With the town facing a swift economic contraction and the loss of state aid, even as it juggles multiple, competing spending issues, Selectman Dan LeClerc is hoping Belmont will steer a middle path: accepting some cuts in services while supporting important projects such as the construction of a new Wellington Elementary School and the preservation of teacher positions at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Category: politics
Alternatives for towns facing cuts to libraries?
Next door in Arlington individual donors had stepped in with funding to preserve abbreviated Sunday library hours, at least through May. Will Belmont residents do the same?
Stand for Children: supporting Belmont’s schools from the grassroots
Going into 2009 Belmont’s schools are facing a tough budget crunch, and this is a great time for Belmont parents and supporters of the schools to get involved….Stand for Children is in the early stages of establishing a Belmont chapter, and we are looking for committed people to join the chapter and make a difference for Belmont kids.
Crazy ideas for ’09: Fast track the Library
Find a place for the new library and you’ve got your new Police Station. You may also have found an answer to the Underwood/Skating Rink question, too.
Crazy ideas for ’09: Smaller is better for Town Meeting
Town Meeting, as it currently exists in Belmont, is too large and too unwieldy to serve the town as it should.
Firenze planning to run again in 2009
Selectman Angelo Firenze will run again for a second full term in 2009, The Belmont Citizen Herald is reporting.
School Committee weighs budget, other issues
After a long hiatus that included the Thanksgiving holiday and a trip to Moscow, I’m back and sitting in on Tuesday evening’s omnibus School Committee meeting, at which a number of issues are being tackled, including plans for a new…
Parsing the election results in Belmont
Yes we can! Tuesday, November 4, 2008, was a wonderful and historic day in the life of our nation, and Belmont’s voters turned out in force yesterday to be a part of it. So how did we come down on…
Rep. Brownsberger: Thoughts on Question 1
There is a moral dimension to this vote. It is morally wrong to abandon the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, the abused children, the working single mothers who can’t afford health care for their kids and the many others who depend on the state for assistance in one form or another. That’s really what we are talking about — it’s not about optional services and it’s mostly not about waste. – Will Brownsberger on Ballot Question 1
Opponents: Question 1 would sap $11.2m from Belmont
One of the interesting revelations…is what a vicious spiral we would find ourselves in, were Question 1 to pass. Why? Because so much of the federal aid we receive is contingent on the level of state aid…As we slash programs to try to shrink our budget, we will also watch federal dollars being sucked out of state and back to Washington D.C., leaving Massachusetts poorer and more desperate than ever.