SeeClickBudget: Transparency Time

Exactly one month ago I cheered Stoneham’s victory in re-electing Tom Boussy and electing Caroline Colarusso to the Board of Selectmen. I knew this major shift in the BOS signified the end of “business as usual.” Sure enough, that came to be as of this week’s Annual Town Meeting. Article #6 was basically the “Indefinite Postponement heard ’round the town.”

Here’s the Article:

Article 6. To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate from taxation or by transfer from available funds, such sums as may be necessary to defray Town charges for the ensuing year, including debt and interest and a reserve fund, or do anything in relation thereto.

The “aye” to IP Article #6 won out in a close vote. As a resident, I’m greatly relieved. This is a glaring example of how Chairman Tom Boussy, Ann Marie O’Neill, and Caroline Colarusso are on the front lines of truly watching out for our community’s best interests. And to further round out the transparency promises that all three Selectmen had made during all of their campaigns, Tom Boussy and Ann Marie O’Neill gave a very detailed explanation as to WHY they were in favor of IP’ing Article #6:

This is a joint post from Tom Boussy and Ann Marie O’Neill:

On Monday, May 4th the town budget for fiscal year 2016, or Article #6, was Indefinitely Postponed (IP’d) to a time in June. The budget is something that historically has passed, almost without question, over the past 15 years. There are several rumors floating around town regarding why this vote was IP’d, and we would like to provide you with our explanation.

For the last two years the Board of Selectmen (BOS) has been working very hard to provide full financial disclosure to taxpayers. For the past 15 years our entire town budget, currently at $70M, was presented to Town Meeting as a one page document made up of 39 line items. There was no explanation next to any of the line items presented in this single page document to explain how a department arrived at their budget or supporting details regarding what made up the final number. This is something we sought to change. The Finance Board (FAB) together with the BOS over this past winter arranged for all town department heads to attend a presentation by the Town Administrator of Northborough to present a financial reporting model we wanted to adopt. It was very user friendly and is an award winning methodology of financial reporting. We were clear that this was the format we wanted. In February the BOS received the same one page budget. We never voted on it, we asked that more detail be provided. To his credit, the Town Administrator (TA) has been working to provide us with the format we requested. However, the BOS saw the revised budget, in its entirety, for the first time on Tuesday April 28th. Although it was closer, it was not in the format we were promised and it still left too many unanswered question. That same night we received the updated budget we were also presented with an emergency request from the DPW to buy two new trucks & a backhoe totaling $ 300,000. Their proposal was to take money from the Sewer Enterprise Fund reserves and Chapter 90 money, funding that is earmarked by the state to repair roads. Once again we were put on the spot trying to find $300,000.

The very next day we received an email from our TA informing us that the water rate was being increased by $1.00 from ($5 to $6 per 100 cubic FT.) or 20% to offset the loss of revenue from Atlantic Gelatin, even though we have yet to see any financial statement of the actual cost to the town. We had reserves of over $1 million in each of the Water and Sewer funds (W&S) last June and they have been depleted to around $300,000 without financial backup. We were told that revenues came in lower than expected, again without financial backup. The MWRA bills the Town of Stoneham for last year’s W&S usage meaning that our assessment for next year should be much lower than it was for this year. The FAB has been requesting details on this since February. They too reached a point of frustration on Thursday April 30th when they received the same budget that we received two days prior. Like us they could not, in good faith, vote favorably on the budget four days before Town Meeting without time to review and ask meaningful questions. With the exception of one member, the FAB voted to IP Article # 6. The majority of the BOS also felt strongly that we could not advise voters to accept the budget put in front of them for a vote when we did not have the time or information to go through the budget, ask questions, and receive answers ourselves. Therefore, in a vote of 3 in favor, 1 against, and 1 absent the BOS also voted to IP Article #.

