfair?

Our country has a progressive income tax on earnings and has had such a system since that federal tax's inception in 1913. A progressive tax means that that the tax rate is different and higher for those who earn more. Until recently, I thought that this arrangement was generally accepted across a wide range of the populace (most surveys show upwards of 80% support it). Lately, it seems that this concept of a progressive tax which has its roots with Adam Smith, one of the founders of capitalist theory, is being portrayed as unAmerican. But Smith himself ...

... wrote in Wealth of Nations,

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

Small business owners are often cited as being hurt by our progressive tax. But is it really unfair to those small businesses? Or for that matter, large businesses or individuals. Remember that Smith wrote his support of progressive tax at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution before the growth of wide areas of public infrastructure or even public education that supports business and residents. I'd like to have your comments.
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Are US corporate tax rates burdensome?

There has been quite a lot of talk in the national arena about taxes and whether or not they are very high for corporations in this country. This article suggests that they are lower on average than taxes paid by 19 other countries who are in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD). The average tax paid by US corporations is 13.4% while ...

...the average for OECD members was 16.1%. This study by the World Bank and PriceWaterhouse places the US at 76 out of 138 countries in terms of percentage of corporate profits which go to pay taxes. So it seems that our tax rate is not onerous nor is the percentage taxed compared to profit higher than most developed countries. Click here to read on!

Representative Frank proposes Pentagon cuts

After Downing Street website has a posting about a recent interview of Representative Frank. The post is about cutting the Defense Budget and includes this,

Frank told the editorial board of the Standard-Times that "the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay. The military cuts also mean getting out of Iraq sooner, he said." Frank told the Politico that "the Pentagon is probably the most wasteful organization in the federal government and people have given it a pass for years."

I am glad to see someone speak on this...

... since I think our defense spending is obscenely bloated. To get an idea of what we are sacrificing in order to deploy a missile defense system that doesn't work or to have nuclear submarines loaded with nuclear weapons, watch this video. The numbers are a bit out of date. The last Defense Spending bill was $651 billion. At the same time, our national debt has exploded as can be seen on this chart.


And of course that doesn't include the hundreds of billions just appropriated to bail out Wall Street.
Kudos to Mr. Frank for venturing to address the issue of runaway defense spending. President Eisenhower warned against the military industrial complex and we as a nation have not heeded his warning. I'm sure that some will point to a dangerous world but watch the video, we are way out of line in that regard.

Click here to read on!

Dartmouth Heating Assistance programs

Resources in Dartmouth for fuel assistance, weatherization and heating system service can be found at this link. Select Dartmouth in the pull down box at the top of the page. The information is on the Massachusetts Dept Of Housing And Community Development webpage. Click here to read on!

Town Website improving

I have been quite critical of our town website in the past and I am happy to report that it is improving markedly. You can get a lot more information and in a more timely manner than just a few months ago. This is a welcome change. I hope to see the site become increasingly useful and ...

... see more and more of the town's business conducted, recorded, and made available for review through the site.
Currently the format is a bit clunky and information is sometimes easy to overlook. An example is the Bulletin Board page where if you scroll down below the weather gadget, you find a list of available information. Looking at the top part of the page, there is no indication that there is more to the page if you scroll down.
Some sort of site search function would be nice and a few of the links to bylaws are broken. The bylaw links are also in MS Word format and it would be nice if they were in a format which offers a free reader such as Adobe PDF.
Still progress is being made and kudos for that. Any site of any size will have some problems and that is expected and others may like what I don't as a matter of preference. All in all, a good and encouraging start.
Click here to read on!

Complete Results of Fall Town Meeting

The following is a list of the voting results from the Town Meeting on Oct 21, 2009. The full warrant for the wording of each article can be found here. These are not official results. The Town Clerk has the official results.

