On June 11, citizens can be asked to deal with a financial shortfall for Arlington that could start within two years. Why does Arlington need a working override?
The financial solution is that municipalities’ expenses in Massachusetts boom more rapidly than the 2½-percent tax growth allowed below Proposition 2½, the state law that limits annual increases in neighborhood assets taxes. Any community constructed out and missing a massive business tax base, as is Arlington, must request that voters approve on occasion. The realistic solution is extra specific.
Cuts Loom
Without an override, Arlington will need to make cuts beginning as soon as the subsequent year. Many of us will bear in mind the full-size cuts the Town had to make before we passed our closing override in 2011. Others won’t don’t forget those cuts or didn’t live right here at the time. It is, on occasion, tough to apprehend all of the packages the Town offers our citizens until they’re lacking. The following are some examples of the way metropolis offerings contact our lives.
The Department of Public Works oversees Arlington’s complex infrastructure. The DPW manages 100 miles of public roadways, 250 miles of water-and-sewer pipes, and 3,500 hurricane drains that increase over 75 miles. It maintains Arlington’s open areas, including 19 athletic fields, 26 playgrounds, the Reservoir Beach, and Menotomy Rocks Park. The DPW is chargeable for clearing the snow and ice from our roads, keeping our public cemeteries, and overseeing trash and recycling collections.
The Health and Human Services Department works to shield our residents’ public health and assist residents in getting access to fitness-and-wellbeing programming. HHS conducts inspections and troubles allows for eating places and outside food carriers. It leads the fight against infectious illnesses via vaccination programs and training, especially for kids and the aged.
HHS coordinates the metropolis’s rodent-manage software to deal with what has emerged as a growing mission for Arlington and surrounding groups. The branch additionally helps agencies focused on supporting veterans, adolescents, and seniors.
Veterans, young people helped.
Veterans’ Services facilitates veterans and their households to navigate the Veteran’s Administration machine to receive Federal blessings. It additionally administers the country’s program to provide direct help to veterans.
The Arlington Youth Counseling Center affords intellectual health services to Arlington’s young people and their families. AYCC also runs guide agencies to recognized at-hazard populations within our community. The Arlington Youth Health and Safety Coalition have representatives from city departments, non-public organizations, and the community who paintings together to prevent substance abuse and different at-threat behaviors that negatively affect our city’s teens.
The Council on Aging is the primary company within HHS that focuses on the desires of senior residents. Its social workgroup of workers deals with clinical troubles, food and nutrition help, and intellectual fitness concerns. The COA runs health clinics, instructional programming, social occasions and helps residents enroll in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The COA also coordinates transportation services for seniors, which includes services for scientific appointments and errand-going walks. The Disability Commission, the Widows Trust, and the Heating Assistance Program also are part of Health and Human Services.
Police, libraries
Arlington’s Police Department covers regions that most recognize — crook investigations, site visitors and parking, and animal management. In addition, the department has received a reputation for its progressive method of combating the opioid epidemic, dealing with members of the general public who battle with intellectual fitness issues and community policing.
Our firefighters aren’t the best first responders for heart and clinical emergencies but are additionally answerable for education, outreach, and inspection offerings to save you fires.
The Robbins Library and the Fox Branch Library are essential to network resources that aid all citizens. The libraries comprise greater than two hundred,000 gadgets of their bodily collections and provide access to more than ninety,000 titles in a virtual library shared with the aid of the Minuteman Library Network, in addition to sources exclusively to be had to Arlington shoppers. The librarians are a supply of recommendations and assistance for users with huge-ranging questions.
Funding for Arlington’s faculties is also blanketed via the operating override, and this tax growth is essential to them. Enrollment in Arlington’s faculties is at the upward thrust. In the past ten years, the wide variety of students has grown by 27 percent. We currently have over 6,000 students and are projected to maintain development.
Arlington has gone through many modifications since I grew up right here. One constant has been the pride that Arlington feels in looking after its personnel throughout all those years. Collectively, the offerings defined above, as well as the ones not explicitly referenced, help every citizen — irrespective of age or earnings — who will stay whole lives as part of this community. Now is the time to pass this working override to keep away from tough cuts, keep our city and college offerings and preserve to take care of all our citizens.
