Letter: Newton Officials Should 'Live Within Their Means'

Spirited citizens, calling themselves Moving Newton Forward, want to preserve an essential element of our City’s most common good---your household income. What are you saving for? A car? A honeymoon? Tuition? Retirement?

Mayor Setti Warren is betting that you will sacrifice more of your personal savings to fund his government’s growth by saying yes to his three override proposals in March. Moving Newton Forward urges you to vote no on each on March 12. Instead, let’s respectfully ask our Mayor and Alderman to do what households do---choose expenses wisely. Live within their means.

Vote no on each override proposal because:

• Newton has plenty of money, according to audited financial reports. For example, city revenue increased 40 percent from 2003 to 2012, while Newton population declined 7 percent from 1960 to 2010.

• Mayor Warren has not cut spending. It increased under his watch by $24 million.

• Increased school spending is even more dramatic. While their enrollment rose 8 percent cumulatively over the past nine years, Newton schools enjoyed 61 percent budget growth.

• Police, Fire, and Public Works also spent more. From 2004 to 2012, annual net expenses of Police rose 45.5 percent, Fire rose 43 percent, and Street-and-Sidewalk rose 38 percent.

• Our state and federal taxes also rise. Sluggish growth is projected for our economy; some of us are unemployed. Yet a few Aldermen have already publicly stated how the March override will be “a good start” of ever more.

We can contain our local spending. Join us at the first citywide meeting of Moving Newton Forward on Wednesday night, February 6, at the American Legion Post 440 at 295 California Street at 7 p.m.

We would love to see you there!

--Joshua Norman and Suzanne Szescila
Co-chairmen, Moving Newton Forward