>>Valley Patriot>> |
Originally, Town Manager, Mark Rees put forward a proposal and the finance committee put forward another. I support the Town Manager’s original budget. Some may think that my support of the Town Manager’s original proposal was based solely on the fact that this budget appropriates more money for police spending. Please remember, I campaigned against the new police station due to the fact I felt there was wasteful spending. In fact, I support the Town Manager’s original budget proposal because it maintains a minimum police presence of four men on the road. Not only does this selfishly increase my personal safety, it also increases the safety of the town’s twenty-eight thousand residents. While the Town Manager’s original budget proposal did not increase school spending as much as the Finance Committee proposal, I do not believe that the sky is falling and there will be forty teachers laid off. We have heard the stories of massive layoffs in the past while there were actually positions added. I am
concerned about the layoffs and cuts in other departments
which will actually occur. Do we want to go back It is my belief that the thousand-pound gorilla which currently eats two-thirds of the town budget needs to be reigned in. While you will hear the stories of the 300 new students, these figures are since 1999. The actual student growth from this year to next year is approximately 23 students. That is correct: 23 new students! In the superintendent’s world, this justifies a 13.6% or $4 million increase in spending. Our Central Office seems to have a sense of entitlement to even offer this budget in these difficult financial times. This is a bare bones budget at Central Administration. On page 6 of the superintendent’s budget recommendation, he pines about the cut of a Senior Administrative Assistant position. This is the second year in a row he has cut an administrative position that does not directly provide services to the student. How does Dr. Harutunian survive working in such Draconian conditions? He is now down to one Superintendent, one Assistant Superintendent, one Director of Management Support Services, one Executive Secretary to Superintendent, one Secretary to Assistant Superintendent, and approximately 8.27 Central Office Administrative Support/Secretary positions. Believe it or not, these positions do not include support positions for food services, special education, or the individual schools. I have
spoken to many residents who share my belief that we
won’t be cutting the amount of teachers threatened;
in fact, we wouldn’t cut any actual classroom
teachers if we focused on administrative costs. We must be
realistic in spending the limited amount of resources we
have and at the same time protect all the town’s
citizens.
*Send your questions
comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
There is currently a budget debate being
waged in North Andover. 
to one ambulance covering the entire
Town? Do you want to pay for trash pickup as
proposed by members of the Finance Committee? Do
you want to stop home visits which provide the disabled
elderly population their medication, or should we just
warehouse them away in a nursing home? Should we cut the
Youth Services Department, which runs mainly through
donations and volunteers, and currently encompasses only
a minute portion of the town budget?