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Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Finance Committee
1011 OCT 16 A It 0.01
Date: 2017-02-08 Time: 7.:30 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street Session:
Purpose: General Business Version:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Chair Mark Dockser, Paul McNeice, Vanessa Alvarado, Eric Burkhart, Paula
Perry, David Neshat, Marc Moll, Anne Landry, Peter Lydecker (via phone)
Members -'Not Present:
Others Present:
Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Superintendent of Schools:John Doherty,
Director of Finance and Operations of the Schools Gail Dowd, School
Committee Chair Jeanne Borawski, Linda Snow Dockser, Elaine .Webb
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary
Topics of Discussion:
Chair Mark Dockser called the meeting to order. '
Mr.. Dockser explained at the Board of Selectmen meeting the night before, the Town,
Manager handed out a memo regarding the School budget and his way to keep the foreign .
language program and the teachers.
Mr. Dockser mentioned the financial forum a couple weeks ago and wanted to address. the
comments from the public about using free cash. Free cash is .supposed to be used for
unforeseen circumstances and that's really it.
Mr. McNeice expressed his gratefulness to be able to scrape for FY18 but noted we are still
going to be in the same position next year.
Ms. Alvarado noted using free cash is not going to help us long term. She is afraid people
are going to stop believing us if we'keep finding money to fix the -,problem when we say we
have no money. .
Mr. LeLacheur noted ;we still made cuts; we did save a few but both sides still made
significant cuts over the past few years.
Mr. Burkhart feels we need to make people aware we did not `find' money; we rearranged
the cuts differently:
Ms. Perry noted she is comfortable -with the number of free cash they voted on .in the fall
but also noted they should look at free cash and stabilization funds in the, -near future so
people do not think we are sitting on a pile of cash.
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Finance Committee Minutes - February 8, 2017 - page 2
Mr. Neshat expressed concerns for our reputation.
Mr. Moll noted he. originally thought we should use more free cash but is now comfortable
with what they voted on previously. He believes they have gotten a lot of people's attention
and they're watching now.
Ms. Landry said she is comfortable with the previous 1.2 M voted. She noted we need to be
mindful of the kids who are currently in school. We can't for the long term.
Mr. Lydecker expressed his concerns for next year. If an override doesn't pass next year we
are digging ourselves a bigger hole.
Elaine Webb. explained that the.School Committee has made. significant cuts the past two ,
years and this has. been the hardest budget to do. The damage they 'do when they make
cuts takes .years to recover. They have turned • over every stone; w e need to make sure
people don't think we just `found the money'.
Ms. Perry noted it is critical to keep town engagement to educate people.
Ms. Alvarado also noted we need to remember an override failed. This nickle and diming will
not last forever. We. need to convince the `no' voters that an override needs to pass.
Mr. Dockser expressed his concerns with waiting till next April to try again for another
override.
Ms. Perry feels fall is the right time for another vote.
Jeanne Borawski noted the teachers .love the new Science program. They received a lot of
worries/noise about the middle school foreign language being cut. The class sizes in the
elementary schools and at the high school are really high.
Mr. LeLacheur informed FINCOM that State aid came in very low. Capital got damaged with
the TLT Litigation and pushed back .a lot of projects.
Dr. Doherty explained the memo Mr. LeLacheur wrote regarding the school budget and his
Cogent Path Forward. The 7 FTE middle school teachers are back in the budget however he
cautions him on..the unexpected turnover and things that happen with the teachers during
the school year. `
Mr. LeLacheur noted FINCOM will see the School Budget the School Committee voted on
and then the Town Managers Balanced version. This path guarantees those 7 teachers but it
is only a one-year bridge to give you what you. can't part with.
Jeanne Borawski explained the bottom line is we still need an override in the near future'.
Mr. Moll noted we need to communicate this a lot and help people understand what is
happening with this quick fix.
Elaine Webb said they have checked every corner and they just don't see us finding this. ;
money.
Ms. Alvarado expressed her concerns for what precedent this sets for how we do future
budgets. Would much rather use more free cash up front. This is a huge riskwe are taking.
Jeanne Borawski thinks a lot has a changed and if we don't go for another override soon, all
of this is useless.
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Finance Committee Minutes - February 8, 2017 - page 3
Mr. Neshat noted he agreed with Ms. Alvarado and would like to use free cash up' front and
be transparent with people who don't fully understand what is going on.
Mr. Burkhart noted he is not comfortable using that much free cash.
Mr. McNeice agreed with Mr. Burkhart noting Mr. LeLacheur seems comfortable that his
cogent path --forward will work.
Mr. Dockser noted we still need a long term solution.
Mr. Lydecker expressed his concerns for if we don't get another override.
Mr. Neshat asked what we are looking at for FY19 if we don't get an override. Significant
cuts will have to be made.
Mr. LeLacheur noted he .is not expecting the School Committee to find more money but he is
saying there are a few projects on the town side, that he will hold off on to help the schools
if need be.
Mr. McNeice made a motion to adiourn at 10 p.m., second by Mr. Moll and
approved with an 8-0-0 vote.
Respectfully submitted, ,
Secretary
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