Winter Arrives With The Solstice At 10:59AM, Dec. 21

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Photo: Winter is here

Winter will officially arrive to the northern hemisphere at a minute before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 21, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

Best known for the shortest day of sunlight during the year, the sun will rise at 7:09 a.m. and sets this afternoon at 4:16 p.m., a mere 9 hours and 5 minutes of daylight – although last light will occur at 4:47 p.m.

Still it’s more light than what the residents of Oslo as those Norwegians will have less than six hours of daylight with sunrise at 9:18 a.m. and sunset just after lunch at 3:12 p.m.

Garvin’s Sticking Around As Reading Goes Another Direction For Town Manager

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Photo: Town Administrator Patrice Garvin

Well, the Belmont Select Board dodged that one.

With its decision to select the DPW Commissioner of Chelsea as Town Manager, Reading has spared the three-member board from the excruciating practice of finding a replacement for its highly-effective Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, who was the other finalist for the job.

The Reading board voted unanimously to install Fidel Maltez as only its third-ever town manager. While not as experienced with the ins and outs of running municipal governance as Belmont , the town leaders voted unanimously for “someone who will look out for the community long-term,” said Reading Select Board’s Carlo Bacci.

The Belmont board can thank their Middlesex breadthen to allow the Town of Homes to have Garvin’s steady hand at the fiscal tiller while she constructs the critical annual budget and looking forward three years at the town’s financial condition. She will also attempt to attract a talented assistant since the departure of John Marshall. These are just two important areas that Garvin will have time to pursue as she will be sticking around.

Garvin will begin her fourth year as Town Administrator in January.

Town Kick-Starts Rink Project With Temporary Building Committee And $250K

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Photo: A conceptional design of the new Belmont Skating Rink by the architectural firm Perkins+Will

With new predictions the current skating rink is on its last legs and with $250,000 of state funds to facilitate building a replacement facility, the Belmont Select Board appointed members of a temporary committee – dubbed the Preliminary Rink Design Committee – to jump start the planning and design of a new rink a good half-a-year before a permanent committee would be named at Town Meeting in May.

The idea behind the interim panel “is to get started on preliminary rink design … and start to execute on the $250,000 that was provided to us by the state,” said Mark Paolillo of the Select Board who sits on the Skating Rink Financing Committee which is formulating a plan to pay for a single sheet of ice that will come with a $20 million price tag which was the estimate from a concept design from Perkins+Will.

The last month has seen the rink project spring to life. That wasn’t the case this past May when town officials convinced resident Alex Corbett to remove a citizen’s petition amendment at Town Meeting to begin the
formal building process by establishing a committee as it was putting the cart before the horse as the town did not have the available money.

But with a committee up and running to derive areas of founding the project and $250,000 on the table, the town has decided to push and push hard on getting the design process underway.

The major move in the comes after Town Facilities Director David Blazon reaffirmed what has been known for more than a decade; the nearly half century old building is within a couple of years from seeing its mechanicals and infrastructure collapse for a final time.

The goal of the temporary committee is to hire an architect to produce a 30 percent design document which defines the major design elements of the project and refine the project’s scope, schedule and budget that the project
design team can commit to delivering to the building committee.

Since a full-time building committee can not be formulated until the town moderator Michael Widmer appoints the members at the annual Town Meeting, the town was facing a six month delay before using the funds earmarked two weeks ago.

“It’s a committee to move this forward with the money we have so it stays on track,” said Select Board Chair Adam Dash. “So rather than lose time between December and May that we can get this [process] moving.”

And the Select Board is striving to have at least a 30 percent design plan completed to present to Town Meeting as a report.

The temporary committee is made up of four members of the Rink Financing Committee and three from the Permanent Building Committee with Pat Brusch as chair. The group includes former Select Board Chair Tom Caputo, youth hockey supporter Frank French, Jr., the School Committee’s Meghan Moriarty, former Belmont High Boys’ Hockey Coach Dante Muzzioli, current Boys’ assistant coach Bill Shea, Steve Sala and former Belmont High Girls coach Mark Haley.

The first meeting of the new temporary committee will take place at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16 on Zoom.

