There was a reason the Haverhill City Council didn't vote to increase the meals tax before the municipal election in November: Voters might have taken out their anger with the decision at the ballot box.
At the time, we predicted that Mayor James Fiorentini would bring the issue before the council again after the election. It hasn't come up for a vote yet, but it's something he promised to do in his inauguration speech.
Fiorentini has said the increase could raise $400,000 for the city if coupled with a hike in the rooms tax.
The money would help close the gap between an increase in city employees' health care costs that is not being met with a similar increase in city revenues.
Haverhill, like every community in the commonwealth, has weathered a prolonged period of economic downturn. The city's rainy-day fund is drying out and its complement of public employees is about as thin as it can be before services suffer.
In the South Shore town of Plymouth, a proposed meals tax was a matter of voter referendum on Election Day, after having been narrowly approved by town meeting in the fall.
The verdict was overwhelming: Only 3,684 vote in favor, and 14,762 opposed. "Rather than raises taxes, I think they should cut services," a local restaurateur told The Brockton Enterprise, hailing the vote. "I believe the lower the tax rate, the more people can keep in their pocket."
The town council in the nearby community of Braintree got the message, voting 6-0 the following night to reject the idea of a local meals tax.
Haverhill city councilors had it right the first time. Conditions have not deteriorated so badly over the last few months that a "yes" vote is justified on expanding rooms and meals taxes.
If anything, the message from the special election that sent Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate must ring clear as a bell in Haverhill today: It's time government learned to live within its means — just like everyone else.
