02/21/2025
Hello again everyone. I wanted to start this next post by touching on the big topic in town - the override - and changes I would like to see the town explore/implement if I were to be elected as a member of the Hanover Select Board.
Whenever an override is proposed I am going to be hesitant and want to see a valid reason for the need to increase beyond prop 2 and a half. The need for a town to increase the levy limit is not an uncommon occurrence; higher than expected inflation, change in town dynamics or direction, dangerously low free cash, etc. However, normally the request for an override is handled slightly before the actual need and not at the levy limit increase we are seeing in the FY26 budget plan. With that said, the FY25 levy limit increase failed and the schools, among other areas, were affected greatly. Teachers were laid off, art / music / IT programs were lost, specialists have become more limited, and class sizes increased which I don't think anyone in Hanover wanted for the school system or especially for its students. The education system is vital in any town and is the lifeblood to any strong community. Most decisions when determining to move to any town are focused on all levels of the school system. It shows the town cares about the community, the kids, and kids' futures. A successful school system is a successful town. I believe the residents just wanted to know that their tax dollars were being spent toward essentials and that a plan was being put in place for the future of Hanover to make sure an override of this magnitude does not occur again. After all, we live in Massachusetts where a great education isn’t requested, but expected.
In my opinion, the current override budget and levy limit increase for FY26 is a fair response by the Select Board based on the previous FY25 override voter response. They lowered the request of the residents and also addressed a common theme in the FY25 town meeting, “Nobody wants to take away from the kids of Hanover and their education, where is the money for the override going”. To simplify, the below is the budget from the town manager broken down by department, total amount of the override funds, and percentage of override funds:
Public Schools / $1,900,000 / 80.79%
Fire / $221,893 / 9.43%
Police / $137,068 / 5.83%
DPW / $92,791 / 3.95%
The override is going to these 4 areas if approved and nowhere else. I view these 4 areas as essential and top priority for any town.
The question I hear most people ask is, “My taxes are already so high, why do we need an increase?.” I understand everyone in the town does not want to pay more in taxes, I am one of them. It's never fun to pay anyone for anything. When something needs to be painted in my home, I do it. If a tile floor needs to be put in, I do it. And I still refuse to pay anyone to mow my lawn (I actually enjoy it, but my wife doesn't need to know that…). With that said, I am not against the concept of an override, even the one proposed. But what I would like to see, and what I would like to bring as a candidate to the Select Board, are paths forward post override that show long term fiscally conscious, sustainable ways of thinking to match how successful businesses deal with their finances. So town residents know we are taking our bottom line expenses as seriously as possible and in line with how businesses run today. We should adopt town financial dynamics to drive a strategy that better brings sustainable operational & financial results. In order to do that, we need to take advantage of changes in technology and business strategy and bring it to Hanover. I believe with this strategy, which I will lay out my beginning thoughts below, will pave a strong path forward post override. So my recommendation? Pass the override to get Hanover back to stable, and then explore/implement the following:
Financial Savings:
As the biggest portion of the override budget is going to the school, I am going to start here with some of my goals and objectives. Anything I state below, I just want to be clear - I am in support of the school system, the school committee, the teachers, and giving the kids a great education. What I don’t want to occur is another scenario where we have to lay off teachers or cut more programs again.
From an operational standpoint buying power is everything. As you can imagine, the larger your business, the more buying power you have. And the smarter you are with that power, the cheaper the goods and services can be. For full transparency the below are areas I would explore as a member of the Select Board, however, these are ideas only and I am unclear on restrictions per current regulations.
The school is advocating for more funds beyond the FY26 override to bring the school back to FY24 standards. The shortfall includes things such as updated books, old outdated technology and equipment, and supporting new programs and initiatives. I do agree the school does need these things.
1. My first objective for the town of hanover would be to explore a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) with surrounding towns. The idea behind a GPO is to get groups of smaller organizations to band together as a GPO so they are viewed as a larger organization when purchasing. My ideal proposal is that all the towns associated with the “South Shore Regional Vocational School District” form a GPO. It seems to be the most natural grouping since this basically already exists and the towns are already tied to one another. By forming a GPO the Hanover, Cohasset, Marshfield,VO Tech, etc. schools are no longer purchasing by themselves, they are viewed as one and have much more purchasing power. This would give better pricing for everything from books, computers, chrome books, and IT infrastructure to cleaning supplies, maintenance equipment, and contracts like WB Mason.
2. My second objective would be to work with the same towns above and set up a centralized IT infrastructure, again, instead of every town paying a high fee for the same thing. Centralize this cost with a third party which drives down the cost of the service and supplies. This ranges from general IT services and equipment to cloud space and website costs.
3. Lastly (for now), are there specialized staff that can be shared between the towns listed above without affecting service levels? Instead of each town hiring 2 of something, each town only needs to hire 1.5. In the end, savings is savings.
The above goal is to find similarities between towns and take advantage. Most schools I would imagine have a lot of the same expenses, and those expenses could be lowered as a GPO.
Revenue Generation:
As I have stated before, I have not been on social media, so I tend to miss out on some information that is often shared or discussed there. While the town website does have a lot of information, it is a bit difficult to stay on top of town and school activities. I have been surprised that in this day and age, the town doesn’t have an app interface. With that said, the below idea is just that, an idea. Revenue generation at the town level is difficult, but I am trying to bring out of the box thinking to the forefront.
1. I would love to work with the school committee, school staff, and towns mentioned in the GPO to work together at the school level and create an APP that all the towns in the GPO can take advantage of.
a. This APP would be a senior project or club project for every school involved in the GPO. The APPs initial goal would be the front end for the town and schools. The students would work together on the design requirements, defining what they want to create. The students would learn about creating and launching real world products and the various stages: R&D, Art & design, marketing & sales, operations, IT - all could be covered.
b. Just to be clear, this is a shared app that can be customized for each town. The students are creating one overall APP that is implemented and deployed for each town.
c. This would be a yearly senior project to continue development of the APP and further enhance its capabilities. As the next senior class takes over they can change, adjust, and enhance its capabilities. The students would code, create the town's artistic designs, and each class would understand what it takes to market, implement, and deploy. Teaching students about real world product development.
d. In coming years students could then take it a step further and get local business sponsorships that appear on the app which would feed back directly to the school, AKA marketing & Sales. The local businesses could have their ads on the app with potential promotions. Hypothetically profits could be split between the school department and the senior class to help fund and cover various costs.
e. I see this as a win for the students who get to see their actual work used in Hanover and surrounding towns (I did that!). The students would also get to see the different stages every organization has in the process of creating and developing any form of technology AND I also think this is a great addition to any college resume.
These are just some of the ideas and thoughts I would love to pursue as a member of the Hanover Select Board. I do recognize that the schools are not the only issues we are facing though as a town, and plan to share my further thoughts on how to better support the other services in town, such as Police & Fire, the Library, the DPW, amongst others, in the coming days and weeks.
Thank you again for reading and I appreciate any follows or friend requests. A number of you have already reached out to talk to me about my candidacy, and I encourage you to continue to reach out with any thoughts, questions, or ideas you may have as I will surely listen. I will continue to do the work to earn your vote on May 17th, and beyond, if elected.
