# finance-committee — 10 documents, concatenated for reading and search # # This is a CONVENIENCE BUNDLE, not a source. Every document below is # published separately and byte-identically; cite the individual file, # whose path is given in each header, rather than this bundle. # Index of all boards: https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/minutes/INDEX.txt # The town's own scanned original is linked per document. ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-10-08-minutes-2255.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-10-08 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-10-08-minutes-2255.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_10082015-2255 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== Town of Lunenburg Finance Committee: Mark Erickson, Chairman Terri Burchfield, Vice-Chairman John Henshaw, Secretary Karin Menard Jay Simeone 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Lunenburg Finance Committee Minutes: October 8, 2015 Meeting Location: Town Hall Present: Mark Erickson, Terri Burchfield, Karin Menard, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw Also Present: Tom Alonzo, BOS Liaison, Kerry Lafleur, Town Manager, Karen Brochu, Town Accountant 1. Meeting called to order by Mark E. at 7:00 pm. 2. Comments: a. Public--None. b. Committee: • Mark had a communication from Superintendent Calmes about meeting with representatives from the school on the budget process. • John requested that the Town purchase a voice recorder to help in satisfying the guidelines for minutes set forth in the open meeting law. c. Proposed changes to the salary planCheryl Valero, Chairman of the Personnel Committee presented the changes which are in three broad categories: Clarifying existing policies and/or correcting errors, making policies easier for the Town to administer, updating policies to be consistent with current levels of compensation, or consistent for all Town employees. Notes: • The Personnel Committee will review the Personnel Plan every three years. • For specifics on all proposed changes please refer to the red-line master file mentioned above. 3. Town Manager's Report: • Kerry handed out the Town Warrant for the Special Town Meeting. The Finance Committee will make recommendations on those articles with a direct financial effect on the Town. b. Kerry stated that new growth is coming in at a slightly higher rate than the revised forecast, which was higher than the original projection, but it is still insignificant relative to the total Town budget. An option is to put revenues from new growth that exceed plan into the stabilization fund or funds. c. Sick leave buy backs from long term employees who are retiring exceed the budgeted level and the prospect is for other significant sick leave buy-back. Mn-FY16-151008 (local and remote drives) 1 of 4 ===PAGE 2=== d. Chapter 40S funds. • For FY17 we will only have FY16 funds - by the formula the Town is entitled to $293,000, but is receiving $116,000. • Because 40S funds are not assured, expenditures of these funds will be used to fund non-recurring expenses-like text books. • Mark stated that since the state gives an incentive for cities and towns to provide these types of residential dwellings, the state ought to fund the incentive in accordance with their own formula. At this point, it is uncertain how much the Town would get in FY17 or whether the Town would receive any 40S funds in FY17 at all. 4. Minutes: a. Sept 24 minutes: Karin M. made a motion to accept the minutes and Jay seconded the motion. The committee approved the motion 4-0. Terri abstained as she did not attend this meeting. 5. Budget Goals and Opportunities: a. The committee considered a priority driven budget process, but concluded that the approach called for more resources than the Town had for this. • Mark stated that those parts of a priority driven budget process that focus the decisions on how best to spend the limited resources the Town has would be useful to adopt. b. Superintendent Calmes and perhaps Dr. Greg Berthiaume would like to have a joint meeting with the finance committee to build a foundation for collaboration with this committee. c. Further to the school department, John circulated a graph and associated spreadsheet showing that over the five years from FY2011 to FY2015 School Department expenditures net of chapter 70 aid and including encumbrances remained nearly constant at around 39% of total Town expenditures. Karen Brochu generated and interpreted the information that underpinned this analysis. Further explanation: • Per pupil costs have gone up during this period of time have increased, but this is due more to the roughly 75 student decrease in enrollment during this period and less to the steady increase in the school expenditures. • Since 2006, enrollment has declined by some 250 students, in large part by the departure of students from Shirley. • Tom Alonzo said that he had done a similar analysis for an earlier period and that the school department was constant relative to the overall Town then too. d. This led to a discussion that covered two topics: 1. The Schools and 2. The Budget Process. • The Schools: • Expenditures do not decline at the same rate as enrollment declines because: a. Fixed costs (e.g. utilities, maintenance) remain. b. As declines in student enrollment are spread