Just a hunch, but given that the Town’s financial picture is worsening by the day, isn’t it about time for us to start hearing that Special Education costs are a huge drag on the Brookline budget?
It usually goes like this (from the report [available here] of the CPA Study Committee chaired by School Committee Member [...]
Question: Which former Brookline selectman and “attorney to the developers” tried to argue before the Zoning Board of Appeals (in November of 2005) that several hundred square feet of unfinished space on the second floor of a three-story new construction should be considered attic space and thus ought not be figured into the building’s Floor [...]
Another Brookline Selectmen’s meeting, another sham.
Last evening, the Selectmen agreed to assemble a committee that would purportedly study the Town’s finances and determine the best course of action (i.e., cuts versus an over-ride) with respect to the Town’s budget woes.
Wait a minute, I thought that’s what we elected a board of selectmen to do. [...]
The Brookline Selectmen have put this agenda item up for tomorrow night’s meeting: “Further discussion of options for considering the advisability of an override for FY09.”
Now if you can figure out what that means, you qualify to serve on the “over-ride study group” the Selectmen are ginning up.
As one who believes that a Prop 2.5 [...]
Archie has filed Part II in his series on The Town of Brookline’s rather poor attempt at a Whistleblower Policy. In this installment, he can’t find evidence that the Town has such a policy…and then he has to file a public records request to see what’s been done around establishing one.
Click here to read Part [...]
The Boston Globe’s City Weekly section takes a run at the Dennis DeWitt demotion and picks up the angle that the Selectmen probably violated the Town’s By-law and the Massachusetts statute governing appointment of preservation commission members.
They most likely did. But when has that ever mattered to the Gang of Three (Selectmen Michael Merrill, [...]
I’ve been doing some reporting on the Dennis Dewitt demotion of last month (see previous post) and it’s worse than I thought.
I’m taking this story in two parts. In the first, I look into the justification used to demote Dewitt - the citizen complaints used by Selectman’s Chair Bobby Allen.
Click here to read: Dennis [...]
Question: What is the Town’s unfunded liability (cost of future benefits if paid today) in the Retiree Group Health Trust Fund?
Answer: According to the actuary that advises the Town’s pension system (speaking at tonight’s Selectmen’s meeting), it’s between $200 and $325 million. The range is based on the rate of investment return assumed for [...]
Despite assurances that there would be an investigation into the evacuation of the Baker School back in December, we still don’t know why BMOC Plus - a septic tank cleaner and degreaser - was being used as antifreeze in the heat transfer water pipes at the school. (see previous post)
And we’re not about to. [...]
It’s this site’s mission to both edify and empower. To that end, I’ve added a new feature to On Brookline called, “Other Views and Voices.”
The idea is to address the policies and political matters that affect the long-term prospects for our little burgh.
First up is a series by (the very good friend of On [...]
