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John Henshaw, Vice-Chairman
Hannah Anderson, Secretary
Jay Simeone
George Martin
Marc Luescher
Lunenburg Finance Committee
03-07-19
Michelle Walton
Location: Town Hall
Present: Terri Burchfield, Hannah Anderson, Michelle Walton, George Martin,
Jay Simeone, Marc Luescher
Absent: John Henshaw
Guest: Heather Lemieux, TM.
978.582.4139
FAX 978.582.4148
1. Open Meeting:
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. This meeting is being recorded and televised for re-
broadcast on the Lunenburg Public Access cable channel.
2. Communications
• Public Comment
Phyllis Luck, 50 Sunset Lane, concerned with gaps in the budget process. Hopes to start a
conversation about how those gaps can be filled. For example, on 2.14.2019 FinCom meeting the
Town Manager presented her Preliminary Budget and in that budget was two new hires, an
assistant town manager, and a recreation director. In her almost 5 years of being a sitting member
on the Board of Selectman, she has never heard the need for these positions ever discussed or
mentioned. At the next FinCom meeting, Mrs. Luck happen to mention to the FinCom chair that
these new positions were a complete surprise to her. The FinCom chair replied that FinCom
assumed the Preliminary Budget had already been discussed by the BOS prior to the presentation.
Mrs. Luck conquers that is a logical assumption but unfortunately an incorrect one. Mrs. Luck
agrees with the FinCom chair that the Preliminary Budget should be discussed with the BOS prior
to its presentation to FinCom. It's a process issue and one that needs to be resolved. She suggests
that FinCom and BOS should hold a workshop after town meeting to review the budget process to
take a look at lessons learned and fill the holes that you can drive a truck through.
Finance Chair replied with a clarification, that she didn't think the budget would be shared with
BOS but the budget priorities would be shared with BOS and that would be something the BOS
would set. In terms of the budget presentation, preliminary budget, and budget process, we are
not finished until March 28th
, and with the way MGL works, she believes that the budget is
presented to the Finance Committee, and maybe it's looking at a schedule so the BOS, town, and
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VIL CIT
add a firefighter in there as well, last year. Mrs. Luck noted that adding a firefighter was going on
through the whole process. FinCom Chair agreed but still there is nothing finished until it is finished
at Town Meeting. But I will also reiterate that yes, the BOS should be talking about what they see
are the priorities of the town. And that you would hope that, and that is what we are looking at,
that the budget represents the priorities of the town, and as we hear from all the individual
departments, that's one of the things we are taking into consideration, is how are those priorities
expressed. I will take what you say but I basically think the message from FinCom's perspective is
that's a BOS issue. Mrs. Luck, if I was sitting on the Finance Committee and I had heard that
presentation, I would have assumed things like hires would have already been discussed. It wasn't
the level of questioning but rather that it hasn't been discussed at all. George noted to Mrs. Luck
cors, Ins and
that the Chairman of the BOS was at that budget presentation and he did not list any concerns and
what George read into the actions of this was that the Town Manager reports to the Selectman so
they must be on top of this and that's a mistake he made on his part. Mrs. Luck, responded that is
where she is going with this, If she were in the FinComs seat then she would assume it was
already decided that this was the BOS priority, and that's exactly why she thinks that is a flaw in
the process.
• New Communications
None at the moment
3. Department 2020 Budget Presentations
• Monty Tech
Presented their budget which is attached at the bottom.
Questions from the Committee
Hannah- After your 50-year assessment, do you plan to have your students do the work like they
did with the vet building? It will depend on what the work is, if it is wiring or plumbing then yes
absolutely, we vitalize them as much as we can.
Do you plan to change the knowledge of what grades are assessed since it do not include
Kindergarten as one of those grades in Lunenburg, in the future, do you see that as something you
want to include? No, I think it has been working, as long as it stays consistent with the other
communities, we are still basing it off the same criteria's that we always have.
Terri- Maybe that question goes to how far out do the district agreements go? I assume we do
grades 1-12 because it is part of the agreement, and the agreement lasts year to year or has it
been a standing agreement since the day it started? It has been the standing agreement.
