The uSoft Word doc is available at
http://frambors.syslang.net/Benchmarking04.doc
The text is below and if you want to view the doc file and have problems,
just email me and I'll ship you a copy.
Framingham Is Our Backyard (FIMBY)
27 Claudette Circle
Framingham, MA 01701
(508) 877 - 9358
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
February 5, 2003
Mrs. Esther A.H. Hopkins
Chair
Board of Selectmen
150 Concord Street
Framingham, MA 01702
Dear Mrs Hopkins:
At its meeting on January 29,2003, the Board of Directors of FIMBY voted
to have me contact the Board of Selectmen regarding the status of
benchmarking and the preparation of the final budget to be presented to
the 2003 annual Town Meeting for debate and approval.
1. Adoption of benchmarking: The use of this valuable planning mode was
passed overwhelmingly in a resolution introduced by Town Meeting member
Mr. Steve Kruger and some 30 co-sponsors in the 2002 annual Town Meeting.
This resolution called for the presentation of an implementation plan no
later than the Fall Town Meeting which was held last November, 2002.
That deadline passed, with no tangible progress on the resolution being
made.
2. During the Fall (2002) Town Meeting there was another call for a report
on how benchmarking will be implemented by the administration. While some
progress has been made by the administration, Mr. Kruger reports that such
progress has been glacial.
3. The FIMBY board also is on record for requesting this information by no
later than March 1, 2003.
4. FIMBY also repeated its requests for a transparent planning process, as
mentioned in the Fall 2002 Town Meeting, and additionally asks for the
following to be included in the 2004 budget presentation.
A. A report on actual spending versus budgets for the past three years.
B. A report on how assumptions were derived in the preparation of the
2004 budget.
C. A report on a three-year forecast, including the mechanism by which
this forecast could be analyzed and revised.
I am sure you will agree that Town Meeting is the legislature with the
final authority on all expenditures. Close cooperation between both
branches of the government is therefore of utmost importance to the tax
and fee payers of Framingham.
You may recall that in 1998, a blue ribbon town commission clearly
predicted severe budget shortfalls unless the town corrected its financial
planning and strategies.
The validity of this prediction has been underscored by the very close
vote in the recent override.
The FIMBY board is thus asking when the above-stated items will be placed
on the agenda of the Board of Selectmen for discussion, and well before
the annual Town Meeting.
Sincerely yours,
Laurence M. Schmeidler
Town Meeting, Precinct Four
Co-Chair of FIMBY
CC: FIMBY Board of Directors
Please effect a timely distribution of this letter to all members of the
Board of Selectmen and to the Town Manager.
--
-Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have -
-happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ
-Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all-
-individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 13:39:01 -0500
From: Paula and Larry Schmeidler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Steven W. Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: attachment
Steve:
Here is the atttachment: FIMBY letter to Esther Hopkins (mailed twice to
her). This letter was edited by Steve Kruger and represents the vote of
the FIMBY board, as you will recall.
Thanks for your help. Let me know if there is still a problem.
Larry