Don’t Be Left On The Curb: Sign Up For Cardboard Drop Off On Saturday, Dec. 18

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Photo: Cardboard should be flattened before driving it over to the Town Yard

The Belmont Department of Public Works cardboard drop off event – which is occurring this week – is for you to get rid of excess cardboard … and only cardboard.

There is a $5 fee for all the cardboard you can stuff in your vehicle; the drop off will occur on Saturday, Dec. 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW Yard, 37 C St., off of Waverley Street.

But before you can participate, you have to first register here.

And there are some rules:

  • Please remain in your car
  • All cardboard should be in the trunk or rear of the car 
  • All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop off

Booster Monday At Beth El: Free Covid-19 Shots From 4 PM to 7 PM

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Photo: Getting your card filled with a booster shot

The Belmont Health Department is offering a limited number of Moderna Covid-19 booster shots to eligible residents 18 and up. Massachusetts has expanded the eligibility criteria for booster shots, and the new criteria can be found below.

Belmont’s booster dose clinic will be held on Monday Dec. 13 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Beth El Temple Center, 2 Concord Ave.

Register for a booster dose appointment here:
https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/belmont
If you have difficulty with registration, call 617-993-2720 or email Lsharp@belmont-ma.gov for assistance.

Please present insurance cards, photo ID, and vaccination cards at appointment.

  • If you are 18+, and received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, you can get a booster dose once two months have passed since your original dose.
  • If you are 18+, and received either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, you can get a booster dose once six months have passed since your second dose.

*Booster shots can be any of the approved COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of your original dose; at this clinic the Moderna vaccine will be provided.

Belmont Secures $1.1 Million In State American Rescue Plan Funds For Something Extra

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Photo: Monies to help plan for a new library is part of the recently received $1.1 million in state funds.

With thanks to state legislators and town officials, Belmont has received $1.1 million from the state of Massachusetts to fund some of the town’s “extra” expenses that would have been waiting until the next budget cycle.

The source of the funding is from the $5.3 billion the state was allocated from President Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion funding package to promote recovery from the economic and health effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the related recession. The $1.1 million is coming from a separate pot of funds than the $7.6 million in ARPA monies distributed as part of the bill’s Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.

“This is funding that the town of Belmont has been able to secure thanks to state Rep. Dave Rogers and state Sen. Will Brownsberger,” Town Administrator Patrice Garvin told the Select Board at its first meeting in December. “This is great news for the town.”

Select Board member Mark Paolillo also thanked Garvin as she started the conversation to find state funds to pay for aspects of the skating rink’s planning and design, leading to this larger allocation.

The funding will be spent on several projects in town outside of the budget:

  • $250,000, the new Belmont Public Library
  • $250,000, the new Belmont skating rink
  • $100,000, economic development
  • $500,000 public housing

The public housing portion includes:

  • $250,000, water and sewer infrastructure improvements at Belmont Village
  • $150,000, improvements at Waverley Oaks
  • $100,000, redevelopment of Sherman Gardens

Interim Regs Places A Wet Blanket On Belmont’s Use Of Fed Covid Rescue Funds

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Photo: Belmont Middle and High School is now considered the source of revenue generating debt, according to the state.

When the details were released of the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan – dubbed the American Rescue Plan Act – signed into law this past March that Belmont would be receiving upwards of $8 million for the town and schools, there was a segment of the population in the Town of Homes that cheered the news, not so much as a fiscal salve to a battered budget but as a political accoutrement.

“We definitely don’t need an override now!” came the clarion call on the No Override Now Facebook page of March 16, as the austerity-based group viewed the community-based bail out as a, albeit, short term solution to the worrying structural deficit facing the town.

The news became a game changer in the override battle, making it easier for many voters sitting on the fence on the proposed $6.4 million override to check the “no” box on the ballot less than a month later.

While town executives and elected officials cautioned at the time it was far too premature to assume the funds were heading into town coffers until there was more clarity of the rules, others were eager to champion – and begin spending – the windfall.

“This money can, in part, be used to offset revenue shortfalls and operating expenses,” proclaimed the No Override Now campaign in ads and opinion articles.

Well, it turns out, maybe not.

Under recently released interim final rules written by the state for allocating ARPA funds by cities and towns, Belmont is facing the prospect of have little to no leeway to use any of the $7.8 million to offset the substantial lost public revenue the town incurred since March 2020.

