Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Property tax increase

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Hi All:

Just found this on the internet:

http://westroxbury.patch.com/a…

The City of Boston is raising property tax rates by the maximum of two and half percent for the coming year. The current school budget is actually a decrease from last year. What will this increase in revenue be spent on?

I fear that it will be spent to add more extraneous jobs to the City of Boston payroll while students and schools go without.

Furthermore, how much extra does the City of Boston spend above the minimum guideline set by the Commonwealth? I bet you that Newton spends more of their own money to educate their children than we do.

Respectfully Submitted,

Sincerely,

Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.

Roslindale

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  1. Boston has already cut quite a number of jobs during the recession, so why do you think that they are going to create “extraneous jobs” now?

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    p>I have no idea whether Newton spends more of “its own money” (whatever that means) on education than Boston, but why do you think that Newton and Boston are especially comparable? Boston and Newton are very different in their mix of business/industrial/residential property and in their demographics.

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    p>Of course, if you had actually read the article that you link to, you would see that the increase is to make up for a drop in revenue from other sources(mostly from state aid), and not to pay for new spending.

  2. Rather than throw out insinuations…why not check the facts?  It’s all on the DOE website.  So here’s the thing – Boston spent 40M extra over NSS in 2010, despite this very challenging economy, about 5.6%.  And yes, Boston does get more Chapter 70 state aid than Newton does….it has a far greater school population and far more challenges – more special ed, more ESL, more poverty..than Newton.  

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    p>But Newton, your poster child (for what exactly – municipal responsibility?), is the city that spent millions on their high school, that altar to excess.  This project started at $39 M and ended up at $197M, and initially, had a reimbursement rate of 60% by the state. Not sure what the final total was.  

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    p>http://www.wickedlocal.com/new…

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    p>I get that you’re upset about a reduction in the school budget, but they are consolidating schools which should allow for more efficiency.  

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    p>  

  3. Rather than simply downrating comments that contradict the point you are trying to make, why don’t you actually respond? I especially don’t understand why you would rate Justice4All’s comment as “worthless” when it has much more factual content than your own post. That is just childish of you.

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    p>I understand why you might be upset about tax increases combined with the proposed closing of your child’s school, but I don’t think that promoting an imaginary explanation for the tax increase accomplishes anything.

  4. Now that I am at home and not on a break at my real job, I will respond.

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    p>There are presently over 16,000 City of Boston employees whose total compensation is $200 million greater than the budget for the Boston Public Schools.

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    p>If the City of Boston eliminated two thousand of the eight thousand jobs created after the end of the Flynn administration, there would be more than sufficient funds for schools.

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    p>If each job costs an average of sixty thousand dollars in payroll, administration and benefits then eliminating 2,000 jobs would create one hundred and twenty million dollars that could be used to expand programs and keep schools open. The remainder could be used for renewable energy projects across the city and stop the closure of our public libraries.

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    p>Not to mention that the City of Boston has sixty five million dollars in its’ “Rainy Day Fund”.

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    p>Sincerely,
    Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
    Roslindale

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    p>P.S. Newton spent about 35 percent over NSS for their students.

    • Dude…you seem to like your math simple and your posts unlinked.  Link it up, Waynzo – or ya got nuttin, honey.  And while you’re all about adding 2000 people to the unemployment line, perhaps you can expand on the allegedly extraneous employees?  Who are they and where do they work?  While we’re at it…how about this?  Let’s look at comparison stats for the 18 years since Mayor Flynn became the Ambassador to the Vatican in 1993.

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      p>Crime (and # of police)- between 1993 (when Mayor Flynn left to become an Ambassador) and now?
      Fire (and # of firefighters) – between 1993 and 2010.
      Teachers – between 1993 and 2010.
      Education Administrators – between 1993 and 2010
      Population
      % Fed Lunch Program
      % ESL
      % Special Ed
      Public works employees vs. services – 1993-2010

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      p>In a categories all by themselves:
      Local aid to Boston, 2005-2010?
      Foreclosure rates?

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      p>And how about some comparative stats Boston v. Newton?

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      p>Equalitive Value per Capita 2010 (hint: Newton’s is about $100K higher – that’s huge – big old tax pockets there!) $164,351 vs. $266,194.
      Unemployment Rate 8% v. 5.7%
      Avg single family tax bill (Newton’s is $8,592)Boston provides a owner occupied rate, so it’s harder to calculate the average, yet a benefit that Newton doesn’t provide.
      Avg single family assessment: Newton: $788,246

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      p>The point I’m making, Wayne…is that the issues aren’t simple, the math is challenging, and decision and policy making is far from the cherries and watermelons analogies that you offer up.  Just for the record – I’m never a fan of closing schools…but I do know that waiting for a fiscal Armageddon is never a good idea either.