Several people asked Monday night asked specifically what it was we didn’t like, or understand, about the budget. It is not our intention to draw attention to any one department, and we do not necessarily believe that the information is inaccurate, but we do feel as thought we need a better understanding before we put it in front of Town Meeting to vote. Below are some highlights of our concerns. For further clarification the explanations below we are providing a link to the Town Budget which is posted on the town website. http://www.stoneham-ma.gov/sites/stonehamma/files/fy16_budget_presentation_-_electronic.pdf

• The traditional one page budget, we felt was unacceptable on its own, is a summary of the 95 page budget presented at Town Meeting, which wasn’t included in this linked budget making it impossible to reconcile. On page 9 there is a pie chart titled FY16 Budget Expenditures, nowhere on that page is a reference to the total budget. In fact, it is broken down to only 11 categories from the 39 of which we are accustomed.

• We were greatly concerned that the water rate is being raised 20% next year. On page 73 the department total for FY16 is $4,171,509 which is $85,616 less than the $4,257,125 budgeted in FY15. Additionally the MWRA charge for FY16 is $3,381,303 which is $109,669 less than the $3,490,972 budgeted in FY15. According to the pie chart on page 3, water projected revenue is $4,884,031 indicating an anticipated profit of $712,522, but its unclear if that includes the rate hike as this budget came out a day before the water rate increase was announced. The Water Enterprise Fund is not listed for 2015 so we can’t tell if we lost or made money on water. This is one area we felt more information was required to make an informed decision, especially in light of the huge water increase proposed.

• Line item 440, Sewer, on page 71 shows personnel budget of $665,870 yet line 240, Repairs & Maintenance, is only $42,000 without further explanation. If this is true we are spending lot of man hours to accomplish $42,000 worth of repairs.

• Line item 450, Water, on page 73 shows personnel budget of $571,558 yet line 240, Repairs & Maintenance, is only $40,000 without further explanation. If this is true then we are budgeting $1,237,428 in labor to complete $82,000 worth of repairs.

• Note – Snow & Ice is not included the budget, however, according to Open Checkbook the Snow & Ice cost for FY15 was $763,229 with $179,346 of that consisting of employee earnings. Page 70 of the budget lists DPW employee earnings at $1,929,129 with DPW personnel $752,451; Sewer personnel $631,625 (page 71) & Water personnel $552,053 (Page 73). We can’t find how this snow and ice money is in the budget as presented.

• We know that other departments are paid through Water & Sewer including the Treasury Department (page 38) yet there is no indication of any money from Water & Sewer paying any portion of the Treasury Department’s personnel. We are not insinuating that the Treasury Department is doing anything wrong but as taxpayers we deserve to see direct correlations to where our money is being spent.

• The School Department (page 13) although very thorough, until Tuesday April 28th consisted of one line in the budget; Line item, 300 Public Schools – $25,803,516. Grant money is listed as $3,457,000 bringing the budget to $29,260,516. This number excludes pension cost and health insurance (as do all other department budgets); however, this makes it difficult to determine if we are spending enough money on the schools. One question that we have, that we are sure can be easily explained, is on page 14 -District Wide Instruction- which is budgeted at $3,580,200. This number ties into the breakout on page 17, however, page 14 also list $1,470,000 in grant money to District Wide Instruction for a total of $5,060,200. We are unclear where that money is being spent as it no longer reconciles with the breakout on page 17. This is consistent with all of the grant money.

• We fought to have three police officers added to the budget this year so we can begin to bring our public safety FBI recommendations up to standard. Unfortunately, two of the requested officers were eliminated from the final budget. Stoneham has police officers retiring soon and need to be proactive just to keep the ranks on par. We were unable to clearly see why this was necessary and where the funding for the eliminated two officers was moved.

• We have grave concerns with the golf course. The Open Space & Recreation Committee presented at the BOS meeting of April 28th. They illustrated a steady decline of revenues at the golf courses. In 1999 the revenues from both courses were close to $1,000,000 with a profit of over $500,000 and that profit included a now paid off mortgage on the Oaks. Despite this, over the last 14 years revenues have shrunk to around $425,000 and the golf course is now operating at loss and has been for the last couple of years. If we had a detailed budget during this time we would have caught this trend and corrected it before suffering these staggering losses in revenue.

