The Yarmouth Taxpayer

The Town Of Yarmouth And The DY Regional School District, Round Two

 The Dennis Yarmouth Regional School District (DYRSD) looks like they will  put it to the Yarmouth Taxpayers once again.

This past Wednesday night the Finance Committee met with some members of DY School Committee to go over the 2010 budget. This was televised on Channel 18 and The Yarmouth Taxpayer understands this will continue until Town Meeting.

There were at times, some tense moments, especially after the first question that was asked to the School Committee by a member of the Finance Committee. The terse answer was given by Ms. Gerry Bastian, the Chair of the School Committee.

Short Falls:

The Town was notified it will lose about $153,000 in lottery receipts. The Town is faced with cutting about $206,414 to balance their operating budget. Then The sky starts to fall.

Cape Cod Tech:

The town was notified this week, the new assessment from Cape Cod Tech (CCT) is $382,927 more than the Town Yarmouth had budgeted. This is caused by more students going to CCT from Yarmouth. So I have to ask the question, WHY? What is behind the students motivation to attend CCT?

State Aid:

The Governor reduced $324,270 in State Aid, so now the Town will have to reduce it's budget another $913,611 and the Town hasn't heard the bottom line figures from the DYRS.

DY School Committee:

The preliminary figures coming from the DY School Committee is grim at best for the Taxpayers in Yarmouth. They are trying to reduce the new tentative $49.8 million dollar budget. Last Year's budget was $48.7 million dollars. The DYRSD will have to bring a sharp knife to the table on this years budget or the Town of Yarmouth will have to cut an approximate $2,336,399  dollars. This is a whopping figure and it will cause total chaos in the Town. There will be big lay offs no doubt this year if the Taxpayers go to Town Meeting on May 5th and approve this farce of a School Budget. More to come on this issue, for sure.

Selectmen Meeting:

The Selectman's meeting started off with a shocker. Selectmen Jerry Sullivan revealed publicly, for the first time, that he is in fact,been fighting a long 9 year battle with Melanoma Cancer. Jerry stated that his demise has been greatly exaggerated. The Yarmouth Taxpayer wishes Jerry the very best, in his fight and treatment for this cancer.

The Board of Selectmen saw a positive presentation for the future from the Davenport Companies with it's home base right here in Yarmoth. The presentation was about the proposed changes they have in mind for the properties on South Shore Drive,in South Yarmouth. ( Red Jacket, Blue Water etc.)

The presentation was given by Dewitt Davenport and was very positive. The project will need some help from the voters at Town Meeting in a change in the Zoning Regulations and from FEMA. When Mr Davenport was pressed on how much money he is investing in the project, Mr Davenport was a little hesitant to respond, but was pressed again after some questions and Mr Davenport gave a response. About 80 Million Dollars was Mr Davenport's response.

The Taxpayers should support this project. The project will have a increase in Real Estate Property Taxes, and from the present Motel Tax. Anyone who is willing to put up 80 million dollars in Yarmouth not only deserves our support, he deserves our respect!

One last tidbit from this weeks Selectman's meeting was a comment about a Golf Lifetime Membership that was given out. WHAT?? The Board didn't mention the person's name but it did mention this was the Fourth such membership given out. The Board was not happy hearing about FREE Golf Lifetime Memberships being given out, I'm sure when the word is out the Golfers will also be Very Upset. The Board is looking at repealing this decision and hopefully a letter will be sent out telling the freebie's that you will have to pay up,like the rest of the Members, if you want to play Golf in Yarmoth.Questions will now have to be asked, Who selected the member or members? The Golf Director? Or was it the so called Golf Enterprise Committee? What is the criteria for getting a Free Lifetime Golf Membership? There will be more to come on this issue, I'm sure.

Bottom Line.

In the coming months, the Town of Yarmouth will face a few rocks in the road with the Town Budget and the DYRSD. Although these rocks are the size of a house, they are something that will have to be addressed. Lay Offs seem to be coming to Yarmouth,Schools and Town. How many? It will depend on what the School Committee decides to do with their inflated budget.