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Home My WebLink About2017-05-01 Annual Town Meeting MinutesANNUAL TGWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center The meeting was called to order by the Moderator, Alan E. Foulds, at 7:37 PM, there being a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was said by all in attendance. Motion made by John Arena, Board of Selectmen to dispense of the reading of the warrant and all motions in their entirety. Motion Carried Motion made by Jonathan Barnes, Precinct 5 that the Town vote, pursuant to Section 2.2.4 of the Reading General Bylaws, to reconsider its prior vote and action on Article 20 taken at the Annual Town Meeting on April 27, 2017 After some Discussion it was voted to Reconsider Article 20 2/3rds Vote Required 53 Voted in the affirmative 93 Voted in the negative 166 Town Meeting Members in Attendance Motion to Reconsider Does Not Carry Motion made by, Jonathan Barnes Precinct 5 that the Town vote, pursuant to Section 2.2.4 of the Reading General Bylaws, to reconsider its prior vote and action on Article 21 taken at the Annual Town Meeting on April 27, 2017 After reconsideration of Article 20 that did not carry, as the two were related it was requested by Jonathan Barnes to withdraw the reconsideration of Article 21. This was accepted by the Moderator. Motion to Reconsider Withdrawn Motion made by Angela Binda, Precinct 5 that the Town vote, pursuant to Section 2.2.4 of the Reading General Bylaws, to reconsider its prior vote and action on Article 22 taken at the Annual Town Meeting on April 27, 2017 After reconsideration of Article 20 that did not carry, as the two were related it was requested by Angela Binda to withdraw the reconsideration of Article 22. This was accepted by the Moderator. Motion to Reconsider Withdrawn Motion made by John Arena to take Article 2 off the Table Motion Carried 1l Pa g ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center ARTICLE 2: To hear and act on the reports of the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Library Trustees, Municipal Light Board, Finance Committee, Bylaw Committee, Town Manager, Town Accountant and any other Town Official, Board or Committee. Reports given by: Board of Selectmen John Arena, Chair Mr. Moderator - I'd like to request additional time - My presentation should take about 15 Minutes. Good Evening and thank you to my fellow board of Selectmen, Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Superintendent Dr. John Doherty, Reading School Committee, Town Meeting members, Town and School staff, and the citizens of the Town of Reading. It is my honor to serve as Chairman of the Reading Board of Selectmen for the coming year. There are three major areas I will cover tonight. First, a review major Board activities over the past year. Second, a discussion of some of the present-day challenges and realities the Board has been asked to address. Third, to describe the path ahead for the coming year, and how the Board plans to support it. Since April 2016, the Board has undertaken multiple initiatives with long term beneficial effects for years to come. We proposed Senior Tax Relief, which was then approved by Town Meeting and ultimately the Massachusetts Legislature. This measure allows lower income seniors qualifying for the State circuit breaker credit the ability to reduce their property taxes, helping them stay in their homes near friends and loved ones. The measure permits a shift of about 2% of the residential property levy onto the rest of the class and provides a meaningful reduction in property taxes for eligible Reading seniors. We helped define a formal Town economic development process, welcoming our new Economic Development Director and designing the process to catalog and market Reading to interested developers, agents and industries. More on why we did this in a few minutes. We heard local voters last fall, when they rejected state ballot Question 4 that legalized recreational marijuana. We worked with CPDC to make sure to understand and close all possible loopholes before asking the town voters if they wished to ban commercial marijuana establishments. Earlier this month voters spoke by nearly a 38% margin. Earlier tonight Town Meeting voted to formalize that decision. A special thanks is due to our Town Counsel Ray Miyares and his firm for their pioneering legal efforts in this area, working closely with state agencies, to make sure residents were able to express their views. We supported CPDC efforts to expand the current 40R smart growth district to adjacent areas of the downtown, which was just approved at this Town Meeting last Thursday. The decision also provides a countermeasure to hostile 40B's appearing in these same areas. We supported CPDC efforts to revise the Zoning Bylaw pertaining to Accessory Apartments, to prevent unintended consequences of the original language. The Accessory Apartment concept was designed to allow parents and relatives to remain independent and living in Reading while in close proximity to loved ones. Together with the Trustees, we welcomed the opening of our new Reading Public Library, now returned to a center of community engagement. Thanks to the Library Trustees, Building Committee, Town staff and especially the voters of Reading who approved and funded this substantial project. ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center We set the residential tax rate factor reflecting the view that residential and commercial properties be treated with parity. A shift to commercial sector will be discussed in the fall of 2017 in order to equitably share the cost of Senior Tax Relief discussed earlier. We re -approved an inter -municipal agreement for Regional Housing Services together with North Reading, Saugus and Wilmington to efficiently manage affordable units in each town using a common resource. This agreement will better support each town to manage the affordable housing stock we each work so hard to create. Individual members of our Board, acting together with strong support of CPDC and ZBA and town staff, worked with the proposed Reading Village 40B to mitigate abutter objections. Please bear in mind that due to State 40B Regulations the Town of Reading was powerless to stop this project development. The final proposal was substantially improved due to the efforts of both day and night time government. This project also triggers Massachusetts Subsidized Housing conditions such that Reading may defer new 40B project applications through February of 2018. Note that Reading has several other 40B applications already in progress, and we will apply the same approaches in managing these. I want to thank former Board member Kevin Sexton specifically for his efforts in this area. Kevin's business experience and idea generation materially added to the final proposal. Finally, the Board called a special election in October 2016 to vote an override to Proposition 2�/2, last attempted in 2003. Working with the School Committee to identify and prioritize needs, the Board and Town Manager LeLacheur proposed a comprehensive solution that built-in a component of endurance that would have provided a 10 year operating window minimum. A majority of voters told us overwhelmingly in October 2016 that our proposal wasn't acceptable. Reading's Override discussions will continue into the coming fiscal year, which I'll cover in more detail shortly. Before my comments regarding our future, a few thoughts on the present. Over the last 12 months, our National and State politics have become increasingly polarized. Congressmen, Senators and the White House continue to generate sound bites daily, further echoed in 24- hour news coverage hyping every thought. With the electronic devices each of us carry today, we're just a click away from fresh news, amplification and outrage commentary on Facebook and social opinion sites. Disagreement is visible everywhere at the national and state levels. Tax policy. Cabinet appointments. Health Care. The Wall. Supreme Court nominees. Foreign trade. North Korea. Trump. Even families report inability to socialize with certain of their relatives over political disagreements. Allowing these national disputes to enter into our town governance and processes should be handled very carefully, otherwise they will inevitably create objection, friction and outright argument, and ultimately become a drag on local progress. Earlier this year, our Board was asked by more than 200 petitioners for endorsement of their Human Rights Statement. Selectmen Barry Berman and I met with petitioner representatives in 2 meetings and discussed 2 different statement versions. These meetings were cordial and genuine common understanding on individual topics was evident to me. Our board will further discuss the subject this month. Our basic freedoms of speech and thought guarantee us the right to express opinions on any topic in any medium we chose. I defend the right for citizens to speak their mind, even where I might disagree with the subject matter. The central question to me then is the propriety of elected officials taking voted positions for or against lawful citizen speech. 3l Page ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Rea0ing Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center To this point, the Town Manager shared with me a discussion with a resident who offered that the Human Rights Statement had our Board attempting to take away his rights to criticize our President Trump. We live in interesting times. Walking straight down the center of political Main Street will be challenging for all of us. Let me now turn to the challenges facing us in the year ahead - There are two key objectives we must make progress on this year: 1st Objective: OVERRIDE We must again start the process to place a suitably designed override question on a future ballot for Fiscal 2019. That's going to require substantial effort by the schools and town to determine needs, appropriate budgets and develop the necessary background and support materials. We'll need to gauge the public's tolerance levels and allow sufficient time for public commentary and responses. I am committed to bring such an override back to the voters for the FY19 budget. As explained further in the Town Manager's warrant remarks, the ability to deliver town and school services will markedly decline unless new revenues are in place by then. Before we can do that, major improvements are needed this year in how we develop and present override