“What we found was a little troubling … because what we’re showing is no revenue loss based on the state guidelines,” said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin at the Monday, Dec. 6 meeting of the Select Board.

And the reason the state has pulled the ARPA rug from under the town’s feet is located at 221 Concord Ave.

After a careful reading of the rules and regulations, the town’s auditing firm determined that during the tight 18 month window the state is using to calculate lost revenue, the 2018 voter-approved debt exclusion used to finance the building of Belmont’s new Middle and High School, as well as the state’s partial reimbursement of expenses constructing the building is seen by Beacon Hill as a revenue “gain” for the town.

So in the ultimate example of bad timing, while Belmont has shown where revenues had fallen off a cliff, in the eyes of the state which dictates the funding, Belmont was awash in dough during that year-and-a-half reporting period because it borrowed funds to pay for a new school.

As Homer Simpson would put it: “D’uh!”

“We’ve had the issue of a … short-term budget distortion from the high school because it’s such a large number just as Covid hits … seems totally unjust to be counting that as revenue because that’s not what it is,” said Adam Dash, chair of the Select Board.

As the town seeks to have its state and federal legislators attempt a hail Mary to convince the state to reconsider its regulations, the prospect of a revenue shortfall for the upcoming fiscal 2022 budget has become only all too real.

Under the provisions of the ARPA, Belmont’s $7.8 million allocation can be used in one of four ways; pay for Covid-related expenses, make premium payments to essential workers, and invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. It was the fourth “bucket,” the replacement of “lost public sector revenue” caused by the pandemic, which austerity groups and town officials saw as getting plugged into the budget. Just how much of the town’s share can be used in an unrestricted manner is based on a formula provided by the state’s Division of Local Services.

It was this rule making from the state – dictated in the federal law – is when Garvin said she and other municipalities began “hearing rumblings” as state officials began writing the regulations.

“I had been concerned from the beginning … [that] sometimes the state does like to get involved in defining how the money can be expended,” said Garvin. One such red flag from as far back as the first days of summer was how the rule makers first defined as revenue.

Is a debt exclusion a revenue windfall? The state thinks so

“At that point, I decided it was important to get the auditors involvement” and allow them to do a “deep dive” into the town’s revenue figures in regards to the state regulations, said Garvin.

Craig Peacock, a partner with the town’s auditing firm of Powers and Sullivan, told the board that since the summer what the state has deemed eligible for reimbursement “has been a moving target” resulting in attempting to make calculations “a little confusing.”

What Peacock first had to determine the revenues in fiscal 2019 which the feds was using as the base year and compare it to losses in calendar 2020. While the town did show a decrease in its general funds of $1.6 million, there were two unexpected line items which offset that lost revenue.

One is the on-going cost reimbursements building the new school from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is paying nearly $85 million of the $295 million project, a significant amount – $24 million – being received in calendar 2020. Even with the MSBA reimbursement figure removed, said Peacock, the state also views the $213 million debt exclusion the town is using to pay for its portion of the building’s cost as yet another source of revenue, with Belmont “collecting” an additional $11.7 million in calendar 2020. Without these items, Peacock said the town by the state’s reckoning did suffer a revenue shortfall during the 18 months.

The end result is while Belmont can use the funds for the three of the four buckets, ARPA funds will not be going into the one ARPA bucket the town most needs to fill. While the town will have $7.6 million to spend – in two $3.8 million segments with the second available next fall – “it has made it much more difficult for us to use it,” said Garvin.

The news didn’t go down well as Select Board Vice Chair Roy Epstein calling the state’s rules an accounting exercise that “frankly makes no sense to me,” pointing out that the reason the town undertook the debt exclusion was to pay for a school which can hardly be seen as a revenue windfall for Belmont.

“I think the treatment of a debt exclusion that are earmarked for particular capital projects to just really seems nonsensical,” said Epstein as Dash questioned whether the federal government understands the New England-concept of debt exclusion which could have been exempted in the ARPA law.

The Select Board’s Mark Paolillo asked Peacock who in state government can the town question how they rationalize school debt and reimbursement of expenses as “revenue.” The answer was less than encouraging.

“We are not aware of any caveat in the interim final rules that would allow us to remove the debt exclusion and we are not aware of any agency that would be willing to review and discuss that because currently it is in the rules”, said Peacock.