*_ARTICLE 1:_DEED IN LIEU OF FORECLOSURE – PROPERTY LOCATED ON GARDEN STREET Approved

*_ARTICLE 2:_* DEED IN LIEU OF FORECLOSURE – PROPERTY LOCATED ON ARNOLD STREET Approved

*_ARTICLE 3_* UTILITY EASEMENT/DPW * Approved

*_ARTICLE 4_* EASEMENTS AND LAND/ DARTMOUTH STREET PROJECT * Approved

*_ARTICLE 5* PROMOTION IN POLICE DEPARTMENT* Approved

*_ ARTICLE 6 _*:AMENDMENT TO DARTMOUTH WATER REGULATIONS* Approved

*_ARTICLE 7:_*AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 60 SECTION 15 –DEMAND FEES* Approved

*_ARTICLE 8_**: LEASING OF FACILITIES (Vacant School Buildings) Approved

*_ARTICLE 9_**: ZONING BY-LAWS/AMENDMENT TO SECTION 16.101 OFF-STREET
PARKING REGULATIONS* Approved


*_ARTICLE 10_**HOME RULE PETITION FOR THE CREATION OF THE
LINCOLN PARK INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING DISTRICT* Amended to state that property owned by the district is taxable and that the town will not accept any infrastructure created within the park. Approved, Motion to postpone indefinitely failed

*_ARTICLE 11:_* *AUTHORIZATION TO SELL SCHOFIELD FARM* Approved

*_ARTICLE 12: _**GRANTING OF EASEMENT MOSHER LANE* Withdrawn

*_ARTICLE 13_**: SEWER ENTERPRISE FUND RETAINED EARNINGS/SUPPLEMENTING FY 2009 WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BUDGET* Approved

*_ARTICLE 14_*: WATER ENTERPRISE FUND RETAINED EARNINGS/SUPPLEMENTING FY 2009 WATER DIVISION OPERATIONAL BUDGET* Approved

*_ARTICLE 15_** LINE ITEM TRANSFERS/SEWER ENTERPRISE FUND * Approved

*_ARTICLE 16_**: WATER ENTERPRISE FUND__(Court Judgment for $625,000 for land taking)* Approved

*_ARTICLE 17: _ PRIOR YEAR INVOICES* Approved

*_ARTICLE 18:_**DARTMOUTH TOWN EMPLOYEES CONTRACT AND NON-UNION EMPLOYEE SETTLEMENT FY08* Approved

*_ARTICLE 19:_** POLICE CONTRACT SETTLEMENT FY08* Approved

*_ARTICLE 20:_** *LINE ITEM TRANSFERS/SUPPLEMENT TO SCHEDULE A Approved

*_ARTICLE 21:_**LINE ITEM TRANSFERS/SUPPLEMENT TO SCHEDULE A Approved

*_ARTICLE 22: _**FUNDING OF READING LITERACY AND TEXTBOOKS – SCHOOLS Approved

*_ARTICLE 23:_ APPROPRIATION TO STABILIZATION FUND - CHAPTER 40 SEC. 5B Approved, Motion to amend to provide $125K for Middle school lockers failed

*_ARTICLE 24: _**COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT * (debt service payment) Approved

_ARTICLE 25 ¬¬_*COMMUNITY PRESERVATION – DARTMOUTH PRIDE EQUITY BUILDER PROGRAM/FIRST TIME BUYERS Approved, Motion to amend amount to $100K failed

*_ARTICLE 26:_** COMMUNITY PRESERVATION – PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO DEVELOP AFFORDABLE HOUSING AT DARTMOUTH HOUSING AUTHORITY AND FORMER MASSACHUSETTS POLICE BARRACKS Approved

*_ARTICLE 27_**: COMMUNITY PRESERVATION –AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 21 OF THE SPRING ANNUAL TOWN MEETING HELD IN 2005 Approved

*_ARTICLE 28:_**COMMUNITY PRESERVATION – ACQUISTION OF FORMER STATE POLICE BARRACKS Postponed to Spring 09 Town Meeting, Motion to postpone carried

*_ARTICLE 29:_**COMMUNITY PRESERVATION – PRESERVATION OF THE AKIN HOUSE Approved

*_ARTICLE 30:_**COMMUNITY PRESERVATION –ACQUISTION OF CORNELL FARM Approved

*_ARTICLE 31:_ COMMUNITY PRESERVATION –ACQUISTION OF LAND AND BUILDINGS ON RUSSELLS MILLS ROAD* (Paskamansett River park) Approved, This article was Not Recommended by the Finance Committee but approved by TM

*_ARTICLE 32_**: COMMUNITY PRESERVATION – GENERAL BY-LAWS—AMENDMENT TO MEMBERSHIP Approved

I was surprised that the Police Barracks funding was postponed and that the Russell's Mills road funding was approved. What do you think about the Town Meeting results?

