Thursday, April 12, 2012

Vote Saturday, April 14, 2012

My name is Dan DiTucci and I am a candidate for re-election to the Burlington Board of Selectmen.

In 1959, I moved to Burlington with my parents. My wife, Mary, and I raised 3 sons here and currently reside on Lisa St. I’m the proud grandfather of six grandchildren, one who will attend Burlington Schools in the upcoming years. I’m a volunteer for People Helping People & the Burlington Food Pantry.

I am currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and serve on 12 different subcommittees. As the liaison to the Department of Public works, I work with the largest town-side budget of $9m. I am staunchly committed to making sure our tax revenue goes into long-term investments and infrastructure projects. For example, I restarted the stalled Terrace Hall Forced Sewer Main project, which will ultimately
take 7,000 feet of sewer line out of the Great Meadow Aquifer. This year, the DPW brought forward a plan to expand the Pine Haven cemetery, which will meet our cemetery needs for next 25 years. We’re also looking at repairing the Council on Aging building. My newest initiative is restarting dialogue on the state-owned Grant Ave Salt facility. This 2.5 acres was promised to the town of Burlington as part of a tif agreement with Sun Microsystems and remains an open issue I’d like to resolve.

On the Economic Development subcommittee, I have worked with the Town Administrator to bring the right new business into the town that will increase our tax revenue. Burlington is fiscally stable. Our financial statements show we currently have approximately 4.3M in free cash, part of which can be used to fund warrant articles at the May Town Meeting. Our Stabilization fund has a balance of approximately $5M. I
support smart development that converts unused and low tax-revenue properties into tax-generating properties for our town yet does not cause a toll on town resources and traffic. For example, we are currently working with the Keurig Corporation to relocate their corporate headquarters from Reading to Burlington.

Prior to my time as a member of the Board of Selectmen, I was an active member of Town Meeting for 12 years and a Ways and Means Committee Member for over 2 years.

I believe we need to keep our town affordable and attractive to young families. We must continue to upgrade our school facilities, as we have done with the new Memorial School and renovated Middle School, and fund the school budget appropriately. I have played an active role in the completion of the Wildwood Park and license agreement of the Mary Cummings property, which will give us additional playing fields for the Recreation Department. I continue to be an advocate for open
space and protection of the Land Locked Forest.

If re-elected to the Board of Selectmen, I will be persistent in keeping our community as a place we can be proud to live for many years to come. We must keep a balance between commercial development and our quality of life for residential neighborhoods. I have owned Spencer Cleaners in Burlington for 25 years. As a business owner who has survived three recessions, I understand the critical need to make wise financial decisions and be fiscally responsible with the taxpayers’ money. I promise to continue to keep the quality of our town government as high and as transparent as possible. I respectfully ask you for one of your two votes for the Burlington Board of Selectmen on Saturday, April 14.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Committed to the job

I believe the most challenging aspect of serving as a member of the
Board of Selectmen is balancing decisions to satisfy the residents,
employees and business community. I’m committed to ensuring our
residents continue to have the town services we are used to, a
comfortable low tax rate, and low water & sewer rates. At the same
time, I know that the commercial sector pays 65% of the tax revenue
that funds these services as well as the many infrastructure or
projects, new schools, etc. The Board of Selectmen must be very
selective in choosing what commercial development occurs in our town
to balance increasing the tax revenue as much as possible without
having a negative impact on our community. As a business owner, I know
that the income stream and cash in the bank is vital. Burlington has
$7.5 million in cash and an AAA credit rating. I have worked hard to
achieve this financial balance by being a fiscal conservative and
voting to spend our budget on continuing our town services along with
long-term infrastructure projects.

In my last three years proudly serving as a member of the Board of
Selectmen, I know first-hand that this job requires a full time
commitment. Part of the job I enjoy most is talking to residents about
their issues & needs and helping to resolve them. As always, I welcome
phone calls and emails (danditucci@yahoo.com) anytime from Burlington
residents to discuss issues and matters for our town.