Man About Canton: Social Security Set for 2012

DID YOU KNOW …

Social Security recipients will get a cost-of-living adjustment of 3.6 percent in January 2012, their first increase in three years. Some of the increase will be lost to higher Medicare premiums, which are deducted from Social Security payments.

According to federal officials, most Medicare beneficiaries will pay $99.20 a month in premiums in 2012, a smaller than expected increase of $3.50. They also said that the average monthly Social Security payment is $1,082, or about $13,000 a year. Most retirees rely on Social Security for a majority of their income, especially single retired people.

MAC just paid $3.85 a gallon for heating oil, and south shore heating oil dealers agree that prices could pass the $4 per gallon mark by the end of the 2011-2012 winter. Last year at this time MAC paid $2.95 per gallon. A total of 7.7 million households nationwide use oil heat, and 5.3 million of those homes are in New England.

There are now 7 billion people on this planet according to the United Nations.

The Canton High School Class of 1962 is in the planning stages for its 50th class reunion. Preliminary plans are for the reunion to take place in October 2012 at the Canton Town Club.

In case you missed it, the state police and FBI agents recently raided three spas in the south shore, including the Sparkle Day Spa at 95 Washington Street in Canton, following an investigation into prostitution and illicit drug dealing.

The Board of Selectmen has accepted the increased tax rate recommended by the Board of Assessors. The rate for residential properties will increase from $11.55 per thousand to $11.91 per thousand. Commercial properties will increase from $23.04 per thousand to $24.33 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The owner of the average home in Canton, valued at $464,000, will pay an additional $182 in annual property taxes, or a total of $5,526 for the new year.

Bob DiFelice, a 1964 Canton High School graduate, recently placed first in the 50-yard backstroke at the North Carolina senior games. During his high school years, Bob was a member of the Canton Dolphins swim team and a lifeguard at Bolivar Pond.

Canton’s Ciaran Nugent, a graduate of Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, and a sophomore at Lehigh College, was named the soccer goalkeeper of the week for the third time this season in the Patriot League. Nugent allowed only one goal last week in shutting out Navy 2-0 and tying Penn 1-1. He has a .30 goals-per-game average and a .925 save percentage.

The Shaw Group, a Louisiana-based engineering firm, recently signed one of the biggest lease agreements in the Boston suburbs this year after deciding to move 850 jobs to the OneBeacon building at 150 Royall Street in Canton. OneBeacon will continue to occupy 65,000 square feet, while the Shaw Group will use nearly 190,000 square feet.

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service announced that it would increase postage rates on January 22, 2012, by 1 cent for first-class mail to 45 cents. The Postal Service lost $8 million in FY 2010, and the bottom line is likely to be even worse when final figures for FY11 are released in December. The current 44-cent rate has only been in effect since May 2009. Postcards will go up 3 cents to 32 cents, while letters to Canada and Mexico will increase 5 cents to 85 cents.

Talking about the post office, a stamp featuring Red Sox legend Ted Williams is part of the commemorative forever stamp set that will be released in July 2012.

According to some studies, on average, a woman utters around 7,000 words in a day while a man uses just over 2,000.

The ticket for the Stoughton vs. Canton Thanksgiving Day football game was listed as the 85th annual game, when in fact it was the 86th.

It is important to live in the “is” and not in the “was.”

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

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