out over 13 grades they would not necessarily translate into reduced numbers of positions. Mn-Fy16-151008 (local and remote drives) 7 of 4 ===PAGE 3=== c. Increases in mandated special education costs can equal or even exceed cost savings from decreases in overall enrollment. d. Kerry argued that decreases in enrollment over time should e. Tom state anties lead to opportunities for cost reductions. e. Tom stated that the cumulative nature of learning meant that a poor education in an earlier grade may put students at risk in later grades. • Full time equivalents [FTEs] Mark raised the issue of aids, specifically how student-teacher ratios were calculated whether aids should be included as well as teachers. • Other cost drivers like providing laptops and tablets or potential revenue sources like charging for some bus services came up. • The budget process: Kerry would like more discussion on priorities and related trade-offs. Jamie stated that realistic budget proposals accept the constraints to service levels imposed by limited resources. Mark concurred and emphasized that a priority based budget process (see point 5.a. above) proceeds from projected revenues. a. If the amount of revenue exceeds level services, then the Town has an opportunity to decide how to spend the incremental revenue. b. An approach may be to start with level service, identify the proposed initiatives that would provide additional services and determine whether the Town has resources to fund those initiatives. C. Kerry said she is doing something similar now, and provides the school with a target, but Mark countered that the process the school committee follows does not appear to take into account limited resources as much as other departments do. i. Kerry did observe that, since she has provided the target to the school committee school budget and expenditures have remained roughly the same percent of the total budget and expenditures of the Town. ii. Terri observed that starting with a level service budget, the Town could decide how to apportion incremental revenues based on demand for specific new services. d. Mark suggested grouping expenditures as controllable, and non-controllable. (E.g. health care costs, wages and salaries.) e. John suggested considering projected future costs that would flow from the expenditure choices we make. 6. Committee Updates: Committee/Department DPW-John H. Update Todd, the cemetery superintendent said Monty Tech students were constructing North Cemetery's new tomb Mn-FY16-151008 (local and remote drives) 3 of 4 ===PAGE 4=== building-labor is free and the Town will only pay for materials. Capital Planning-John H. During the Capital Planning Committee meeting Chiet Sullivan said that costs increase for fire trucks increase 5% per year. This exceeds the Town's average revenue increases of around 3.7%. Separately Chief Marino said prices for police cars have increased by 10% this year. Public Access Cable-John H. The PACC is working on their budgets for FY2016 and beyond. Focus is on operating and capital expenditures. Library -Terri B. Public Safety-Terri B. Schools-Karin M. Terri delved into the library grants with Martha Moore. No report. Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, because start times of school will allow the schools to return to two bus runs the first bus run for grades 6-12 and the second for grades k-5, the schools will go from three to two bus runs. This may be a cost savings. Monty Tech-Karin M. Sewer Commission-Jay S. No report. The commission met on the Pratt Street betterment project issue: In order to reduce the $2,500 betterment fee on the residents. The commission will leave it up to the residents and are putting the word out to residents. Grease trap issue persists--it is not performing maintenance, but on completing the reports and sending them in. Green Task Force -Jay S. No report. School Building Comm-Mark E. The Committee meets the week of October 15. Building Re-Use-Mark E. There was no quorum for the last meeting, they had a discussion with Charlie Hay of Tappe Associates on the proposal they are working on. Regional Dispatch-Kerry L. Bolton joins in FY17 and Berlin in FY18, reducing the assessment by $20,000 per town. Kerry advocates expanding service to 911for further cost savings. 7. Ongoing Business: a. Mark has added sale of surplus property to our future agendas. b. Pavement Management Plan 8. The next two meetings will be October 22 and November 12. We will not meet the second It Thursday in November which is Thanksgiving Day. 9. Meeting Adjourned: Terri B. moved to adjourn the meeting and Jay S. seconded the motion. The board voted 5-0 in favor; the meeting adjourned at 9:21. Respectfully submitted by John Henshaw November 11, 2015 Copy: Karen Brochu, Tom Alonzo Mn-FY16-151008 (1 ocal and remote drives) 4 of 4 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-10-22-agenda-2256.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-10-22 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-10-22-agenda-2256.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10222015-2256 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-11-12-agenda-2257.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-11-12 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-11-12-agenda-2257.