Westborough Taxpayers Association

State "Aid" Redistribution Formula Brings Westborough Unfairness

by Len Mead  February 12, 2010

A major challenge of our elected and appointed town leaders struggling to balance our town finances is guesstimating how much of our own taxes we'll get back from "the state."  So it seems reasonable to show you, Dear Reader, the strange and incomprehensible picture of how unfairly Westborough is treated compared to our neighbors bordering on every side.

My objective is showing the relative distribution to our neighbor communities,  not so much the absolute dollars which can be corrected as data becomes available.  It's done with a mysterious "formula."  For the moment we'll leave the question of why citizens have allowed state government so much power in redistributing our own earnings to "needy" communities instead of private charity.

Yes, the data here overlays some statistics on the most recent population numbers which are a few years old.  And, yes, average taxes per town over and under the state average are shown on Fiscal '10 taxes but calculated on the last state-wide average available of Fiscal '09.

A critical consideration in reviewing these numbers -- Upton, Northborough, and Southborough all have regional school systems -- so comparing them with Westborough ain't easy.

BUT -- for the remaining bordering communities, the question you might ask is simply, "Why does Westborough only get a per capita $318 back from  'the state,' while the other surrounding towns with full school systems get so much more?"

The "state" has a distribution formula about as transparent as the nightmare stew of how Obamacare was concocted.

From what I hear, nobody really knows how the state redistribution "formula" works.  My guess is that the formula is outdated and irrelevant, adjusted through the years by political favors and back-room deals.  Friends, why not try to get some answers yourselves to demand this "formula" bring more transparency and fairness to Westborough from our local and state elected leaders?  

Len Mead can be reached anytime at a new email, mead1720@gmail.com