On June 11, voters will be requested to address a financial shortfall for Arlington that could start within two years. Why does Arlington want an operating override?
The economic solution is that prices for municipalities in Massachusetts grow greater rapidly than the 2½-percentage tax boom allowed underneath Proposition 2½, the kingdom regulation that limits annual increases in local assets taxes. Any community that is constructed out and lacking a huge industrial tax base, Arlington, needs to request that electorate approve overrides sometimes. The realistic answer is more specified.
Cuts Loom
Without an override, Arlington will need to make cuts starting as quickly as subsequent 12 months. Many of us will recall the vast cuts the metropolis had to make earlier than we exceeded our closing override in 2011. Others won’t keep in mind the one’s cuts or didn’t live right here on time. It is occasionally difficult to apprehend all the applications the Town gives our citizens till they’re missing. The following are some examples of ways metropolis services 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 keeps Arlington’s open areas consisting of 19 athletic fields, 26 playgrounds, the Reservoir Beach, and Menotomy Rocks Park. The DPW is answerable for clearing the snow and ice from our roads, maintaining our public cemeteries, and overseeing trash and recycling collections.
The Health and Human Services Department works to guard our citizens’ public fitness and help residents access health-and-wellbeing programming. HHS conducts inspections and problems allows for restaurants and outside meal vendors. It leads the combat in opposition to communicable sicknesses thru vaccination applications and schooling, specifically for children and the aged.
HHS also coordinates the metropolis’s rodent-manage application to address what has to turn out to be a growing task for Arlington and surrounding groups. The branch additionally helps organizations targeted at assisting veterans, young people, and seniors.
Veterans, teenagers helped.
Veterans’ Services enables veterans and their households to navigate the Veteran’s Administration gadget to get federal benefits. It also administers the kingdom’s software to offer direct help to veterans. The Arlington Youth Counseling Center presents intellectual fitness services to Arlington’s teens and their households. AYCC also runs support groups to identified at-hazard populations within our community.
The Arlington Youth Health and Safety Coalition have representatives from town departments, non-public corporations, and the community who paintings together to save you substance abuse and different at-threat behaviors that negatively impact our city’s youngsters.
The Council on Aging is the number one agency inside HHS that makes senior citizens’ needs specialty. Its social work team of workers deals with clinical problems, meals-and-nutrients aid, and mental fitness issues. The COA runs health clinics, instructional programming, social events and facilitates residents sign up in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The COA additionally coordinates transportation services for seniors, consisting of services for scientific appointments and errand-jogging. The Disability Commission, the Widows Trust, and the Heating Assistance Program are also a part of Health and Human Services.
Police, libraries
Arlington’s Police Department covers regions that the general public realizes — crook investigations, site visitors, and parking and animal control. Also, the branch has obtained a reputation for its modern approach to combating the opioid epidemic, coping with individuals of the general public who struggle with intellectual health problems, and network policing.
Our firefighters are not the simplest first responders for fire and medical emergencies but additionally responsible for training, outreach, and inspection services to save you fires. The Robbins Library and the Fox Branch Library are important community resources that help all citizens.
The libraries contain more than 200,000 objects in their bodily collections and offer admission to extra than 90,000 titles in a digital library shared by the Minuteman Library Network and assets completely available to Arlington purchasers. The librarians are a source of recommendation and help for customers with huge-ranging questions.
Funding for Arlington’s colleges is likewise protected by running override, and this tax increase is critical to them. Enrollment in Arlington’s schools is on the rise. In the beyond 10 years, the quantity of college students has grown by 27 percentage. We currently have over 6,000 students and are projected to keep developing.
Arlington has long gone through many changes due to the fact I grew up right here. Throughout all the one’s years, one consistent has been the satisfaction that Arlington feels in looking after its own. Collectively, the offerings defined above and the ones no longer specially referenced assist each citizen no matter age or income a good way to stay full lives as a part of this network. Now is the time to bypass this operating override to keep away from tough cuts, keep our metropolis and faculty services, and hold to take care of all our citizens.
