Framingham Taxpayers Association (FTPA) Annual Report to our Members June 2004
Organization Policy Recommendations Politcial Action Publicity Looking ahead Membership Call for Volunteers

We write this report on the occasion of our first anniversary. We have accomplished a great deal in our first year and we want to share these accomplishments with you.

Organization Just a little over a year ago a group of about fifteen of us met to discuss our concerns about our local government. Fiscal issues dominated these concerns. Our country, state and town had recently enjoyed one of the greatest economic booms of all time, and shortly after it ended our town needed a $7.2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override to balance our budget. As taxpayers, we were very troubled by what this implied about the management of the Town’s fiscal affairs. In short order we developed a mission statement, which the group approved unanimously. Our mission focuses on advocating for fiscally disciplined, highly cost-effective government in our town. We then conducted a series of intensive planning sessions in which we identified and prioritized actions that we could take in pursuit of our mission. This list of priority action items has guided our activities for the past year. Finally we established an Executive Committee and a Steering Committee. Our Executive Committee is comprised of four individuals. Doug Freeman is a finance executive, chairman of the Flag Day Parade and Town Meeting member. Steve Kruger is an investment manager, former management consultant and Town Meeting member. Enzo Rotatori is a retired business executive and Town Meeting member. Nancy Wilson is a retired finance executive and member of the Town’s Finance Committee. Steve Kruger acts as our official spokesman. The Executive Committee meets once or twice a month to review the progress of our various initiatives and plan the agenda for the Steering Committee meetings. The Steering Committee, currently comprised of a dozen members, meets once a month to discuss the planning and conduct of our activities. From time to time we also invite outside guests to attend our Steering Committee meetings to share their expertise in areas of interest to us. For example on two occasions we invited North Andover Taxpayers Association executive Ted Tripp to share his experience in establishing a very successful taxpayers organization in his town. A former long-time member of the Framingham Finance Committee and a leader in the Alliance for Educational Equity also joined us on two other occasions to provide us with helpful input. We estimate that in our first year, members of our Executive Committee and Steering Committee expended more than fifteen hundred volunteer hours attending FTPA meetings, conducting research and making presentations to various town boards and committees to advance our agenda.

Policy Recommendations In January of 2004, following a substantial research effort, the FTPA issued a White Paper on Salary and Wage Increases. In our research we looked at the history of salary and wage increases granted by the Town to its major unions since Proposition 2 1/2 went into effect. This paper emphasized the need for the town to refine its policies with respect to the way that general increases in wages and salaries are determined. We also pointed out two important existing financial policies that the Town has not been following and called for more stringent adherence to these policies. A press release of our findings and recommendations got us a front-page article in the MetroWest Daily News. More importantly, we got the attention of the Finance Committee and we plan to pursue discussions with the Finance Committee to see that our recommendations are adopted. We posted a copy of this White Paper on our web site, where it is still available for review.

