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| Town government in Framingham is rapidly gaining ground at the expense of the taxpayers. The government has grown in excess of seventy (70%) in the last 10 years. Has your salary done the same or better? Why are we allowing this to happen? It doesn't even make sense to me. Government growth should be directly proportional to growth in population. This has not been the case in Framingham. The town government now spends in excess of $25.00 per second. A quick view of these graphs gives you a historical overview. |
| Always bear in mind that we have been a community for 306 years. It took 296 years for the General Fund to reach the $100 million mark in 1996. In ten short years, we've jumped to $175 million. And these clowns are trying to sell us more overrides. |
| Ten Year Snapshot: Bloat! Bloat! Bloat! | ||||||||
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| Year | Population | General Fund Expenses | Enterprise Fund Expenses | State Aid | Town Employment | School Costs | Number of Students | SAT Scores |
| 1996 | 66,141 | $103 million | $13.4 million | $15.9 million | 1,774 | $50.70 million | 8,308 | 1071 |
| 2006 | 65,598 | $175 million | $24.1 million | $23.1 million | 2,500 | $82.00 million | 8,710 | 1065 |
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70% growth in government + 1% DROP in population = Waste
60% increase in school costs + lower SAT scores = Waste |
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| You may want to seriously ask yourself, "Will my children be able to afford Framingham?". The answer is NO! I will add that Framingham was one of the more affordable communities in metro Boston. It is afterall the reason I came here. I could afford it. Without the equity that you have in your house, could you afford to buy your own house? |
| The cost of schools has increased by more than 60% in ten years. Can you specifically quantify the better education your children have received for this extra cost? Can you see whether class room size has diminished? Or are you simply believing what you are told by the school system? Are you basing it on faith that the more we spend, the better schools we get? If you think "it must be good if it's expensive.", then allow me to sell you some nice expensive swampland in Florida. If we use the metric of declining SAT scores, the schools are mediocre, but their costs are much higher. We are now over $13,000 per student per year. |
| Why are 20% of our children special education students? That's almost absurd. It makes me believe that the school administrators are abusing this program that was originally designed for 2-4% of the student population. |
| The end result of this growth in government will be higher housing prices, higher taxes, and more letters like this one from Bellingham. |
| "Those who do not do politics will be done in by politics."
-- French Proverb Please vote against the next override attempt ! We need your help. |
Send comments to:
hjw2001@gmail.com
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