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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-09 Finance Committee MinutesOFR Town of Reading Meeting Minutes sJ9. lNCORP�� Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committee Date: 2014 -04 -09 Time: 7:30 PM Building: Pleasant Street Senior Center Location: Great Room Address: 49 Pleasant Street Purpose: Financial Forum Attendees: Members - Present: It-CE IV D CLERK 4 sr" Mr,CS. j4 jij4! - � P 4: 4b Chairman Barry Berman, Vice Chairman Mark Dockser, FINCOM members David Greenfield, Karen Herrick, Paula Perry, and Jeff Perkins. Members - Not Present: FINCOM members Peter Lydecker, Paul McNeice, and Craig Merry. Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Board of Selectman members John Halsey, Kevin Sexton, John Arena, Marsie West, and Daniel Ensminger. Superintendent of Schools John Doherty, Assistant Superintendent Mary DeLai, school committee members Linda Snow Docsker, Elaine Webb, Chris Caruso, Chuck Robinson, and Jeanne Borawski. Library Trustee Vicki Yablonsky; Bill Brown, Nancy Docktor and Administrative Secretary Caitlin Saunders. Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Mr. Berman called the meeting to order at 7:35pm. He welcomed Mr. Halsey and Mr. Sexton to the Board of Selectman and then stated today's meeting is mostly to decide if we should take money out of free cash to fund the early childhood center. Mr. Berman noted we are already spending free cash at an unsustainable level and we cannot continue to provide the current services without new revenue. Town Meeting is looking for a plan on how to fund the early childhood center and we are the ones they are looking to. Mr. LeLacheur stated that there will be no happy surprise with regeneration this year. He said we had a tough year and we are using a half million of surplus to fund snow and ice. Now we have to worry about next year's budgets because they will be relying on the extra they got this year. Mr. LeLacheur said they are going to ask the Board of Selectmen to call a special town meeting to change capital into debt. He stated we will use internal borrowing and then have a debt sale around June to fund the Library and West Street projects. He said that is the cheapest way with little interest and keeps cash in free cash while giving us time to decide what to do. Mr. LeLacheur stated there really is no down side except for a small amount of interest. Mr. Berman stated the $485,000 would be enough to get information out to the voters and educate them on what is going on. Page 1 1 FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES - APRIL 9TH 2014 - PAGE 2 Mr. LeLacheur pointed out we did not give the library enough money upfront and wants to learn from that mistake for this and future projects. He also mentioned that 15% design is a lot of information. Mr. Berman stated it is clear we are starting to fall behind which is the reasoning for voting for spending more money. He said we need the extra money to sustain the services we already offer. Ms. Perry said they were looking for an amount that would involve less cuts. Mr. Dockser stated they were looking for a way to alleviate some issues and not fall more behind. He also said we will eventually need to offer fewer services. Ms. Herrick said they are trying to make everyone aware free cash will be gone in 2.5 years. Mr. Greenfield said we need to warn Town Meeting we are heading towards an override. Mr. Halsey stated the town needs to know that we are on a collision course. He also mentioned we need to voice the fact that we do not have free cash and the cash we have is a reserve that holds a bigger system together. Mr. Dockser said its FINCOM's job to inform what free cash is and suggest where it is going but ultimately it is Town Meeting that makes the final call. Ms. West asked why this is the right year to use the extra 2 million. She said she has heard there will be cuts every year so why this year is it time to use the extra money? Mr. Berman stated we have enough money to fund this years and next year's budgets but after that we don't know how we are going to fund the capital budget and that's why we must start the override talk because it takes time. Mr. Greenfield said we have been on slow erosion with cuts along the whole way. He said we are going to start seeing worse regeneration and we can't count on state funds or an override because they are not guaranteed. Mr. Brown pointed out the only reason we needed to use the extra money was for the schools and it is not necessary because our schools are one of the bests. Mr. Robinson said we should not be having the override talk yet because we are not nearly as low as we were the last time an override happened. Mr. LeLacheur said we need to think about all the capital projects happening and there will be a voter burnout if we go to them with an override. He stated 5% in free cash, although lower than what is recommended, seems reasonable. He stated it is better to have free cash on the side than to keep going back to voters for overrides for more money. He also said we can't keep offering all these services at high quality forever; we must chose, fewer services with high quality or more services with less quality. Mr. LeLacheur said to remember that costs will keep going up but rarely come down. Mr. Berman stated that FINCOM agonized over the vote to use the extra money. Mr. Greenfield said Town Meeting needs to voice their values and decide, if they want to sustain services, they must spend more money and head towards an override but that is a discussion for Town Meeting to have. Page 1 2 FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES - APRIL 9TH, 2014 - PAGE 3 A MOTION BY ARENA TO CLOSE THE WARRANT FOR A SPECIAL TOWN MEETING ON APRIL 28TH, 2014 AT 8:30PM WITHIN TOWN MEETING CONSISTING OF FAIR ARTICLES, SECOND BY WEST CARRIED WITH A 5 -0 -0 VOTE BY THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN. A MOTION BY DOCKSER SECOND BY PERRY TO APPROVE THE SUBJECT MATTER OF ARTICLE 3 AND MOVE $485,000 TO CAPITAL FUNDS CARRIED WITH A 6 -0 -0 VOTE A MOTION BY DOCKSER SECOND BY GREENFIELD TO APPROVE THE SUBJECT MATTER OF ARTICLE 4 CARRIED WITH A VOTE OF 6 -0 -0. A MOTION BY BERMAN TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:40 CARRIED WITH A VOTE OF 6 -0 -0. Respectfully submitte , Secretary 4$ Page 1 3