Every tax is a pay cut. Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation |
Chapter 70 Funding for Schools |
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Chapter 70, as it is called, is the primary source of funds
that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts distributes to its
351 cities and towns and special schools. The name comes
from
Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 70.
. Also see the
Cherry Sheets.
Who am I, a mere mortal, to have the audacity to question Framingham's Ministry of Finance and the Big Brains in the Finance Committee about their wildly optimistic and highly speculative assumptions made on Chapter 70 funding (state expense code 7061-0008) in Framingham's Long Term Financial Report in 2007 and 2008. It doesn't even qualify as a good Scientific Wild Ass Guess (SWAG). Ambrose Bierce defined the future as That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured. According to state budgets , Chapter 70 funding (state expense code 7061-0008) has increased a total of 64.6% increase across the past 11 years, or a 4.65% increase year over year. This almost falls in line with the state revenues increasing 4.35% year over year These long term financial reports are reviewed by the Town Manager, the CFO, the Finance Committee and stamped for approval by the Chairman of the Board of Selectman, Dennis Giombetti. The long term financial report is used as the gospel by the School Committee to negotiate their union contracts. What's interesting is that the other numbers seem to be reasonable, but Chapter 70 funding is really out of whack and should be adjusted to reflect reality. The best part is that the state revenues are expected to drop next year because of a slowing economy. This will cause another one of those totally unexpected shortfalls in state revenues just like 2002 . |
State/Framingham Level Funding of Chapter 70 | ||||
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Year | State Wide Chapter 70 | % Diff | Framingham Chapter 70 | % Diff |
1998 | 2,262,342,702 | 4,875,667 | ||
1999 | 2,515,444,069 | 11.0 | 5,645,028 | 15.7 |
2000 | 2,760,762,474 | 9.7 | 6,826,278 | 20.9 |
2001 | 2,947,826,307 | 6.7 | 8,258,128 | 21.0 |
2002 | 3,213,150,094 | 9.0 | 9,814,588 | 18.8 |
2003 | 3,258,969,179 | 1.4 | 10,164,588 | 3.6 |
2004 | 3,108,140,588 | (4.8) | 8,131,670 | (20.0) |
2005 | 3,183,282,601 | 2.4 | 8,131,670 | 0.0 |
2006 | 3,288,931,062 | 3.2 | 8,530,320 | 4.9 |
2007 | 3,505,520,040 | 6.6 | 10,628,154 | 24.5 |
2008 | 3,725,671,328 | 6.6 | 13,996,312 | 31.6 |
Now we get into the big deception from Framingham's Ministry of Finance |
2007 Long Term Financial Report | 2008 Long Term Financial Report | |||
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Year | Chapter 70 Funding | % Diff | Chapter 70 Funding | % Diff |
2007 | 10,628,154 | 10,669,154 | ||
2008 | 11,903.532 | 11.2 | 13,996,312 | 31.2 |
2009 | 13,331,956 | 11.2 | 17,915,279 | 22.8 |
2010 | 14,931,791 | 11.2 | 22,394,099 | 25.0 |
2011 | 16,723,606 | 11.2 | 27,992,624 | 24.9 |
2012 | 18,730,439 | 11.2 | 34,151,001 | 22.0 |
2013 | 40,981,202 | 20.0 |
Town Manager, $135,000 per year,
CFO, $100,000 per year, Plugging in bogus data in Framingham's Long Term Financial Report, PRICELESS For everything else, there's Master Card |
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Send comments to: hjw2001@gmail.com |