This lack of full disclosure leaves too many unanswered questions. In past years the W&S rate was actually set after the budget was approved without explanation, you would simply find out when you received your bill. This practice goes against our bylaws. These are just some of the reasons some members, not all, of the BOS felt it prudent to not simply accept the budget we were presented, to accept it without a thorough review, and to accept it without asking these kinds of questions. It was because some of these questions were asked at all that during Town Meeting some Selectmen questioned the validity on voting on Article 17 which was to take an additional $200K from the Sewer Enterprise Fund (which did not have any financial back up) and put it toward sewer repairs when Article #18 which was to vote on accepting $800K in the form of a 75 % grant and 25% 0% interest loan was being taken. If we were already voting to accept a grant/loan for sewer repair then why were we taking an additional $200K out of the reserve account? It was only because the Selectmen had a few days to review part of the budget, not all, that the Selectmen caught this and moved to IP Article #17 as well saving taxpayers $200K.

This is the BOS budget and we can no longer blame past boards for past financial decisions. We take your tax dollars very seriously, and like you, we want to be sure we have ample opportunity to see where your money is going, to outline income and expenses for each department in a presentation that is easy to follow so that you can exercise your right to amend the budget and ask questions on the floor during a vote. This is what we were promised and this is what we expected. We do have Open Checkbook, a tool that shows all expenses, but it does not show income and it does not allocate all debits and expenses neatly under each department for ease of viewing.

Selectman John DePinto did not agree with the decision to IP Article #6. He felt strongly that the budget has had the same practice for the past 15 years, that we have paid positions who are compensated to put the budget together for us, and that we should accept what they present on our behalf and that the BOS should encourage voters to accept a budget that has no explanation. This is Selectman DePinto’s right and we respect his position. Several other people in attendance also questioned and chastised the remaining BOS members for taking this stand as the budget has been voted the same way for the last 15 years. Respectfully, we believe that full disclosure is your right and that you should see how your tax dollars are being spent, how, and where. It is our intention to pass a budget before the close of the fiscal year. None of the work done by department heads will be lost, and we appreciate their efforts. We just thought you deserved an explanation of why we took the action we did.

SeeClickBloat: Water Weight

Yesterday’s blog post regarding the Weiss Farm site walk with the Conservation Commission resulted in a number of great responses, both via email and in the post’s comment section.

There are a few I will share, and I wanted to start with this one from Selectman Ann Marie O’Neill:

Hi Liz,

Your pictures on SCY are very compelling and definitely help to illustrate how grave the situation is at Weiss Farm. Thanks for sharing your talent to reach more people.

One thing all citizens of Stoneham need to understand, whether they live near Weiss or not, is the sheer magnitude of this development. Below is the prototype for Weiss Farm – the Commons of Lynnfield. Note that the building is too large to fit in the photo.

There are 3 of these buildings planned for Weiss. The photo below is the Corcoran development in Lynnfield along Route 1, a major highway. This is the model for Weiss Farm, the only difference is that the development on Route 1 is actually SMALLER than what is planned for Weiss.

Now imagine the weight of three of these buildings, a clubhouse, a pool, and a parking lot which will accommodate almost 500 cars on the site at Weiss. What do you think will happen to the water when this weight is put upon the site? If anyone has a good camera and can take photographs of the Commons at Lynnfield and blow them up to truly illustrate what we are facing, more people might take notice.

Thank you,

Ann Marie O’Neill

SeeClickSwamp: A River Runs Through It

Funny enough, this somehow turned into Weiss Farm Weekend. Between the site walk with the Conservation Commission on Saturday morning, followed by the Boston Globe article that references the proposed Weiss Farm development a “Con” to considering living in Stoneham, I for one experienced quite the “eye opener” to what’s in the works on Franklin Street.

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about or why this topic is “Yikes-worthy,” take a look here for the history.)

