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| January 6, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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Budget cuts at county seen as likely...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
differently, the things they want
changed only reinforces that ex-
pectation. Each wants the other's
body to do things differently, and
neither seemed amenable to the
other's suggestions.
Bernardo 's plan to challenge
Doherty for his seat in the Novem-
ber election only adds another
layer of potential conflict.
They agree, though, that for the
first time in several years, budget
cuts likely will be needed.
The commissioners began
their annual series of meeting
with county department heads
Wednesday, and will use the in-
formation they get to prepare a
spending plan they must submit
to the Assembly March 1
Doherty said revenues project
to be about the same as last
year: $26.5 million. For the past
several years, revenue has grown
annually due to ever-increasing
deeds tax receipts , the fruit of
the Cape'suntil recently vigorous
real estate market.
With flat revenues and un-
avoidable increases in pension
and health insurance costs, he
said, the difference will have to
be made up elsewhere.
"We have to go through the
(departments ') work programs
and see where we are at the end
of it," he said.
Bernardo continues to seethe
over the fact that the budget
the commissioners submitted
last March was implemented un-
changed after Doherty and com-
missioner Mary LeClair vetoed a
revised budget approved by the
Assembly, which was unable to
muster a two-thirds majority to
override the veto.
"The majority had no say in
the budget , " Bernardo said
this week, echoing comments
he and others on the Assembly
that favored the revised budget ,
including Barnstable delegate
Tom Lynch, made last year. The
group of eight of the Assembly's
15 members represented 56.05
percent of its weighted-by-popu-
lation vote.
The other seven, holding43.95
percent of the vote, harbored
deep dissatisfaction with the way
the Assembly conducted its part
of the budget process. Ironically,
their main complaint paralleled
Bernardo 's dissatisfaction with
what he has called the commis-
sioners ' refusal to compromise:
that the Assembly finance com-
mittee and the majority that
supported it paid little attention
to their input , a charge the com-
mittee denied.
Doherty and LeClair cited the
Assembly's cuts to the Cape Cod
Commission and the Cape Cod
Economic Development Council
as their reasons for the veto.
"The commissioners have cho-
sen to have sacred cows," Ber-
nardo said this week, pointing to
the Cape Cod Commission and
"growth in hiring."
As last year'sbudget battle was
reaching its climax, Bernardo
and the county Charter Review
Committee he chaired began
to look for ways to extend the
budget process, with Bernardo
saying he wanted to give the
commissioners and the Assembly
an opportunity to compromise.
The effort failed , but it was re-
flected in the Charter Review
Committee's final report , com-
pleted last fall.
Now Doherty and Bernardo
both say they want the other
body to start its budget delib-
erations earlier. Bernardo said
the commissioners should start
their meetings with department
heads in the fall rather than in
January.
"It' s a cyclical scenario. It
doesn't matter when you start
'em," whether January or Octo-
ber, he said. "You're in the same
fiscal year."
He said the process should not
be scheduled at the "convenience
of department heads"but rather
on a timeline that enhances ac-
countability to the taxpayers.
"If we give them the budget
on January 1, we'd lose two
months in the budget process ,"
said Doherty.
At the same time, he said he
recently sent a note to Assembly
Clerk Diane Thompson suggest-
ing the Assembly begin meeting
with department heads before
receiving the commissioner 's
budget , a suggestion Bernardo
rejected out of hand.
"How can we do it before the
budget?" he said.
That won't keep him from
initiating budget-related dis-
cussions within the Assembly
before March 1,though -discus-
sions about its goals and priori-
ties on such matters as whether
to emphasize strengthening
existing programs or expanding
new ones, to call for level fund-
ing or to cap growth at the rate
of inflation.
"These are general discussions
that can certainly be held by the
Assembly while we wait for a
budget ," he said.
He accused last year'scommis-
sioner'sbudget of overspending,
including money that "they can't
spend," such as funding for an
executive director for a county
Wastewater Collaborative that
did not yet exist. The Collab-
orative , which Bernardo and
Doherty championed side by side
for nearly two years, was created
by ordinance late last year and is
expected to hold its firstmeeting
as soon as towns appoint repre-
sentatives to sit on it.
The commissioners'budget did
include $100,000 in one category,
regional services, that had been
funded at the same level a year
earlier, money that had not been
spent.
"They need to do their home-
work and put in only what is
needed so we can have discus-
sions after we've funded what is
needed ," Bernardo said.
Dohertyinsisted thebudget has
to be based on input from depart-
ment heads, as last year's was.
Otherwise, he said, "You're pro-
viding what I'd call a convenient
fiction to start with and you're
not demonstrating confidence "
in the departments.
But Doherty held out hope for
a more amicable process.
"I hope we get along better,"
he said. "There 's nothing per-
sonal."