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11122015-2257 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== NOTI CE of FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING on November 12, 2015 7:00 PM Town Hall IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS O F THE OPEN MEETING LAW, PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS MEETING IS BEING RECORDED AND BROADCAST OVER LUNENBURG PUBLIC ACCESS. AGENDA 1. Open meeting 2. Communications • Public Comment • New Communications 3. Review all Warrant Articles for Nov 16 Special T own Meeting and vote on recommendations 4. Town Manager Updates 5. Review Minutes 6. Budget Goals and Opportunities • Budget priorities and priority-setting process 7. Committee/Department Updates Capital Planning – John; DPW and Parks – John; Pub lic Access Committee – John Library – Terri; Public Safety – Terri; Sewer Commi ssion –Jay; Green Community Committee – Jay; School Committee – Karin; Monty Te ch – Karin; Council on Aging – Karin; School Building Committee – Mark; Building R euse –Mark 8. Ongoing Business • Pavement Management Plan • Contract commitments (e.g., sick leave buy back) • Sales of surplus property – Status • Rules for retainage/release of funds – School Buil ding Project 9. Next Meetings • Nov 16, 2015, 7:00 p.m. – LHS – Special Town Meeti ng • Dec 10, 2015, 7:00 p.m. – Town Hall – Regularly Sc heduled Meeting 10. Adjournment ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-11-12-minutes-2257.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-11-12 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-11-12-minutes-2257.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_11122015-2257 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== Finance Committee: Mark Erickson, Chairman Terri Burchfield, Vice-Chairman John Henshaw, Secretary Karin Menard Jay Simeone Town of Lumerbye 12/3/15 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Lunenburg Finance Committee Minutes November 12, 2015 Meeting Location: Town Hall Present: Mark Erickson, Terri Burchfield, Karin Menard, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw Absent: None Also Present: Kerry Lafleur, Town Manager, Tom Alonzo, BOS liaison 1. Meeting called to order by Mark E. at 7:00 pm. 2. Comments: a. Public--None. b. Committee: • Mark said the revised assessment from Monty Tech went down to $799,478- a reduction of about $2,500. • Mark referenced the Town Senior Tax Work-off Abatement Program where senior citizens who qualify can work off up to $1,000 of their property taxes. • The Lunenburg Planning Board will meet on November 23 to review a request for a site planning review for a patio dining area at One Main Street, a request to construct driveways and an application to cut down some shade trees. Applications and plans are available at the Planning Office. • In light of the fact that Veterans' Day was yesterday. Mark expressed gratitude to all veterans for their service. 3. Review and Recommendation of Articles on the November 16, 2015 FY2016 Special Town Meeting Warrant: Please refer to the warrant for more specific details on each article. # Explanation Recommendation & Vote 3 Funding first year of Firefighter's Agreement-will be passed over. Funding to pay prior year expenses-moot-there are no prior year expenses. FY 16 Budget Adjustments: As revenues changed after the Annual Town Meeting, Kerry recommends minor changes in the FY16 budget. Note: This routine process is a result of the ATM voting on a budget in early May before next year's revenues are finalized. No recommendation or vote. No recommendation or John moved to recommend approval of article 3 as written in the warrant. Karin seconded the motion. The motion carried-5-0 Mn-FY16-151112 (local and remote drives) 1 of 4 ===PAGE 2=== Rescind borrowing authority previously granted. 8 9 Bylaw to regulate use of vehicles on Whalom Lake Bylaw to regulate public use of marijuana or THC 10 Licensing pawnbrokers in Town 11 Granting Agric. Commission oversight of Farmers' Market. 12 Granting BOS to make agreements w/alt. energy- continuing the authorization from earlier Town Meeting. 13 Updating Art. XV of Salary Admin. Plan Presentation by Cheryl Vallera. 14 Adding funds to the Stabilization fund-to keep the stabilization fund at 5% of the omnibus budget. The committee had voted to recommend approval at the Annual Town Meeting. There was no reason to re- visit this issue. No direct financial effect. No direct financial effect. We will await presentation to determine if there is a direct financial effect. The committee had voted to recommend approval at the Annual Town Meeting provided there is a direct financial effect. The committee had voted to recommend approval at the Annual Town Meeting provided there is a direct financial effect. Terri moved to recommend approval of article 13 as presented at the Special Town Meeting. John seconded the motion. The motion carried- 5-0 Karin moved to recommend approval of article 14 in the amount of $7,136. Terri seconded the motion. The motion carried-5-0 No direct financial effect. 15 Non-binding resolution opposing the NE direct Energy Project. 4. Town Manager's Report: a. Kerry proposed presenting the revenue forecast on Thursday, December 3, 2015. The committee agreed to meet on the first Thursday of December as long as the committee has a quorum. 