Political Action At the special Town Meeting in October 2003, the FTPA sponsored its first warrant article. This article called for a new Town by-law that would extend Proposition 2 1/2 limits to the establishment of any fees for the collection of household trash. During the debate on the article at Town Meeting, opponents buried Town Meeting members in a haze of red herrings. That, combined with a Town Meeting that was anxious to finish its business quickly, (the first game of the Red Sox vs. Yankees playoff series was on!) led to a quick vote to refer the article back to sponsor for further consideration. Not to be deterred, we responded to every objection raised by the opponents of the measure (explaining how almost all of those objections were without merit) and reintroduced the article at the 2004 Annual Town Meeting. This time only the Board of Selectmen opposed the measure, while four other committees strongly supported us, and we prevailed with an overwhelming majority (about 90%) of Town Meeting members voting in favor of the measure. With this new by-law we have:       a) prevented the Board of Selectmen from using a trash collection fee to circumvent the principles of Proposition 2 1/2,       b) averted an additional fee which could have averaged as much as $200 per household per year, and       c) preserved for the taxpayers the authority to decide whether new revenues for trash collection should be raised through the mechanism of an override. The text of this article and supporting explanatory material are available on our website. We sponsored a second article at the 2004 Annual Town Meeting. This article addressed the need to control the spiraling cost of health insurance for the Town’s employees. In an approach that we feel is both innovative and fair, we asked that bargaining of employees’ compensation be based on the combined total of salaries and health insurance benefits (vs. the current practice of bargaining salaries and health insurance separately). We believe that this change will allow the Town to maintain much better control over our employee compensation costs. After contentious debate, during which a succession of Town Meeting members who are also town employees spoke against this measure, Town Meeting passed this article with about 57% voting in favor. Although this article was "advisory" in nature and does not obligate the Town’s administration or unions to take any action, it sends a strong message to the Town’s administration that we hope will not be ignored. This article demonstrates the FTPA’s commitment and ability to address some of the town’s thorniest financial issues in a constructive manner. Here again the text of the article and the supporting material are available on our website. For both of the articles we sponsored at the 2004 Annual Town Meeting, a ballot vote was taken. We have posted the results of this vote on our website so that you may see how Town Meeting members in your precinct voted on these measures. Last but not least, prior to our most recent town election last April, FTPA designed and mailed a questionnaire to all candidates for the offices of Selectman, School Committee and Town Meeting member. We also included pre-addressed, stamped return envelopes. The questionnaires asked each candidate to indicate their stance (pro or con) on a range of positions that the FTPA had taken. We were gratified that we received a high response rate to these questionnaires, including all candidates for School Committee, two of three candidates for Selectman, and approximately 40% of Town Meeting member candidates. As far as we know, this is the first time in Framingham’s history that anyone has asked Town Meeting member candidates to indicate their position on any issues. We posted all responses on our website so that voters could read the candidates’ responses in advance of the election.

Publicity As mentioned above, we received prominent front-page coverage in the MetroWest Daily News with the release of our White Paper on salary and wage increases. Also in the print media, the Tab ran a front-page feature story on the FTPA last winter and the FTPA was mentioned in the blurb about Framingham in the 2004 edition of the MetroWest Community Guide. On local television, FTPA spokesman Steve Kruger appeared as the featured guest on the George King Show and as a panelist on one edition of the Dave Hutchinson show. FTPA Executive Committee member Enzo Rotatori appeared as a panelist on another edition of the Dave Hutchinson show.

Looking Ahead As this goes to press the Steering Committee is in the process of developing our action plan for the coming year. Over the course of the next few weeks we will use the same process we used last summer to identify, prioritize, and organize activities aimed at advancing our mission of advocating for fiscally disciplined, highly cost-effective government in our town. We would also welcome your input. There is space on the enclosed membership renewal form for you to provide us with your suggestions on where we might most beneficially focus our efforts going forward.

Membership At the end of our first year we are closing in on 100 members. Not a bad start, but far from our goal of 1000. For us to sustain our initial successes and continue to advance our mission we need a strong, committed constituency. We ask for your support in two ways. First, please renew your membership (a pink membership renewal form is enclosed). To coincide with the Town’s fiscal year, we have adopted a fiscal year ending June 30. The cost for individual membership remains at $10. For those who joined after March 31, 2004, we will extend your membership through the 2004-2005 fiscal year. For those of you who joined prior to April 1 we ask you to continue your support by renewing for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Second, please tell your family, friends and neighbors about us and encourage them to join. Last year we started with just a mission statement and a few committed souls. Now after our first year we have established a strong record of service to the taxpayers of our town. Please help us spread the word to others who might share our commitment to fiscally disciplined, highly cost-effective government in our town and encourage them to join our ranks. We have enclosed a yellow new membership form for you to give to someone else who might want to support our efforts. (Please feel free to make copies of the membership form and distibute them to as many people as you like!)

Call For Volunteers Finally we are always looking for volunteers to help with policy research. If you feel that you are qualified to work on policy research (e.g. collecting and analyzing comparative statistical and cost data, researching fiscal policies and practices used by other cities and towns, etc.) and have the time and the interest to help us, please contact any member of the Executive Committee (phone numbers are on our website). Best wishes for an enjoyable summer, The FTPA Executive Committee, Doug Freeman Steve Kruger Enzo Rotatori Nancy Wilson

Send comments to: webmaster@framinghamtpa.org

Every tax is a pay cut.  Every tax cut is a pay raise. Citizens for Limited Taxation