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Arlington, MA
Jun. 11th, 2005 08:33 amArlington is having a special election tomorrow. The town is not allowed to increase property taxes (or not beyond a specified limit) without calling a special election like this. My sweetie was visiting a few weeks ago, and was curious about the people waving signs in the town center. Arlington looks relatively prosperous, with lots of expensive homes and no recent natural disasters, so why are we so desperately hard up for funds?
State budget cuts. Every time the state cuts the budget, local governments are still required to pay for the unfunded mandates.
Health insurance costs. These have been increasing, and are expected to increase even faster. Linking health care to employment the way we do does not seem like a way to keep overall costs down. It doesn't even seem like a useful way to keep *government* costs down.
This election is terribly important to me. I love Arlington, and the I've lived here for 4 of the last 6 years. It disturbs me to see what will need to be cut without this tax money, especially after the cuts that have already been made. They're going to eliminate the arts, drama, music, and physical education programs in middle schools, and the school nurse and librarian in elementary schools, as well as reducing high school staffing and maintenance. The town would no longer collect trash from apartment complexes, and they would do much less lighting and clearing of parks and paths. The board of health will become only a single part time clerk. The library will reduce hours and services, and may lose state accreditation. This concerns me deeply. I'm perfectly willing to wait longer to check out books, and pitch in to help shelve or whatever. But the Arlington library losing accreditation means Arlington residents would not be able to check out books from other libraries in the Minuteman network. Something seems backwards, there, like the idea that you're only allowed to share or borrow if you can easily afford to buy it all for yourself.
I expect the vote will be very close. There are people in Arlington who can just barely afford to live here, who are afraid another $100/year in taxes would break them. As you might expect, they've been fighting the override hard. I have a fair amount of sympathy for their position, though I disagree with their conclusions. There are also people who resent the whole idea of taxes, like my colleagues who moved to this area last year from a Nevil Shute novel. They approve of Mitt Romney's plans to dismantle state government. It's not that they expect something better to take its place, or think despairingly "anything would be better!" They don't see a need for ANY of the work the government does. They're just oblivious to it. (Fortunately, they both live outside Arlington Town Limits.)
I don't know everyone who reads my LJ. Some of you might be my neighbors as well (*wave*) though most live far away. If you know someone else who lives in Arlington, please remind them about the special election. My dear friends in the next town over have been so overwhelmed lately with work and childcare they don't have attention to spare for their neighborhood unless it catches fire under their feet...but they would want to know about something like this, especially if they had a chance to change it before their kids are old enough to start school.
Health insurance costs. These have been increasing, and are expected to increase even faster. Linking health care to employment the way we do does not seem like a way to keep overall costs down. It doesn't even seem like a useful way to keep *government* costs down.
This election is terribly important to me. I love Arlington, and the I've lived here for 4 of the last 6 years. It disturbs me to see what will need to be cut without this tax money, especially after the cuts that have already been made. They're going to eliminate the arts, drama, music, and physical education programs in middle schools, and the school nurse and librarian in elementary schools, as well as reducing high school staffing and maintenance. The town would no longer collect trash from apartment complexes, and they would do much less lighting and clearing of parks and paths. The board of health will become only a single part time clerk. The library will reduce hours and services, and may lose state accreditation. This concerns me deeply. I'm perfectly willing to wait longer to check out books, and pitch in to help shelve or whatever. But the Arlington library losing accreditation means Arlington residents would not be able to check out books from other libraries in the Minuteman network. Something seems backwards, there, like the idea that you're only allowed to share or borrow if you can easily afford to buy it all for yourself.
I expect the vote will be very close. There are people in Arlington who can just barely afford to live here, who are afraid another $100/year in taxes would break them. As you might expect, they've been fighting the override hard. I have a fair amount of sympathy for their position, though I disagree with their conclusions. There are also people who resent the whole idea of taxes, like my colleagues who moved to this area last year from a Nevil Shute novel. They approve of Mitt Romney's plans to dismantle state government. It's not that they expect something better to take its place, or think despairingly "anything would be better!" They don't see a need for ANY of the work the government does. They're just oblivious to it. (Fortunately, they both live outside Arlington Town Limits.)
I don't know everyone who reads my LJ. Some of you might be my neighbors as well (*wave*) though most live far away. If you know someone else who lives in Arlington, please remind them about the special election. My dear friends in the next town over have been so overwhelmed lately with work and childcare they don't have attention to spare for their neighborhood unless it catches fire under their feet...but they would want to know about something like this, especially if they had a chance to change it before their kids are old enough to start school.
