What follows is a report of CCT’s first volunteers get-together April 15th, yesterday, at Campari’s Bistro on Orleans Road.

The turnout exceeded our expectations. We had a great cross-section of Chatham residents, all concerned about the rising costs of living in Chatham – which are reflected in constantly rising tax bills. Forget the tax rate; it’s the tax bill that counts.

Our grateful thanks to Campari’s for its generous hospitality.

The importance of town meeting. The basic point made to the volunteers is this: It is voters at town meeting who decide what spending to approve. After all, it is their money. If they think what the Selectmen are recommending is too much or too little, they can disagree and vote accordingly. CCT wants taxpayers to be informed and to stand up for their interests.

We discussed the importance of getting like-minded concerned taxpayers to attend town meeting on May 11th and to vote in the election on May 14th. There will be important financial items on the election day ballot as well as on the floor of town meeting. There are about 30 articles, so the meeting may run late or run to two days. Some important items may not come up till late in the process so all should plan accordingly.

For those new to town meeting, it was explained that the Warrant, which should be arriving in mailboxes in the next few days, is the core document which contains all the issues to be voted on at the town meeting and the following election, It should be read carefully to get an understanding of the important issues that, depending on how the votes go, can drive spending in Chatham to unprecedented levels. Of the 30 or so different articles in the warrant to be voted on, most of them involve spending money. Shortly after the Warrant is distributed, CCT plans to hold a second volunteers meeting to go over the Articles in detail. A grand meeting of all concerned taxpayers is being scheduled for Monday, May 4th, probably at 4 o’clock, in final preparation for participation in town meeting.

The Operating Budget and Capital Spending. We reviewed what Chatham Concerned Taxpayers has been doing since its sudden emergence the first week of February in response to the announcement that the operating budget would be going up about $1.25 million. We have attended many meetings. We made concerted pleas to the Selectmen that in this year of unprecedented financial stress the plight of the resident taxpayers be taken into account. Whether those pleas fell on deaf ears or were ignored, the result was the same: Spending as usual prevailed. Similar entreaties were made to the members of the Finance Committee and on the Operating Budget a majority led by Chairman Coleman Yeaw and Vice Chairman Jo Ann Sprague showed they shared our concerns and rejected the budget recommended by the Selectmen 5-4.

CCT had asked that spending for fiscal 2010 beginning July 1 be held at the fiscal year 2009 level and that non-emergency capital projects be deferred till better economic times returned. We said it was too much to ask financially stressed taxpayers to fund pay raises ranging as high as 6 and 7% for those full time public employees whose pay packages already placed them above the median of household incomes in Chatham. There was some hope when the Selectmen led by Chairman Sean Summers asked town employees to accept a voluntary compensation freeze. While the Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee voiced an appeal aimed at the unions that “we are all in this together,” the unions saw it differently and rejected the call. Pay raises in the budget total more than $730,000, not counting overtime, not taking account of the nine-month school year, not taking account of “longevity payments” and not taking into account increased payments for employee health insurance and pensions. As for capital projects, we won’t know the exact dollars until the Warrant is printed, but at least $1.5 million in what appear to be non-emergency, mostly maintenance, projects were okayed by the Selectmen, using off-budget taxpayer money collected in previous years to pay for them. So the “real” operating budget is about $35 million, not the $32.5 million as it will appear in the Warrant.

Even though members of the Finance Committee and of the Board of Selectmen identified hundreds of thousands of dollars of cuts that could be made – in addition to eliminating or reducing pay raises – at the end of the process no real cuts were made in the budget proposed by the Town Manager and recommended by the Selectmen to Town Meeting for adoption. Indeed, the unusually careful examination of the fiscal 2010 budget disclosed that a smaller budget than fiscal 2009 and a property tax cut to taxpayers could have resulted if the will were there.

A principal argument CCT advanced was that FY10 and FY11 are being forecast as very difficult years and therefore spending should be restrained so that reserve funds could be built up to deal with emergencies that might arise. The Selectmen acted to the contrary. To avoid an override vote at town meeting (to authorize more spending than permitted), the Selectmen approved taking monies out of reserve funds to keep spending high but not push up the property tax levy to the point of a special vote. So-called “free cash” was used for more than $1.5 million to pay for projects and at least $600,000 from other reserves were used to support the fiscal 2010 budget. Rather than commit to so much spending, why not keep money that could be used during the next two years to avoid layoffs or slashes in essential services should conditions continued to deteriorate?

Town revenues are slipping. Town spending depends on more than the property tax. Of the FY10 budget of about $32.5 million (actually, about $35 million) proposed by the Selectmen, the anticipated property tax levy for FY10 will provide about $24.5 million. The rest of the money comes from various sources (in addition to reserve funds and free cash) such as the local share of the state’s hotel/motel tax, vehicle excise taxes (from cars and boats) and mooring fees. What if those revenues don’t live up to expectation? Already, for fiscal 2009, revenues appear to be falling below forecast for the first nine months – and fiscal 2010 revenues from these sources are forecast to be the same as for fiscal 2009. So, it would appear that already the fiscal 2010 budget could be in deficit. If so, should the budget not be cut to account for the shortfall as well as the overspending?

