DPW Impacts
DPW Impacts
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It may not be as high-profile, but Public Works is the part of town government you notice when it stops working!
It may not be as high-profile, but Public Works is the part of town government you notice when it stops working!
If the override does not pass, Holden's DPW faces significant staffing and operational cuts.
If the override does not pass, Holden's DPW faces significant staffing and operational cuts.
The Services People Often Take for Granted
The Services People Often Take for Granted
The Department of Public Works handles much of what makes daily life in Holden function smoothly.
Road maintenance, snow plowing, storm cleanup, tree removal, public buildings, athletic fields, vehicle maintenance, and basic infrastructure all depend on DPW staffing and equipment.
These services are often invisible—until something breaks, is delayed, or doesn’t get done.
What Would Change
What Would Change
Without the override:
Hiring of 3 DPW positions would be frozen
Major reductions in capital spending would continue
Equipment replacement would be delayed
Road, building, and field maintenance would be reduced
This affects snow removal, tree work, repairs to town buildings, field upkeep, and the many routine services residents rely on without thinking much about them.
Like the library and Senior Center, these are not luxury services. They are part of the basic functioning of town government.
Deferred Maintenance Costs More
Deferred Maintenance Costs More
Homeowners understand this instinctively.
A roof can be patched for a while. A truck can stay on the road another year. A repair can be postponed. But delaying maintenance rarely saves money in the long run. Usually it turns a manageable problem into a larger and much more expensive one later.
That is what deferred maintenance means at the town level. The town is already postponing a needed fire truck and underfunding its ambulance replacement plan. The same principle applies to roads, buildings, and DPW equipment.
Short-term savings often create long-term costs.
Why It Matters
Why It Matters
When DPW services are reduced, the effects spread quietly across the entire town.
Roads deteriorate faster. Storm response slows down. Tree removal gets delayed. Buildings age faster. Small problems become expensive ones.
Good public works are easy to overlook because they are supposed to work quietly in the background.
But they are one of the important reasons that Holden remains the kind of town people want to live in.
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