Friday, March 22, 2013
There has been a great deal of snow and ice to remove this winter. What's the price tag?
Question: Seems like we've had a lot of snowstorms this winter. How much has the town spent on snow and ice removal and salting and sanding? How bad will this impact the budget? Answer: This has, indeed, been a nasty winter and the bill is steep. According to Town Manager Richard Montuori, $241,000 was earmarked in the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget for snow and ice removal. Prior to Monday's storm, the town had spent $637,060 on snow and ice removal, creating a deficit of $399,110. According to Montuori, Monday's storm might add as much as $50,000 to that total. Under normal circumstances, this would create budgetary problems, as the deficit would have to be paid for out of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. However, Montuori also set aside $600,000 …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Fire Chief finds himself caught between his boss and his employees.
As Firefighters Local 1647 continues its contract negotiations with the Board of Selectmen and Town Manager, there is probably no one more anxious for things to be settled than Fire Chief Mike Hazel. Hazel finds himself squarely in the middle of a situation that has grown contentious (according to one source, acrimonious) and surprisingly public in recent weeks. On one side are Hazel's staff, who he commands and, many times, works alongside with lives at stake. On the other side are the people the chief answers to and who set his budget. Predictably, the chief is declining to take sides or even talk about the contract battle. "As I understand it, the negotiations are still ongoing. I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment," said…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Town Manager Richard Montuori and the Board of Selectmen say it is the stubbornness of the union that is resulting in intermittent closure of South Fire Station.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Town Manager Richard Montuori and the Board of Selectmen say it is the stubbornness of the union that is resulting in intermittent closure of South Fire Station.
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, March 18
Dear Tewksbury Residents, There has been much discussion over the past few weeks regarding the potential periodic closing of the South Fire Station next fiscal year due to a reduction in funding for overtime. In an open letter to the Town, a member of the Tewksbury Fire Union has accused the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager of not caring about the South end of Tewksbury or about public safety. We consider this an outrageous accusation and a scare tactic of the worst kind. In fact, the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager value all of the Town’s public safety personnel and appreciate the hard work and dedication they provide to our community. The issue of closing the South Fire Station has been a concern of the Board of …
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Huge amounts of snow, mechanical failures add to challenges.
Town Manager Richard Montuori said Tewksbury has weathered the Blizzard of '13 fairly well but he is asking the public to be patient when it comes to the clearing of the town roads. As estimated 27 inches of snow buried the town over a span of around 26 hours. But despite the heavy snowfall and winds that topped 35 MPH, Tewksbury avoided the widespread power outages that impacted more than 160,000 National Grid customers, mostly to the east and southeast. "Overall things have gone well considering the magnitude of the storm," said Montuori. "We have been told by National Grid that there are 150 customers without power in the Merrimack Valley and one in Tewksbury. According to National Grid's liaison, power should be restored by this …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Health insurance, contracts fuel increase.
Veterans of the municipal finance wars will tell you that Town Budgets are a lot like sausage -- you can decide whether or not you like the taste but you really don't want to know how it's made. For the past few months, Town Manager Richard Montuori and his department heads have been hard at work at the fiscal sausage grinders and Thursday night, Montuori unveiled the finished product. Montuori is proposing an FY2014 Budget of $88,265,603. It represents an increase of 2.97 percent (2,546,544) over FY2013. A breakdown of the increase finds it is made up almost entirely of fixed costs such as a seven percent increase in health insurance premiums, as well as contractual obligations, such as two percent raises and step increases for multiple …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Rail Trail proponents look for support taking next step.
The owners of three Tewksbury businesses, delinquent in their property taxes, will be called to appear before the Board of Selectmen next month. At their meeting on Tuesday, selectmen voted to schedule public hearings on license renewals for Mavericks Restaurant and Lounge, 2212 Main St., Lowell Transportation, 911 East St. and Oscar's Pinata, 346 Main St. for the board's meeting on Feb. 12. Over the last few years, selectmen have grown impatient with businesses that have been delinquent in their property taxes or water and sewer bills. This year, the board made the decision to hold off on renewing required licenses for such businesses if taxes were not up to date or payment arrangements made by Jan. 1. According to tax information …
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Deal will keep Montuori in Tewksbury through at least January, 2016.
If there was any doubt that the Board of Selectmen was pleased with the job Richard Montuori has done through his first three years as Town Manager, it was eliminated last night. The board voted unanimously to give Montuori a three-year contract extension, through January 2016. Montuori's current deal was set to expire on Jan. 17, 2013. Due to language in the contract, it would have automatically extended for an additional year if the board had not taken action at its July 17 meeting. "I am happy and grateful that the Board gave me the extension, I enjoy working with the board very much and all the department heads and staff as well as other public officials," said Montuori. "We have a lot to do over the next three years and I am excited …
Monday, July 9, 2012
Recycling schedule for 2012-2014.
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, July 9, 2012
(Editor's note: The following information was released by the Town Manager's office.) The Town of Tewksbury has released its new Recycling Schedule for 2012-2013. The schedule is attached as a printable PDF document.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Future, unavoidable debt has municipalities across the Commonwealth concerned and Tewksbury is no exception.
Question: What is Tewksbury's unfunded pension liability and how bad is it? Answer: When you talk about the unfunded pension liability of a community, you really also have to talk about the post employment benefit liability. When you put the two of them together, they add up to a budget headache. Unfunded pension liability is best described as the amount of money the town would owe if everyone working for the town who could retire did retire. In the case of Tewksbury, according to Town Manager Richard Montuori, that number is roughly $65 million. While that number is imposing, there is a plan in place to address that liability and create a self-sustaining fund to handle future pension payments. Tewksbury's municipal pensions are handled …
Mike Roberts
6:49 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013
We had the same basic discussion last year when we had a light winter and a story was posted regarding leftover monies. Tewksbury budgets the $2xxk every year and then deficit spends during the year. At the end of the season it uses free cash to clean up. We need to have a true budget number in place and will say contrary to SoxFan's comment, town money is not "lost." This is true with Boston's … more ›