Click here to read on!

Not sure what to make if this?

Some, but not all, members of the Town Meeting received a postcard without a name and signature or return address. The card said,

Dear town meeting member,

As you know, the Dartmouth fall town meeting is upon us. This letter asks for your attendance at the meeting. The town meeting is public and any citizen can attend. The votes on town policy at the town meeting will not be secret, and your fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends will know how you voted due to the public nature of the town meeting.
Because it is important to communicate how you vote to your fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends, I plan to attend the meeting and record your position on the votes taken at the October meeting. Even if the votes are controversial, I will publicize these votes. Following the meeting, I intend to mail your vote positions to all citizens in the town of Dartmouth. However, if you are unable to attend the town meeting, I will not publicize your vote positions to your fellow citizens as you will not take any public positions. I hope you can attend so that your neighbors, friends, and family will know exactly how you voted.

Sincerely,
A concerned citizen

The bold and italics are in the original. I don't know what...


...to think about this postcard. The wording is a bit odd and vaguely threatening as I read it. After stating that your vote will be recorded and publicized, what is the "if you are unable to attend" statement supposed to convey. Maybe I just need another layer of tin foil in my hat. Of course, Town Meeting members are your friends and neighbors. If you would like to find out who they are, look here on the town website. I have not found any members to be shy about their positions, our votes are taken by show of hands. There is no secrecy involved in the process. As the postcard notes, anyone can attend and observe the proceedings and they are televised on DCTV Channel 18. Why do you think someone felt it necessary to write to some members with this anonymous card? Click here to read on!

Town Meeting union contract votes

I see that I am quoted in this article in the Standard Times this morning and while the quote is accurate, I think it does not capture all of what I said in regard to these increases. The pay raises for the Dartmouth Town Employees Association and the Police Brotherhood cover the last fiscal year, FY08, when they worked without a contract and this one, FY09. Other town unions have contracts which are in force and give them pay increases (most are getting 3%). These two unions agreed to 2% increases for the last year and this one. The objective that the town was trying to reach was to have all the union contracts up for renewal at the same time, July 1, 2009. These agreements get us there.
I completely agree with ...


... Mr. Lynam's comments last night at the Town Meeting that we don't have the money to pay for these increases going forward (But we do have the money for last year and this one) and that we do not have a plan on how we are going to deal with our shortfalls in the future. I have written on this blog many times about our need for a comprehensive plan. Here ,here, here, and here for example. These contracts add to the problem but are not the only ones that do so. Other bargaining units are, as I said, getting larger increases over the same period. I think it fair and equitable that these employees, who agreed to a lower increase than others are currently receiving, get at least some increase as well.
Now for the bad news! There is no way the town can pay for similar increases or even these current ones going forward. There is no disagreement on that from the Select Board, Budget Director, Finance Committee, or others who have looked at the fiscal numbers. What I said at the Town Meeting and I am saying now is that next year, our town will have to make some substantial changes. Either we need fewer employees or we need for those employees to get less in pay and benefits, or we need an operational override. It is a complete failure of planning that has gotten us to this point and a continuing failure that we do not have a plan for next year and the next five years. I would like to see such a plan put forward and will continue to agitate for that. I am tired of having the same crisis year after year as I am sure most residents are. We need a plan for next year and our town administrators are the ones who must provide that plan. What are your thoughts? Click here to read on!

Town Meeting to vote on pay raises

Curt Brown has a story here on the Standard Times website about the Town Meeting Warrant articles to settle union contracts with ...

... the Dartmouth Town Employees union and the Dartmouth Police Brotherhood. The contracts cover FY08 and FY09. The town is currently in FY09. Both bargaining units worked without a contract in FY08.
Click here to read on!

Southworth Library to host ballot forum

The S-T has an article here about a forum to be held at the Southworth Library on the three state wide ballot initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot. The forum will be at 7PM on Oct 28th. You can also find information ...

...on the library website here.
Click here to read on!

Akin House tours this weekend

Peggi Medeiros emailed me and asked me to link to this article about the Akin House in the S-T about the open house this weekend. And this article in the Chronicle about the history associated with the Akin House. She also said

I've been working on Akin since 2002 (long before WHALE bought it) first while at WHALE and now with the Dartmouth Heritage Preservation Trust. This house matters to all of us. The foundations and interior supports (or lack of them) are truly an emergency. ...