To give some perspective on how massive this proposed project is, Stoneham residents Joan Lemire and John Peterson put two rectangles that represent full-sized soccer fields on the space planned for building. The “fields” are approximately 115 yds x 74 yds. As an FYI regarding the plans’ alterations by the developer, the parking lot was changed with a new row replacing a set of buildings (thank you for sharing, Joan and John!):

Here are the original plans, sans rectangles:

It had been several days since the last rainfall when we took the walk yesterday, and yet the first thing that struck me was how wet and mushy the ground was. Soon I was to find out just how soggy things really were back there. I took a series of photos, which I’ve shared below, but what I’d love is for people who can please help explain the impact to the surrounding properties. I don’t know enough about wetlands and such to comment effectively. For now, the photos will speak for themselves:

These next two photos are extremely disturbing because through the brush is pretty much a garbage dump. None of us went in there, but I hope someone is investigating what type of waste is back there:

SeeClickGreen: Happy Earth Day!

Since today is Earth Day, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate two of my personal “hometown heroes:” Stoneham residents Cameron Bain and Cindy Hemenway.

For several decades, Cameron was the one lone soldier who fought to make our community a better place:

Thank You Mr. Cameron Bain
By Frank Pignone (Open Post) May 19, 2014

Today May 19 marks the Anniversary each year of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. In our Town we enjoy our own wonderful and well run organization. It is here all because of one caring man who many years ago as a young man had a dream of starting a Boys Club in his community for our children. That Man was Mr. Cameron Bain who, with his beautiful family still lives in Stoneham. One day it all began when he walked out the door of his home using his car, his feet, trains, buses, and talking with banks, town and state governments, and investors all on his own time and I’m sure getting discouraged from time to time. But this man went on , not to be denied. Character, Courage, and Commitment as he possesses is often futile to combat as we visualize in all great champions of any endeavor. He dreamed and he built and it is now a very positive and useful experience for our young and the participation of adults as well.

You may also know of Mr. Bain’s dream of having a Bikeway and Greenway in Stoneham along the old Railway here in town. Once again, obstacle after obstacle; fight after fight ; even with his own government in battles he should never have had to fight. Once again however; all the forces against him learned no person can be defeated when God is on your side with a man of Goodness, and well meaning intent for his selfless commitment to his community and its people for a better place to live.
Mr. Bain, I’ve known you since we were very young. I respected you then, and I’ve been in awe of your character. You may feel secure in knowing that today, this whole community says ‘Thank You’ sir for living your life as a True American and a Hero and Legend in the Town of Stoneham which you have lived for and loved all of your life. And, we love you and your precious wife and family right back. May God Bless you in health and happiness in your days ahead and I can’t wait until I see you take the ‘First’ Bicycle Ride on ‘Your’ Bike Path. I’ll probably break out in tears knowing what is in that fabulous Heart. Be Well my Friend.

Cindy Hemenway is a passionate community member, Greenway supporter/ activist and has also become a dear friend. I have watched her and Cameron work together tirelessly over the last few years to make the Bikeway/ Greenway become a reality.

Because of neighbors and role models like Cameron and Cindy, my little Vanessa is already passionate about and playing an active role in making Stoneham a better place.

July 19, 2014 Greenway/Bikeway Clean-Up Organized by Cindy Hemenway

The work of one, then a few has grown into a major, community-changing effort. A “happy Earth Day” and heartfelt “thank you” to all of the members of the Stoneham Tri-Community Bike/Greenway Committee: Cameron Bain, Dorothy Bergold, Mary Furrier, Bill Murphy, Julie Shulman, Mark Warren, Anthony Wilson (Chair), Dolly Wilson!

It’s amazing what the inspiring work of a group can do to unify a community.

Happy Earth Day!

SeeClickVictory: A New Era for Stoneham

Wow, what a day! Actually, what a past few years!! The hard work and tireless passion for our Town has paid off with three victories tonight. Congratulations to Tom Boussy, Caroline Colarusso and Larry Means!!

