![]() ![]() We are contending with record high numbers of students requiring special education, tiered support services, and mental health services. But the effects of the choices made during that period of time – to keep kids out of school longer and to provide less in person learning time than most other communities – created profound social, emotional, and academic problems which aren’t solved with the wave of a magic wand (or pen to paper rescinding an order). I agree that the health emergency is over. I know this is difficult for people who didn’t have children in school the past few years to understand but I cannot overstate how much kids have been harmed. When you go to the polls on April 29 th, I urge Hingham voters to vote NO on the override. ![]() Vote by mail is still available ballots must be returned to the Town Clerk by 8 PM election night. The voters were not provided sufficient empirical and historical data to make an informed decision.įinal approval of the override requires for its’ adoption a majority vote on Saturday, April 29th. This sort of presentation would never stand if an increase in spending of this magnitude were to be proposed in the private sector. ![]() The presentation of relevant financial and historical data to the voters by the proponents of the override is sorely lacking in balance and is at best, amateurish and sloppy. I believe a balanced presentation of financial data should have been made to the voters for them to make an informed decision at both the Annual Town Meeting, and those voters who will be casting their votes at the polls on April 29th. (Source: see ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, last sentence page 2 of the foregoing Agreement). The most important element of this agreement is that its’ terms and conditions are not enforceable beyond FY 24. This agreement sets forth a variety of commitments with respect to future management disciplines to control the override of $7,890,467 approved at the recent Town Meeting. The respective Chairs of the Select Board, School Committee and the Advisory Committee signed a “FY24 OVERRIDE FRAMEWORK AND FY24-28 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PLAN” mid-March 2023. The town is top heavy with administrators! Three years ago, the town was able to operate efficiently with substantially less employees than authorized by the current budget. Town Boards need to review staffing levels in relation to three years ago. There can be no justification to retain employees required by COVID in 2021, and include them in the FY24 budget. The COVID threat is over the employees added to deal with the COVID threat of two years ago are still employed by the town, and are included in the budget approved by the Town Meeting April 24th. (Source: Hingham Annual Comprehensive Financial Report 2022, pages 136 and 141) The school enrollment during this period declined 474, or over 10%. Note the increase over the last 3 years of 60 employees. The principal use of this one-time bump to the budget was to hire additional employees, with the lions In the FY 22 budget, the town received a one-time grant of $2,600,000 from the Federal Government, and used $2,400,000 from the towns’ Rainy Day fund for a total of $5,000,000 to balance the budget. (Source: Select Board Warrant TM 2021, page 18) …….from 2011 to 2020, student enrollment grew by 4%, while the Education Budget grew by 53%” (Source: Board of Selectmen Warrant TM 2021, page 18) ![]() “The annual growth of our education budget is not sustainable. The proponents not only did not mention this huge disparity, nor did they discuss any justification for the dramatic increase in spending year over year. This constitutes a 33.4% increase between 2020 and the approved FY 24 budget, excluding the override. If we take the 2020 actual town expenditures of $107,858,836 compared to the approved budget, the difference is $36,067,538. This constitutes an increase of over 44% between 2016 and the approved budget, EXCLUDING the override. The difference between 2016 actual expenditures and the approved budget for next year is $44,167,140. (Sources: Town Accountant “Archived Budgets” and FY 24 Town Meeting vote) Historical Hingham Town Actual Expenditures:Ģ024 143,926,374 Appropriated, Excluding the override Let’s take a look at historical spending by the town. The proponents of this approved budget were very persuasive during its’ presentation however, I was shocked and disappointed at the superficial, cursory, and amateurish presentation to voters. Last Monday, voters attending the Town Meeting approved a Fiscal Year 2024 budget of $143.9 Million plus an Override of $7.89 Million for a grand total of $151,816,841. ![]()
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