The Lowell Sun profiled the Westford Taxpayers Association in an article today.  Chris Camire’s “Billerica, Westford tax watchdogs guard the municipal purse strings” can also be read online.

The article emphasizes the WTA’s non-partisan focus on local issues that concern taxpayers:

The Westford Taxpayers Association is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve as a local think tank by providing facts about local candidates and issues to residents. Dan Somers and other residents started the group in the spring of 2007 in hopes of keeping a closer eye on their town government.

The group’s Web site features information about government salaries, raises, benefits, taxes, as well as information about how to access public records.

“We are informers, but we don’t take sides,” said Somers, a 51-year-old marketing consultant, who has lived in town for 25 years. “Our mission is to inform Westford taxpayers about the impact of tax and spending policies and to encourage fiscal responsibility and transparency within local government.”

The group’s budget is only $100 per year, said Somers, which goes toward maintaining a Web site, a telephone line and a post-office box. Although the group conducts in-depth interviews with local candidates that are published on its Web site, it does not endorse.

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