And what these election results really translate into is a HUGE win for The Town of Stoneham. Our community deserves to keep moving in the right direction. It started three years ago with one man saying, “Hey, we deserve better.” That was followed by one woman saying, “I agree.”

Today marks a huge leap forward with the continued work of Larry Means as Town Moderator and the addition of Caroline Colarusso as Selectman. Tonight I’m even prouder to be a part of the Stoneham community.

SeeClickCampaign: Show Me the Money

I thought I was done posting about tomorrow’s election for the night, but then I received a rather unsettling email:

—— Original message——
From: Bob Sweeney
Date: Mon, Apr 6, 2015 7:56 PM
To: Charles F. Houghton;
Cc: A group of residents whose privacy I’m respecting
Subject:Re: Please vote tomorrow. Follow-up to last meeting request.

Bob Sweeney,,Erin Sinclair,let’s get stoneham back to where it belongs

On Apr 6, 2015 5:54 PM, “Charles F. Houghton” wrote:
Just a reminder: Tomorrow is Stoneham’s Town election. As always please remember that all politics is local. Please get to the polls and vote!

What, exactly, does “back to where it belongs” mean? Terrorism against residents and elected officials? Or continued defiance against the law?

I posted earlier about how our community deserves continued transparency and accountability. So that leads me to my next question:

Why is it that Bob Sweeney has not reported his campaign financials? And I don’t just mean this year. As it turns out, he either failed to report or provided woefully incomplete financial records for each time he ran for Selectman.

This not only is as wrong and insulting to us residents as not bothering to show up to the Candidates Live Forum, it’s also ILLEGAL. You can read the Massachusetts’ Office of Campaign & Political Finance explanation in full right here. Of particular interest to me is this portion:

Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both.

Last I checked, Stoneham is a Town within the State of Massachusetts and no Selectman candidate is above the law. And yet Bob Sweeney seems to think he is with his non-reporting and his sloppily emailed one-liner of “Bob Sweeney,,Erin Sinclair,let’s get stoneham back to where it belongs.” I don’t like what he infers regarding he and his daughter Erin. (As a side note, I do like Erin a lot. I just don’t appreciate that Bob Sweeney sounds as though he plans to use his daughter to push his own agendas.)

I’m looking forward to receiving some answers from the Office of Campaign & Political Finance.

SeeClickVote: Boussy & Means

Less than 24 hours to go! Tomorrow, April 7, 2015, vote to re-elect Tom Boussy for Stoneham Selectman…

…and vote to re-elect Larry Means for Town Moderator

In case you haven’t seen it, I invite you to read this email regarding both candidates from Selectman Ann Marie O’Neill.

In her words, regarding Tom:

Personally Tom Boussy has my vote. Three years ago Tom stepped forward as a complete unknown. Tom questioned why we weren’t doing better as a community, why our services were decreasing and our fees increasing. In three short years Tom brought unprecedented reform, budget transparency, and innovation to Stoneham. I would like to see our community continue in this direction.

Ann Marie’s thoughts on Larry:

The Moderator is another important, contested position up for election. The Moderator presides over Town Meetings, is required to keep order, and have an intimate understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order – the practice Stoneham abides by during Town Meeting. In addition the Moderator appoints members to the Finance and Advisory Board and the Bike Committee. Current Town Moderator, Larry Means, was the only candidate to show up for this portion of the Candidate Forum. I have seen Larry keep order during meetings that were spirited. He is fair, respectful and understands the format to which our town subscribes. Larry has my vote!

See you at Town Hall tomorrow!

SeeClickClear: We Deserve Transparency

Tomorrow is Election Day in Stoneham! I’m excited to get out and vote to re-elect Tom Boussy because he’s the one with the proven track record for transparency and delivering on his promises:

In Tom’s words:

Upon my election in April of 2012 I pulled up my sleeves and began to work.

Town Website

The first problem I wanted to fix was the town’s website which was outdated, featured stale content and hampered communication with our residents. I formed a sub-committee with former selectman Rich Gregorio to re-launch the website.

