by Brian Gressler
To the Editor,
We find ourselves at the crossroads that Superintendent Beaudoin has long warned was coming. No more delaying. No more short-term fixes. Fund our schools or fall behind.
Last year, I praised the district's fiscal responsibility, especially versus comparable school systems. That sentiment still exists, but my focus this year is on solutions. What do we expect, what do we demand, from the School Committee and town leadership?
For the School Committee, as Ms. Koch-Sundquist has pointed out, the MASC Code of Ethics defines your primary responsibility as the children. While we acknowledge the fiscal pressures of member towns, they are not your priority. The Code does not list the town boards, the voters, or even the parents. Just the children.
Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our way and have allowed these outside fiscal factors to become the primary focus. With that in mind, we call for two things from this School Committee:
- Approval of a 9% or greater budget increase, which best reflects prioritizing children, and
- A renewed emphasis in everything you do towards that priority. When I go to a School Committee meeting, I want the starting point of every discussion to be the children. I want the baseline of every budget to be the one that is best for the children. Start there every time, and then adjust.
So, who is responsible for all those other things? After all, as a community, I'm not suggesting that we ignore them. The answer is our town leaders, yet they are failing.
We have often heard from Essex leadership that the town is in fiscal crisis, that we are one on call fire department away from receivership. They use a language of fear, but it is largely a crisis of their own making. Essex leadership has made a choice to minimize tax increases over maintaining town functions. This includes schools but can equally be applied across the whole of the town operating budget. There are a number of factors that drive this policy, and there are communities in our towns that need protecting, but let's be clear...it is a choice.
How did keeping tax increases capped at Prop 2½ limits become standard policy? Inflation through the late 70s was 7 to 13% per year. In 1980, it was 13.5%. As a result, property taxes were increasing at 5 to 10% per year. In this environment, they created a threshold, not a cap, over which towns could not raise taxes without direct citizen approval. At no point was 2.5% meant to reflect how costs actually increase. At no point was it a fiscal target. It was just a cut-off point after which the budget decision no longer rested solely with elected officials.
In Essex, we’ve turned that number into an unbreakable line. It’s costing us.
From FY21, when the budget corrected down after COVID, to FY25, the Essex operating budget has lagged inflation by 2.56%. In real dollars, that means that if the budget had simply kept up with inflation, it would be about $573,000 higher than it is today. It's no wonder that we have shortfalls.
Essex leadership talks about the crisis but fails to deliver solutions. At public meetings, the current chair of the Finance Committee has jokingly offered to "pray," or, "hope that no families with children move into town". I'm not kidding. These things were actually said out loud. When pressed for real ideas, even as recently as the January 29th joint FINCOM meeting with Manchester, they struggle to define a clear and executable course of action.
I will give you the only solution that will actually work, and that is to pass an override not just for the schools at 9%, but for the town operating budget as whole. I realize no one wants to raise taxes, but we are at that point. Reset and recover. Bring the budget in line with the real cost of goods and services. Address our problems—then move past them. Further, I suggest that any tax increase include paying for programs that help support endangered communities such as tax deferrals for the elderly. I would pay more to help them, because I have priorities that go beyond children.
For this to work, it requires the full buy in of town leadership. It requires them to get behind it 100% and actively campaign for it, not just stand on the side and complain, which is what happened the last time. Pass an override. That is your responsibility. Lead. Or step aside. If you won’t, we will find someone who will.
Brian Gressler
Essex