As it currently stands, without the ability to replenish the lost public revenue and if there are no big ticket infrastructure projects ready to go into the ground, Peacock said there is a chance Belmont will return a portion of the ARPA funds back to the US Treasury.

If there is a glimmer of hope, the guidance is being written by the state and there are several communities feeling the same pinch by the state’s rules writers, said Peacock.

“As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease so I don’t think it ever hurts to try to contact” state legislators, advised Peacock. “I do know other communities that are contacting their state reps who have very similar attributes” that are preventing them from reporting revenue losses and are “trying to change the rules before the final rules become final.”

Garvin One Of Three Finalist For Reading Town Manager Post, Possible Vote On Dec. 7

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Photo: Patrice Garvin, Belmont Town Manager

Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin is one of three finalists in the running to replace Reading Town Manager Robert LeLacheur who is resigning effective at the end of Feb. 25, 2022, according to reporting in the Reading Post.

Reading Select Board member Anne Landry who spoke at the board’s Nov. 23 meeting said the Select Board could hold a vote on the new town manager as early as Tuesday, Dec. 7, after Garvin and the other two candidates are interviewed by the board.

While she could not reveal the names of the finalists, Landry said the “pleased with the pool” of candidates.

Garvin is scheduled to go before the board at 5 p.m.

The interviews will be carried on Reading Community Television and via Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86081759921
Meeting ID: 860 8175 9921

Garvin has held the town administrator’s position since January 2018 after serving as Shirley’s Town Administrator. Since holding the post, Garvin has been receiving top job performance reviews from the Select Board as she steered the town through the Covid pandemic and the budgetary difficulties.

LeLacheur is only the second town manager in Reading’s history having served in that position since 2013, previously serving the town as assistant Town Manager. 

The other candidates are Fidel Maltez, Chelsea’s Department of Public Work commissioner since 2019, and Jennifer Phillips, the former city manager of Bothell, Washington and city manager in Helena, California.

Welcome Back: One-Time Classroom Teachers At Burbank, Butler Named Interim Principals

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Photo: Mary Lee Burbank Elementary

A pair of veteran educators were named interim principals at the Belmont schools where they once were classroom teachers in announcements made by the Belmont School District on Thursday, Dec. 2.

Brenda Maurao and Julie Babson, who both taught third graders – Maurao from 2000 to 2005 and Babson from 2010 to 2016 – at the Mary Lee Burbank and Daniel Butler elementary, respectively, are returning to their former schools but now as the educator in charge.

After saying back in November the district would “do our best to ensure that we hire the qualified and capable principal that your children deserve,” Superintendent John Phelan said in an email to parents of both schools that “I believe we have made good on that promise.”

Each of the candidates came from an initial pool of 19 applicants and were the preference of parents/guardians, school staffs, and the district’s leadership team during the interview process, said Phelan.

Both Maurao and Babson will be in their posts until the end of next school year on June 30, 2023 as the search for a permanent replacements will commence in 2022. Offering an extended 18 month interim tenure “was a critical part of attracting a candidate as highly qualified as Julie to leave her current position in the middle of this year” while providing each school community “consistency during this important time,” said Phelan.

In the coming days the district will be releasing information about “Meet and Greet” opportunities when and where the community can meet the new interim principals.

Background: Brenda Maurao

Maurao comes to the Burbank from the Framingham Public Schools where she is the Assistant Director of Talent Growth and Development. Prior to that she served as the Assistant Director of Elementary Education and as an Elementary Principal in Framingham for three years. Additional school leadership work includes as Principal at the K-3 Stall Brook Elementary School in Bellingham and as an Assistant Principal from 2012-2017 at the Fred W. Miller School in Holliston.

Brenda Maurao, Mary Lee Burbank Elementary

She was an elementary classroom teacher for 13 years from 1999-2012 which included Grade 3 classroom leadership experiences in Holliston, Arlington and Belmont.

Maurao grew up in Massachusetts and spent her high school years in Connecticut, matriculating at Western Connecticut State University where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Relations in 1996. After college she attended the University of Bridgeport where she received her Master’s Degree in 1998 in the field of Elementary Education. She holds a Principal’s Certification from Lesley University. 

