Now What?
By Jim Conley • Mar 14th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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Remember Brookline Town Administrator Richard Kelliher’s budget presentation and how he told the selectmen that his revenue projections included cash from casinos [see previous post]?
Well, now it looks like the Massachusetts House is going to bust the casino plan in a vote sometime this month [see Globe story].
Now what? Kelliher is another $500 thousand in the hole on revenue. It’s not a big hit, but it lays bare the fundamental problem in town government.
Rather than look at the expense side to find savings, Kelliher and the selectmen rolled the dice on gaming revenue. That’s how averse they are to cutting the municipal budget — not one cut has been achieved other than through attrition. And those cuts would be restored through an override.
Now that we have to find another $500 thousand in savings, here’s the easiest choice of all — eliminate the Department of Economic Development in the Planning Office. It’s nothing more than a PR operation for developers and it hasn’t produced any meaningful economic development in Brookline.
If you want to support local merchants, the best way to do it is to put more money in the pockets of residents/consumers. It’s called economic development.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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