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| IN OUR OPINION... The System Is Broken - 3 Call a state agency. Go through the telephone tree following all the instructions. Get routed to a voicemail or worse, to an "invalid extension." Get cut off. Call back. Get a human. Let the person know about the dead end. Too often, the response is that there is no one there to tell about the problem, no way to fix it and little interest in doing so. Here's an idea: Instruct government employees to serve the people who pay their salaries. The System Is Broken - 1 "We are sorry for the delay but all of our representatives are helping other customers. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly." How many times have you heard that and waited 20 or more minutes to get a simple question answered? Are call volumes "unusually high" or do these companies simply not have enough folks answering the phones? Here's an idea -- hire a few more call center representatives. Answer more calls in less time. Give a few folks badly needed jobs. The System Is Broken - 2 In Massachusetts we have annual automobile inspections. If your car is Rejected, its gets a RED sticker. That means do not drive it until the problem is repaired. Here's the question then. If the problem is, say a cracked windshield and the inspection station doesn't replace windshields it is against the law to drive the car to a place that does replace windshields. The right way would be to have the vehicle towed. Hey buddy, can you spare a hundred bucks? A Modest Proposal Once Upon a Time... there were two neighboring communities. Each had the same management structures -- that means two town managers, two highway bosses, two town clerks, two police chiefs, two fire chief, two school systems and two superintendants at $125,000 or so. Nearly 20,000 people live in the two towns and each and every one of them has heard about strained municipal finances, budget cuts, reduced municipal services. There are 214 miles of roads to take care of in the two towns, bridges to fix, school buses to pay for. It's an old story. The towns operate as individuals, raise their own taxes, pay their own bills. But the towns share some things - a public access cable television station, an annual food drive, a Chamber of Commerce, a hospital, a single newspaper. What if, one wonders, they considered a merger? Can one imagine creating a new, larger community called Quabbin, Massachusetts? Such a place could organize itself to save roughly half of what the two old towns spend managing themselves. Some of those resources could go into hiring planners and grant writers to find new sources of revenue. Much of the saved money could simply go into property tax relief. Someone should do the math and see what the impact could be. Right, then Wrong and Wrong and Wrong.
The governor illustrated a fine political technique Feb 19 when he unveiled his transportation agenda -- including a 19-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax. How often have politicians tried to offer up a really big bad thing (the first proposal was for 29 cents a gallon) only to substitute a lesser bad thing? And this one even has room in it for the legislature to act the hero by cutting it to 10 cents. The Gov initially said a gasoline tax would be a bad idea, hurting strugling families. He was right. Now he says the state needs the new money to pay for the Big Dig. He may be right about the need, but he is wrong about where and how to collect the cash. Let the folks who use the toll roads and tunnels pay the bill. They get the benefit. Ask the people west of 495 if they want to pay for something they rarely use. We bet most of them would say "No." But they'd very likely pass over the cash at a toll booth if they went into Logan to catch a plane. Or maybe they'll just drive to Bradley or Manchester. Massachusetts voters have long memories when it comes to the government picking their pockets. Political careers have foundered on far less than a tax hike like this one -- or a vote in the legislature to support it. Who Should Pay? Not Us GOVERNOR Deval Patrick is absolutely wrong to consider hiking the state gasoline tax to help pay for the Big Dig and straighten out the Mass Pike's fiscal mess. No doubt those are grave problems closer to Boston, but the governor is making a mistake of gigantic proportion if he means to have the rest of Massachusetts taxpayers foot those bills. Ask someone from the L.S. Starrett Co. who just got his or her hours cut if they can afford a 10-plus percent hike in the cost of gasoline. Ask anyone working at Wal-Mart or Home Depot for $10 an hour. Ask anyone whose 401K has evaporated if they can afford to pay the bill for a toll road they do not use. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia said, "A toll road, (also known as a tollway, turnpike, pike, or toll highway, especially if it is constructed to freeway standards), is a road for which a driver pays a toll (that is, a fee) for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels." That's pretty simple. Use it -- pay for it. Don't use it. Don't pay. Yes, other highway projects are funded by fuel or other taxes. But in this case, in these times and in this economy, asking all the state's taxpayers to shoulder added tax burden is worse that counterintuitive. It would be a hardship. We ask State Sen. Brewer and Reps. Anne Gobi and Chris Donelan to stand hard and fast against any gasoline tax increase. In this case, we'd prefer to pay for government services we use. Call or write:
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In Your Opinion...