information, and how we receive comments back from the voting public. In particular, a means to survey voter opinions is needed to bring out objections and other inputs from voters to help shape the proposal. Beyond the mechanics of the override itself, there is also a substantial public relations issue ahead. We must increase the level of trust between the town, school and voters. I heard from multiple voters after the October failure who indicated a lack of trust in what they heard from the Town and Schools regarding override size, growth rates and forecasted spending. Some voters objected to the sheer size of the override as too much- even though on a proportional basis, it was a lesser percentage as compared to the successful 2003 override. Some voters were confused over the complexity of the override structure, which was designed to including an element of endurance to extend its over 10 years. And others took the view that as the town had managed perfectly well to date, just how bad could the current set of needs actually be? If Taxpayers are expected to pay more in taxes, they'll first need to know and agree to what uses these new tax dollars will go to and then vocalize their support. They will also need to be given information on potential and real changes to excluded debt balances and their incremental impact to property taxes. In particular, I am thinking of new debt required for a proposed renovation of Killiam School and the retirement of earlier debt for the Library and High School. To that point, I will tonight commit the Board of Selectmen to provide voters a clear and prioritized summary of the Town purposes a proposed override would be used for, and our view on the likely future for excluded debt. These summaries will be prepared as part of the normal FY19 budget planning cycle. I also commit that our Board will at the same time provide voters with a alternative version FY19 Town budget identifying reductions in spending required should an override again fail. Citizens need to understand the consequences to both success and failure. I ask my colleagues on the School Committee this evening to commit to generating these same 2 views of their FY19 budget. I would suggest our two boards standardize the design of these documents for easier comprehension by voters. Reaching Voters: 41 Page ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School Performing Arts Center May 1, 2017 On the subject of voter outreach, the world has changed how it gets its news and public information messages. It's less about evening newspapers and local television and more about web content, mobile devices and blogging. This year's outreach effort requires greater use of Social Networking to help spread information regarding the override, the budget and related support materials. The town and schools have definite limits in what types and in what medium we may use to made information public- but our data and sources can be copied, amplified and broadcast by interested citizens within their own personal networks, and likewise they can help to funnel questions back to elected officials for general responses. To that point- I'd like to acknowledge the members of YES For Reading group for their pioneering efforts in social networking and outreach last year. To those listening tonight- they would benefit from additional volunteer help in the future. SIZING: One core question in the Override is size, and how to design it to be as effective as possible, as long as possible. In 2016, the Board voted to put forth a $7.5M Override proposal which was defeated soundly by an 18% vote margin. A new sizing effort is required and the Board must evaluate the level of support in the voter community to shape a final proposal. A key input to the process are the proposed FY19 budget and priority lists from Town and School. We know more about voter expectations entering this year. Much of the prioritizing process developed last year remains useful as we undertake the override effort again. #2nd Objective: Override frequency and Economic Development The evidence is clear that since the 1980 passage of Proposition 21/2 in the Commonwealth, cities and towns with more commercial property and therefore greater commercial tax revenues simply do not need to rely on Override ballot questions as frequently. For the peer communities with 87% or more residential property (and for reference Reading has 92%), 10 of 11 (not including Lynnfield) have asked voters for Overrides more often than Reading has, and 10 of 11 (not including Stoneham) have passed Overrides more recently than Reading has. Conversely, in the other peer communities with larger commercial property sectors, only 1 of 14 (Westford) has asked more often, and only 3 of 14 (Walpole, Natick and Canton) have passed an Override more recently. Despite having strong positives of an educated workforce, easy access to 2 major state thoroughfares, good housing stock, a low commercial tax rate, excellent electric rates, and good schools, Reading has stubbornly remained in the lower quartile - the lowest 25% of population - among its peer towns relative to economic development and economic growth. Solving this problem is critical to our future, as it helps creates a long-term alternative revenue