5. Minutes: a. Oct 8 Meeting minutes: Terri made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected and Karin seconded the motion. The committee approved the motion 5-0. Mn-FY16-151112 (I ocal and remote drives) > of 4 ===PAGE 3=== 6. Budget Goals and Opportunities: a. Mark said that the school committee is welcome to attend our December 10 meeting b. John reported that expenditures for Special Services (special education, free and reduced lunches, etc.) expenditures, over the past several years have grown faster by about one percent annually than the school department budget as a whole and exceed the rate of growth of total Town revenues for that period. He suggests we take this up either on our meeting of December 3 or December 10. Mark stated that the meeting on the third would be dedicated to the Town Manager's five year revenue forecast, so the meeting on the tenth would be the more opportune time for this discussion. 7. Committee Updates: Committee/Department DPW-John H. Capital Planning-John H. Public Access Cable—John H. Library -Terri B Public Safety-Terri B. Schools-Karin M. Monty Tech-Karin M. Council on Aging-Karin M. Sewer Commission-Jay S. Green Task Force-Jay S School Bldg. Comm.--Mark E. Building Re-Use-Mark E. Update Jack said that increases for salt and sand were much lower than last year's increases. The committee has met with the four departments that account for nearly all capital requests-Fire, DPW, Police, and schools to explain the longer planning horizon and to go over preliminary requests. This led to a spreadsheet that combines vehicle requests from DPW, Police, and Fire Departments that may lead to timing of vehicle requests. Rhonda Lisio resigned from the PACC and CAC. No report. Everything is on target in Fire and Potice Depts. No report. No report. Last meeting they announced the senior citizen tax work off program. There also were some building repairs done. No report. No report The project is about 65% complete, on schedule, and on budget. The building is weather tight going into the winter. Permanent power is turned on and the heat is on buildings A & B. The committee may be able to tour the construction site on November 18th. Change order #5 is to change the grade in the auditorium and for installation of cement filled cylinders called bollards--recommended by the Fire Dept. as extra protection for gas lines entering the building. These two changes cost $8,203, and change orders now total a little over $170,000. The budgeted contingency is about $4 million. The committee met with Charley Hay of Tappé Assoc. who has updated the Town's space requirements, performed a preliminary audit of the buildings, and developed alternatives in terms of cost and suitability. Charley is on schedule. At the next meeting is Nov. 24 and the committee will work on developing a list of FAQs for the public's information. Mn-FY16-151112 (local and remote drives) 3 of 4 ===PAGE 4=== 8. Ongoing Business: a. Pavement Management Plan-BOS had a review of the PMP with emphasis on prioritizing funding for the plan. b. Rules for retainage and release of funds of the school building project: Every line item has a 5% retainage subject to release upon satisfactory completion, and the retainage is released line item by line item. 9. The next three meetings will be November 16 at 7:00 -- the Special Town Meeting, and December 3, when Kerry presents the five year revenue forecast, and our regularly scheduled meeting on the second Thursday in December-the tenth. 10. Meeting Adjourned: Karin moved to adjourn the meeting and Terri seconded the motion. The board voted 5-0 in favor; the meeting adjourned at 8:00. Respectfully submitted by John Henshaw December 1, 2015 Copy: Karen Brochu, Tom Alonzo Mn-FY16-151117 (local and remote drives) 4 of 4 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-11-16-agenda-2258.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-11-16 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-11-16-agenda-2258.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11162015-2258 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-11-16-minutes-2258.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-11-16 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-11-16-minutes-2258.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_11162015-2258 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== Finance Committee: Mark Erickson, Chairman Terri Burchfield, Vice-Chairman John Henshaw, Secretary Karin Menard Jay Simeone Town of Runenbury 12/3/15 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Lunenburg Finance Committee Minutes November 16, 2015 Meeting Location: Town Hall Present: Mark Erickson, Terri Burchfield, Karin Menard, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw Absent: None Also Present: Tom Alonzo, Kerry Lafleur and Karen Brochu also attended this Special Town Meeting, but not this Finance Committee meeting. 1. Meeting called to order by Mark E. at 7:00 pm. The meeting convened at the Lunenburg High School Auditorium and took place at the same time as the Special Town Meeting. 2. Finance Committee Recommendations on warrant articles that were taken up by this Special Town Meeting. As articles 1 and 2 were passed over, the committee made no recommendations. # Explanation Committee Recommendation 3 FY 16 Budget Adjustments to reduce budgeted local receipts by Recommend Approval the same amount as the increase in revenues by 40S 4-7 Rescind borrowing authority on unused balances on previously Recommend Approval granted authority. 