Statement of Ted Murray, Candidate for Finance Committee

If elected to the Finance Committee, I will try to help Ashfield’s residents develop an increased understanding of our town’s budget and spending priorities. My undergraduate degree is in engineering, and after earning an M.B.A. and D.B.A. from Harvard Business School, I taught management for over 25 years at Boston University’s School of Management.

Although now retired, I’ve most recently served as Chair of the Select Board. In that role, I’ve worked extensively on our town’s budget for FY 2011, and I’ve come to a much deeper appreciation of all that is done for us by both employees and volunteers with limited funds and resources. But such information is generally difficult to convey to others. For many people, budgets seem just a maze of figures that are both confusing and boring, but I would hope to change that.

I will work to help residents be clear about where and how our tax dollars are being spent. For example, how does Ashfield compare to other towns, such as Buckland, Conway, and Shelburne in terms of our expenditures for highways? Do we spend more or less than they do, and are we satisfied with that relationship? Is there any advantage in sharing police services? By joining with Buckland and Shelburne in a study sponsored by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), we might identify more cost effective ways to achieve police coverage. In these and other ways, I would work to help inform financial decision making for our town.