source to overrides to fund town and schools. Some residents dismiss the relative urgency of Economic Development proposals because of the long time to beneficial results relative to today's budget needs. That's short sighted in my view. Had our Economic Development efforts begun 10 years ago with the same funding, focus and vigor that's in place today, we'd be in a better place today. To say it simply - Failing to plan means planning to fail Economic Development and Tax Revenues Reading is largely a bedroom community. That means residential property taxes are the overwhelming source of taxes. Additionally, we have lots and lots of school aged children. That means on the spend side, higher percentages of our budget dollars go to education. There's nothing wrong with these facts, but it 51 Pa g ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center does mean our budgets are under different financial stresses versus our peers. Reading does not have the same income and spending profiles other towns have. Our residential class size has continued to grow since 2010 with increased numbers of condominiums entering inventory, further increasing our dependence on residential property taxes. Today, approximately 2/3 of all Town revenue is derived from property taxes within the prop 21/2 levy; in 2018 that sum is forecast to be around $64M. About 91.5% of that will be derived from residential class and 8.5% from Commercial, Industrial & Personal Property, rounding to the nearest half percent. Let's take a look at Reading relative to 25 peer communities comparing employment headcount and employment headcount growth, as a proxy to measuring commercial development intensity. Jessie Wilson, hired as a part-time Economic Development Liaison to complete a 25 -town peer community assessment, compiled this data. Towns with higher employment traffic driving to them represent towns with higher commercial development levels. These chart show the average town monthly employment along the X, and the 5 year change in that same employment measure along the Y. The bubble diameter compares the size of monthly employment to the number of working age adults in the town. Big bubbles mean more employees than working age citizens travel into the town. Small bubbles mean more employees than working age citizens leave the town to go work somewhere else Its clear Reading has a comparatively low level of average monthly employment to its peers, coupled with very low growth of employment over the measured 5 -year term. We're largely a place for citizens to sleep, eat and raise families, and leave to go work elsewhere. We need to position Reading as destination for employees to travel to and spend discretionary dollars on local shopping, food, entertainment and other purposes. This doesn't mean we aspire to make Reading into a Woburn or Burlington. Reading is starting off such a small commercial base, that even a medium- sized improvement will yield good benefit to our tax revenues. Our focus must include redevelopment as Reading has a very small amount of open land available for new development relative to peers. Let's look at the average salary levels of that employee headcount we discussed earlier, as an indicator of the potential for discretionary spending by employee visitors. Looking at the slide above drawn from the same peer towns analysis, we see that in 2010 and 2015, while Reading average employment salary grew, in both years we remained last in average employee salary levels, reflecting our predominantly small business - retail type base. Victor Santamello, our shared assessor with Wakefield prepared a study for the Board also illustrating this same point: The commercial property class valuation totals 281.4M and is heavily weighted towards small and medium valued properties.. This pie chart shows the total class separated by parcel valuation and count. 25 Large and very large valued properties (Primarily those at Walkers Brook, shown here in teal and purple segments) represent about 60% of the total commercial class property value. 170 small and medium valued properties make up the 40% remainder. To move the needle enough, economic growth will require medium and large projects, and ultimately, another Walker's Brook sized event. Attracting projects of these sizes means Reading requires a focused and sustained Development management effort, led by dedicated town staff. To that end, in 2016 the Board voted to add a full-time in-house resource for commercial and redevelopment growth, paid for by revenues collected from revolving fund permits. Andrew Corona, the Economic Development director joined us over the summer, and is focused on 3 key areas: 6iPxse ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center First, to develop our Reading town brand' and related outbound messaging to get us on the map and into the minds of potential companies and developers and commercial brokers. Second, to assist with project visioning and concept developments, including citizen forums and listening sessions for inputs and feedback. Third to assist in the intermediate steps of project planning to provide town support as is needed, Such as the two projects shown here. The first, shown in purple outlines was Article 23 proposal approved Thursday