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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-04-13 Finance Committee Minutes Finance Committee Meeting April 12, 2006 The meeting was convened at 7:45 p.m. in the Berger Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Chuck Robinson, Vice Chairman Andrew Grimes, FINCOM members Paul Bolger, David Greenfield and Ronald Powell; FINCOM member George Hines arrived at 7:55pm. Also present was Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur. Town Counsel Ellen Doucette and Board of Selectmen Chairman Camille Anthony joined the meeting at 9pm. On a motion by Grimes, seconded by Greenfield, FINCOM approved minutes from the February 8, 2006 meeting by a vote of 5-0-0. On a motion by Greenfield, seconded by Bolger, FINCOM approved minutes from the February 15, 2006 Financial Forum meeting by a vote of 5-0-0. This approval included the addition of an opening statement from Chairman Robinson, and some minor edits. On a motion by Bolger, seconded by Grimes, FINCOM approved minutes from the February 22, 2006 meeting by a vote of 5-0-0. On a motion by Powell, seconded by Greenfield, FINCOM approved minutes from the March 1, 2006 meeting by a vote of 6-0-0. On a motion by Greenfield, seconded by Hines, FINCOM approved minutes from the March 8, 2006 meeting by a vote of 6-0-0. On a motion by Bolger, seconded by Hines, FINCOM approved minutes from the March 22, 2006 meeting by a vote of 6-0-0. On a motion by Hines, seconded by Powell, FINCOM approved minutes from the March 29, 2006 meeting by a vote of 6-0-0. Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur presented the results of the Rubbish collection & recycling RFP. In total, there was a significant amount (8) of bids – many of these bids were at or above the budgeted amount for FY07 and beyond. The leading bid was $112,900 below the amount budgeted for in FY07, with a few open items that might reduce that savings by a few thousand dollars. The best bid, which the Town will seek to award in the next ten days, was for a five year period, and would have the same vendor do both the rubbish and recycling pick-ups. Chairman Chuck Robinson agreed to use a round $100,000 figure for discussion, and suggested that the best use of this savings was to utilize less free cash in the FY07 budget. Vice Chair Andrew Grimes agreed, especially in light of the uncertain Chapter 70 state aid. George Hines suggested that the taxes collected be reduced by $100k for FY07. After some brief discussion, the majority of FINCOM instructed LeLacheur to present a budget for Annual Spring Town Meeting that used $400k of free cash, instead of the previous $500k amount. They also agreed to leave State Aid as the Governor’s budget number for purposes of the presentation to Town Meeting, with a note of what the House has initially proposed ($197k less for the Town). LeLacheur presented additional FY06 budget transfers (enclosed) to FINCOM. A lengthy discussion of the proposed wide area network ensued. Hines suggested that without knowing how many subscribers Verizon had signed up, he could not support the concept of moving funds from the FY07 budget to the FY06 budget, in order to let them have local cable access. Bolger suggested that the Town find a way to do the entire project as soon as possible, despite the fact that the Verizon grant would only pay for two of the three WAN loops. He suggested using free cash to fund the balance. Hines objected to the water reserves transfer, without a more complete description of the CDM consulting expenses. On a motion by Grimes, seconded by Hines, FINCOM approved the FY06 transfers in lines F7, F8, F16 & F17 (DPW) by a vote of 6-0-0. On a motion by Greenfield, seconded by Bolger, FINCOM approved the FY06 transfer in lines J2 (WAN) by a vote of 5-1-0. On a motion by Powell, seconded by Greenfield, FINCOM approved the FY06 transfers in lines L2 & L4 by a vote of 6-0-0. On a motion by Grimes, seconded by Greenfield, FINCOM did not approve amending the FY07 budget line J15 Wide Area Network capital by a vote of 4-1-1. On a motion by Bolger, seconded by Grimes, FINCOM approved a motion to reconsider line J15 by a vote of 5-1-0. On a motion by Bolger, seconded by Greenfield, FINCOM approved amending the FY07 budget line J15 Wide Area Network capital by a vote of 6-0-0. This line item will be reduced from $245k to $195k in the FY07 budget, this vote amending both the source and use of said funds to the lesser amount. Chair Robinson introduced the discussion of the Storm Water Enterprise fund, as well as new Town Counsel Ellen Doucette and Board of Selectmen Chair Camille Anthony. Robinson stated that apparently now new information has been brought to the FINCOM since last Fall, when they voted against this proposal. Anthony described that the Selectmen supported this Article by a unanimous 5-0-0 vote. David Greenfield reviewed the ‘three tests’ outlined by previous Town Counsel Joan Langsam. Doucette described the Emerson case and the implications. Greenfield agreed that there was a direct benefit to the property owner in avoiding a storm water backup, a point he had not previously considered. Andrew Grimes noted that sharing the cost of a municipal storm water management system relieved each property owner of needing to deal with the matter on their own, thus creating thousands of individual systems. He agreed that his view is now changed. Paul Bolger insisted that this cost belonged in the general fund budget, and should be prioritized as any other municipal service each year. He wondered how quickly the expenses would grow from the proposed small amount to something much larger. LeLacheur said that the FY07 proposal was unambiguous – only $280,000 in new capital and $77,527 in new wages and expenses. For illustration purposes, the current storm water amount that was funded by the general fund was shown. He agreed that in future years FINCOM and ultimately Town Meeting will have an annual say on how much said enterprise fund might charge, and what those costs would be. Bolger asked if a motion might be made at the Town Meeting to immediately include all of the expenses in such a fund, and LeLacheur said no such motion would be made by Town staff, but any such motion might be possible. Ellen Doucette pointed out that the State legislature now uses language to address storm water issues in an identical fashion as sewer funds. On a motion by Hines, seconded by Grimes, FINCOM approved Article 8, establish a Storm Water Enterprise Fund by a vote of 5-1-0 . Grimes will give the FINCOM report at Town Meeting. LeLacheur mentioned that there was no appraisal yet for the property on Article 18. He described that the Town would not spend any funds to purchase the property, instead a combined grant and resident donation was proposed as the source of funding. The amount of the resident donation was confidential, but may not be sufficient if the appraisal was high and the grant was low. George Hines asked about the use of the property, and the annual cost of upkeep. On a motion by Grimes, seconded by Powell, FINCOM did not approve Article 18 by a vote of 0-6-0 . They agreed to continue the discussion on the first night of Town Meeting, presuming the annual costs and appraisal figures would be known. On a motion by Hines, seconded by Powell, FINCOM approved lines N1, N2, N3 & N4 in the FY07 budget in the amount of $357,529 by a vote of 5-1-0. On a motion by Grimes, seconded by Hines, FINCOM voted to adjourn at 9:45pm by a vote of 6-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Secretary