George- Do you know what the foundation enrollment was in 2018, FY18 for Lunenburg? Yes I do,
if you look in the big budget book, you can start in the back, page 22, it's a foundation enrollment
history which has 2018 back to 1994.
Terri- So our total assessment is 783,987, foundation enrollments is 74, which is the actual
students attending? Foundation enrollment is actually pupils enrolled at Monty Tech, School choice
pupils, or Chapter 70pm program, but I will say Lunenburg has 72 students at Monty Tech and 2
are school choice.
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So, the towns assess per pupil 10,594 would be the number that would go with whatever that
number is under the foundation enrollment? Yes, I break that up so you can really see what your
towns paying for per pupil from the tax base.
Marc- My only worry was that the proposed transportation, it decreased from 90 which isn't typical,
so is that normal? It was funded at the same amount but we recently attended a meeting that had
legislatures and state reps there that were advocating for school spending. IN THE law, STATUE, it
says that the legislature would fund regional transportation at 100% but then it has the term
subject to appropriation in there which is why we have never been funded 100%.
George- when making the new building, does each town in the district vote on that building? Yes, if
we are going to go out for a bond issuance, we would need 100% approval.
So out of the 18 towns, every single town would have to approve that? Yes.
Questions from the Public
Mrs. Cammer 304 Lancaster Ave, how do they determine the quota for Lunenburg? Approximately
how much chapter 70 funding is spent per student at Monty Tech? The quota is determined on
slide 24, Community Enroliment, we asked the Superintendent's Office for a count of all students
grades 1-12, no matter where they attend. The answer was 1,715 pupils. Based on that number,
against all the other numbers based in the Monty Tech district (18 towns) which ended up being
24,724 total pupils. We divide Lunenbura into that total number to see what percentage Lunenburg
is, and in this case, we got 6.94% as Lunenburg's representation in that number. To answer the
chapter 70 question, we would want to move to the next sheet called, Community Assessments.
How Chapter 70 in a simplified formula works is that the state would take the first blue column
24,908,048 and subtract column number 1, that's required minimum contribution. The first column
represents the number of pupils in each town, times the $16,898 per pupil that we are required to
sminimally spend next school year. They take that and subtract what they say they want the
communities to contribute towards that number. So, in Lunenburg's case, the state says Mont Tech
is to spend $1,250,472. Of that we expect Lunenburg to be able to pay $710,370 and the simply
take the difference of those two numbers and the difference is what Monty Tech gets on behalf of
George- In your student counts by town, does that include home schooling and private schooling?
It does, under the school attending children number.
• Sewer Commission
Presented their Budget
Questions from the Committee
Michelle- The slide that said the parcels of access available are 1200, and the connected are 800,
does that mean there are only 400 available or is it the whole 1200? Mr. Luck, No, it means that
living along current lines there are areas we could extend too, but living along because they have
the right because they paid the betterments to connect, there are 400. So, 400 haven't connected.
George- The 1/3 that have elected not to connect, have they been hit with a betterment
assessment? Mr. Luck, Yes, that's why they are allowed to connect.
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Marc- the Fitchburg rates have gone up quite dramatically, and they might continue to go up over
the next 6 years? Mr. Luck, Yeah, the Fitchburg rates went up a few years ago, they're being
forced by the state to spend a lot of money to separate their storm water from their sewage. And
those costs come down to us through the rates. They had to take out another big loan, and they
decided at that point that rather than death by a thousand cuts they would raise the rates back
then by 20% or 30% that had to be absorbed in one year. And that was supposed to cover for 5
years so it must have been 7 years ago because that 5-year projection, they managed to not
change the rate again for 7 years. Seven years was a couple years ago and they had to make the
same decision and it was either going to be 32% or 8% every year kind of a thing and they went
for the 8% a year so that 8% is what it's going to be until the end of that agreement.
Terri- of the 400 that haven't joined yet, do you know if they would be Fitchburg or Leominster?
Mr. Luck, I would say it is less than ¼ of those that would have to connect to Fitchburg, and
maybe way less than that.