to expand the present 40R Downtown Smart Growth overlay. The second, shown in the green outlines, is to assist in the marketing and redevelopment outreach for the industrial segment on Walkers Brook Drive. This area has the best potential for high value commercial and a significant redevelopment project. There's a lot of work ahead - but even the longest journey starts with a single step. Reading has weathered many challenges over its 373 year history, and brand-new issues await us in the years ahead. Our future progress and success hinge on our officials and citizenry solving these problems carefully, respectfully and transparently. May God continue to bless the Town and Citizens of Reading. Thank you for your time this evening. Finance Committee Mark Dockser, Chair Thank you, Mr. Moderator, Good evening Town Meeting Members, Boards and Committees and fellow Reading residents. My name is Mark Dockser and I am the Chair of the Reading Finance Committee. We are a group of 9 of your fellow residents that meet throughout the year in open meetings to review questions of municipal finance on behalf of all citizens. In addition to our own committee meetings, we sponsor a series of Financial Forums during the year in which the elected Boards of the Town join us for open discussion about the financial challenges and opportunities facing the town and encourage a dialogue on how best to work together to achieve the best bang for the buck for Reading. These forums are all open to the public and we welcome more participation, so please come join us. Tonight, I want to highlight from the perspective of Finance Committee the state of the FY'18 budget: 1 Reading is efficiently managed. We have often pioneered programs that have yielded both better results and cost savings. But even in the face of this, the FY 2018 budget requires cuts in services for both town and schools... deeper cuts than we have experienced in the past. 2 Finance Committee has recommended the use of some Free Cash in each of the last several years to support the operating budget and mitigate our lack of sufficient revenues. a Finance Committee is like the town savings account. It is money that is best used for "1 -time" expenditures. But managed effectively, it can be used in a modest way to support the operating budget. b By policy we desire to hold at least 7% of revenues in these accounts and this budget leaves us slightly above this. c This year we are recommending a cut in this usage to $1.2 MM ... about a 50% cut from last year. We believe this to be a more sustainable amount and continue to believe it is a prudent use of some free cash. 7IPaga ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center 3 We reviewed the budget in depth with municipal and school departments and believe it is responsible given our revenue constraints. I see 4 challenges and opportunities for FY 2018 and beyond: 1 Costs that are largely out of our control, continue to rise faster than our revenues 2 We now face a choice: an annual decline in the level of services or raise additional tax revenue 3 Not raising additional tax revenues through an override will lower community values 4 Cooperation and working together (fiscally as well as in other ways) is key to maintaining our values as a town a An example of this teamwork is in how the municipal departments and schools are working together through cuts and holdbacks to allow the middle school language program to continue in FY'18. I will show you later how this teamwork plus an additional $100k in free cash will save this program for one year. 1 We like many other municipalities around the Commonwealth are facing uncontrollable costs like health care that are rising much faster than our revenues. The municipal and school departments have worked hard to minimize how this impact was felt, but too many things are now on the backs of too few people and important programs can't be fully funded. Net, residents are getting reduced or not fully staffed services in more and more visible ways—in the schools, in public safety and throughout all departments. 2 On the revenue side, we are limited in our tax revenue growth by Proposition 2 1/2 --2 1/2% increase in residential taxes each year plus new growth. As a quick review for some and as new information for new members, Prop 2 1/2, passed in 1980, is the governing law in Massachusetts about the maximum allowable growth rate in taxes each year. It was passed at a time when most communities enjoyed new growth that had revenues increasing by 4-5+% per year. Cities and Towns with stronger commercial and industrial bases were able to sustain these strong revenue growth rates. However, Reading is a lovely residential community, and we do not have the commercial and industrial base to do this. Our annual revenue growth is —3%. Many cities and towns will override Prop 2 1/2 every approximately 10 years, to maintain their services that otherwise would have to be cut. The last time Reading voted on and passed an override was 14 years ago. Of course there are other ways to raise revenues. Economic development programs can help, and the town has made it a priority to focus in this area ... but this alone will not be enough due to lack of available building space for business and the impact