News from Committee 21: Budget Override

Discussion of the Town of Wellesley Fiscal Year 2015 budget will continue this Monday night, April 7, during Town Meeting. Debate began on the budget and potential override on Tuesday, with a presentation of the Wellesley Public Schools budget by Superintendent David Lussier and School Committee chair K.C. Kato.

An amendment to reduce the school budget by $537,000 - the amount budgeted to add full-day kindergarten next year - failed to pass. Further amendments to cut the proposed budget and discussion are anticipated for Monday evening. Remember: Town Meeting must approve the town budget and the $3.345 million override before it can be presented to the citizens for a vote. 

WATCH DR. LUSSIER SPEAK TO TM: Dr. Lussier’s 29-minute presentation Tuesday night, where he discusses the budget and the schools’ 5-year Strategic Plan, is available on YouTube. Many thanks to Wellesley Media Corporation for providing the outtake. To view Town Meeting sessions in their entirety, click here. 

*NEW* TOWN MEETING MEMBERS NOW HAVE EMAIL!: The town has heard your concerns and this week created a pilot program featuring an email address for each precinct at wellesleyma.gov.  This is a much more efficient way of contacting your Town Meeting Members.

Emails to Town Meeting precincts will be forwarded to the personal email addresses of the appropriate TMMs. For the time being, emails will be forwarded to TMMs on weekdays during business hours. NOTE: As with emails to School Committee, Advisory and the Board of Selectmen, your letters become part of the public record. 

To contact your Town Meeting Members regarding the budget or other issues, check your precinct by viewing this map. The new email addresses are: 

TMMPrecinctA@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctB@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctC@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctD@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctE@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctF@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctG@WellesleyMA.gov

TMMPrecinctH@WellesleyMA.gov

 

Please note that brief, clear and succinct letters written in your own voice tend to be most effective when contacting town officials. Cutting and pasting standard talking points or writing at length is not effective. 

Need more information? Visit Committee 21’s website or contact Becca Cahaly at rebecca@tellalian.com, Mate Converse at mtconverse@comcast.net,  or Eunice Groark at egroark@yahoo.com your Committee 21 reps.