Municipal Tax Rates and Surpluses

By: Bill Manzi, III – December, 2012 Municipal budgeting, like most everything in government that relates to taxation, has become highly politicized. And like much that occurs in budgeting those politics, in many instances, show that budgetary doublespeak is not restricted to federal politicians. Municipal budgets are set to a “fiscal year”, which runs from […]

“New” Faces in Methuen

November, 2005 The running joke before last week’s election was: “who is going to LOSE by a wider margin, Marcos Devers in Lawrence or Ellen Bahan in Methuen?”  Well, Ellen won that one, but not much else. She lost the mayoral race to Bill Manzi by a margin of 28% to 68%, a resounding victory […]

Your Property Taxes in Methuen

  By: Methuen City Council President, Billy Manzi – December, 2004 With Methuen’s City Council prepared to set a “tax rate” at the December 6th meeting, it was an opportune time to discuss the process, tax classification, and general budgetary matters. While the Mayor’s recommendations were not yet available at press time, Methuen’s budget does […]