"Who's on first?"

I was at Stop & Shop lights (i.e., the Davis Straits/Teaticket Highway/Jones Road/Worcester Court intersection) the other day when a constituent of mine stopped by and asked how much the overrides would us cost per year.

This was a simple request, and I wouldn't be writing this particular blog post if I'd been able to give him those numbers. However, when I sat down with my notes from town meeting, I discovered that the numbers didn't add up.

For a house assessed at $500,000, the figures I had were:

* $15 a year for three years for the DPW road work, but the question on the ballot appears to refer to the DPW reorganization, which was shelved - or so I thought.
* $11 for the first year (decreasing over 10 years), for the fire equipment
* $46 for the first year (decreasing over 20 years), for the high school, but I also had $76 for the first year (also decreasing over 20 years).

However, a recent blurb in the Cape Cod Times noted that the total would be $131/yr, which doesn't add up no matter how you juggle those numbers.

So I called town manager's office, but the staff there didn't have the figures, so they suggested calling the assessor's office (and graciously transferred me) and school department (and provided the phone number). I also called the DPW director, Raymond Jack, about that override.

However, when the town assessor's office got back to me, they didn't have the bond numbers, and so couldn't give me the annual tax payment. I was told to call the finance committee.

But the finance committee didn't have the bond numbers either, and so they suggested calling the town manager.

So, I called the town manager's office again. Mr. Whritenour called me back and said he could provide a package of documentation detailing the costs of each. He did, and for a house assessed at $500,000, the figures are:

* $46/yr, for 3 years, for the DPW road work & maintenance
* $9 for the first year (decreasing over 10 years), for the fire equipment
* $76 for the first year (decreasing over 20 years), for the high school

Which comes to the $131 as reported in the Cape Cod Times.

Ray Jack also called back and explained that the paper got it wrong - the override will be for maintenance, not the reorganization.

Although I did, eventually, get the answers, I was reminded of the Abbot and Costello routine "Who's on first?"

Any one of the individuals I spoke with should have had those figures within reach. The fact that they didn't - that I had to go to the town manager directly - is troubling. Some might call it a mild case of red tape; I see it as a failure on the part of the town manager to share information.