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Town of Lunenburg
RECEIVED & FILED
OCT 0 5 2017
LUNENBURG TOWN
CLERK OFFICE
17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135
Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135
978.582.4139
FAX 978.582.4148
Finance Committee:
Terri Burchfield, Chairman
Mark Erickson, Vice-Chairman
Jay Simeone, Secretary
John Henshaw
Hannah Anderson
George Martin
Cindy Testa
Lunenburg Finance Committee
Minutes 04-27-17
Location:
Present:
Absent:
Guest:
Town Hall
Terri Burchfield, Mark Erickson, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw, Hannah Anderson
eorge Martin, Cindy Testa
aren Brochu - Town Accountant
1. Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Non televised meeting..
2.
3. Comments:
a. Public: None
b. New Communications: John H. met with the Town Accountant and the Town Manager last Tuesday, John
wanted to note for the record that it was an exceedingly valuable meeting relative to setting up the
spreadsheet John sent out to the board this morning. Members commented that the spreadsheet info
was very useful.
4. Review of debt policy: John presented a third draft of the debt policy and a spread sheet/ graph of the debt
figures. The debt is a percent of property tax levy for regular and exempt debt topping out in this particular
cycle, this year, at 13.7%. John updated the debt figures based on data from the Town accountant and the
Town Manager.
Bond issue spreadsheet updated to reflect the issue done in January which include 1.7M for the
pavement management plan, 770K for the track & field project, 145K for the final portion of the
towns cost for the latest sewer project. Sewer debt service has a direct offset, the other two projects
do not at this time.
Some projects have a revenue source, like user fees or a betterment. That revenue helps offset the
debt service for that project, depending on the length of term the project is funded for.
The pavement management plan will have two additional issues. The 1.7M issue covered the 800k
the DPW spent during the last paving period. Leaving about 900K in new money, plus any chapter 90,
and budget money to fund this paving season. The final borrowing will probably be done in January
There was member discussion around the percentages of regular debt and exempt debt as percentage of
the tax levy, It was recommend the regular debt not exceed 4% of the levy and exempt debt not to
exceed 11% of the total levy. It was recommended, for the debt policy that the total debt, regular and
exempt, not exceed 14% of the levy. FY17 represent the ceiling on the exempt debt.
It was recommend that 300K be used as the estimate for new growth.
Karen presented a spreadsheet on "Estimated Impact of town meeting spending on your fiscal 2018
tax bill". The average home value, based on the FY17 levy is $267K. The tax rate in 2017 was $19.98
per $1000 of assessed valuation.
Review of the Omnibus total numbers shows that is almost impossible to hit the 3% of the Omnibus
total before reaching the 4% of the regular debt. So it was recommend to delete that from the debt
policy.
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John to revise the policy.
Town Financial Officers reports: There was discussion around the dog officer expenses for taking care of two
dogs. The dogs were removed from the owners by the Animal Control officer due to negligence. One dog
was eventually put down, the other was adopted. Expenses were at $10K.
6. Review of minutes: None
7. Committee and Department Updates;
Committee/Department
Public Access Cable Teri
Capital Planning-John H.
Dept. of Public Works-John H.
COA - Cindy
Library-Terri
Update
Library Trustees has met to review their budget to date and they are ahead
of budget due to reduced utilities expenses.
Not happy with LED lighting:
Police Dept - John H.
Fire Dept - George
Schools - Hannah
_Monty Tech - Hannah
Green Comm Task Force-Jay
Sewer Commission Task Force -
Jay
School Bldg. Comm. - Mark
Building Reuse - Mark
Meeting in May to reconcile the books.
Has completed as a committee. Recommended re-purpose the TC Passsio
school for town offices. Sell the other 4 surplus buildings are up for sale.
Proceeds from the sale of any building to go to fund the renovating of the
TC Passio.
8. Next meeting:
May 6, 2017 Annual Town Meeting
May 25, 2017
9. Adjournment: Mark made a motion to adjourn. John seconded the motion. The committee approved the
motion 5-0 at 8:16 pm
Submitted by Jay Simeone
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