Today Mendon held their annual town election and decided not to support the Mendon Upton School District’s budget. The question failed by 111 votes (717 no, 606 yes).
What does that mean for the district?
The Mendon Upton Regional School Committee will meet next Monday, May 18 to figure out what their next steps will be.
Mendon officials have said they would bring a lower re certified school budget back to the people of Mendon for another over ride request if the school committee were to take that action.
Upton will only have one override vote which will be held on Monday May 18 because Upton officials believe no means no; the difference between the original request for funding and funding for level services are both large numbers (1.4 million for level services & additional services or $922K for level services).
If Upton were to vote no and the school committee were to re certify a lower adjusted budget it is likely the town will not have the funds to support the new budget and town services will be cut to support the schools.
Why?
The school needs to come up with an additional 1.3 million dollars to run as they did last year. The state has cut funding, the teachers contracts have COLA and health insurance increases, regional busing reimbursement has been slashed, increase in retirement costs, and energy cost increases.
Level services for Mendon Upton schools means $922k in additional funding from Upton which the town simply does not have.
If the override fails Upton and the school budget is re certified at level funding Upton could see the following cuts to town services as stated at the annual town meeting held last week.
- Loss of one police officer
- Reduction of library hours and closing the library on Fridays
- Decreased COA transportation services
- Eliminating a custodian
- Eliminating a position at the treasurer collectors office
- Firefighter and EMT training would be impacted
- Weed control and beaver management would be eliminated
- All pay increases scheduled would be eliminated
- Town manager would have a reduction in salary
- and other cuts
If the school committee decides not to come back for additional funding the school will need to cut 1.3 million dollars from the budget.
UPTON DAILY 
Upton’s problem is that we have empowered the town management to spend like drunken sailors with no accountability and are blindly led like sheep back to the trough to fork over more money for mismanagement. There would be plenty of money if we didn’t need to renovate an old church for a town hall complete with a full gym in the basement. Taxes 7 years ago were 10.63 now they are 16.95 and town management threatens our children’s education to get back in our pockets. The real issue is lack of business tax revenue forcing home owners to solely foot the bill. Wellesley seems to be operating schools that are satisfactory at a rate of 11.52. The difference is that they get 20% business contribution as opposed to Upton’s 1%. Upton needs new leaders and new ideas instead we just get more of the same; mismanagement and fear mongering to reopen the wallets of the residents.
“renovate an old church for a town hall complete with a full gym in the basement?” Is that possibly supposed to read “renovate a historic town hall building with gymnasium and modify a rented church basement as a temporary town hall during renovation?” If it is, then that has nothing to do with the operational budget of the town. It was a capital improvement funded by CPA money (which can be rescinded if we want to). We’re talking about a permanent operational tax increase that may or may not end up funding programs which are promised but may not deliver in our schools, and is not guaranteed to those programs in the future either. One thing you definitely have right – Stop this no business nonsense and get business and industry in town to help ease the tax burdens on residents. Get active networking with businesses to move to town by giving incentives and having them help out – we can start with expanding the water and sewer systems along 140 and stop building houses in prime business locations!
Right, the money will be collected if there is a yes vote, but we have no guarantees that it will ever be spent for it’s intended purposes or that there will really ever be an “under-ride” Seriously who believes that will ever happen?
What is not addressed here is the fact that IF Upton votes yes on Monday, taxes will rise enough to fund the current proposed budget that Mendon has said no to. Upton residents would pay at that rate, although the money would not be used for the schools, but it would become ‘available’ cash to the town and next year the proposal from the schools for money would be an increase over what ever is ultimately passed this year by both towns. In other words, the increase in Upton that is suppose to be for the schools will likely not go for the schools this year, will be collected, and will not reduce the amount Upton is to provide for schools NEXT year. That is enough of a reason for me to vote no.
that is not true… response from Phil DeZutter School Committee on MUMDT
If the school committee approves a level services budget, it will still require an override. This is that override. The Upton selectmen have stated they will not go back for a second vote on another override. If the override fails, they will reduce town services to pay for the level services amount.
Also if Upton passes the override, it will spur the discussion by the school committee as to how we jointly solve this issue.
If we end up not needing the money from the Upton override, the selectmen have committed to giving back the unneeded money in an underride.
Hope this simplifies things for people. I welcome any questions as I know the details can get very complicated.
“Plenty also voted “no” because they were fooled by a put-upon conspiracy theorist who has a personal vendetta against the schools and could publish his personal opinions as if they were fact.. Mendon may already have won the race to the bottom. Yeah us!”
