live reporting - process continued

Jeff: state aid will be very lean next year

Jim: they might also repeal the income tax

Jeff: that would be a disaster and relatively easier to deal with

Doug: if level service would lead us on a trajectory that would endanger us with accreditation

Wayne: we are already on probation for the high school facility, we are notifying them of the teacher cuts which may change that status. The school committee was notified of this.

Jim: come from with a level service budget beginning

Doug: two options, really. one with level service, two what would we propose to cut to maintain the budget within the level allowed.

Jeff: this is the potential menu, one or more of these scenarios will get us to the number

Gwynne: if you cut some number from roads, what does that mean for me. If you could say that the work on Daniels instead of being completed in 2009 would be completed in 2012, that might be more meaningful. That is just an example.

Doug: even loosing 17 teachers tells most folks nothing

Jeff: we had 50 police officers in 2001 and we have 42 today. Did you see that? It is really hard to show that to the average citizens.

Wayne: in 2002 I had 500 teachers, this year we have 430 with 350 more students. This is more easily shown

Rebecca: it would be easier to tell the school story, everyone either has someone in the schools or knows someone with one in the schools. this is a family town

Wayne: only 33% of the households have children in the school system

Doug: it has to be more than numbers on paper, it has to be the "so what does it matter"

Jeff: I have asked the department heads for that, it doesn't need to be much but it needs to be at least a bullet item

Gwynne: are there examples from other towns where there were cuts in police and fire and the crime rate rose, etc.

Deb: I don't know that I need to justify every police or fire person when it is a town problem.

Doug: maybe some standard, in response time for police and fire; accreditation for the schools, etc. and by those standards, the metrics could be shown where Franklin relates. What are the metrics we could use?

Jeff: there is no long term answer, there is either more taxes or less services in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Every once in a while we may skip a year of the Legislature is generous. There is a minimum level of education required by the law. If you want to maintain the minimum, then other services will be cut to maintain the level.

Deb: some solutions may come out of this, that I my hope

Steve: I hope so

Deb: why can't the inventory of the school library books be counted as part of the town library? if it requires major changes, where do we go to start that process.

Shannon Zollo arrived late