Background: Julie Babson

Julie is currently the Assistant Principal at the Hopkins Elementary School in the Hopkinton Public School system, where she has worked for the past five years. Prior to that she was an elementary classroom teacher in Grades 2, 3, and 5, a career that spanned 21 years from 1995-2016, the last seven at the Butler. She also taught in Lawrence and Colombia.

Babson grew up in Delaware and attended the University of New Hampshire where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies in 1993. She earned her Master’s Degree from UNH in Elementary Education with a concentration in Reading and Writing in 1994. She holds a Principal’s Certification from Endicott College. 

Julie Babson, Daniel Butler Elementary

As Belmont’s ‘22 Property Tax Rate Rises By Pennies, Higher Assessments Will See Average Bill Increase

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Photo: You’ll be paying more in taxes next year on your Belmont castle.

The Belmont Board of Assessors announced an increase of a couple of pennies to the fiscal year 2022 property tax rate from last fiscal year’s charge during its annual property classification tax rate presentation before the Select Board on Monday morning, Nov. 29.

“The Board of Assessors propose a tax rate of $11.56 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s up two cents from last year,” said Charles Laverty III, the board’s vice chair stepping in Chair Robert Reardon who due to a scheduling conflict missed making the board’s presentation for the first time in nearly three decades.

Dan Dargon, the town’s assessing administrator who made the presentation, said the town’s total assessment has reached $9.001 billion with a total tax levy of $111.7 million, which includes $12.3 million in current total debt exclusions (for everything from the Beech Street Center to the new Middle and High school) resulting in the two cent increase to $11.56. Dargon noted that without the debt exclusions, Belmont’s tax rate would be $10.29 per $1,000.

New growth in the past year was higher than anticipated at $1,034,000 vs the estimated $840,000 as the Bradford apartment complex in Cushing Square was completed. [The town’s 2.5 percent increase and new growth are both added to the prior year’s levy limit to reach the current year’s levy limit.] But Dargon said it doesn’t appear the town will benefit from new large commercial growth for at least the next two years.

While it would appear the minimal rate increase would be a little bit of good news to rate payers, due to a modest four percent increase in appraised values over all classes of real estate – multi families and condominiums saw “stronger” jumps in value – homeowners will see their annual tax bill climb starting in January as the town increased the tax levy by the allowable 2.5 percent from $96 million to $99 million.

For example, on the average home in Belmont now valued at an eye-opening $1,346,700 (up from $1,326,300 last year), property owners will be handing over an additional $262 in fiscal 2022 with the total annual real estate bill now exceeding $15,000.

Last year, the average residential bill increased $706 when the rate rose by 56 cents per $1,000.

Dargon told the Select Board around 14 to 15 percent of all homes in town are inspected annually by his department for updating their value but all properties are revalued each year.

While the Assessors vote to approve the rate, the Select Board decides on two related issues: whether to implement a singular “split” rate for commercial and residential properties and to approve a residential exemption that would reduce the rate on owner-occupied properties at the expense of non-occupied residences.

As in past years, the assessors recommended and the selectmen agreed to a single tax classification and no real estate exemptions. With barely five percent of total property inventory commercial, Dargon said Belmont does not have anywhere near the amount of commercial and industrial space (Reardon has stated in multiple presentations that commercial property must at a minimum be at 30 percent to make a difference for residential rate payers) to creating separate tax rates for residential and commercial properties.

When asked by resident and Town Meeting Member (Pct. 3) Joseph Bernard asked if there was empirical evidence that municipalities which set a higher commercial tax rate reduced development or commercial activity, Dargon discussed his own experience as chief assessor for Framingham saying he witnessed the suppression of commercial activity as the then town had a high rate for business properties.

“In most lease agreements, taxes are passed on to the tenants. In the case where I was, they would often go to Natick which has a single rate,” he said.

As for residential exemptions, the administrative costs to run such a program would be prohibitive for a revenue neutral imitative. And as with the split rate, the majority of taxpayers would see little in reductions or increases in their tax bill, according to Dargon.

Because many homes in Belmont fall around the average price, a 10 percent exemption “doesn’t really benefit many people,” Dargon said. Adam Dash, the Select Board chair, noted that residential exemptions are popular in more densely populated urban municipalities such as Boston, Somerville and Cambridge with a very high percentage of absentee landlords.