8 Bylaw to regulate use of vehicles on Whalom Lake No Direct Financial Effect 9 Bylaw to regulate public use of marijuana or THC Recommended Approval 10 Licensing pawnbrokers in Town Recommend Approval 11 Granting Agric. Commission oversight of Farmers' Mkt. No Direct Financial Effect 12 Granting BOS to make agreements w/alt. energy-continuing No Direct Financial Effect the authorization from earlier Town Meeting. Updating Art. XV of Salary Admin. Plan Presentation by Cheryl Recommend Approval 14 Aler Funds to the stabilization fund - to make the stabilization Recommend Approval fund by $7,136. 15 Non-binding resolution against the NE Energy Project. No Direct Financial Effect 3. Meeting Adjourned: Karin moved to adjourn the meeting and Terri seconded the motion. The board voted 5-0 in favor; the meeting adjourned at 9:21. Respectfully submitted by John Henshaw November 29, 2015 Copy: Kerry Lafleur, Karen Brochu, Tom Alonzo Mn-FY16-151116 doc (local and remote drives) 1 of 1 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-12-03-agenda-2259.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-12-03 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-12-03-agenda-2259.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12032015-2259 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== NOTI CE of FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING on December 3, 2015 7:00 PM Town Hall IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS O F THE OPEN MEETING LAW, PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS MEETING IS BEING RECORDED AND BROADCAST OVER LUNENBURG PUBLIC ACCESS. AGENDA 1. Open meeting 2. Communications • Public Comment • New Communications 3. Town Manager presentation – Five Year Financial Forecast 4. Review Minutes 5. Budget Goals and Opportunities • Budget priorities and priority-setting process 6. Committee/Department Updates Capital Planning – John; DPW and Parks – John; Pub lic Access Committee – John Library – Terri; Public Safety – Terri; Sewer Commi ssion –Jay; Green Community Committee – Jay; School Committee – Karin; Monty Te ch – Karin; Council on Aging – Karin; School Building Committee – Mark; Building R euse –Mark 7. Ongoing Business • Pavement Management Plan • Contract commitments (e.g., sick leave buy back) • Sales of surplus property – Status 8. Next Meetings • Dec 10, 2015, 7:00 p.m. – Town Hall – Regularly Sc heduled Meeting 9. Adjournment ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-12-03-minutes-2259.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-12-03 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-12-03-minutes-2259.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_12032015-2259 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== Town of Lunenburg Finance Committee: Mark Erickson, Chairman Terri Burchfield, Vice-Chairman John Henshaw, Secretary Karin Menard Jay Simeone 12/10/15 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Lunenburg Finance Committee Minutes December 3, 2015 Meeting Location: Town Hall Present: Mark Erickson, Terri Burchfield, Karin Menard, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw Absent: None Also Present: Kerry Lafleur, Town Manager, Tom Alonzo, BOS liaison 1. Mark called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. 2. Comments: a. Public-Superintendent Calmes invited townsfolk to attend performances of A Date with Judy Friday, 12/04 and Saturday, 12/05 at 7:00 p.m. at the high school auditorium: a taste of Broadway, a fraction of the price. b. Committee: • Mark said the Planning Board Meeting scheduled an informational meeting on December 14 at 6:35 p.m. at Town Hall to hear and discuss a site plan review for a proposed office and maintenance facility. The applicant is Unitil. The application and plans are available for review at the planning office. • Mark has the latest issue of The Beacon for the committee's review. 3. The Five Year Financial Forecast by Kerry Lafleur. Note: These minutes cover the requirement of a forecast, its purposes within the budget process, goals, and guidelines for doing a forecast. For specifics, click on Forecast to link to a pdf file on the Town Web site. You can also link to a video of the Town Manager's presentation on You Tube. a. This forecasting process is required under section 4-2 S of the Town Charter. Bond rating agencies look favorably on Towns that forecast which in turn contributed to the Town's improved bond rating and lower borrowing rates. b. The forecast provides a comprehensive, long term of service delivery based on known information and assumptions. A budget, in contrast, is a specific plan to provide services during the fiscal year. c. Goals of forecasting: • Providing a long term perspective especially regarding what to expect as the budget process unfolds. • Identifying any fiscal problems in the period forecasted. • Providing the opportunity to plan for change. • Emphasizes the need for long range considerations during the annual budget process. Note: If the forecast shows a shortfall, the forecast does not address ways to deal with that. Mn-FY16-151203.Draft Draft (local and remote drives) 1 of 4 ===PAGE 2=== d. Forecast Guidelines: • Statutes: Mass General Laws, Town By-Laws • Generally