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Town Meeting pushes for spending pullback
Banner Daily Update Tues. Nov. 6
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – Putting curbs on municipal spending was the order of the day at special Town Meeting Monday.
Voters rejected a $566,380 proposal to hire an engineering firm to study and develop a design for repaving Commercial Street. They also put town officials through their paces with question after question about other spending articles, which all eventually passed. And they resoundingly rejected a proposed amendment to the town noise bylaw that would have let police officers use decibel meters to measure street noise, including street performers.
“The natives are restless,” one resident quipped as he left Town Hall Monday night after the four-hour special Town Meeting.
Speaker after speaker complain about municipal spending, requesting a full accounting of the seven spending articles on the warrant.
“I won’t vote for any article that requires a Proposition 2 ˝ override until we have an audit of the town’s finances,” said Astrid Berg, owner of Pepe’s Wharf.
“Are we going into debt as we make these decisions,” asked Laura Shabott about adding $340,700 to supplement the operating budget for fiscal year 2008, which will also require a Proposition 2 ˝ override.
After an hour of bewildered back and forth between residents, selectmen, the finance committee, the town municipal director and, finally, town counsel, the supplemental budget was passed. Voters also approved spending $165,000 to fund contractual raises for the police department but voted to indefinitely postpone spending $15,000 to repair the concrete stairway connecting the two schools with the Grace Hall parking lot.
“We have to think twice now, obviously, about putting things in the warrant,” said board of selectman chair Mary-Jo Avellar. “People are terrified of the rising cost of living in this community. People are getting scared with the taxes they have to pay and sewer betterment.”
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Nov 1st, 2007