PRIORITIES COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
MINUTES
The meeting of the Priorities Committee was held at 7:30 pm in the Selectmen's Meeting room
and was called to order at 7:42 p.m. by Chair Laura Salomons.
Members Present:
Chair: Laura Salomons
Board of Selectmen: Richard Powell and Walter Joe Roach
Finance Committee: Ira Miller and Charles Goodman
School Committee: John Hitter
Others Present:
William Fowler, Cindy Doherty, Barbara Dunham, Tim Farmer, Benjamin E. Puritz, Barbra Nadler, Alex Korin and Max Perlman
Meeting Minutes
It was MOVED and SECONDED to approve the Regular Session Minutes of January 11, 2011 VOTED: 6-0-0
The January 25, 2011 Regular Session Minutes were held until the next meeting.
Sustainability: Review FY’13 and FY’14
Finance Director, Bill Fowler, reviewed with the Committee the “Sustainability Spreadsheet FY’13 and FY’14”.
§ New Growth FY’13 and FY’14 – Base line number will be coming down for next couple of years. Talked with Mark Mazur and there is no development, housing, etc. FY’13 there is $250,000 in new growth from Target and B.J.;
§ Local Aid: Based on the Governor’s speech the worst is over. Local Aid increase is .5% for next three years. Pretty much level funded;
§ MSBA: Same for next three years – To be paid under old MSBA;
§ Local Receipts: Very minimal increases in local receipts will be coming up;
§ CPA: $200,000 owed FY’13;
§ Septic Loan Program: $23,000 a year FY’13 and FY’14;
§ Free Cash: A conservative estimate of 1.8 million by C. Doherty and B. Fowler;
§ Other Charges and Offsets: FY’13 – increase $500,000 to $600,000 for overlay – FY’14 increase to $650,000;
§ Fixed and Uncontrollable or Special Expenditures: Reasonably flat for next two years (FY’13 and FY’14);
§ Health Insurance – Town side new hires now pay 70%(Town)-30%(employee) All teachers 75%-25% and co-pays up. Individual for high claims have been reimbursed from Stop Loss. Health Trust Fund is close to $4 million. Went from a deficit to $4 million. FY’11 to ’12 insurance decrease by $120,000 and you will see another decrease in ’13 and ’14 due to use of Trust Fund. Have not had rates increases in 2 years and looking to holding rate for a third year in ’12. We are using the trust fund for what is was intended for. Taking money out $300,000 in ’13 and ’14 to reduce a cost of appropriated money out of Town budget to pay for Health Insurance. We are in a position that we can use the Trust fund as a leveler for other causes.
School and Town Budgets:
School estimate: Dr. Dunham estimated FY’13 - 4% increase and FY’14 – 3.6% increase. School budget FY’13 - $37,482,724 with circuit breaker – 3.5% increase and without circuit breaker 5.2% increase. FY’14 budget $38,855,325.
Town side: Department level – no change.
§ Major change: Police Department – At the end of March we will know the status of Commons building permits. Phase in four police officers for the first six months at a total cost of $121,027 to be built into the budget. If permits do not materialize – no cops. See where permits fall. Should we appropriate this money at the Annual Town Meeting or the Special Fall Town Meeting?
Stabilization Fund: It is the consensus that $100,000 should be placed in the Stabilization Fund. Stabilization fund is available if we want to use.
Use of One-Time Revenue
|
133,076 |
F/B Excluded Debt |
|
65,500 |
Receipts Reserved for Retro MSBA (debt) |
|
425,158 |
Receipts Reserved for App Wilbur (debt) |
|
325,000 |
Mitigation (Brickstone) |
|
|
Overlay Reserve Released: |
|
|
Stabilization Fund |
|
151,365 |
Excess Norfolk Retirement: |
|
|
Reauthorized capital funding: |
|
86,636 |
Septic Loan Program receipts: |
|
|
State Transportation Bond: |
|
25,000 |
Unemployment Reserve: |
A MOTION was made by Rich Powell and SECONDED by Joe Roach to allocate a 2.41% target allocation increase for the sectors as a working number for FY’12 operating budgets as presented $48,449,614
Discussion
Ira Miller would like to allocate a 2% target allocation increase rather than a 2.41% for the sectors as a working number FY’12 operating budgets. The sectors would have to take a look at a .41% cut re their budgets.
A MOTION was made by Rich Powell and SECONDED by Joe Roach to allocate a 2.41% target allocation increase for the sectors as a working number for FY’12 operating budgets as presented $48,449,614. VOTED: 4-2-0
Next meeting: To be announced.
It was MOVED and SECONDED to adjourn. VOTED: 4-0-0
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m