CFRB is Here to Stay - For You
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin
The recent Select Board election brought out the best and the worst in Belmont. One candidate advocated for a balanced budget, to begin the crucial process of addressing the town’s fiscal deficit. This responsible position was distorted as aiming to slash the school budget by millions of dollars. Some committee officials who remained silent to this slander, or perpetuated it, had expressed the same concerns about the increasing school budget (despite enrollment plummeting to 2015 levels) prior to and following the campaign.
Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont, Inc. (CFRB) didn’t endorse either Select Board candidate or contribute to their campaigns. Note that as a 501(c)4 non-profit corporation, any donation would have been permissible up to the $1,000 limit for this election.
CFRB’s ever-growing Contact/Donor List is private – a conscious decision to protect supporters from negative targeting such as occurred during the NO Override NOW campaign and during this election. As claims of nefarious intentions were made by certain town meeting members and officers in the incumbent’s campaign, it bears repeating that any non-profit organization can be structured as a 501(c)4, subject to state and IRS approval, which was granted to CFRB, Inc. Our flyer recently sent to all Belmont households features an eclectic array of residents who are proud to proclaim that they’re “CFRB Friends”.
The intent of this article is to reassure concerned residents that CFRB is here to stay. We’re here for you. We’ll continue to:
Attend town committee and department meetings to understand what our officials are doing and how they’re spending our tax dollars.
Analyze projects and funding requests with major financial impact to taxpayers; report our findings on Debt Exclusions, Overrides, and Capital Budget allocations.
Share important facts and information with the public via our email list, our social media venues – website (www.CFRBBelmont.org), Facebook, NextDoor, Twitter and through the local media.
Engage in ongoing research and share results to hold our town officials accountable to all Belmont residents.
Town officials began talking about the need for another Override as soon as the last Override (put on the ballot during the pandemic), was defeated by a significant margin last year. Those definitive results don’t appear to have motivated any prudence in town and school spending. If town officials continue the present path, an Override vote will be placed on the ballot in 2023, following a Debt Exclusion vote (new library and/or rink) already being planned for this Fall. It’s disturbing to consider how these significant tax increases would affect our town. Landlords would inevitably raise rents and business owners would be further challenged as they continue to address rebuilding from the pandemic. Meanwhile, funding for basic maintenance of our roads and buildings isn’t adequately addressed. Belmont deserves better.
The tenure of Belmont residents in their homes is becoming briefer. It’s concerning that Belmont may devolve into a transient town where families move in when their children are school-age, and then move out when their children graduate, or even sooner because families can no longer afford to live here. In addition, some older, multi-generational residents have made the difficult decision to move due to Belmont’s significant tax burden, with more increases on the way. They’ve expressed feeling as if their taxes paid don’t lead to representation. Belmont deserves better.
CFRB is particularly concerned with projected cost overruns and a shrinking contingency at the Middle/High School Building Project – many costs can’t be attributed to effects of the pandemic. Voters approved the Debt Exclusion for $295M including features in the original plans (example: solar panels). That plan should be followed with additional funding coming from those carrying out the project, not taxpayers who will continue to pay this $295M levy until 2050.
Belmont deserves better, and CFRB will continue working on residents’ behalf to make it so. Please join us in this mutual pursuit!
Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont, Inc. (www.CFRBBelmont.org) is a non-partisan, grass-roots group of concerned citizens who serve Belmont residents by working to increase accountability, responsibility and transparency in all aspects of town government.
This article appeared in the April 28, 2022 Belmont Citizen-Herald
Allison Lenk, Director of Communications
Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont
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