I worked with our team to improve functionality and make the website more user friendly and relevant. Once we had the web site rebuilt, we could work to keep citizens informed on matters large and small. We were able to launch email alerts and we strive to make information more accessible.

SeeClickFix

Next, I sought to give residents a more direct voice. I discovered a web-based tool called SeeClickFix. I formed a team with Selectman Ann Marie O’Neill to launch this tool, which gives residents an opportunity to report issues online and then follow their issue through to completion.

Open Check Book

Soon after, I saw that the City of Woburn had received a grant to implement a new program called Open Checkbook. I learned there was a second round of funding available that would allow new communities to use this too. Open Checkbook allows residents to access and view each and every financial transaction that takes place in the municipality.

I worked with our Town Administrator and Town Accountant to win the grant for Stoneham to access the Open Checkbook program. As a result, at our most recent annual town meeting we had a 45 page budget available for review before the town voted on a $67,000,000 Budget. I continue to work to bring Stoneham current with today’s technology so that we will maintain our competitiveness in the future.

Fees / Trash

Last year I worked on a sub-committee with Selectman Vallarelli with the goal of containing trash removal costs, which were spiraling out of control.

Trash is contentious in any town and Stoneham was no different. Stoneham needed to reform its program and through hard work and compromise we were able to increase services by adding unlimited weekly recycling and save the town over $200,000 a year.

A great byproduct of this initiative is promoting environmental conscientiousness by increasing recycling from 13% to approximately 25%. Further, we were able to reduce the trash fee from $260 a year to $150. I worked with our Town Attorney to have a home rule petition passed by the State House to put the trash fee directly into a revolving account so that the trash fee would only be used for trash and not funneled into our free cash account or used for any other purpose.

Remember, my fellow Stoneham neighbors, we get the government we deserve on Election Day when we choose whether or not to vote. We deserve a Selectman that works in the best interests of our community. We deserve a leader that has gone above and beyond to fulfill his promises during his first term. We deserve the one candidate that has tirelessly worked to move Stoneham in the RIGHT direction.

We deserve to re-elect Tom Boussy.

SeeClickTheft: Reading Between the Signs

There is a SeeClickFix report of stolen campaign signs. I’m really sick of this trend that seems to occur during every election. How does taking a sign do anything effective?? It doesn’t erase a candidate or make people forget who they are. Not to mention it’s an arrestable offense. Can you imagine making the newspaper for being arrested for theft of a sign?! That’s right up there with beating up the Liberty Tax sidewalk dancer.

I feel like this type of behavior is the equivalent to when people mail anonymous letters, post commentary on social media with false identities (I especially don’t miss the old Patch for this reason), or make accusations without any supported facts or sources. It simply stirs the Drama Pot and creates some very unnecessary, negative results. (And as an aside note while I’m mentioning these activities, like or hate what I write, my identity is clear and I always link out to sources/ facts in anything I post because credibility is everything.)

I was pleased to receive a SCF alert that Selectman Tom Boussy had responded to the sign theft report, and I wanted to share it here:

about 5 hours ago · TBoussy (Verified Official)

Theft, in any form, is a prosecutable crime, and I am glad that the Stoneham Police requested the poster contact them to report the theft directly. As a candidate, resident, and current Selectman, I’m dismayed that this is still occurring in our community. We need to let it be known that we have a zero tolerance stance when it comes to theft in Stoneham. Any businesses or individuals that have witnessed criminal activity, or have videos/ photos to help identify those responsible for removal of any campaign signs, please submit them to the Stoneham Police Department immediately. Anyone who runs for public office or voices their opinion has every right to do so- without any kind of harassment or interference. No matter what side of an issue any of us are on, we are a community. Tom Boussy

Thanks, Tom. And remember, kids, stealing is wrong. If/when the signs thieves are caught, I recommend this as punishment. And they should have to hold their sign while standing next to the Liberty Tax guy on Main Street:

Earlier this year, two children (Unique Caruthers, age 11, and Xacherey Scott, age 14) stood on an Indianapolis street corner, with cardboard signs.

