Lunenburg Finance Committee Meeting Minutes Bilotta Meeting Room Lunenburg Town Hall April 4, 2024 Present Members: Chair Evan Watters, Vice Chair Chris Menard, Board Member Tom Gray, Board Member Dave Passios, Board Member Jean Russell, Board Member Jay Simeone 1. Call to Order 7:01 PM 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Announcements This meeting is being held remotely due to the town offices being closed because of the weather. Jean Russell will not be able to attend tonight’s virtual meeting. 4. Public Comment Rhonda Liscio, 181 Reservoir Road, wants to know how the school district justifies the change in policy that expanded the number of students who are eligible to bus without being charged any fees. She believes raising fees would be a reasonable way for the district to raise funds for their budget. Additionally, she does not support the override. Tiffany Tavares asks if Rhonda has brought this to the School Committee. Rhonda has and was told it would not do enough to offset the cost of the transportation. John Bowen doesn’t support a budget that doesn’t have any line items that can be removed. He believes if money is being taken from the taxpayer base, then the taxpayer base should have everything to say about what goes on inside the operational function of the school and feels that is being ignored. 5. Town Manager Report There were no additional reports from the Town Manager. 6. Finance Director Report There were no reports but Ezequiel Ayala states he is working on the Q2 report, and it will be available soon. 7. New Business a. FinCom Report for Warrant Workshopping Below are the main topics to include in the report: A table or graph that shows tax increase due to the override. This will include the average increase expected to be seen across the town. Acknowledgment of and reasoning behind the increased line by line of each budget by Finance Committee. Below are topics not included but needs to be added: Capital plan Omnibus budget Debt spending Chapter 70 Millionaires tax Grant writing services Statement of the upcoming town needs Statement about level service Task force budget Consolidating and streamlining departments between town and school 8. Old Business a. FY25 Budget Discussion Evan Watters wants to do a workshop for tonight’s meeting and take a vote next week. This is ideal since they just had the school budget presentation and that consists of half of the town’s budget. Heather Lemieux is concerned because tomorrow is the extended deadline beyond the original deadline. We are well beyond the date that the documents need to be sent to the printer. b. FY25 Override Discussion There are mixed reviews about the potential override. Chris Menard states from a Finance Committee perspective we should at minimum be seeking to have a level service budget across the town and he believes the override will get the town to level service. c. Votes on Recommendations for Warrant Articles The warrant articles have been switched to numerical as opposed to prior alphabetical. Article 1: The Finance Committee finds there is no direct financial impact, and the article has remained unchanged. Article 2: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 3: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 4: Evan Watters asks if any expenses have been provided and Heather Lemieux states no numbers have been provided. The Finance Committee previously deferred and will remain deferred. Article 5: Evan Watters asks if any expenses have been provided and Heather Lemieux states no numbers have been provided. The Finance Committee previously deferred and will remain deferred. Article 6: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval 6-1. Article 7: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval 5-1-1. Article 8: Evan Watters would like to take a vote tonight and has provided a brief slideshow presentation. There is agreement between a few members that there are capital type items that should be in the capital budget. The network upgrades and the 911 compliance phones are over $20,000 and they are 1-time expense unlike Chromebooks that are a yearly expense. There was a motion to recommend approval of Article 8 by Tom Gray, seconded by Chris Menard. Roll call vote. Tiffaney Tavares aye, Jay Simeone no, Dave Passios no, Tom Gray aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye. This Article was previously deferred. The Finance Committee recommends approval 4-2 with 1 member absent and unable to vote. Article 9: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. Article 10: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 11: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. At a past meeting, Tom Alonzo mentioned if someone is on leave and a temporary replacement is needed there would be a direct financial impact. Dave Passios states for the most part the town doesn’t hire a replacement unless they are out on long-term medical leave. He believes any impact from this would be minimal. There was a motion to resend the vote from last week and make a recommendation to recommend approval by Tom Gray, seconded by Dave Passios. Roll call vote. Tiffaney Tavares aye, Jay Simeone abstain, Dave Passios aye, Tom Gray aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye. The final vote was 5-0-1 with 1 member absent. Article 12: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 13: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 14: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 15: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 16: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 17: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 18: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 19: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 20: The Finance Committee previously recommended approval. Article 21: The Finance Committee previously deferred. Dave Passios states based on the criteria and requirements there are few people who would be able to take advantage of these credits. There was a motion to resend the previously deferred recommendation and recommend approval by Chris Menard, seconded by Dave Passios. Roll call vote. Tiffaney Tavares aye, Jay Simeone aye, Dave Passios aye, Tom Gray aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye. The vote was unanimous 6-0 with 1 absent member. Article 22: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. Article 23: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. Article 24: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. Article 25: The Finance Committee previously discussed there is no financial impact. 9. Minutes There are no new minutes to review. 10. Committee Reports Dave Passios states Green Communities Committee met on Monday and re- organized positions within the Committee. They are continuing to move forward and are hoping to get into the April grant round. Specifically for funding pump upgrades and controllers for the pumps. There is an increase in the maximum amount that can be awarded in this grant round, being $225,000 as opposed to $200,000. Green Communities Committee have set aside $5,000 to be put towards the next hybrid police cruiser that will need to be purchased. Chris Menard states the Parks Commission met and voted on their recommendation for the owner’s project manager for Marshall Park. This will now go to the Town Manager to negotiate based on the recommendations. Chris Menard says there are volunteer opportunities on the parks and recreation website including sign up information. 11. Topics for Future Meetings Continuation of warrant article workshopping. 12. Upcoming Meetings: a. 4/11/2024 b. 4/25/2024 c. 5/4/2024 – Annual Town Meeting starts at 9 AM at the Lunenburg Middle High School. 13. Important Dates: a. 5/18/2024 – Annual Town Election 14. Public Comment Chris Menard thanks the Committee for everyone’s work and hopes next year’s budget season will be different. 15. Adjourn There was a motion to adjourn by Chris Menard, seconded by Dave Passios. Roll call vote. Simeone aye, Dave Passios aye, Tom Gray aye, Chris Menard aye, Evan Watters aye. The vote was unanimous 6-0 with 1 absent member. The meeting closed at 8:40 PM.