[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 Karen Hanlon Shimkus.]
To the Editor and Southborough Taxpayers:
- STOP FEEDING THE ALLIGATOR. Many Costco projects don’t even begin to touch the outsized and continually growing overspending problem.
- BUDGET ANNUALLY AND SPEND BETTER: THE TOWN CAN’T AFFORD EVERYTHING, meaning the ridiculous slow drip of never-ending, tax base destabilizing, huge tax increase items.
- For now, this is precisely why voters should consider to NOT VOTE FOR ANY MORE INTERIM TAX INCREASES (via Special Town Meeting) and hit the PAUSE BUTTON to force better annual budgeting (like any business or home) and accountability on spending until better information is developed and presented on TOTAL CAPITAL SPENDING NEEDS for the foreseeable future. See the summary end of this letter.
- This includes ALL school and town building capital maintenance, roads, unfunded rarely if-ever discussed items, and the MASSIVE DPW wish list (parts of which are being approved with NO DISCUSSION at Town Meeting).
Nothing has changed to convince this reader to vote for ANY of the Neary options presented. It is alarming how the big picture may be in the process of being ignored, including environmental factors, which CANNOT be ignored (more on this later). Please see the following link:
Importantly, thanks to Select Board member, Mr. Hamilton, for his service and for coming the closest to transparency by revealing on this blog that NO ONE IS DRIVING THE BUS apparently when it comes to having a firm grip over the town’s overall $65m budget. Mr. Hamilton points to “competing fiefdoms” for taxpayer dollars. This is a stunning revelation which prompts a strong response: NO MORE.
- He writes: “It is a network of competing fiefdoms, each grasping for their share of the taxpayer’s pocketbook. The Select Board has no authority or responsibility with respect to the schools.”
This taxpayer does not agree with the latter statement to some degree.
- The Select Board influences and advises taxpayers at town meetings in a major way: it RECOMMENDS, yea or nay. While SB may not have DIRECT “authority or responsibility,” it is not quite right to disavow itself completely as it certainly does have its own recommendations, right or wrong. There does need to be better oversight, influence, controls and authorities (including over DPW and schools as possible) over budgeting and spending.
As for taxpayer control, taxpayers should send a message that this is all you are getting annually and that’s it: while the wildly disproportionate overall school system budget (and now capital needs) drain the overall taxpayer pool dry – it is time to fully reject this whole haphazard budget and payment system until ALL competing future capital needs are assessed, fully understood, and fully accounted for at ANNUAL town meeting, not the Special Town Meeting super-highway by-pass to the taxpayer wallet. This is for pure solvency reasons. Continually overspending is unsustainable.
As previously noted: It is alarming that the big picture considerations are being ignored. On all things NEARY, taxpayers may want to consider a vote for “D. NONE OF THE ABOVE” since it is difficult to assess further expenditures on the expired useful life of the NEARY School based on information to date and the following factors.
Are we throwing good money after bad? The town needs to prioritize practical solutions, financial responsibility, and the health and well-being of the community with objectivity.
- it would be appropriate to hold those responsible legally accountable (past and present) for lack of critical review and the lapses for the state law required testing. (See below for information on who is LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE.)
- For the latest January 14, 2026 PARE Report, please see the following link to [Select Board Agenda Packet for January 20, 2026]
Also, readers should read one blogger’s important observations about the tardiness / LATE landfill report submitted. We should not pay for this report and consider replacing this contractor.
The town has conducted periodic testing for VOCs, SVOCs, pesticides, and metals at this site and its surrounding waterways.
- Per a 2018 report (S. 3.6), 310 CMR 19.142 (S) – Post Closure Requirements
The Southborough Department of Public Works is responsible for the monitoring and maintenance of the landfill during the post-closure period. In this capacity, the DPW is the local authority responsible for taking corrective actions to address the conditions that might compromise the integrity of the final cover system or the environmental monitoring network. The DPW is also the contracting authority responsible for ensuring that Third Party Inspections are performed at the site.
- Residents have expressed concerns over water testing that have allegedly shown carcinogenic VOCs, arsenic, and other materials that allegedly has already leached into surrounding groundwater, requiring the town to fund testing for hazardous elements and gases IN PERPETUITY. IT’S AN UNLINED DEGRADING DUMP located next to private wells and the Sudbury Reservoir.
- Importantly, ALL RESIDENTS ON WELL WATER ON PARKERVILLE may wish to consider having their wells independently tested for a full panel of possible hazardous elements, not just the two homes and two hazardous elements mentioned on this blog previously. Also, the “swampy pond area” referenced on this blog by another reader, and any nearby catch basins, should be tested as well.
The following is information from the US EPA website:
What are volatile organic compounds (VOCs)? | US EPA
- What are volatile organic compounds (VOCs)?
- Volatile organic compounds are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. Many VOCs are human-made chemicals that are used and produced in the manufacture of paints, pharmaceuticals, and refrigerants. VOCs typically are industrial solvents, such as trichloroethylene; fuel oxygenates, such as methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE); or by-products produced by chlorination in water treatment, such as chloroform. VOCs are often components of petroleum fuels, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners, and dry cleaning agents. VOCs are common ground-water contaminants.
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.
Also, the Boston Globe recently reported “Mass. public school enrollment drops to its lowest level in 30 years / What’s behind the decline / The state’s nine largest districts all lost students from 2024 to 2025.” These demographics need to be thoroughly understood as well. The state is also losing population with net out migration. This is the larger demographic context; please see the following link.
Massachusetts Outmigration Continues: New Study Reveals the Move to Other States – Boston Newsroom
The town just had a ridiculous 7.7 percent TAX INCREASE. This is hefty. The current budget increases are unsustainable. Now here comes overuse of Special Town Meeting format to extract MORE taxes over that increase.
In summary, part of the answer is STOP OVER SPENDING, on the overall budget and on faulty and/or unnecessary reports. Stop ignoring the wider context and common sense items.
- IMPORTANTLY, until the taxpayers get a full accounting of the environmental issues, they should not authorize any spending on rehabilitating or reconstruction of NEARY SCHOOL until the full impacts are fully known via RESPONSIBLE AND ACCURATE REPORTING ON THE CONDITION OF THE PROPERTY AND ITS IMMEDIATE ENVIRONS, including the abutting former dump.
Most municipalities are NOT spending more but are looking to re-assess overall budgets and restore their communities to sound financial footing first. More and better reporting is needed before making any financial decisions – and possibly throwing good taxpayer money after bad. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Karen Hanlon Shimkus
8 Lynbrook Road