Accepted Standards • Town Financial Policies • Trends and projections • Contractual Obligations and debt service obligations. e. The Town manager did not include any 40S funds in the forecast, but she did include $150,000 of 40S funding in the target budget. f. Summary of revenues: • Forecasted Increase in Revenues in FY17: $861,920. • Target budget is $150,000 more - see 3. e. above. • Revenue from local sources is forecasted to increase at a faster rate than revenue from state aid. g. Expenditures in FY17 assumptions: • For the most part expenditures are to fund level services. • Exceptions are noted in the forecast spreadsheet. • The total increase in costs is two to three percent. • NexAmp project net credit is not included. • Retirement assessment increases nine percent. • Health insurance increases seven percent. • The Town may have to take into account the "Cadillac" tax under a provision in the Affordable Care Act taxing high cost health care plans. h. Summary of expenditures: • Lunenburg Public Schools (excluding Monty Tech) initial forecast is for an increase of $1,200,000 or seven percent over their FY16 budget. • Most of this increase would fund special education programs within the district as opposed to out of district to provide a better educational services at a cost saving and also to pay for increased health insurance costs. • The remainder of the increase is to fund additional teaching positions, a custodial position, and an IT position. • Public Safety department requested an increase just under $49,000 for level services with funding for overtime and lockup. Radio dispatch is a projected decrease of $15,100 with the same levels of service. The Town will see a decrease in regional dispatch allocation in FY17 and FY18 with the addition of Bolton and Berlin respectively. • Fire Department forecast an increase of $14,000 to maintain the same service level. • Public Works forecast is to: • Add one member to make two full time three people crews to increase efficiency. • There is $40,000 in the budget for stormwater system maintenance, but the Town needs a funding source to pay for the coming mandate as we do not have a source of revenue to fund this. • The goal is to fund the Pavement Management Program [PMP] at $1,000,000 per year. The PMP is currently funded at $670,000 annually: $420,000 of Chapter 90 funds and $250,000 from the operating budget. If, as the Town retires long term non-exempt debt, we could shift the revenue consequently freed up, to fund the PMP, that could reduce the shortfall between FY17 and FY20. Mn-FY16-151203.Draft (local and remote drives) 7 of 4 ===PAGE 3=== a. There are however other capital needs the Town faces. b. Mark asked if there was room in the capital budgets going forward for the expenditures of borrowing. Kerry said there was-especially for shorter term borrowing. She said that there was nothing wrong in prudent borrowing. She also mentioned using State House Notes that make available loans at low rates for up to $2,000,000 not to exceed five years in duration. • There are no funds for building maintenance in this forecast. • General Administration increases are due to an increase in the audit cost and contractual obligations. • Excluded: • Addressing the recurring annual shortfalls of the capital budget relative to capital requests. Town Hall restoration and expenditures related to building re-use. • Other Post-Employment Benefits [OPEB]. The Town's contributions to OPEB liabilities fall short of the growth of actuarial costs. i. Next steps: • Evaluate assumptions. • Kerry will firm up the revenue estimates. • The departments will prepare their actual requests for FY17. • The Town will receive the insurance renewals in February. • Kerry handed out the budget planning schedule. • Recommend that the Finance Committee meet with Capital Planning early in the process. j. Mark thanked Kerry for the tremendous amount of work, the thoroughness and the tightness of the forecast. He also congratulated her and her staff on getting the tax rate certification in record time. 4. Minutes: a. Minutes of the November 12, Terri corrected the reference to the Police Department in the minutes, and John wrote her correction on the printed copy. Karin made a motion to approve the November 12 minutes as corrected; Terri seconded the motion. The committee approved the motion 5-0. b. Minutes if the November 16 meeting. Karin made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 16 meeting as written. Jay seconded the motion. The committee approved the minutes 5-0. a. Mark invited the Superintendent and the School Committee to attend our meeting. Superintendent Calmes and Greg Berthiaume will attend. If enough other members attend that the School Committee has a quorum they will call a meeting to order. b. John asked if we could include a brief review of possible effects of the Salary Administration Plan just approved by the Special Town Meeting. Mn-FY16-151203.Draft flocal and remote drives) 3 of 4 ===PAGE 4=== 6. Committee Updates: Committee/Department DPW-John H. Update Jack said that the Parks and Recreation Committee and he have been discussing ways to set up user fees for athletic fields including the turf track and field. So far it is only in the discussion stage. Capital Planning-John H. One result of Kerry's financial forecast will be that the Capital Planning Committee will reconvene on the proposed capital plan for FY17. Public Access Cable—-John H. Library-Terri B. No report. The trustees were discussing the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the new library. They are very pleased with the new library web site... Public Safety-Terri B. Schools-Karin M. No report. The School Committee had a televised meeting to go over their proposed new budget. The budget documents are posted on the school web site so those who want to familiarize themselves with the budget proposals can look on the school web site. Monty Tech-Karin M. Council on Aging-Karin M. Sewer Commission -Jay S. Green Task Force-Jay S. School Bldg. Comm.