Marc- looking at the cost we paid for Leominster and Fitchburg, I think it will be very difficult for
you to keep your budget at the same level next year, it's pretty much impossible. Mr. Luck, I think
we can keep it that way for next year but a year after that it is going to come up. We are thinking
of a way to rearrange some of our Lunenburg homes to pump out to Leominster but keeping it
cost effectively has been a challenge. It's like a $400 million to a $450 million-dollar project to
change from there to there.
George- Are these systems based on where you live, is that where you go to Fitchburg or
Leominster based on the shortest points? Mr. Luck, no, the way we laid it out was by needs. So,
everything in the current plan is laid out by sewer, and everything it already predesigned on paper
to go to Fitchburg or Leominster. We were able to shift a little from Fitchburg to Leominster on
paper but otherwise it is pretty well determined where it will be going. Where does storm drain
water go, once it's in the catch basin? Mr. Luck, you would have to ask our Storm Water Task
Force, I think it goes in the rivers and lakes.
Michelle- when talking about the meters you want to install, who would pay for those meters? Mr.
Luck, those have always been installed and paid for by the home owner.
George- do these plants have devices that read the inflow into their systems? Mr. Luck, we have
three places that the waste water exits Lunenburg, there are meters at all of our outlets. Are they
using our data to figure out what our bills should be? Mr. Luck, yes currently Fitchburg is but
Leominster, not really.
Marc- I can understand the case for irrigation systems, but what about all the homes with pools?
Mr. Luck, we actually have a process that the homeowner comes and fills out a pool filling
application, we will deduct that from their bill as well.
Questions from the Public
None this evening.
4. Committee/Department updates.
Committee
Department updates
Public Access Cable-Marc
Capital Planning-John H.
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Sewer Commission -Jay
Charter Review Comm - Terri
5. Minutes
Marc motion to approve minutes 2.14.2019, Hannah second, 6-0 vote.
6. Town Manager/Financial Officer Reports
Town Manager, on the revenue side, I will be meeting with the regional assessor next week to
discuss the estimate of new growth and whether we need to adjust that number. The sewer
indirect costs were reduced on the revenue side by $2294. This was due to a decrease in health
insurance. On the expenditure side, the rates for health insurance for active employees decreased
by 2.45% which equated to a reduction of $64,165 from the Preliminary Budget number. The
any Budget numer. ereased
dispatch assessment increased by $3,076.40 over the Preliminary Budget number. The detail
software for the Police Department should have been included in the police department bottom line
for the $3720, so that's now in there. The Library budget is being adjusted by $450 for certain
expense lines to fund them at the requested amounts. Monty Tech decreases by $60,624 from the
estimate used in the Preliminary Budget estimate. The assessing software to increase this year
around $13K. Overall this is a decrease in expenditures around $104K.
George- recently we heard a proposal for a new fuel tank at the DPW, there was talk of going back
and reviewing what was planned and approved by the Capital Planning Committee, do you know
who ownership of that and how much effort is going into that? Town Manager- There is a lot of
effort right now, to examine the alternative that was brought up, the DPW Director, Police Chief,
Fire Chief, and Town Manager are all putting something together so we will have that for an
update. As far as detailed costs I do have those now from the DPW Director so I will forward those
along as soon as possible. Terri, right Michelle and John have also been looking into different
numbers, they are basically looking to not overlap what you're doing so I know John is going to
check in with you, if he hasn't already. George, Do you know is anyone will be working with
Conservation due to the stream outback? Town Manager, they would get involved in the project
and a big component of the engineering costs is dedicated to putting all the safeguards in place to
have no impact on the wetlands.
Hannah- You said you're meeting with the Superintendent Monday to finalize numbers or is that to
add to their possible budget or take away? Town Manager, That's what we are going to discuss,
there level of service budget versus their proposed budget with all the changes that we have with
what we are aware of.
Terri- Next week our presentations are the Schools and DPW
7, Public Comment
None
8. Next Meetings
• March 14, 2019 Department presentations
• March 21, 2019 Department presentations
9. Adjournment
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Sewer Budget Presentation
MAY 15 2019
LUNENBURG TOWN
CLERK OFFICE