CPA was voted in to support exactly this type of preservation project. 10% is budgeted for preservation. No other preservation projects are proposed. This one will have real concrete
results.
I hope you'll stop in this week end and support us at town meeting.

Sincerely,
Peggi Medeiros
Clerk
Dartmouth Heritage Preservation Trust

I do support the warrant article to preserve the Akin House. While I think that the house is not architecturally significant(my opinion, others disagree), the house does have historical significance as a window into the colonial period, our war with the English king, and the early years of our town and nation. Hope to see all of you at the tour.

Click here to read on!

Lincoln Park warrant article

I took the opportunity today to visit the Town Clerk and get a copy of a summary of the draft legislation mentioned in Article 10 of the Town Meeting Warrant. This article concerns special legislation to create a quasi-governmental body to build , own and operate infrastructure in the Lincoln Park development. The bullet labeled 7, in the warrant article says,

A summary of the proposed legislation, including the boundaries defining this district, is available at the office of the Town Clerk;

I found a couple of issues to which I take exception ...

...in that draft legislation. The first is that the property and income owned by the newly created district, if approved would be exempt from taxes. Here is the wording from the draft statute

TAXATION OF THE DISTRICT AND ITS PROPERTIES
The District, its improvements, and all its receipts, revenues, income and real and
personal property (owned by the District itself) shall be exempt from taxation and from betterments and assessments and the district shall not be required to pay any tax, excise or assessment to or from the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions. Bonds or notes issued by the District and their transfer and their interest or income, including any profit on the sale thereof, shall at all times be exempt from taxation within the commonwealth. Nothing in this Act shall limit or restrict the ability of the Commonwealth or the Town to tax the residents and businesses located in the District or their real or personal property located therein.

The second thing that caught my attention was the sunset provision of the proposed law which says

TERMINATION OF THE DISTRICT
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the District shall terminate upon the
expiration of 40 years from the date of the District’s establishment, provided that all of the District’s bonds, notes and other obligations have been paid or satisfied.
The Dartmouth Town Meeting may by majority vote extend the term of the district for
such fixed number of years as it shall determine appropriate. Upon such termination, all of the property of the District shall be deemed transferred to the town.

The Select Board met in a working session today and the Board will offer an amendment to the proposed Town Meeting article which spells out that the property and income of the District will be taxable and that the District shall forever be responsible for the maintaining the infrastructure of the District as is required by the bylaw establishing the Lincoln Park Smart Growth Overlay District (LPSGOD). The amendment will be offered from the floor of the Town Meeting. The amended article can be found at this link. The amendment language that says the district, not the town, must forever own and maintain the infrastructure has not yet been formulated but will be included at the Town Meeting.
Click here to read on!

Today is the last day to register before Nov

Today is the last day that you can register to vote and still be eligible to vote on the November 4 election in Massachusetts. Go sign up if you are not registered!

Thanks :^)
Click here to read on!

Finance Committee Warrant Recommendations Fall 08

The Finance Committee have voted their recommendations on the warrant articles for the Fall Town Meeting. You can find the recommendations here . A few quick notes on the format. The article name is listed ...

... but not the text. If you are not familiar with the articles, look at the warrant first. The article number and title is followed by the Finance Committee vote to recommend (R) or do not recommend (DNR)the article. RFF means recommend from floor of the meeting. The rationale for recommendation follows the vote tally and following that is a staement from those who disagreed with the majority vote and is entitled Minority Opinion. The names of those in the minority follow the opinion.
Discussion ensues in comments I hope. Let us know what you think
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Mr. Frank on the financial crisis and bailout

I had written to our Representative in Congress, Mr. Frank, who is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. As you can surmise, he has been pretty busy in the past couple weeks, but ...

...he has responded with a lengthy, but very informative letter. I have posted the letter here. Those of you how are interested in the why and how $700 billion of your tax dollars got sent to the financial services companies can read it. As always leave your comments.
Click here to read on!

ACORN and voter fraud

There seems to be a concerted effort to attack community organizers and one group, ACORN-the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in particular. I think it is sad that so few of our citizens vote and any work done to increase voting is beneficial in my book. As Josh Marshall points out in this post on his blog,...

