By JON BAKER

LINCOLN  —- Budget Board chair Ken Booth has called the annual Financial Town Meeting a “terrific democratic process,” one in which residents have the opportunity to speak on the next fiscal year’s budget.

Late Monday night, Lincoln’s residents voted, but not in resounding fashion, for an additional $500,000 in the schools budget for 2008-09.
Before the FTM, the recommended schools allotment sat at $47.8 million; with the added amount, it moved to $48.3 million.
“The way I look at it, it’s unfortunate because there’s no label to that amount, or where that additional half-million dollars will go,” Booth said Tuesday afternoon. “Our adjustment to their budget consisted of administrative budget lines. We as the Budget Board never proposed cutting programs for students, as was stated at the meeting.
“I just don’t know where those extra funds will be used,” he added. “The meeting was more heated than I had anticipated. I’m a big fan of the FTM because people have the chance to voice their opinions. I know some people may be upset about the outcome, but again, they may participate and vote in the process.
“There was an understanding between the town administrator (T. Joseph Almond), the School Department and the Budget Board that our proposed budget would be manageable in these tough economic times. It didn’t appear that the support (for the listed budget for schools) was there (on Monday).”
Under the proposed budget of $71.3 million, the property tax hike would have been 2.72 percent, or an additional 10 cents per $1,000 assessed value, from $16.72 to $16.82.
With the added $500,000 to the schools, the tax hike stands at 2.9 percent.
“That means, per $1,000 of property value, (the levy) would increase from a dime to between 32 and 34 cents,” Booth claimed. “Simply put, the taxpayers who opposed the budget as it was will have to pay an (extra) $102 on a $300,000 home.”
Town Council member Ronald McKenna, who represents Manville, also acts as tax collector for both the Albion and Manville fire districts. He stated during the meeting that some residents already have problems paying their taxes for fire services, and took offense to the $500,000 increase.
“I tried to make people understand that there are people in Lincoln, and in Manville especially, who are experiencing financial difficulty right now,” McKenna said Tuesday. “We’ve had (in Manville) a 600 percent increase in foreclosures this year. It’s only seven homes, but last year I had only one. That tells me people are having serious problems. I mean, tax receipts are down about 8 percent. In dollar value, that’s $40,000, which is a significant amount, considering we have a $360,000 budget (at the Manville Fire District).
“All that fell on deaf ears,” he added. “I wanted the people to understand it’s not just about them, but others within the borders of Lincoln. I don’t feel it’s right to raise taxes for funds that don’t have a designated area in which to go.
“I talked to numerous people (Tuesday) night, and the first thing they said was they felt the money would go to teacher contracts, as this is a contract year. It’s also an election year, so I kind of expected certain individuals to get up and politick.
“The politicking was crazy. We were there to address the budget, and I know people got frustrated. What frustrated me the most was I went to the meeting thinking that the town and the School Department had agreed on a bottom line for the budget.
“When I walked in, there was a long line, and then I found out while waiting that the School Department had sent out notices to get people there. That tells you they wanted something. As far as I’m concerned, the School Department stacked the meeting to get what they wanted.”
Neither Schools Superintendent Georgia Fortunato nor School Committee Chairwoman Mary Anne Roll were available for comment.
“The taxpayers are getting hit with a tax increase for the funding of undefined items within the School Department,” Booth said. “The schools had tremendous support at the meeting, and they wanted additional money for the department. We, as members of the Budget Board, tried to explain the reason for the recommended budget, but the meeting’s majority appeared to already have had their minds made up.
“Am I frustrated? No,” he added. “Like I said, I respect the process, but there is some dismay that people would choose to raise the schools budget without knowing where the money would be spent, or whether it was truly needed … It didn’t say it was going to books, desks or computers, whatever.”
On the other hand, the municipal operating budget of just over $16.9 million (an increase of $698,000) was sliced by $1,500 at the FTM, Booth said.
Almond previously had stated that, under the S3050 Property Tax Cap introduced three years ago, the town must limit its tax increase to a maximum of 5 percent. Next year, that would fall to 4.75 percent, and then drop by a quarter of a percentage point until it reached 4 percent in 2013.
“All we can hope for is that the additional half-million dollars aren’t used to fund items that will compound themselves in future years,” Booth said. “That’s only going to create more of a burden on the taxpayer the next time around.”