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Includes First Grade Registration From Private Kindergarten
BARNSTABLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS for September 2006
The Barnstable School Department announces that the date for Kindergarten Reg istration will be
Wednesday, January 1 1 , 200(L Parents should bring the child , copy of the birth certificate, immunization record ,
proof of residency (utility bill , mortgage/rent recei pt) to their district school.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 All Elementary Schools EXCEPT MMEHMCS
9:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Parents will be given a choice of half or fu ll day kindergarten.
Full Day Kindergarten will have a sliding fee from $2500 to $180 based on 2004 taxes or current income.
Full Day Kindergarten will require a 10% Nonrefundable Reg istration Fee basgd on the sliding scale or $100.
(Whichever is least.) Credit cards are acceptable for future payments.. .NOT the registration fee.
Half Day Kindergarten is free
***RESIDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SPREAD THE WORD***
Kindergarten child must be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2006.
First grade child must be 6 years old on or before September 1, 2006.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL ENTRANCE: Vaccinations for Diptheria/Pertussis/Tetanus(DPT- 5 doses).
Polio (TOPV or IPV -4 doses), Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR -2 doses). MB (3 -4 doses). Varicella Vaccinator
Chicken Pox - lor2 doses), a certified reliable history or parent verification with date of Chicken Pox disease. Hepatitis B Vaccine
(Series of 3) and Dated Lead Screening Test Results. A physical examination is required within six months of entering Kindergarten.
Through the Looking Glass...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
Unfortunately,the Guantanamo
detainees could identify the Queen
of Hearts'judicialphilosophy."No!
No! Sentence first-verdict after-
wards."That imperious monarch
reacted to disagreement like many
a Washington authority figure.
"Off with his head! Off with her
head!"
In a moment of temporary
sanity, the duchess articulated a
foreign policy that I find intrigu-
ing. "If everybody minded their
own business, the world would
go round a deal faster than it
does.
As a wrap up to our discussion,
an exchange between Alice and
the White Queen captures the at-
mosphere in Washingtonperfectly.
Alice: "There 's no use trying, one
can't believe impossible things."
White Queen: "I daresay you
haven't had much practice. When
Iwas your age, I always did it half-
an-hour aday.Why,sometimesI've
believed as many as siximpossible
things before breakfast."
Perhaps, with Lewis Carroll's
assistance, I can manage to make
it through the new year.
Stew Goodwin lives in Cotuit.
Nyuk , nyuk, nyuk...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
My neighbors the Ryans were
forbidden to watch the Stooges
because before you knew it they
were clanging pick-axes off their
heads. But I think I would rather
my son Jack watch every episode
of the Stooges than one episode
of Jerry Springer
Who can say that eating a
pillow thinking it is a cake isn't
funny when they are belching
and hiccupping feathers. What is
not a hoot about a crowbar being
poked into Moe 's nose by Curly?
Who would claim that Larry 's
baggy pants, deadpan look , and
Kramer hair (long before the
Seinfeld character was born isn't
fall-on-your-face funny?
The Stooges knew what they
were. They were the social com-
mentators of their era. Moe open-
ly mocked Hitler (nine months
before Charlie Chaplin's Great
Dictator) when the United States
was still neutral about stepping
into Europe 's percolating fray.
The lads stuck their thumbs
in the eyes of the rich as they
constantly snuck into society
affairs, sometimes by accident as
bumbling workmen or sometimes
as down-on-their-luckers looking
for a meal.
The trio embraced their hum-
ble roots and were not afraid
or ashamed to flaunt them.
There was a quaint pureness
about that , something that
seems to be absent from much
of what entertainment has to
offer today.
Niagara Falls. Slowly I turned.
Step by step, inch by inch, I wish
we could go back to those long-
gone days. But alas, we can't.
When Jack has children of his
own and they see old episodes
of Sponge Bob Squarepants , will
they look quizzically at them as
he splits his pants laughing?
Probably they will.
But when Curly has to decide
whether to be burned alive or
decapitated and he says, "A hot
stake is better than a cold chop, "
I can't stop laughing.
"Hey Porcupine Head , spread
out."
"Hey, wake up and go to
sleep."
Stop it. I can't take it no Moe.
Have a happy, healthy, New
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Letters to the editor
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THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT
P.O. BOX 1208
HYANNIS, MA 02601
In helping the homeless
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
are insufficient. Like every other
community, we, the Cape Cod
community,must take the respon-
sibility to care for our own.
Theproblem ofhomelessnessisin
everycommunityacross ournation,
which is a disgrace. Yetonce again,
I say, "What are we, the Cape Cod
community,goingto do about this?
Are we going to take care of our
own or continue to just feel sorry
for them or,worse yet,simplyignore
or not care about them?
A warning: some of us or our
loved ones are going to
suffer this same terrifying and
lonely end if something isn't done
about it. And whose responsibil-
ity is this? I say, yours and mine.
In helping the homeless, we help
ourselves.
The writer, who lives in Centerville , directs
the Overnights of Hospitality program.