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Hidden cost of new government

March 17, 2016 |

As we prepare to vote on April 12; voting “no” keeps our current form of government, whereas “yes” ushers in a new form.

Voting “yes” drastically reduces governmental transparency, and the cost of operating our town will increase forever. Eliminating the open Town Meeting greatly reduces transparency and limits our ability to maintain accountability of our government and elected officials. All of this leads to a degradation of governmental legitimacy, which we must not have.

Will major decisions by a town manager and town council really be transparent? Advocates for the new government say they want to eliminate the “packing” of the Town Meetings. Squandering the ability to publicly voice opinions only suppresses grievances, which in turn renders a fabricated sense of silent support by removing opposition. Our Town Meetings uphold the transparency required of a legitimate government. Turning complete control of the town over to four out of seven Councilors eliminates transparency.

The proposed government essentially removes the 19 Boards, roughly 130 dedicated Board members and decades of relevant experience. These volunteers at a reasonable hourly rate, if paid, would cost the town $350,000 annually. These people are outstanding resources overseeing daytime businesses with annual budgets in excess of $200 million dollars. It is a virtual certainty that one Town Manager cannot replace their experience and combined wisdom.

During their January presentation the Charter Commission, after nine months of analysis, said they had not “seen” projections comparing the current government cost versus the proposed government cost. Neither the commission nor their Boston consultant has shared these numbers with the voters. Why haven’t they? What successful entity moves forward on a major project without comparing projected costs?

Do we really expect the new government will be delivered at a lower cost? Based on the proposed organizational structure, labor costs alone will increase over $450,000 per year. Forfeiting a donated $350,000 to instead spend $450,000 just to avoid “packing” a Town Meeting is a poor fiscal decision. It is a virtual certainty that this means higher taxes.

Unforeseen costs will arise if a new town manager has “issues” with the current department heads. Qualified replacements might be tougher to find and might cost more not to mention the high cost of loss of continuity. Will the new manager be collegial and cohesive or a dictator in running these departments?

On April 12, we have the ability to vote “no” on Question 1 and retain our Town Meeting, as Longmeadow and Wilbraham still do, and retain the greatest transparency while holding our leaders accountable to the residents. Remember, once we relinquish our right to vote at the Town Meeting we will never get this leverage back.

Michael R. Sacenti
East Longmeadow

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