===PAGE 1=== Town of Lunenburg Finance Committee: Terri Burchfield, Chairman Michelle Walton, Vice-Chairman Peter Beardmore, Secretary John Henshaw Jay Simeone David Passios Lunenburg Finance Committee April 28, 2020 Meeting 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Location: Zoom Virtual Meeting – Joint Meeting with the Lunenburg Board of Selectmen Present: Terri Burchfield, Dave Passios, Michelle Walton, Peter Beardmore, John Henshaw Absent: Jay Simeone 1. Call to Order o Terri Burchfield, Chair called the finance committee to order at following the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen calling the BOS to order and reading of the Open Meeting and COVID-19 statement. This meeting was recorded and is viewable on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b34TBCYajNU 2. Joint meeting with the BOS to meet with Representative Stephan Hay and Senator Dean Tran. o Town Manager Heather Lemieux reported this meeting was requested by the Fincom. o Senator Tran stated the Governor published his proposed budget in January for Chapter 70 at about $5.5Billion. Currently we do not know how the legislature will react to the proposal. The intent for now is we are in a holding pattern until we get past some obstacles. We are trying to find a way for them to meet and vote in a formal session. o Representative Hay concurred with Senator Tran in that everything right now is up in the air. He believed the revenue projections are going to be different from what the Governor used in his budget proposal in January. This could change once the House and Senate get back together and discusss the budget. ===PAGE 2=== o Peter Beardmore expressed thans to both legislators for meeting with them. He did not believe anyone in town expected the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) would be a windfall, but was driven to improve the quality of education statewide. However, what we’ve seen to date is a Governor’s proposal that was driven by changed Chapter 70 formulas, resulting from the SOA. The resulting increases were less than what they had been in previous years without the SOA, and without the reporting requirements now required to qualify for the funding. A subsequent meeting with the Monty Tech representatives revealed the formula changes also adversely effected Lunenburg with respect to our contributions to Monty Tech. o Discussion ensued on how to address the Governor’s budget and reduction to it. Ms. Burchfield asked if the town should plan for a 10% reduction in state aid. Senator Tran could not answer that as currently the numbers are fluid. Rep Hay concurred with him. o Ms. Lemieux asked about the status of SB 2602/ HB4611 for emergency hazard pay. Senator Tran stated it was still in sub-committee and would need to be forwarded to the Ways and Means Committee and then to the Senate floor for a vote. o Ms. Lemieux asked about how Lunenburg could apply for CDBG funding under the CARES Act. Senator Tran stated some of the towns that had already received CDBG funding would receive a portion of that funding. o Representative Hay offered to forward a letter to House leadership looking for additional budgeting guidance for town planning and agreed to share subsequent communications. o 3. Adjournment o Terri Burchfield adjourned the Finance Committee meeting and the Selectmen’s meeting continued.