--Mark E. Building Re-Use-Mark E. No report. No report. No report. No report. The committee will meet next week, and has not met since Mark's last report. The committee got an interim report from Charley Hay of Tappé Associates on the review of the existing buildings and the feasibility plan for Town offices. We have seven alternatives Charley is looking at in terms of what the potential cost may be. The committee looked at an evaluation matrix. They began work on developing a list of FAQs for the public's information. The review and feasibility process is on schedule. 7. Ongoing Business: a. The consensus was there was no need to discuss this at this meeting. 8. The next three meetings will be December 10 at 7:00, January 14, and January 28. The Town Manager has given us the budget planning schedule so we can plan our meetings accordingly. 9. Meeting Adjourned: Karin moved to adjourn the meeting and Terri seconded the motion. The board voted 5-0 in favor; the meeting adjourned at 8:26. Respectfully submitted by John Henshaw December 9, 2015 Copy: Karen Brochu, Tom Alonzo Mn-Fy16-151203.Draft (local and remote drives) 4 of 4 ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-12-10-agenda-2260.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-12-10 KIND : agenda OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-12-10-agenda-2260.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12102015-2260 ======================================================================================== ===PAGE 1=== NOTI CE of FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING on December 10, 2015 7:00 PM Town Hall AGENDA 1. Open meeting 2. Communications • Public Comment • New Communications 3. Workshop with Superintendent and Members of Scho ol Committee 4. Review Minutes 5. Budget Goals and Opportunities • Budget priorities and priority-setting process 6. Committee/Department Updates Capital Planning – John; DPW and Parks – John; Pub lic Access Committee – John Library – Terri; Public Safety – Terri; Sewer Commi ssion –Jay; Green Community Committee – Jay; School Committee – Karin; Monty Te ch – Karin; Council on Aging – Karin; School Building Committee – Mark; Building R euse –Mark 7. Ongoing Business • Pavement Management Plan • Contract commitments (e.g., sick leave buy back) • Sales of surplus property – Status 8. Next Meetings • Jan 14, 2016, 7:00 p.m. – Town Hall – Regularly Sc heduled Meeting 9. Adjournment ======================================================================================== DOCUMENT : 2015-12-10-minutes-2260.txt BOARD : finance-committee DATE : 2015-12-10 KIND : minutes OUR COPY : https://lunenburgbudgetproject.org/docs/minutes/text/finance-committee/2015-12-10-minutes-2260.txt TOWN PDF : https://www.lunenburgma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_12102015-2260 ======================================================================================== ===OCR macOS Vision=== ===PAGE 1=== Finance Committee: Mark Erickson, Chairman Terri Burchfield, Vice-Chairman John Henshaw, Secretary Karin Menard Jay Simeone 17 Main Street, P.O. Box 135 Lunenburg, MA 01462-0135 978.582.4139 FAX 978.582.4148 Lunenburg Finance Committee Minutes December 10, 2015 Location: Town Hall Mark Erickson, Terri Burchfield, Karin Menard, Jay Simeone, John Henshaw Absent: None Also Present: Kerry Lafleur, Town Manager, Tom Alonzo, BOS liaison 1. Mark called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. 2. The school committee has a quorum and Greg Berthiaume called the School Committee to order at 7:00. 3. Comments: a. Public: b. Committee: The audited reports for FY15 will be presented to the Finance Committee, probably at our January 14 meeting. c. Mark briefly described the State House notes program as a vehicle to finance relatively small (less than $5,000,000) loans for terms of three years or less. This is the way the Town financed the back hoe, dump truck, and sweeper. 