Page 6 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, July 3, 2020 A Tribute To America SABATINO INSURANCE AGENCY Call for a Quote 617-387-7466 Or email Rocco@sabatino-ins.com We cover: * Auto * Home * Boat * Renter * Condo * Life * Multi-Policy Discounts * Commercial 10% Discounts * Registry Service Also Available By Th e Old Sachem I n 1942 as the Second World War was starting up, a film was created by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph to honor George M. Cohan. The movie starred James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston and Richard Whorf, with Sally Sweetland’s singing voice MEETING | FROM PAGE 1 http://www.sabatino-ins.com SABATINO 564 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 617-387-7466 Hours of Operation are: Mondays - Fridays 9am to 5pm Saturdays by appointment only J& • Reliable Mowing Service • Spring & Fall Cleanups • Mulch & Edging • Sod or Seed Lawns • Shrub Planting & Trimming • Water & Sewer Repairs Joe Pierotti, Jr. Town Meeting used Zoom videoconferencing to discuss, debate and approve a new budget for the 2021 fi scal year that began on Wednesday, July 1. Members voted 41-2 with one abstention to pass a $93,448,989.00 budget that would allow the town to draw a maximum of $2,436,951 from the town’s stabilization fund. An effort to add $300,000 to the School Department budget failed on a 27-18 vote. The budget part of this year’s Annual Town Meeting took about three hours. Members approved $63,873,739.00 for the Municipal Department Operating Budgets and $29,575,250.00 for the School Department OperS LANDSCAPE & MASONRY CO. Masonry - Asphalt • Brick or Block Steps • Brick or Block Walls • Concrete or Brick Paver Patios & Walkways • Brick Re-Pointing • Asphalt Paving www.JandSlandscape-masonry.com • Senior Discount • Free Estimates • Licensed & Insured 617-389-1490 Designing and Constructing Ideas that are “Grounds for Success” Landscaping partially dubbed in for Leslie’s singing. The title of the movie was “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” The plot is a biographical musical film about Cohan, who comes out of retirement to star as President Roosevelt in a Rodgers and Hart musical, “I’d Rather Be Right.” On the first night he goes to the White House at the summons of the President to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. There is a flashback where Cohan, played by Cagney, is supposedly born on the Fourth of July. After leaving the White House, Cohan (Cagney) joins a military parade, with the soldiers singing “Over There,” referring to the war in Europe. A soldier asks Cohan if he knows the words (Cohan was the composer); Cagney smiles and ating Budget for a total of $93,448,989.00. The town’s stabilization fund – which has $9 millionplus – has given the town a fiscal cushion at a time when the shutdown of local restaurants and businesses to curb the spread of COVID-19 has drastically reduced town revenues. “We’re certainly fortunate enough to have a strong stabilization fund of $9 million plus – that’s what allows us to have a Double AA-Plus Bond rating,” Crabtree told Town Meeting members. “Without having that stabilization money, we’d have to look at substantial cuts in our labor force in both the town and school side,” the town manager said. At the same time, the town manager warned that the town needs to have a plan to replace the money so that it could maintain its bond rating. “I’ve been here eight and a half years and we try to pride ourselves on the finances being conservative,” he said. While there haven’t been any layoffs yet, uncertain fiscal times are looming – a situation that Crabtree and Finance Director & Treasurer/ Collector Wendy Hatch said needs to be closely monitored through the year. Hatch said the new spending plan is based on an estimated 25 percent reduction in state aid and an anticipated 10 percent cut in local receipts. “Since everything began in early March, it became a challenge to keep everything normal,” Hatch said. “We’re fortunate we were paid quite a bit of our tax base on May 1,” she said. Precinct 10 Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian wanted to know why sings along. The movie was an instantaneous hit – nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four. “Yankee Doodle Dandy” was selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1993, and in 1998 the movie was ranked Number 100 on the “100 Years…100 Movies” list by the American Film Institute. The lyrics are: I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy A Yankee Doodle, do or die A real live nephew of my uncle Sam’s Born on the Fourth of July I’ve got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart She’s my Yankee Doodle joy Yankee Doodle came to London Just to ride the ponies I am a Yankee Doodle boy the administration estimated a 25 percent cut in local aid after Gov. Charlie Baker has stressed the goal is to keep state aid at the same level. “We’re trying to present the worst-case scenario,” Hatch said. “There’s a lot of unknowns we don’t know. We’re trying to be as conservative as possible.” A few Town Meeting members expressed concerns that Saugus taxpayers face some tough fiscal times ahead. “The residents are going to have higher taxes, higher sewer rates and higher water rates,” Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Steve C. DiVirgilio said. Three School Committee Members lobbied for Town Meeting to increase the School Department budget. “It’s time to put our money where our mouth is,” School Committee Chairman Tom Whittredge said, noting that fixed costs in the School Department had gone up by $1.1 million. At the same time, MCAS tests results have been low and Saugus fared poorly in school rankings. “We’re hoping to get some extra money out of Town Meeting and hoping we start investing in our schools.” School Committee Member Dennis Gould advocated that Town Meeting increase its withdrawal from the stabilization fund by $1.2 million to cover the increase in fixed costs. Crabtree cautioned the Town Meeting against taking that approach. “I just think you’ve got to be careful. You don’t know where it ends,” he said. “I got 16 department heads who could use the money as well,” he said.
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