You can’t be serious…look and listen
Admittedly more than one was involved in rerouting funds to provide a “cushion”
check the video.The star of that flick ..not the guy you’re bashing.
Deceit and misrepresentation is always going to equal a lack of integrity..one lie that’s all it takes and there’s quite a few in this black hole..we’ve all been being made as fool for a long time here.
Your other comment was removed because it referred Upton Daily readers to a source which in my view misleads the public and on several occasions has made derogatory statements about Upton Daily, myself, and my daughter. Feel free to rewrite your message without a link or a shout out.
Investing in education is the best way to move forward. Factory and farm jobs are simply not coming back. That’s the reality. So while I personally “want” my kids to get a good education, we all “need” an educated population. The lower paid the workforce is, the less they are contributing to your social security. The less educated the workforce, the lower the pay.
Didn’t grow up getting everything that i wanted, but I did get a good education that has given me everything that I need and plenty of things that I want. I’m going to guess that you were the beneficiary of public education at some point along the way and that you benefited from it. I am happy to pay taxes for things that i don’t personally use or value because it’s for the greater good of the community, including all the other public services that you value. Clearly the focus in Mendon is NOT on the greater community, however, but on what each of us wants as individuals.
Things started changing when people sold their land in Mendon to be developed into houses, which simply require more public services, including schools. If you’ve been here all your life, you probably know someone or are related to someone who did that, or maybe you did. Those are the people you have to thank.
If citizens of Mendon are not willing to invest in the education of Mendon Upton Regional School District students, why should students invest time and effort towards their own education? This override, while fulfilling state budget cuts, will act as a cushion, granting students the ability to exceed their own educational expectations because of the privileges the school will provide. If the override does not pass in the future and cuts are made, why would a student have the motivation to succeed when they are 1 of 32 in a classroom? Why would high school students strive to succeed, when Nipmuc’s reputation, from a college perspective, begins to dwindle because of the districts budget cuts? What kind of impression are citizens trying to make for future generations? If students are REQUIRED to invest their time and effort, why aren’t citizens willing to invest as well?
You obviously don’t get it. This override had little to do with technology and everything to do with balancing the budget due to less state funding and other uncontrollable costs. This is not about “beating the Jone’s or entitlements.”
It’s like the district was hit with a tidal wave and the school committee said, “well if we are going to have to call in the Navy to save us we might as well ask for an extra boat.” What does the extra boat represent? Technology and teachers. The rest of the Navy is to stop the district from drowning from state funding shortfalls!
Mendon last night decided to call off the rescue mission all together.
Hopefully the school committee does the right thing and recertifies the budget for every dollar the schools need to run the same as they did last year.
Hopefully Upton voters are not fooled into being the MEMES of Mendon’s finest like Mendon voters were.
I tend to doubt that 717 Mendon residents voted against the override because they thought they couldn’t afford the taxes. Certainly some, but not all. I’d venture to guess that for many, it’s partly a philosophical objection to raising taxes. For the Upton override vote, I’m hoping that the value we place on education will outweigh the understandable desire not to pay more taxes.
Plenty also voted “no” because they were fooled by a put-upon conspiracy theorist who has a personal vendetta against the schools and could publish his personal opinions as if they were fact.. Mendon may already have won the race to the bottom. Yeah us!
Would you please elaborate? What personal opinions were published that were not fact? Thanks in advance.
well two off the to of my head are…
1. The superintendents car was funded by the school’s budget
2. The MU Super makes more than Milford and that isn’t fair.
Both facts are false and were repeated over and over again as fact. There are more but those are the easiest examples.
Thanks. For what it’s worth I would not vote no because of those 2 facts. I was more hoping to find out if 2.5 million was really spent for upgrades in technology including new ipads and if there is 900k in the FY16 budget for ipads? Thanks again for a great blog.
There is not $900K in the strategic plan for iPads. That number is $90K.
So apparently you’re not selfish if you vote yes because it’ll raise your property values and give more money for the education of your children but if you’re against it because you can’t afford the the taxes you’re part of the Me party. Got it.
Nope, you don’t get it. It’s for the greater good if we invest in education. Previous generations did it, and it’s part of what’s made America great. It sounds like you are saying we should cap taxes in town at the highest level at which someone claims they can afford, which presumably would lower everyones taxes quite a bit. What, in addition to education, are you willing to cut? Because that;s the direction we’re headed.
There is a large Me Party presence in Mendon. All about me and my taxes and nothing about the greater good, based on living in the past and not moving forward. It’s too bad. I wonder if the federal government will invade us after they are done with Texas? I hope so.
Absolutely unbelievable that Mendon does this every time. What a shame.