4. Workshop with Superintendent Calmes and Members of the School Committee a. Mark began by saying that John's recent analysis of annual school expenditures net of Chapter 70 state aid and Monty Tech have remained nearly the same percent of total annual Town expenditures over the five-year period from FY2011 to FY2015: Annual School Department expenditures ranged from 38.5% of total Town expenditures for the same fiscal year to 40.8% of total Town expenditures. Tom Alonzo said he had done a similar analysis a few years ago and he found the same thing-that annual school expenditures were b. Both Greg G. and Loxi C. spoke about the need for more specialists to provide • special services: • The school provides a needs based program. But the costs are unpredictable because it depends on the needs of a shifting student population from year to year. C. The Finance Committee has been looking into a priority based budget process based on the costs of providing the current level of services in the following year. Mark explained that level services means starting with the same people and the question is how to deploy them. Mn-FY16-151210.Draft (local and remote drives) RECEIVED & FILED JAN 19 2016 LUNENBURG TOWN CLERK OFFICE 1 of 3 ===PAGE 2=== d. Both Loxi said the School Department budget is needs based-how much funding the schools would need to maintain services they provided in the prior year. • Greg stated that the student population changes from year to year, and that more students need special services. This has meant having to provide more services each year. Further the school department dynamics can limit the changes the schools can make in utilizing their personnel. • Loxi explained that the school department has a process they go through to decide how to best utilize the funds they have each year. Greg added that the process helps the school department evaluate and articulate what services they need to provide and how to provide them. • During the budget process Greg said that they don't know what the revenues from the state and the federal government will be. e. Revenues: • Chapter 70: • Greg said there recently had been an increase in Chapter 70 state aid, but also that Chapter 70 state aid was aid to the Town, and that it was not earmarked for the schools. There is a foundation budget for the schools-a minimum level of the school budget-calculated from a formula. As long as the school budget equals or exceeds the minimum level, Chapter 70 funds are not required to be spent on the schools. • Mark said that it is, however, the practice of the town to earmark any increases in Chapter 70 aid to the schools. • Loxi said that a couple of years ago the Town had someone give a presentation on Chapter 70 that was a very helpful explanation of this complicated topic. a. Both committees were interested in seeing the presentation. b. There may be an open School Committee meeting when the School Committee could schedule this presentation and both committees could attend. • Increased fees: • Loxi stated that the fee burden was pretty high, though Karin said that Lunenburg is less expensive than other towns in the area. f. The budget process: • There was a general understanding that the School Committee and the Finance Committee would have areas of disagreement. • Loxi said that the perception that schools are pitting groups against each other is very concerning to her. She has seen what happens when people are pitted against each other. But Mark said we can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable. g. Public Comments: • Selectman Tom Alonzo observed that by their nature budgets are controversial and the process can be contentious. Town departments have to craft a budget that reflects needs, not limited by revenue constraints. But having data and a supporting narrative to go with the data can help clarify a • Selectman Bob Ebersole noted that the management of Town departments is a challenge when the ability to meet real public needs is constrained by lack of revenues. Then the Town Manager can act as an intermediary between competing department requirements. Mn-FY16-151210.Draft (local and remote drives) 2 of 3 ===PAGE 3=== • Carl Luck stated that it is up to the individual department whether to build in a wish list of requirements, but the resulting budget can become so unrealistically high may be construed as unrealistic. h. The school committee adjourned their meeting at 8:32 pm. 5. Minutes: a. Terri made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 3, 2015 meeting. Jay seconded the motion. The motion carried 5-0. 6. Budget Goals and Opportunities: a. Budget Priorities and the Priority Setting Process: • Emphasis on facts and narratives. • Budget working committee was in Tom's and Mark's estimation a useful committee to address how to fund service levels that served as a discussion group. It explored the tensions that existed between departments and boards. But it was disbanded three or four years ago. 7. Committee Updates: Committee Department DPW-John H. Capital Planning-John H. Update Public Access Cable-John H. Library-Terri B Public Safety-Terri B. Schools-Karin M. Monty Tech-Karin M. Council on Aging-Karin M. Sewer Commission-Jay S. Green Task Force-Jay S. School Bldg. Comm.--Mark E. Building Re-Use-Mark E. No report Jamie Toale and I have been in touch regarding setting up meetings now that Kerry has issued the five-year financial forecast. No report. No report. No report. No report. No report. No report. No report. No report. Mark was unable to attend the December 9 meeting. But with 70% of the building project completed, total contingency expenditures are under $200,000. No report. 8. The next two meetings: a. January 14 hearing a presentation of the audited report on FY2015. b. January 28-tentatively receive the capital plans recommendation. 9. Meeting Adjourned: Terri moved to adjourn the meeting and Jay seconded the motion. The board voted 5-0 in favor; the meeting adjourned at 9:16. Respectfully submitted by John Henshaw January 13, 2016 Copy: Karen Brochu, Tom Alonzo Mn-FY16-151210.Draft (local and remote drives) 3 of 3