Saturday, June 7, 2025

Majority rules: Level service is not worth paying for

With the new world of less than level service approaching July 1, the Town of Franklin will continue to do business and plan for what’s next. The operational budget years for FY 2027 and FY 2028 are not rosy pictures.


The School Committee Budget Subcommittee will preview the adjustments to their budget required by the reduction in revenue authorized by the Town Council. The failed override is expected to reduce school personnel by an additional 12 while keeping fees high (at this year’s levels). “Additional” as they already had reduced by 29 as part of redistricting which will save the community $3.1M. Specific details will be available in the full School Committee meeting later Tuesday evening, June 10.


The Finance Committee on Wednesday, June 11 gets a “deep dive” on the Technology budget and capital plan. As more and more technology is utilized in delivery of services across the Town and schools, this should be insightful.


The Strawberry Stroll comes back on Friday, June 13 with a change or two. It will extend up Main St to School St to include the Library front lawn and make it easier for all to also combine with the Farmers Market at the Town Common; The Market is open from 2 to 6 PM. The stroll opens from 4 to 8 PM.



*** Meeting schedule and agendas as of Town page 6/06/25, 7:30 PM

Franklin School Committee - Budget Subcommittee
Tuesday, June 10 Time: 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School - Board of Trustees Mtg
Tuesday, June 10 Time: 7:00 PM

Design Review Meeting
Tuesday, June 10 Time: 7:00 PM

Franklin School Committee
Tuesday, June 10 Time: 7:00 PM

Friends of the Franklin Public Library Meeting
Tuesday, June 10 Time: 7:00 PM - 7:45 PM
No agenda posted for this meeting

Charles River Pollution Control Meeting
Wednesday, June 11 Time: 3:00 PM

Historical Commission Meeting
Wednesday, June 11 Time: 6:00 PM
No agenda posted at this time

Finance Committee Meeting
Wednesday, June 11 Time: 7:00 PM

Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meetings
Thursday, June 12 Time: 2:00 PM
No agenda posted at this time

Conservation Commission Meeting
Thursday, June 12 Time: 7:00 PM

Franklin School Committee Community Relations Subcommittee - Strawberry Stroll
Friday, June 13 Time: 4:00 PM


*** Looking back at the week that was ***



With 15,451 registered voters sitting out the special election on June 3, the No’s won the democratic process by a 196 vote margin, effectively saying that the level of services provided by Town and Schools wasn’t worth funding. 


In addition to the 29 personnel the Schools cut in the redistricting effort, another dozen will go out the door effective July 1 to join 8 from the Town side of the operational budget. Road conditions will worsen, sidewalks won’t get fixed, class sizes will increase, and school fees will remain high, etc. 


The official override results can be found 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/official-override-results-nos-take-it.html 


The unofficial results announced Tuesday evening

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/unofficial-override-results-nos-take-it.html


The Town Council quarterbacking session with Council Chair Tom Mercer condenses the 4 hour Council session as they made the required reductions to the budget following the override results

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/tom-mercer-i-condense-4-hour-council.html 


The override and debt exclusion history of Franklin voters was updated with these results

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkwjbnXDBhczdDVWaFU0N2ZsTEE2TUVuWHk5NURvQWc#gid=0 


Tri-County Regional Voc Tech Class of 2025 graduation was held June 5

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/tri-county-class-of-2025-graduation.html 


Franklin High School’s Class of 2025 graduation was held June 6

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/06/fhs-class-of-2025-graduation-ceremony.html 


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For all the meetings and cultural events, check out the calendars at Franklin.news  where each day, that day's events are posted on the top of the page, the TV and radio schedules are on the bottom, and all the other goodness falls in-between.


Town calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx  


Community calendar -> https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar 



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