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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-14 Finance Committee Minutesr1 OF R o � G , rte- I: 0 0 639 'NCOAVO�P Town of Reading Meeting Minutes RE' E IYLU TOWN CLERK RE�01NG. Mr °;SS. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committees 7q A 0 23' Date: 2015 -10 -14 Time: 7:30 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Session: Attendees: Members - Present: Vice Chair Paul McNeice, Vanessa Alvarado, Peter Lydecker, Marc Moll, David Neshat, Anne Landry (at 8:10PM) Members - Not Present: Mark Dockser, Paula Perry, Craig Merry Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Bill Brown Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Acting Chair Paul McNeice called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Mr. LeLacheur explained there are a few things from the Fire Department to be declared as surplus and one item from DPW. Mr. Lydecker made a motion to declare the items as surplus, second by Mr. Neshat and approved with a 5 -0 -0 vote. Mr. LeLacheur then explained the Warrant and said the only thing that has changed from the last time FINCOM has seen it is Article 3 changes to the Capital Plan; the generator for the Fire Department is new. Enterprise funds for Sewer changed because we added 5 years to the sewer project so rates would not increase. Now that prices are higher in the future we will do debt. Mr. Moll asked if we can get any financial help with the sewer project and Mr. LeLacheur noted no. Mr. LeLacheur noted the Board of Selectmen did not approve of the cemetery building. Article 4 is the invoice for TLT that the town did not have sufficient enough funds to pay at the end of the year. Also the Fire Department found out a warranty doesn't cover something they expected it to cover. Chief Burns is still working on it but it looks like we will need funds for that. Article 5 is budget transfers. Line G91 is moving money around for the pay and class. Line 392 is new; it's for regionalizing animal control with North Reading. He noted this may or may not make it to Town Meeting. Mr. Neshat asked if this is a really big problem. Mr. LeLacheur noted yes, it is higher than you would think. 2015 -10 -14 FINCOM Minutes Page 1 Page 1 1 The regionalization would be a combo position with North Reading that would have three officers. Right now we only have one person part time. Ms. Alvarado asked after the initial $50,000 if we do this, how would this be funded in the future. Mr. LeLacheur noted it would go into the base budget because it is reoccurring. Mr. Moll asked if this would save us money and Mr. LeLacheur answered it would not but we would be providing a better service. Article 12 is the Sutton Brook litigation. Town Counsel was negotiating and got more information about the case. He suggested we settle. The Board of Selectmen supported the settlement in an executive session. Article 13 is to fund a new cemetery building from three sources. The Board of Selectmen voted not to support this article and wants it to go to the Permanent Building Committee. Mr. LeLacheur noted he would suggest, if the PBC and Cemetery Trustees are okay with it, asking for funds to do a design study and make sure this project is done correctly. Mr. McNeice said he thinks FINCOM should follow the Selectmen and vote it down and let the PBC handle it while suggesting we get funds for a design study. Ms. Landry arrives at 8:10 PM. Ms. Landry noted she thinks we should word our decision to vote against the cemetery building to say we encourage the PBC to propose a design study so that it does not sound like as long as they do a design study we will approve. Mr. Lvdecker made a motion to recommend Article 3 to Subseauent Town Meetina in November, second by Mr. Moll and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Mr. Lydecker will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Mr. Moll made a motion to recommend Article 4 to Subsequent Town Meeting in November, second by Ms. Landry and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Ms. Landry will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Mr. Moll made a motion to recommend Article 5 to Subsequent Town Meeting in November, second by Mr. Lvdecker and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Mr. McNeice will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Mr. Moll made a motion to recommend Article 12 to Subsequent Town Meeting in November, second by Mr. Lvdecker and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Ms. Alvarado will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Mr. Moll made a motion to recommend Article 13 to Subsequent Town Meeting in November, second by Mr. Lvdecker and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Mr. McNeice will report on this Article to Town Meeting. Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom explained the budget vs. actual for FY15. For revenues we were favorable in real estate, delinquent taxes, excise taxes and charges for services. She explained we do not budget for smart growth because it is just too hard to predict. We were favorable in General Government, Public Safety and HR due to many vacant positions. We were favorable in DPW due to cheaper gas prices and snow and ice leftovers. Culture and Recreation had a big project that was turned back. Free cash started at $8.5M and we spent about $2.8M so we only increased free cash by about $200,000. 2015 -10 -14 FINCOM Minutes Page 2 Page 1 2 Mr. LeLacheur then explained what will be happening at Town Meeting. We will be using $1 Million more of reserves. He then gave a preview of the Financial Forum. He noted some numbers will change before then. Revenues are up 3% which is okay. Accumulated costs are also at 3% which is probably too low. Right now we are looking at a 3% operating budget with a $2 Million free cash number. He noted he is currently waiting for an update from the schools. Mr. LeLacheur also said health insurance will be another huge increase this year and we are still waiting for that number as well. FINCOM started discussing possibilities of asking for an override. Mr. McNeice noted we keep getting regeneration which is saving us but the first year we don't get any we are going to be in trouble. Mr. LeLacheur said we have to think of the right way to frame how we ask for an override. Residents don't want to cut any services but we need more money to keep providing all of them. Ms. Alvarado said we need to think of ways to go about educating the residents about why we need the override because it seems like they don't think we NEED it. Mr. McNeice suggested we try getting people to come to the financial forums. Mr. LeLacheur noted we need to get the schools on board as well. Mr. Lydecker made a motion to adiourn at 9:30PM, second by Ms. Landry and approved with a 6 -0 -0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 1 3