Federal Government Shutdown Has No Impact For Belmont

With the US House and Senate failing to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at the midnight, Tuesday, Oct. 1 deadline, the White House budget office ordered the closing of all non essential services and operation, sending 800,000 federal workers on furlough and leaving hundreds of thousands more reporting to work this morning without any guarantee of a paycheck.

But when the sun rose in the east this morning over the Town of Homes, both the town and schools of Belmont opened just like any other weekday.

"I have the same answer when we had a debt ceiling issue a few years back (in 2011): [the government shutdown has] zero impact on the Town as a legal entity," said Floyd Carman, Belmont's treasurer and tax collector. 

Without government facilities such as parks or office space – with the exception of the US Post Offices whose employees are exempt from the shutdown – or defense contractors within the town's boarders, and since most federal monies heading to Belmont goes through the state government, there is no threat of government monies being pulled.

Rather, Carman said that the most effected in Belmont will be those residents who work for a federal government paycheck.

"The individual citizen or resident working for or on government projects impact directly on them not the town," said Carman.

Over at the school department, the effect of closing down the federal government on Belmont education is equally non-existant ... for now.

"[A shutdown is] frustrating but it will have no direct immediate impact," said School Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston.

But if the closure continues for months rather then the few days or a week that most observers and political pundits expect, then the district could begin to feel the pain.

"Long-term, all our federally-based grants such as Title I, IDEA, ELL, etc. would be threatened," said Kingston.