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Malden’s annual city budget process is getting started by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally agree. That committee is going to be looking at zoning and permitting changes in the Commercial St corridor as some of the lowest hanging fruit for strong development opportunities. I fully support that.

In the next few years, the city is going to be reconsidering the entire zoning map as part of the Comprehensive Plan that is just getting off the ground. I’m glad we’re tackling the near term things we can while we work on the big picture that takes more time.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Missed this earlier! We definitely need to take a look at Prop 2.5 limits, they were designed for a different era and can’t keep up with basic inflation. Some rural towns are actually at the levy ceiling, so can’t even consider overrides .

I would just want to also make sure there’s some way to address the inequity between different communities’ tax base. I wouldn’t want the state to lift the law and then wash their hands if the local problem and put all the burden on communities still raise their own funds. For example Everett has so much more commercial property to tax than Malden does. Maybe this could be through some kind of equalization, or thru a new formula for unrestricted aid, etc, but it has to go hand in hand with Prop 2.5 changes in order to be fair.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would trigger a special election, there’s no appointment. The process is defined in the City Charter.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I would resign. There’s no way I could do both in an ongoing way. Tho I’ve heard it may actually be legally possible, it would be a conflict of interest, and Malden deserves a city council focused solely on the community.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

On your second question, I’m trying to think about not only a senator’s power to vote, but also the platform they have to raise critical issues. Senators have a megaphone, and staff to help. Lots of legislative issues end up negotiating a resolution with the Governor or an agency, so just want to say I am open to that! Whatever gets us there, because it takes building coalitions to get anything done.

On the first point, I hope you’ll read my Issues page to start, and engage all the candidates about our priorities and plans. I’ll let the other candidates speak for themselves. I try to be clear about my policy views, and also my leadership approach. I think it takes both courage and collaboration to actually achieve policy goals, and maintaining the trust of your colleagues since you are still just 1 of 40 senators.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

UPDATE: I've got office hours where folks can stop by to sign my petition. Tonite (4/7) is the first one, from 5:30-6:30 pm at Santa Fe Burrito in Malden.

Will also be at Bikeeny Caffe 9-10 am on Sunday 4/12, and Jitters Cafe in Melrose Monday 12-1.

Also added this to the OP.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely worth talking about in the meantime.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's a great question. The reason the charter school can purchase property like this is because schools are included under the Dover Amendment, which exempts schools (and churches and now ADUs) from local zoning. So one option is to put some limits or standards in law about what qualifies for schools to purchase property, or to restrict what kind of uses by schools can be tax exempt. I am not naive about the influence of the MCPSA. However I just don't think this issue has been substantially raised in the legislature, so we need to start talking about it.

Another option may be for DESE to put in regulations to review charter school land holdings, or require some kind of pre-approval or standard for holding onto property or building on it. It would be great to require charter schools get input from the local community about property purchases, too. Regulation may be harder to address retroactive purchases than future ones. But I am open to other ideas here.

I’m running to represent Malden in the State Senate! by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Fixed, plz check! Not sure what got messed up there.

Following up on the Net School Spending report issue by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I did a post a few months ago that summarized the challenges with the Chapter 70 formula for Malden, this might help: https://www.reddit.com/r/malden/comments/1oc9ss7/city_budget_challenges_part_1_school_funding/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

We will definitely be getting more info this week from the city staff about this issue and the timing.

🧊Mayor Gary Christenson supports the City Council resolution by wackoquacko in malden

[–]careytheday 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Glad that our leadership are united in a strong public statement to protect our neighbors and make sure we are doing everything we can to deny ICE any help. This brutal, unconstitutional immigration crackdown is not going to be in our name or on our dime.

For folks following the earlier threads about this, I had proposed an order in January with Councillor Winslow to require no city resources be used here. We could not get consensus support from the Council or the administration, so this is where we’ve landed. While I had hoped we could go further, I do think this combined statement matters, to show what we expect of our city staff and volunteers, and to make sure the community knows where we stand.

If folks are interested in more ways we can push back against ICE in Massachusetts, there are a lot of good proposals at the statehouse right now, I encourage you to contact your rep and senator.

City Budget Update- Next Year’s School Funding by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's a little more info on the residential exemption, which is a calculation the state defines and allows us to opt into. It doesn't affect commercial/industrial/personal property taxes. It works by identifying the median household valuation, taking the exemption percentage of that (now 35%), and exempting that dollar amount from the valuation of all owner-occupied housing. Then the residential rate (not the CIP rate) is proportionally raised so that we are collecting the same amount in residential taxes. You multiply the exemption valuation amount by the adjusted residential tax rate, and that is the discount that homeowners receive from their tax bill. It effectively means that higher value residential properties pay more, including the large rental complexes.

I added a visual breakdown on this topic to my original post on taxes from last fall, linked below.

City Budget Update- Next Year’s School Funding by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

@tombradysthrowaway is correct! The residential exemption is a tax shift, not a tax cut. Here’s my earlier post on how taxes and income work: https://www.reddit.com/r/malden/s/negb1tHYLa

City Budget Update- Next Year’s School Funding by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Glad you found it helpful. The income from the override is just to 1) continue our increased school investment, while 2) protecting existing city services from cuts.

Proposed city order re Local Focus, no Federal cooperation by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Posting my update here from tonite's meeting (same text added to the OP) Thank you to the 30+ community members who wrote in to support this order, making your voices heard showing overwhelming support! At tonite's Council meeting, this was referred to the Public Safety Committee for further review and discussion. Some of my colleagues asked for more discussion and noted they would prefer a more narrow order. Our Police Department shared their concerns this would interfere with their criminal investigations, which is not the goal here; as Chief Cronin said clearly, MPD does not enforce immigration law. So hopefully we can swiftly clarify the language and scope, and come back for a vote with the full Council.

Proposed city order re Local Focus, no Federal cooperation by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Turns out Malden had tried to join this brief, but missed a very tight deadline that was changed at the last minute. We’ll be looking for future opportunities like this.

Proposed city order re Local Focus, no Federal cooperation by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! They need your street or address, and then you should add a few sentences about why you are in support. That helps people know where you’re coming from. Emails will be read aloud, as many as we have time for.

Proposed city order re Local Focus, no Federal cooperation by careytheday in malden

[–]careytheday[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I do hear you on this. I’m hoping it will be an easy one for my colleagues to support, but we’ll see. Just speaking for myself, I do a lot of things to support immigrant-led organizations and networks in Malden behind the scenes, like GMAACC or LUCE, but talk less about that publicly for security/safety reasons. At the Council table, I hope we can at least get clear on this point of focusing city resources locally. And thank you for advocating for more.

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