Record Five-Hour Town Meeting slashes $500,000 in Capital Requests to Curb Random Spending
Heading warnings of mounting financial burdens, a special town meeting last night spent only $14,090 of a possible $508,957
The body decisively killed warrant articles seeking about $230,000 for a high school addition and an additional $210,000 to rebuild the Pleasant Street bridge. The five-hour session completed action on all 25 warrant articles and adjourned at 1:14 a.m. Many present considered it the longest town meeting in Norwood‘s history.
The strict warnings to curb municipal spending came mostly from George T. Mahoney, chairman of the Finance Commission, who told the 130 members present: “We have no bright future… we cannot go on spending at this random rate.” George T. Mahoney also noted that Tuesday’s setting of the tax rate effectively prevented major capital expenditures, including advanced school planning lines. The Finance Commission had recommended total expenditures of $13,090. The meeting added just $1,000 to that baseline and strictly followed 16 of 17 financial board recommendations.
The single departure from the commission’s conservative ledger was a $1,000 compromise appropriation for drain construction to allow access to a proposed League field located next to Endean Park. The original article, which was not supported by the finance board, sought $17,000 to construct a full roadway and a dedicated water-line to the athletic field; that larger measure lost on the floor by an 80 to 50 margin. Another recreation item killed during the fiscal purge was a $3,500 request to bankroll preliminary plans and specifications for a municipally owned ice skating rink, which failed on a swift voice vote.
Furthermore, the town meeting refused to restore $21,800 that had been cut from the school administrators’ salaries back in March. However, the members completely reversed a 1968 zoning decision, voting to rezone 4.5 acres of land at Route 1, Neponset Street, and Nahatan Street to grant Carl A. Johnson a brand new commercial location for his Norwood Cadillac Co. dealership.
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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