The following is a short video that was taken after one of the smaller snow storms that Westwood experienced in early February 2011. It depicts an employee of the contracted plowing company FedCorp, removing snow from the driveway of a private resident located in the Fairway Acres neighborhood of Westwood, MA. Removal of snow in a private residence is prohibited in the Town of Westwood (as is for most other towns), unless the resident compensates the company and provides proof that the service was completed outside of the contractor’s regular town duties.
In short, the video is not meant to disrupt the plowing contract between the town and FedCorp, rather, it is meant to highlight the lack of focus, dedication, and responsiveness the town of Westwood has when it comes to snow removal, especially during 2011.
In a previous post, I highlighted my frustration with the town and its ability to plow on time, provide an accurate snow removal budget, and make available supporting facts as to why our taxes are going up more than 6% in 2012, but services are being slashed.
My YouTube page will also give you a glimpse of some other weather related travel restrictions in 2011 that were of a direct result of Westwood not plowing my neighborhood for over 8 hours after a rather large snow storm.
Just going to go out on a limb here, and call me crazy, but I am guessing that taxes are going up and services are being trimmed (not slashed, lets get that right) because the Commonwealth is cutting municipal aid by almost 12%. Also, Federal grants that most municipalities utilized to cover costs of local services had their funding cut by over 30%. Thus, with less revenue, in order to prevent the “slash” that you mention above (and never actually happened), the town must both, decrease costs as well as increase sources of revenue.
Also, you sound kind of dumb when you say that the town can’t provide snow removal costs or a budget. That is completely untrue. Since they have privatized snow removal costs, the budget is: whatever the privatization contract would be, which also is disclosed since it is public record.
Before you vilify people serving the town, perhaps next time you should check your facts.
Frank, it’s time you took a step back and read the post carefully, and checked your own facts. And, before I begin, as I always do, I would like to invite any and all participants in this discussion to be a guest on my show to debate this very issue. I believe in transparency, and it’s the reason I write these posts on my website, to encourage others to be just as transparent.
Taxes are being “trimmed” as you would like to call it (others say slash to gain more attention, as I did – I don’t think we need to debate the meaning of similar words), simply because our commercial tax base has been dropping steadily for the past 15 years. The commercial tax rate is split in Westwood with the Residential tax rate, meaning when commercial development stalls, the residents pick up the tab. In FY 2012, Residential Taxes are set to rise an estimated 6% above the current rate, and services are going to be “trimmed” to alleviate the pressure or burden that is already placed on the residents. These tax increases are NOT due to cuts in State or Federal Aid. The Commonwealth’s Municipal Aid cut will not affect the particular issue that I am referring to in this post.
Secondly, I never sound dumb. A sound can’t be dumb by it’s nature, since something that is audible can’t be “dumb.” So “let’s get that right.” In addition, the Town of Westwood budgets a certain amount each year in snow removal costs, and in previous posts, I have made it clear that by budgeting a few hundred thousand dollars more, we would have been better prepared for many of the storms that we encountered this winter. It’s true that the town can’t provide an accurate portrait of the snow costs for each season, because the Town has no “direct line” to mother nature, nor can it budget too high, since the Commonwealth does not allow cities and towns to reduce their snow removal budget once it reaches a certain threshold. By law, plowing contracts must be awarded to the two lowest bidders (or as many companies as you need to complete the job). Westwood’s contractors are: CJP & Sons and FedCorp. The video I published raises concerns about town contracted companies using equipment to perform residential services, while charging the town for its time on the street. The same incident, involving the same company, FedCorp, was uncovered in Dedham earlier this week.
So, in closing, I was not vilifying the town. I was illustrating how things could have been done better and pointing out where waste has been occurring. Also, I was stating pure fact, something you seem to have trouble doing.
Next time, I’d stay in PA Frank.