SeeClickCommunity: Protection & Pride

Scenes from the May 2014 Walk Along the Greenway/ Bikeway

Protecting Tax Payers’ Interests… Public Safety Improvements… Community & Town Pride Enhancements… Collaborations with Our Schools & Town Assets… Community Beautification… Long Term Planning… Transparency… Town Planner… Long-Awaited Bikeway / Greenway Progress

What do all of these achievements have in common?

Tom Boussy made them a reality without a tax increase on residents, all through a new approach to town government.

In continuing with why Stoneham residents should re-elect Tom Boussy, beyond the uphill battles he faced in his quest to better our community, let’s take a closer look at what Tom’s “Protecting Tax Payers’ Money” efforts over the past three years looks like:

* Identified mitigation funding at Fallon Road, reserved a portion to invest in a Town Planner, recently hired. Stoneham was the only community in the area with a vacancy in this important role. Hiring a Town Planner was one of Tom’s initial campaign promises;

* Negotiated $100K in mitigation money from a new developer. Tom ensured that the town would realize direct benefits and specifically set the money aside for new concrete and granite sidewalks and some road safety improvements;

* Recognized an unused portion of the Town Planner’s salary due to her later-than-anticipated hire date and utilized it to fund an innovative Downtown Façade Program. Tom conceptualized this program as initiative to encourage business owners to invest in a cohesive exterior creating a visually pleasing downtown and giving our new Planner a tool for success;

* Secured outside grants from private, state and federal sources. Utilized funding to launch Open Checkbook to residents which allows anyone to see all municipal spending;

* Protected taxpayer trash fee by establishing a dedicated revolving account to isolate this money. In the past excess funding was moved to other parts of the budget. Tom mandated this money to be used only for trash related items. A result was the reduction of the trash fee to residents with a goal of eliminating it completely;

* Protected the financial stability of retirees on fixed incomes. Tom will continue to protect the financial interests of our seniors who have worked so hard for us.

* Continued to advocate for internal efficiencies and new sources of revenue to reduce the town’s dependence on residential property taxes.

Coming in June 2015: Stoneham’s Brand New Farmers Market! Thank you, Tom.

While Tom has been cleaning up dollars and cents, he also has made strides towards creating a closer sense of “Community and Pride”:

All residents love to hear outsiders express their love of our town. It is important to our economy that we attract young families to invest as homeowners and to provide incentives for new businesses to set up shop. Both of these sectors help raise tax revenues and alleviate the tax burden placed on property owners. In addition, Tom wants to internally build community by creating opportunities for residents to come together for celebration and fun. To accomplish this Tom has:

* Worked hard to build community within Stoneham by bringing more programs and events to the Town Common for all ages, including a proposed winter ice skating on the Town Common and seasonal events like the new Halloween pumpkin walk;

* Coordinated the impending launch of the Stoneham’s new Farmers Market by petitioning for the reinstatement on the Town Common, soliciting resident input by sponsoring and manning a table at Town Day and assembling a Farmer’s Market Committee with the goal of a Spring, 2015 launch;

* Single-handedly launched an exciting Fall, 2015 Food Truck Festival scheduled for October. Not only will this increase community spirit but it is also a great economic opportunity for local businesses to increase visibility to those that attend from outside of our community;

* Recognizes the importance of reinstating the Stoneham Parks & Recreation Department.

* Tirelessly advocated for the Bikeway / Greenway (BWGW) Project. Tom recognized the value this new asset brings to our community. Not only will Stoneham capture the major portion of a $5.5M state investment, but we also obtain an enviable new asset that will connect schools and neighborhoods. This asset will come with major safety enhancements and is a valuable business development tool. Tom worked to overcome obstacles of this proposal and communicated benefits to residents resulting in an overwhelming approval.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2015 vote for continued, steady progress. Re-elect Selectman Tom Boussy.