Dracut Forum

The meeting of the Selectmen that was to be held tonite to discuss resolving the Town hall issue has been postponed until next Thursday because key participants could not attend.
This ongoing issue of getting the Town Hall, the Town Hall annex and the Sewer Department buildings to meet with the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines [...]

In most communities, taxes rise as values fall
By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent
As the value of many single-family homes across the Commonwealth plunged over the past fiscal year, taxpayers northwest of Boston have had reason to loathe the worrisome trend.
For 34 cities and towns in this area, the average single-family home value dipped from $478,586 [...]

Jim Campanini spoke of this article on Saturday Morning this week (I’ll put the clip up tonite.. forgot about that).
It will continue to be interesting to compare how Dracut makes decisions compared to the town around us as the years go by.
Issues like the Town Hall and High School will continue to threaten our financial [...]

Warren Shaw The Valley Dispatch
Talking about taxes.
Dracut Selectman Jim O’Loughlin wants to take another look at the Community Preservation Act program, and, as one of the program’s many supporters, I don’t think a public discussion is such a bad idea. After all, this is the people’s tax.
Within minutes of the end of the meeting during [...]

>BY DENNIS SHAUGHNESSEY, VALLEY DISPATCH STAFF
DRACUT — With the price of fuel, food and utilities at an all-time high, Selectman James O’Loughlin is wondering if it might be time to revisit the town’s participation in the Community Preservation program.
“I’ve been talking to more and more residents who are concerned about the 2 percent levy that [...]

At their town meeting last night, the Lowell Sun reports that the meeting members voted down the budget presented by the Town Manager.
This is astounding, but I guess no exactly unforseen.
The town has spent itself into a huge deficit. Taxes, growth and other revenues are down. An attempt at a proposition 2-1/2 override failed last [...]