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      p>  

    • Exactly whose jobs should be eliminated? You do of course realize that many jobs have been cut in the last couple of years. The schools probably make up the single biggest part of the budget, why should they be exempt from cuts? Do you really think the city should blow its entire rainy day fund on this?
      Is it really all that important to keep library branches open when hardly anyone uses them?

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      p>No doubt there are rational proposals for other ways the city could balance its budget, but it seems that you are just making a new-jerk argument that the programs you care about shouldn’t be cut at all and instead some arbitrary 2000 workers should be dumped on the unemployment line.

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      p>PS. If you think Newton is so great, perhaps you should just move there.

  5. It is not easy for Boston to cry poor mouth with a reserve of $65 million. And Boston has much more revenue than Newton in commercial property tax. The rate that Newton pays for residential property is much higher, but it is offset by the number of properties in Boston.

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    p>And why you ask for the amount paid for school services is beyond me, it is all included in the school budget.

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    p>Sincerely,
    Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
    Roslindale

    • You can’t look at a rainy day fund in a vacuum. You have to look at it as a percentage of total budget. Boston’s total budgeted revenue is $2,447,610,107. $65 million comes to 2.7% of revenues. That’s not a lot — it should be 10% in good times, particularly for a city that gets so much state aid, since state aid is a revenue component that frequently goes down without much notice whereas property taxes almost always go up.  

    • Are you talking about the Reserve Fund for unanticipated expenditures that is required by law to be 2.5% of the prior year’s appropriations for all City departments?

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      p>This was 27.5 million as of 6/30/2009

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      p>Or are you talking about the Budgetary Fund Balance or “Free Cash” which stood at $139 million at 3/10?

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      p>$45 million of that balance was appropriated in the FY11 budget, $35 million of which went towards funding the OPEB liability that is over $5 billion!

  6. Even if the “Rainy Day fund” is $35 million, why shutter nine schools with an estimated savings of less than twenty million? The teachers and students at the schools in jeopardy would say it is pouring.

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    p>To the Boston City Council, have some intestinal fortitude and reject the upcoming budget proposal by Mayor Menino. There are many students and parents that will be very thankful.

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    p>Sincerely,
    Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
    Roslindale

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    p>P.S. A special thank you to Councilor Yancey who has stated his intention to vote against the Mayor’s budget on behalf of the school communities that would be destroyed by it.

  7. <

    p>First, you make the following statement

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    p>

    I bet you that Newton spends more of their own money to educate their children than we do.

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    p>Would love to take that bet.  MA DESE has great information on spending per pupil and provides how much comes from the general fund versus other sources.  Looking at the information for Newton and Boston and you see that in FY09 that Newton and Boston both contributed 87.4% to their total education costs from their general fund.

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    p>The link to MA DESE is here – http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/s…  I think it is a great website if you want to see what is being spent in great detail.

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    p>Then you wonder where all the money goes:

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    p>How about personnel costs including salaries and benefits including HEALTH CARE.

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    p>From the FY11 Boston budget (Summary Section): (The whole budget can be found here http://www.cityofboston.gov/bu…

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    p>

    In FY11, the City will spend almost $300 million in health insurance premiums for city employees and retirees – over 12% of the total City budget.

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    p>The Mayor and his staff have put forward a number of suggested changes throughout the budget that would help save 10’s of millions annually for Boston.  Unfortunately, they need the approval of unions for some and the MA Legislature for others and neither seems willing to move on the proposals at this time.

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    p>So Wayne, that’s what I could find, with links, in less than 15 minutes.  So rather than complain and throw out accusations, do a little research, provide some links and make a better argument.  

  8. 404 Not FoundSorry, you have reached a nonexistent page on the City of Boston’s webserver. Please try one of the following:
    Verify that the web address (URL) entered above is correct
    (typing error? obsolete Favorites or bookmark?).

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    p>To get a list of City Agencies, go to the departments page.

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    p>To find out about a neighborhood in Boston, go to the neighborhood profiles page.

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    p>To conduct a transaction, such as paying your excise tax or to query our assessing database, go to the online services page.

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    p>If you believe this is caused by a bad link on the website, please report it to webmaster@cityofboston.gov.

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    p>Thank you.

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    p>So is this what your research found?
    This is what I got when I clicked your link.
    Sincerely,
    Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
    Roslindale

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    p>P.S. You cited the 2009 education numbers for Boston which is not relevent to the present situation.

    • Wayne, fine then, get some stats to back up your claims.  I went out and looked for information and tried to provide you with links and cites for each.  If I had a bad link I apologize and much thanks to Paul for providing a corrected link.

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      p>Still waiting for you to link to some data to support your stance.

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      p>What is the present situation with numbers and comparative data?

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      p>What can be done to correct the situation?  Yeah, I read you want to lay off 1000’s of Boston employees and use the “savings” to support the schools.  Might solve your school problem, but please do tell those who will face cutbacks or loss of services as a result of your proposal how you made things better for them.

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      p>Great rhetoric, but, to quote an 80’s commercial “where’s the beef?”

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