Dear Editor, Though the practice of forest clear-cutting may not be aesthetically desirable to the public, it does create preferred habitat for many species. Regenerating and young forest habitats created through forest management, including clear-cutting, provide food, shelter and breeding habitat and contain a greater diversity of wildlife species than any other forest age class. Over 90% of Massachusetts forest is now mature forest cover which shelters certain wildlife, but most are also wholly or partially dependent on early successional (young) forest habitat. If the thick canopy is not opened soon by environmentally-sound harvesting (logging), we may soon witness further decline and eventual extinction of a number of species. Early successional habitat is absolutely essential for birds such as grouse and woodcock. It is also essential for other species that although not officially listed as rare, are experiencing sharp population declines due, in part, to habitat loss- birds such as prairie warbler, brown thrasher and whip-poor-wills to name a few. It is for this reason I believe Amendment #106 to the Massachusetts House budget must be defeated. It would ban clear-cutting in state forests including Department of Fisheries and Wildlife lands where vitally needed habitat is established and protected. Today, less than 5% of the Massachusetts forest is early successional. Though small forest openings allow certain songbirds to perch and sing, they cannot mate and need additional acreage if they are to survive and thrive. Clear-cut areas are critically needed, despite public opposition. Please contact your legislators to defeat budget amendment #106.
Genevieve Fraser
We Have Opinions About Local Taxes, Too... I logged into this site and noticed the figures for average tax rate, income...etc.
As a resident of Jasmine Road on Packard
Pond since 1984, I've watched taxes go up gradually until last year. I
know we were previously somewhat undervalued, however a 50% jump
in one year is criminal. Because I work hard, improve my
property and the overall beauty of the region I'm penalized.
Assessing the fair market value of
properties is reasonable.
My home's value has increased.
That's fine, but I have no intention of ever selling this house, so
market value means nothing to me except more expenditure.
My reasoning: The
average tax bill listed = 1521.00. My bill is
just below 3800.00 because I live on waterfront property. Last
year it was around 1900.00. Add a couple hundred more for excise taxes
and Orange takes 4000.00+ per year out of my pocket.
For the most part residents of Jasmine
Road have their own water and sewer systems, have
no children in the school systems. Orange doesn't even recognize
Jasmine as a town road and does not plow it.
There are 9 homes bordering Jasmine Road.
If each is taxed approx. 3500.00,
that's a net of $ 31,500.00 for ZERO representation.
For 31K per year, would it be too much to
ask that a snow plow take 5 minutes to scrape our 1/10 of a mile
street ?
Since I do not take anything from the
town, why don't I get a refund of some sort for not adding to the
overcrowding of schools. People that do not have children in
schools should not have to support those that continue to reproduce
and contribute to the drain of funds.
My feelings: pay for what you
consume.
The town's attitude of: 'If
you live on waterfront property, you can afford it' just
doesn't fly.
Steve Fariole
Dear Steve: Fair property taxes are guaranteed under Massachusetts state law. Taxes might be unreasonable, but they may not be arbitrary or capricious. The law says cities and towns have to re evaluate their assessments every three years to make sure taxes are fairly reflecting current values. The simple standard is to figure out what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller in an arms length transaction. OK. Having said that, if your ranch house has a fireplace and mine does not, we have to adjust for the value of the fireplace. But tax values are not adjusted according to whether you have a child in school or a street that gets plowed. Having been a member of a board of assessors for five years, I can tell you none of this is that simple and some of it makes for really exciting courtroom debate. A judge refused to allow the City of Worcester to send out tax bills some years back until the city proved it was assessing things correctly. That got their attention. Assessors' records for the most part are open to the public. So you can go to Town Hall and compare properties. Or you can go to and Assessors' meeting and talk to them. They are elected. And you might meet some folks who work pretty hard to keep things running right. OTG |