...

ACORN registers lots of lower income and/or minority voters. They operate all across the country and do a lot of things beside voter registration. What's key to understand is their method. By and large they do not rely on volunteers to register voters. They hire people -- often people with low incomes or even the unemployed. This has the dual effect of not only registering people but also providing some work and income for people who are out of work. But because a lot of these people are doing it for the money, inevitably, a few of them cut corners or even cheat. So someone will end up filling out cards for non-existent names and some of those slip through ACORN's own efforts to catch errors.

I think that it is worth noting that it is against the law not to turn in a voter registration after collecting it, even if you believe that the registration is no good. If that was not the case, political parties would collect a bunch, throw away the registrations from the other party, and those people, who thought they had registered, would be turned away at the polls. Read Josh's post or this one at Tapped as to why registration fraud does not usually have anything to do with vote fraud. This whole vote fraud frenzy is a solution in search of a problem. There is just not any evidence that widespread vote fraud is occurring.
Anyway, I don't get the demonization of this benign, progressive group. These people are just citizens who are working to help their communities. They are your friends and neighbors.
It seems that ACORN are going to join Move On as the whipping boys for Rush Limbaugh and the hysterical right wingers. As I said, I don't get the vitriol about ACORN or Move On. They represent a large portion of the public. What's the problem?
Click here to read on!

DPW leaf collection

From the Standard Times, here is a link to the DPW leaf collection times. In addition to the dates, the article states,

Leaves, grass clippings and dead plants must be placed in biodegradable paper bags or, if left in barrels or corrugated boxes, these containers will be emptied and left at the curb.

Leaves, grass clippings and dead plants in regular plastic or paper bags, or left with regular household trash, will not be picked up

.

And here is a link to a letter to the editor on the pay as you throw bags
Click here to read on!

More talk of state budget cutbacks

Local aid would be a last resort for state budget cuts according to state House Speaker DiMasi in this S-T article Still the speaker could not rule out the possibility. This is very bad news for cities and towns who are struggling with budgets. The cuts would be made to ...
...money which the state had given for this year's (FY09) budget. The cities and towns have already assigned the funds and would need to go back and make changes to budgets adopted this spring. In Dartmouth, the Town Meeting is the appropriating authority, so a special Town Meeting might be needed.

Click here to read on!

Fall Town Meeting Warrant

The Fall Town Meeting Warrant is available at this link. If you have any questions about the article, let me know. You can leave ...

...them in comments or email me at pokanoketlax@hotmail.com. As always let us know what you think.
Click here to read on!

Lincoln Park development in the news

Curt Brown has a post on his blog about the Lincoln Park development. I have to admit that I am skeptical of the ability to sell bonds for this project even ...

... if they are approved to do so. The effects of this financial market crisis are far reaching and may last some time. Even the state of California can't get a loan.
UPDATE
I see Curt has written another article on this as well. Here's the link
Click here to read on!

Town Meeting Warrant finalized

I received a final copy of the Fall Town Meeting warrant at the Select Board meeting last night. I am trying to get an electronic copy which I will post to this site...

Check back here for updates.
Click here to read on!

Community Preservation projects go to Town Meeting

Daniel King of the Chronicle has an article about the Community Preservation Comittee's (CPC) recommendations to the Town Meeting on funding of open space, recreation and historic preservation projects, link here. Projects getting a nod from the CPC include ...

...the Cornell Farm purchase ($750K), the purchase of property on the south west bank of the Paskamansett River where it flows under Russells Mills Road ($325K), the purchase of the former State Police barracks on Route 6 ($350K), the stabilization and rehab of the Akin House on Dartmouth Street ($195K), a proposal to offer first-time home buyers assistance with both down payments and closing costs on affordable housing properties ($200K), and $20,000 for a consultant to review affordable housing projects. All told the projects come to $1.84 million. That amount nearly exhausts the available funds and reserves for the CPC. I think that the town meeting would be well advised to pass on a couple of these projects and retain some reserves in that account. I don't really have a preference for which ones get delayed or nixed except for the Cornell Farm which I think should be funded as a first priority. What are your thoughts? Tell us in comments.
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Pothole funds grant

There seems to have been some confusion over the so called pothole grant funds which were recently awarded by the state. Phil Lenz has the definitive answers to most questions here on his blog. I have stated that the money is for the schools and by that...

