[Ed note: My Southborough accepts signed letters to the editor submitted by Southborough residents. Letters may be emailed to mysouthborough@gmail.com.
The following letter is from Al Hamilton, a member of the Select Board.]
To the Editor:
Over the past year, as we have been discussing the Neary Project, a number of citizens have asked about the “Big Picture” that includes all the things we might want to do and how we might pay for them. To date I have not seen a comprehensive analysis of that Big Picture. Over the past month and a half, I have been working on pulling together a picture of our town debt and the impact of all the things we might consider using our debt capacity for. Unfortunately, I was not able to present this analysis prior to the Select Board 4-1 vote in favor of the Neary Project. I offer my analysis here to the citizens in hope that it helps inform Town Meeting members prior to May 10th meeting and the voters on May 13.
Al Hamilton
35 Pine Hill Road
Thanks Al. I just hope the whole board recognizes all of this. I also hope the voters use good sense. I don’t want to have to move out of town due to high taxes
Very helpful Al! I’ve been looking for an analysis like this for some time. We need a good pros/cons analysis of the Neary project exceeding the debt guardrail of 10% with options for keeping it within the recommended debt levels.
Looking at the charts that Al prepared, it’s clear that the town has a big problem, even without adding Neary to the mix. Looking at the Debt Service percentage chart, the town’s debt service will exceed 10% of the General Fund by FY31 or FY32, just based on adding the anticipated New Programs.
Everyone, please watch the 11-minute presentation that Al Hamilton put together.
TY Mr. Hamilton. I appreciate your efforts. I have been trying to educate myself on this project, attending two public meetings (involving the Select Board, Advisory Committee, Neary Building Committee and school leadership) and asking questions. At the most recent meeting I attended (Public Safety Building, April 3), there were maybe a dozen citizens in attendance. I hope more were watching from home or caught it on replay. For me, each time I delve into this project, I learn something I didn’t know before. Peeling an onion comes to mind…it’s not that information isn’t available, it’s just that it is complex, and presented (to borrow a phrase from lawyers) “in the light most favorable to one side.”
For example, you may have heard that the Neary Committee studied many options before narrowing it down to three and eventually voting on the all-new, four-grade ($100m+) Neary proposal. I could not understand why the Neary Committee had not studied certain other options that have been identified by other citizens. On April 3rd, I learned that the Committee was limited by the State and was not free to consider options that might have utilized existing school spaces and that maybe would be less expensive for taxpayers. On April 3rd, the Chair of the Committee explained that once they decided to enter the State school financing program (MSBA), the State picks the options that can be considered! I don’t know about others, but that certainly gives me pause.
Also, at the April 3rd meeting, the Advisory Committee and School Board voted in favor of the project (there was one “nay” on Advisory). Mr. Hamilton said he was not ready to vote as a member of the Select Board because he had not received an answer to questions he had posed to the Neary Committee months ago. Say what? The Chair of the Neary Committee replied that the answers to Mr. Hamilton’s questions had just recently become available. Again, maybe it’s me, but I feel like not all the info that should be out there has been out there, at least in an easily-accessible way.
I hope that everyone will pay attention to Mr. Hamilton’s presentation. He is very knowledgeable about the Town’s finances, and is presenting a side of the story that has not been told.