This is a time for caution and fiscal restraint.

Annex/PD project. The article to defer and rethink the “oddly conceived” $17 million Annex/Police project was discussed at length. Why so costly when Harwich, twice Chatham’s population, built a new police station for half that? Why separate police and fire at a time when they should be working ever closer together to serve Chatham’s older population with EMT and similar calls? It is agreed a new fire facility is needed as is a new police facility. Maybe new police and fire facilities should be planned and built together when the economy improves. Some real planning should be done as this non-emergency project is deferred and rethought until better economic times return.

Suddenly, the sewer. The most contentious item discussed was the town sewer proposal. While it has been in planning for years, it appears not too many have followed it closely on the assumption they would never live long enough to use it let alone be asked to pay for it. But, suddenly, because of the possible availability of federal stimulus money, the Selectmen are proposing full speed ahead on this $300 million project with a $60 million bond issue proposal. No one knows if any stimulus money can be obtained or how much, but, as usual, there are federal strings which demand an unconditional vote for project approval before June 30th and planning and design to be finished and the project shovel-ready by February 2010. As one volunteer said, “We’ve never had a chance to vote on whether we want to spend $300 million for a town-wide sewer system.” Another said, “I’ll never get a sewer where I live, but I’m going to have to pay for it anyway? Why wasn’t a betterment approach used as most towns do, so the people who get the sewer pay for it?” And so it went. Selectmen Sean Summers explained the sewer was a good thing for the environment and some day state or federal environmental requirements might demand that Chatham have a sewer, though he admitted that wasn’t the case right now. Questions about the size, scope, extent and necessity of the project could not be answered. Nor could questions concerning costs to the taxpayers. The only thing that was clear is that there is no way taxpayers can be fully informed on the project and what it means to them as taxpayers before the May 11th town meeting. There was a lot of anger about being rushed into this, though it was explained it was the federal stimulus money that triggered the sudden rush. There may well be some stimulus money for Chatham, since not too many communities are far enough along on their environmental wastewater plan approvals to have a chance of being shovel ready by February. And most other communities are concentrating on cutting spending.

The 20-year Phase 1 of the sewer project, using the 2007 estimate, would cost about $318 million (including interest) if no federal money becomes available. Because the massive upgrade and expansion of the wastewater treatment facility would be done upfront, probably 60 to 70% of that money would be spent during the first ten years (when most of us think we’ll still be alive and paying the bills). If the bonds sold to pay for that spending are more or less to be paid off during those ten years, that would mean about $200 million being added to the property taxes in those ten years beginning in 2011, 2012 or 2013. Since the current “real” operating budget is around $35 million, the average addition of $20 million a year is no small matter.

So, what to do? Vote no and lose the chance of federal money? Vote yes and commit to a $300 million project without adequate information? Unhappy choices. But perhaps there is a way: If the Selectmen agree that they would do all the design and planning necessary to be shovel ready but not do any implementation (i.e., actual digging) until February 2010, that would provide the opportunity for a special town meeting (called by the Selectmen or by 200 citizens) in December or January solely on the sewer project. In the meantime, through publications, meetings and debates throughout the town, taxpayers can get the information they need to make informed decisions and vote yea or nay on the project. There may be other solutions, but the need for informed decision-making must be met.

Most important town meeting ever. Is this May town meeting important? You bet. Biggest operating budget ever proposed. Bonding proposals to be acted upon could more than triple outstanding debt to over $100 million – and in effect commit taxpayers to at least $200 million more in spending to finish Phase 1 of the wastewater project.

Chatham is a great place to live. Keeping it affordable should be a paramount objective at all times, but even more so in these murky financial days.

The people have the power. The power to keep Chatham affordable is in the hands of those who attend and vote at town meeting and in the election that follows. CCT will do its best to help inform, analyze and comment on articles to be voted on. We are unpaid volunteers, not experts at all in town finance or administration, just doing our best to dig out and understand the facts. If we make mistakes, we correct them. Since we have very limited funds, we will resort to simple ways to spread the message. That’s why we use email and our website. There will be a few ads in the Chronicle – and Cape Codder if we have the money -- to reach those without emails. We also will prepare and volunteers will distribute leaflets to reach those same people. We hope people will make phone calls to other concerned taxpayers. The emails we send out can be forwarded to people not yet on our email list. Since email and our website are our principal information outlets, we urge one and all to send us emails of like-minded people who care about sensible spending in Chatham. The more people we can reach, the better chance there is of a sensible outcome at town meeting.

We do need a few dollars for the final push. A bank account has been opened and although contributions are not yet deductible because there has not been time to file papers, we have obtained a Federal ID number, so we’re legal! Your contribution in any amount will be gratefully received; mail it to Chatham Concerned Taxpayers, P.O. Box 616, North Chatham, MA 02650-0616.

It is time for concerned taxpayers to stand up and be heard.

We thank those who aided the organization of this first meeting of volunteers:
Parker (Peter) Wiseman, former Selectman, former member of the Finance Committee
Phil Dupont
Dick Curtiss
John Payson
Rosalie Moretti
Kim Doggett
Ginny Nickerson

We also extend thanks to those who attended and said they would help spread the message and rally the concerned to attend town meeting and to those who made contributions.