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Expanding Sewer Discharge
We can better protect our water and lower user and future betterment fees if we use our sewer discharge capacity to its maximum.
by Allen Nitschelm
June 27, 2007
Is it time to expand the South Acton Sewer District? Can we lower costs for current users and do a better job of protecting our environment? Will we make the right decisions to keep the financial burden as low as possible while making the best environmental decisions?
These are some of the questions that the Water Resources Advisory Committee (WRAC) will be discussing and making recommendations to the Board of Selectmen over the next several months.
The WRAC was formed in 2006 as a follow-up to the CWRMP process which produced a report recommending the creation of 15 "needs areas" in which it was felt that additional oversight or other steps were needed to protect the town's drinking water from septic discharge. The top priority (mainly because it takes the most time and planning) was to investigate an expansion of the existing Sewer District to serve areas which have identified on-site system failures.
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Running a Successful Grassroots Campaign
By Xuan Kong
July 19, 2007
I was elected to the Acton and Acton-Boxborough School Committee earlier this year. The Acton Forum asked me to reflect on my campaign experience. My success in this campaign is no different than many other achievements in my life: I got a lot of help, especially from my family and friends. If you are thinking about campaigning for an elected office, you should make sure that you can count on the strongest possible support from your family and core supporters.
Fortunately, Acton has a strong tradition of volunteerism and newcomers to the public service arena will find a warm welcome. Community leaders (past and present) readily provide advice from the practical, "Where do I get lawn signs?" to the abstract. The only requirement for the candidate is to ask questions!
Even with others' support, campaigning will require a great deal of time and effort from you, so you must be passionate about the position for which you are running. I value education for my children and I care a lot about the continuing success of local public school systems. My prior teaching experience also allows me to appreciate the challenges facing the public education system. Perhaps more importantly, many volunteers had inspired me to contribute to the continuing success of the Acton and Acton-Boxborough schools.
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Acton seniors' property taxes consume twice their income compared to most Actonians
By Clint Seward
as published in the Acton Weekly on 27 July
August 2, 2007
The new Acton tax bills are more than twice as high for seniors as for other Actonians when measured as a percentage of their income, according to publicly available data from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR). The new tax bills, which reflect the increase for 2007, were sent out the last week in June and are due for payment on August first.
ncome for Acton seniors and for all Acton age groups from the Massachusetts DOR website is shown in the table below. The latest median household income in Acton is listed on the Mass DOR website as $91,624 as is the average Acton tax bill of $7,926.
This comparison shows for example that median income for Acton's 65-74 year olds is less than half of the median income of the 45-54 year olds. Median income for Acton's 75 and olders is less than one fourth of 45-54 year olds.
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