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Saturday, October 7
Welcome to Merrimack Youth Baseball
Friday, June 12
Town should rethink its MYA proposal
For the past four decades, the Merrimack Youth Association has played a major role in providing organized sports activities for thousands of the community’s children and young adults. Since its founding in 1968, the nonprofit organization has grown to now operate seven separate programs under the guidance of its executive board: baseball, softball, basketball, football/cheerleading, soccer, lacrosse and wrestling. During much of that time, the volunteer organization has been able to count on town taxpayers to support a portion of its annual budget. Today, that figure is $131,000, more than 25 percent of the group’s annual budget of $485,000. So it’s easy to understand why more than 100 people turned out for a public hearing earlier this week on the Town Council’s proposal to phase out funding for the youth association over the next four years. In all, more than 30 individuals rose to speak in support of the program, including many current and former players, coaches and volunteers.
One gentleman wondered why the council was making such a big deal over $110,000 in an annual budget in excess of $30 million. Another dismissed the relevancy of a 24-town survey that found few New England municipalities contribute public funds to private sports programs. “I recently voted for several of you,” said resident Tom Laberge. “I heard no talk (in the) speeches and campaigns that said you’d change a 40-year-old tradition of assisted funding. Had I known that before my ballot was cast, I may have changed my vote.” Under the council’s proposal, the youth association would receive $110,000 in the fiscal year that begins July 1, then see its annual contribution decrease by 25 percent each year over the next four years. For its part, town officials have gone out of their way to praise the organization and the value it brings to the community. But the combination of growing budget pressures and the appropriateness of using town funds to support private organizations led council members to include this idea in its latest contract proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. While we appreciate the economic pressures the council members are under, we don’t believe this is a reasonable proposal as currently drafted – on either philosophical or financial grounds. Presumably, there has been a reason why the town has supported the association for all these years – and that is because previous officials have recognized the value the programs bring to the community and its quality of life. We also would suspect the programs are no less valuable today than they were when the town first began providing financial support many years ago. If anything, they might be even more so. So to alter that longstanding relationship and make it more difficult for the association to provide the same level of programming – and by extension more expensive for parents to afford – doesn’t make a lot of sense to us, especially in today’s economy. Second, as alluded to earlier in one of the comments, we’re not talking about a major windfall in savings here. Eliminating the $110,000 budgeted for the organization next year from the $31.6 million town operating budget would amount to the proverbial flea on the elephant’s behind – or, if that isn’t specific enough, a miniscule 0.35 percent of overall spending. And if town officials want to continue down this road and eliminate funding for other private organizations – $36,500 for the Merrimack Rotary Club’s Fourth of July celebration, $21,260 for the John O’Leary Adult Community Center – those savings would seem to be offset by the value of those programs, too. When the proposal first became public last month, Town Manager Keith Hickey made it clear that the council’s offer was only intended as a starting point for negotiations on a new contract. If that’s the case, it’s time for town officials to put the four-years-and-out plan behind them and move on to something more beneficial for the community. Friday, May 22
Serious Challenges May Change MYA Forever
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