Monday, February 4, 2013
Superintendent Brenda Hodges said the budget situation in Mansfield is starting to come together.
Mansfield School Committee Chairman Michael Trowbridge said that the fiscal situation in Mansfield may be improving. “Not to be real optimistic, but we’re $1.1 million above what we were expecting,” he said. “Realize it’s still early in the process and there are a lot of things we need to shake out.” Mansfield Schools Superintendent Brenda Hodges said that to maintain level services, the district still needs $500,000 for what the current projections are. She said that everyone in the joint budget subcommittee strongly believe that chapter 70 state funding will be level funded at 2.5 percent for 2013, since Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget did not cut into state funding for schools. “It’s a moving target really until you get to May,” she said. …
Friday, December 28, 2012
Mansfield selectmen debate the necessity of unfunded mandates.
The Mansfield Board of Selectmen continued to debate on unfunded mandates last Wednesday in response to the hanging fiscal cliff and Gov. Deval Patrick’s responsive cuts. Selectman Kevin Moran said that it is a problem that is continuing to spiral more and more out of the local governments’ ability to handle it. “We’re managing a budget problem not solving it,” said Moran. “Since I’ve joined the board, the unrestricted aide has dropped 32 percent. The state is continuing to give us unfunded mandates. The truth of the matter is when there’s a one party state, constituents don’t really make politicians uncomfortable. You have to let them know that this can’t continue.” Moran added that the Massachusetts economy in general is not doing so …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Mansfeld officials weigh in on the tight fiscal landscape Mansfield is in.
Mansfield Finance Committee chair Walter Wilks and vice chair Steve Schoonveld met with selectmen on Wednesday to discuss the progression of Mansfield’s budget situation over the next decade. “We pretty much need 5 percent revenue growth or state funds… to balance the budget for next year without using free cash or raising taxes,” Wilks said. The main remedy they suggested was to raise revenue not through residential development but through the industrial park, the train station and downtown. “We should figure out ways to increase the tax base to increase businesses in the town,” Wilks said. The pair suggested that plans to rezone the industrial park to allow for larger buildings should start right away, so that the work could begin sooner…
Mansfield schools looking into next year's budget situation.
Next year’s budget process is already moving forward, both on the municipal side and in the Mansfield School District. “Everything we’ve heard so far for this budget has just been getting better and better,” chair Michael Trowbridge said. State funding estimates from this year’s budget proved to be, on some points, higher than originally estimated and will be giving more funds to the town. But school district director of finance and operations Edward Vozzella said there are still hurdles to jump. “This year we have so many mandates required by the state that they’re not ad-ons as we have discussed in the past,” Vozzella said. “You’ll see a budget this year that has requirements.” Superintendent Brenda Hodges said that federal funding is …
Mansfield unemployment down.
1. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon. Friday Night Patchy fog after 5 a.m. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 57. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. 2. Michelle Kosilek, whose court case to receive a sex-change operation is currently under appeal, has acrewed over $800,000 in legal fees, for which she is seeking the state to pay. Click here to read more. 3. The school district has begun working on the budget for next year. The school committee stated that they would be focusing on high needs students to secure federal funding per state requirements. 4. Mansfield finance committee members said that the town has a long …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Newly-appointed Mansfield Fincom member James Regazzo said he could no longer take the position, one last seat available on the committee.
The Mansfield Finance Committee, appointed to full-strength in late August, is now again short one member. James Regazzo was one of the last appointed to the committee, and because of certain conflicts, he wrote in a letter to the board of selectmen on Wednesday, he will not be able to accept the position. He also stated that he is resigning from the planning board, opening up a full position later in the year. Regazzo won by one vote from the board of selectmen in August. The only other applicant for the last seat on the board was Yogen Chemburkar, who told selectmen earlier that, if another position opened up, he would be interested in taking the seat. “It was indicated to me if there was a future opportunity that he was still interested…
Thursday, June 21, 2012
More funds will be available in the form of free cash for the fiscal year 2013 budget. The budget for 2012 is less than estimated.
Mansfield schools director of finance and operations Edward Vozzella said on Tuesday that more funds will be available in the next fiscal year budget than previously expected. Vozzella said that though there are many projects still in the preliminary phases, some teacher salaries and decreases in estimates for captial projects will result in leftover money that was budgeted for this year. "Hopefully [the money] will find its way back to us in the form of free cash for next year," he said. He said that exact numbers on teacher salaries are not in yet because teachers have the option of taking their summer stipend in the form of a lump sum or monthly pay, but that once everything's closed he'll have a full report. Capital projects are also…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Wayne Smith Jr. beats incumbent Jim Perry 441 to 382.
Wayne Smith Jr. won the only contested election on Tuesday against incumbent Jim Perry for a position on the Mansfield School Committee. Smith won by 59 votes in the contest, with 7 percent more than Perry. Smith had 441 votes and Perry had 382. Selectman George Dentino held his uncontested seat on the board with 519 votes. Robert Saquet won his uncontested race for Town Moderator with 590 votes. Smith said he was shocked and surprised at the result, saying that he knows the experience Perry has had over the years on the School Committee. “I was actually very surprised,” he said. “The last time Jim ran, he had the most votes that anybody had received in a long time in Mansfield. I thought would be a very hard road… Jim’s been around for …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Selectmen agree to ask former Finance Committee members to come to the next meeting and talk with selectmen.
The Mansfield Board of Selectmen met last night and discussed the recent resignation of the six most senior members of the Financial Advisory Committee following the first session of town meeting. Selectmen agreed that the entire situation was not agreeable. The budget was far from perfect, and all involved said before town meeting that they were not happy with it. “We didn’t solve anything,” selectman Kevin Moran said. “This was not going to be a compromise budget … it came down to layoffs or free cash. It was the best outcome we could do at the time.” Selectmen agreed that the loss of the 60 plus years of experience was detrimental to the town. George Dentino said that he felt they did not do enough to help out the committee, and thought…
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Mansfield town-side budget passes 212-199.
The budget was this year's hot-button issue in Mansfield this year. With a $3.2 million gap in revenue to budgeted funds, it didn't seem like an easy solution could be found. The Mansfield Town Meeting quorum approved both the town and school budgets on Tuesday, and all agreed, it was not an easy (or tenable) solution. The town side of the budget passed with a head count of 212 for and 199 against. The school budget passed without a contentious quorum. The budget was closed mostly with one-time use free cash funds leftover from last year's budget in health care savings. $41,098,245 was appropriated for the schools and $35,185,945 for the town. One the school side, teachers' salaries that could not otherwise be paid were paid through …
jackie
6:43 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
Wouldnt you think bullying in our schools takes presidence? more ›