I agree with you Andy. The school cost has already put a big burden on taxpayers. Another tax hike means losing more long term residents, many of whom are elderly. Building a community center to service the elderly, among others, makes no sense if the cost drives the elderly out of town.
I wish this was not the case and I regret the hours devoted to this cause but it makes no sense to me unless we are prepared to lose economic diversity. Lincoln is not Weston or Concord and we cannot use them as valid comparisons. The conservation land and other unique aspects of Lincoln we treasure impact tax revenue. We need to face that fact. On Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 7:15 PM Adam M Hogue <adam.m.ho...@gmail.com> wrote: > As someone you has attended the meetings it is going to be very hard to > keep the cost under 20 million or even 30 unless we really scale it down. > > I meet too many people in town that are having a hard time aging in place > and paying their taxes. Also if we want a diverse community as well as an > affordable one raising our taxes again isn’t the right call. > > Also most towns our size do not have a large community center like we are > proposing. Most are the size of concord and have an expanded tax base with > businesses which we do not. > > We have a lot of other needs like expanding and fixing sidewalks, roads > and maintaining current town buildings like the library. With uncertain > economic times ahead this isn’t prudent. > > *Adam M Hogue* > *Cell: **(978) 828-6184 <(978)%20828-6184>* > > On Nov 15, 2022, at 6:30 PM, Sara Mattes <samat...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks Bob. > I agree. > Andy did a great job of expelling the technical aspects of our town's > financial capacity. > And, he did offer the disclaimer that this has no bearing on an individual > household’s capacity to absorb the increase in property taxes. > Let me repeat that-*the borrowing capacity of the town has no bearing on > an individual household’s capacity to absorb the increase in property > taxes.* > > And, as you point out, it leaves little wiggle room of any the potential > items cited in the presentation or any unforeseen expenditures. > > That is why I asked if we vote to expend money for an architect, that we > condition that vote on give setting a budget, a cap on what we can spend. > Rather than create wish list of everything that would be nice and ask for > designs to meets those desires, let us require the design work within a > budget of $15-16 million and to do their best to fit in as much of the > wish list as possible. > In addition, create a series of designs that demonstrate trade-offs. > > This is what most of us have to do when we are building or renovating our > own properties. > And, we are cautioned to always have a healthy reserve, a contingency for > the unforeseen. > It is called responsible budgeting and we should be able to do that as a > community as well…to live within our means. > > I urge all to attend the Community Center meeting as it will be, sadly, > the only opportunity to question and weigh in before the vote. > > > Sara > > > > > ------ > Sara Mattes > > > > > On Nov 15, 2022, at 3:11 PM, Bob Mason <robertma...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I concur that Andy did an excellent job presenting some important facts > that can help inform our decision to vote Yes or No in support of the > proposed community center project. I still have some questions and > concerns... > > From the presentations last night, two items that stood out to me include: > > 1. The dramatic increase in anticipated project cost from $15MM-$16MM to > $25MM to $26MM. > 2. The range of possible town projects that may require significant > capital planning (e.g. roadside repairs, new cemetery, new DPW, major land > conservation projects, etc) > > Assuming the town voted to move forward with a $25MM community center > project, I would like to understand what limits that may place on our > ability to finance these other projects over the next decade+. > > It was also presented that we basically have $30MM remaining in our > available capacity to borrow (at reasonable rates in a financially healthy > form). If $25MM of that is allocated to a Community Center, does that > restrict our ability to execute these other projects as well? Or does the > window of additional borrowing capacity increase sufficiently in the coming > years that we still have capacity to consider additional materially > important projects. > > I wonder if FinCom can prepare a few scenarios that project out in the > future how these potential future capital projects can be sequenced or if a > $25MM community center jeopardizes our future optionality. > > I think a "community center" that meets the needs of our seniors and other > citizens would be nice, but a $25MM project makes me very nervous > especially because I'm concerned it would limit our ability to finance > these other worthy endeavors. If it was possible to spend $10MM in a > refurbishment project or overhauling an existing building, then that might > be necessary to reserve sufficient borrowing capacity for these other > projects. > > bob > > > On Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 2:17 PM Louis Zipes <louiszi...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> (sheepishly has to admit that I didn't RTFM or in this case watch the >> presentation yet so I'm off to do that) >> >> I like all of the Andys on LT equally! >> >> On Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 1:44 PM Andy Wang <andyrw...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> He did, he's the chair of FinCom. Did you catch the State of the Town >>> meeting last night? I thought he did a nice job of outlining the >>> assumptions and where the town stands (and also where there are still >>> unknowns). If not, here's the Zoom Link of the recording. >>> >>> >>> https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/NTEsrGUhsk73GsHcXlAtlw4n84IMnMVpIJZ2eaKr2EShagQ77fe2jcRYqHQxCETz.Y4lKyFe_21BBXwXO >>> >>> If there's something specific, he's also willing to answer questions. >>> >>> One Andy responding for another, >>> >>> Andy >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 1:17 PM Louis Zipes <louiszi...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Like Jon Ralston for Nevada elections, I await Andy Payne to break down >>>> the proposed Community Center finances. 😀 >>>> -- >>>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>>> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. >>>> Browse the archives at >>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>>> Change your subscription settings at >>>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>>> >>>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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