... I mean it is intended for the schools. Phil says,

Doesn't the money need to go towards education?
Technically, no, it can be used for anything however the spirit of the grant is to be used for education or educationally related purposes.

Bold emphasis mine. That is a correct intrepretation of the grant and it's use.
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Town supervisory employees seek union

The town's management and supervisory personnel have asked the state to be allowed to form a collective bargaining unit. The positions covered by the new union would be Town Collector, Town Accountant, Veterans Agent, Planning Director, Youth Advocate, Director of Inspection Services, Harbormaster,...

...Director of Assessing, Municipal Paralegal, Conservation Agent, Park Director, IT Manager, Director of Public Health, Council on Aging, Office Manager Conf. Secretary, two police captains and three DPW supervisors. The filing lists the United Steel Workers as the petitioner.
The Massachusetts General Law(MGL) regarding collective bargaining can be found here, MGL Chapter 150E. The town has asked Mr. Greenspan, who was hired as a labor negotiator, for an opinion on the application.
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Governor to cut spending

Governor Patrick has announced that the state must take wide ranging action to reduce spending due to lower than expected tax receipts. The State House News Service reports,

Patrick formally announced that in response to a softening economy, a broad spectrum of state entities will cut spending at his request. In addition, Patrick plans in mid-October to unilaterally cut state spending accounts.

The Governor issued a press release detailing ...

...his 5 point plan to cut spending and provide more permanent reforms.
This announcement is bad news for cities and towns as some of the promised state aid which has already been budgeted may not materialize.
Part of the Governor's plan is to reform pension and health care costs. Those costs are also burdensome at the municipal level. Let's hope that the reforms are extended to provide relief on pensions and health care to the cities and towns as well.
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Town-DTEA reach agreement

The Dartmouth Town Employees Association and the town have reached agreement on a contract for FY08 and FY09. Town Meeting must agree to fund the contract terms before it takes effect. It will be voted at the Fall Town Meeting in October. The employees had been without at contract last year and ...

...will receive a settlement for FY08 and an increase for FY09 if the Town Meeting approves. A 2% increase has been set for both years. The contract expires on June 30, 2009 at the same time as most other contracts with other town employees. The town has been working to align the termination of town labor contracts and this is the final piece of that puzzle.
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Mosher Lane easement

I have had a couple of questions about the warrant article on the Mosher Lane easement. I have put a couple of files up here and here so that residents can take ...

...a look at the plan. Let me know in comments if you have more questions. The town's interest in Mosher Lane is not settled. The town has taken ownership of the cemetery although it does not appear the cemetery has ever been deeded to the town. Mosher Lane is an ancient way and has never been taken by the town as a public way. This article seeks to have the town allow use of tte way as a precaution against future claims. Bank Five, the owner of the abutting property would grant a right to pass and repass on the way even after the easement is granted, if the Town Meeting does so.
Click here to read on!

Dartmouth Power expansion hearing 10/1

The Zoning Board of Appeals and Select Board will hold a joint session tonight at 7PM in the room 304 of the Town Hall to consider an application by Dartmouth Power to expand their generating facility located off Old Fall River Road. The proposed expansion is ...

... a gas turbine generator which will be used for reserve capacity peaking service. That means the generator would only be operated when demand was high or other generating facilities were not available. The plant will be built on land owned by the current facility.
You can learn more about the electrical energy market in New England at the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO New England)here.
UPDATE -After the hearing
The hearing was continued to Nov 5th with no decision being taken last evening
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Town to get $300,000 for schools

The Standard Times reports today here that our state rep, Mr. Quinn, has secured $300,000 in "pothole" funds for the Dartmouth schools. The one time payment was obtained from language added to a state Education department funding bill. In the S-T article, Select Board Chairman, Joe Michaud, suggests the money be ...

...applied to our regional voc-tech assessment. I would rather see that funds used for upgrading technology in the schools. Of course, the School Committee and administration are the only ones can direct how it is spent. That is true of all school appropriations. I think that spending it on our Voke assessment goes against the policy that has been adopted, as recommnended by the state Department of Revenue, against using one time revenue to fund operating budgets. Where would you like to see the money used? Leave us your thoughts in comments.
Click here to read on!