Too little, too soon

Last night I was joined by two other members of the Millis Finance Committee in voting against raising the meals tax charged by town businesses from 6.25% to 7.0%. Our opinion was a majority 3-2.

In addition to my general concern about further burdening residents and businesses, and the competitive advantage I feel exists for towns that do not increase this tax. I made two other arguments:

My primary contention is that the amount that is to be generated for this year will not be sufficient (Too Little) to avoid having to utilize town reserve funds when local-aid is cut in the next few week. Based on the current level of reserve funds the town has put aside, the money generated by this tax increase for the current will not make a difference in the Town's ability to save a job.

I also believe that any tax increase should be considered as part of a comprehensive plan to address the impending shortfall in the Town's budget due to decreases in state-aid. Unfortunently, Millis is projected to start the FY11 budget process with a $1 million deficit. This deficit is due to the amount of federal stimulus money (and other one-time funds) that were used to balance the current budget. The federal stimulus money was required to be spent on education to save jobs. Only problem is that the state doesn't have enough funds to replace this money for next year. Without a comprehensive plan (Too Soon) we run the risk of having to ask residents for multiple tax increases, knowing the first request isn't enough.

Ultimately, town residents will decide whether they are willing to increases their taxes when Town Meeting is held on November 2, 2009. I hope they agree that its "Too little, too Soon".