Compiled by Bethany Bray
What follows is a breakdown on how the members of the Andover Finance Committee recommend people vote on the two local option taxes up for debate at Town Meeting on Monday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Collins Center at Andover High, 80 Shawsheen Road.
If residents support the two articles, Andover’s meals tax would increase by 0.75 percent and the hotel/motel taxes by 2 percent.
The increases would bring in an estimated $596,407 in revenue for the rest of FY2010, helping to address a more than $2 million shortfall in this year's budget.
Separately, it is believed the meals tax increase would bring in $276,000 and the hotel/motel tax $321,000 for the remainder of fiscal year 2009, if approved Aug. 31.
FINANCE COMMITTEE VIEWS
Joanne F. Marden, chairwoman
Voted in favor of both tax increases
Cities and towns in Massachusetts have a very limited ability to generate new revenues. We face a significant budget deficit this year, and I think adopting these news taxes provide an alternative to burdening Andover residents by cutting budgets and increasing fees.
I think it’s important to decrease our reliance on the property tax as a revenue source. Here, we can collect some revenue from folks that don’t live in Andover, but do take advantage of our services while they stay in Andover.
Stuart Jon Stumpf
Voted against both tax increases
The two warrant articles, in my mind, are very similar in nature. The key difference is that the hotel/motel tax increase will be paid for by out-of-towners, whereas the meals tax will most likely be borne by Andover residents.
My primary reason for not supporting either article is because it’s really not addressing the entire issue of cost containment. Any significant cost containment that we do is concerning salary and benefits. We need the unions to work with us to curtail our spending on salaries and benefits.
Those salary and benefit reductions can be in a number of forms, including smaller increases in compensation, work rule changes, or benefit concessions. The big one, I think, is work rule changes (such as teaching an extra class, while pay remains the same.) The change impacts on how the job is performed, without a reduction in pay.
That’s key, simply encouraging that dialogue between unions and town leaders on cost containment options.
Mary O’Donoghue
Voted against both
I felt they [the tax increases] would hurt the business community at a time when they can ill afford it. What we really need to do is have a discussion about the root cause of our deficit, which is our cost structure. We have some tough choices to make, and the sooner we talk about it, the better.
Richard T. Howe
Voted in favor of both
None of us wants to raise taxes, but we have to consider the severity of the budget and service cuts that are necessary. Even if both taxes pass, we must still make about $1.5 million in reductions to the FY 2010 budget voted by Town Meeting last spring. I believe we need to balance necessary cuts with new revenues, rather than make the problem even worse by voting the taxes down. These new taxes will not significantly impact our citizens or our local businesses. An addition of 75 cents to a restaurant bill of $100 will not keep people from eating out; nor will it send them to restaurants in nearby towns, since New Hampshire already has a higher meals tax and most Massachusetts cities and towns will likely be approving tax increases as well. The proposed increase in the hotel/motel room occupancy tax would impact our residents even less, since most hotel guests are out-of-town visitors or business people.
Approving the two taxes will still require significant cuts to balance the budget, and the Finance Committee (and probably the Selectmen and School Committee also) feels all our unions must be a part of the solution, since most of our budget is personnel and related costs. Otherwise, layoffs will be more severe. Most of our citizens want to protect existing service levels, and supporting both proposed taxes will reduce the inevitable service cuts or higher fees.
Mark Merritt
Voted against both
The recent economic decline has not created the financial challenge in Andover’s town budget, but only made it so acute that short-term measures, such as deferring important maintenance, can no longer balance the budget. Long-term adjustments to our cost structure, such as lower staffing levels and reduced benefits packages, are painful, but they are also necessary if we are to achieve school and town services that can be afforded year after year without an override. While the impact of the proposed taxes on residents and businesses may be quite modest, I feel we should be looking for ways to encourage economic growth, not burden it.
Stephen Stapinski
Voted against both
There are other places we can go to trim the budget. To ask people to fund the government structure as it is, without cutting back all the nuances that can be cut is not a fair thing. Everybody’s cut back, everybody’s pulled back, and government needs to tighten its belt even more than it has.
On an operations note, the hotel occupancy has continued to diminish in Andover due to the economy, and the demand for rooms has become less, as people have pulled back and cut back on vacations. Adding a tax to the hotels will just hurt business.
The idea that these [people affected by an increased hotel tax] are transients, and come into Andover and have no relation to the town is a farce. Town businesses have folks come into town for job interviews or training, or temporary residency before they find an apartment or house. To say that it doesn’t impact the community is a farce. Also, [residents have] people come in for weddings, funerals, family events that will all be impacted.
We should be, in my opinion, soliciting more hotel development and helping business ... Restaurants are leaving the community, and these were all tax generators. My feeling is we should be actively soliciting restaurants to come into the community. We don’t do that, instead we propose to tax them, and double the parking fines.
Let’s talk about being business-friendly. This is what’s made our downtown and our community a vibrant place. You can replace all the sidewalks you want, but if you have nobody there to walk on them, what good are they?
Members Cynthia Milne and Paul Fortier could not be reached for comment. Fortier voted against the meals tax increase and in favor of the hotel tax increase. Milne voted in favor of both.