of programs that we implement now won't be felt for what could be several years. Where we, along with other cities and towns, have been hit very hard has been the lack of growth in state aid. It has neither kept pace with increasing costs faced by all municipalities nor has it provided relief for many state mandates, resulting in local taxpayers having to pick up the costs of so called "unfunded mandates". Schools have been hit particularly hard by this. All that said, Prop 2 1/2 is meant to bring these issues of costs running ahead of revenues to a head by requiring that government, specifically the Board of Selectmen, come to the taxpayers to request increases. This is where we find ourselves today. Reviewing terms for a moment. There is often confusion about what a Prop 2 1/2 override is and what is a debt exclusion. A debt exclusion is usually a tax increase to fund a particular project for a defined number of years. As we construct or reconstruct buildings, we typically will finance them over a 10 year period. At the end of this period, the tax ends. RMHS and the library are examples of this. An override is a permanent tax increase used to support the core services of the town. 818 age ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School May 1, 2017 Performing Arts Center Reading is facing a choice: continually declining services or an increase in revenues Our demand for services exceed our means (revenues). Services that include headcount in police, fire and teachers, library and senior center hours and school programs all have been cut in this budget. Without new revenues, this decline in services will accelerate. New revenues to address this can include new business growth and many other ideas.... but the only revenue increase large enough to cover $Imm+ is an override I believe Reading to be a very well run town. We are the envy of many other municipalities in terms of how we do things, often being at the leading edge of activities that result in the delivery of better services at a lower cost. This holds true for both the school side and the municipal side of government. 1 Reading needs an override. As a Finance Committee member, it is my strong belief that not passing an override will harm our community values—both in terms of delivering on the promise of Reading as a community identified by its residents for having great schools, exemplary public safety, a strong and thriving library and other public services; and also in terms of how other people view these values and how they translate directly into home values. 2 Ask any real estate agent in town about this... good schools and good services are the basis of our high and rising property values. But they are being challenged— reduction in the quality of schools and services leads to lower property values. How do we navigate through these tough times? Working together for the good of the town, with teamwork. 1 An example of this is before us with the challenges in the School budget this year. Faced with the need to cut an additional $438k from their budget to stay within the recommended FinComm guidance, the middle school language program and 7 teachers would have to be cut. Municipal and school officials established this as a priority and worked together to identify reductions and hold backs to cover most of this $438k. In addition, Finance Committee recommended by a vote of 9-0-0 to use an additional $100k in Free Cash to allow this program to continue in FY 2018. Please note that this additional $100k returns the recommended use of Free Cash to a total of $1.2 MM, the number that we recommended last November for budget guidance. 2 We believe the risk that the reductions can be made is reasonable and recommend this be approved by Town Meeting. 3 As good as this is, it serves to fund this part of middle school language only for FY 2018. Additional town revenues will be required for this and other programs to continue. What we are bringing to Town Meeting this evening is a recommended budget of $104,551,681, an increase of 1.6%. This compares to an increase last year of 2.6% and previous years that averaged —3.3%. We believe this budget will support the town in FY 2018 as outlined by the municipal and school departments and is a responsible budget given the constraints on revenues. Thank You! Motion made by John Arena to take Article 16 off the Table Motion Carried ARTICLE 16: Motion made the Finance Committee to raise and appropriate, borrow, transfer from available funds, or otherwise provide a sum of money for the operation of the Town and its government for Fiscal Year 2018 - beginning July 1, 2017. 91 Pa.. ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Reading Memorial High School Performing Arts Center Presentations given by: • Bob LeLacheur - See Attached • Jeanne Borawski - See Attached • John Doherty - See Attached May 1, 2017 On motion by Bill Brown, Precinct 8 it was voted that this Annual Town Meeting stand adjourned to meet at 7:30 PM at the Reading Memorial High School Preforming Arts Center, on Monday, May 4, 2017. Meeting adjourned at 10:23 PM with 166 Town Meeting Members in attendance. Counted Vote 78 Voted in the affirmative 67 Voted in the negative 166 Town Meeting Members in Attendance Motion Carried A true copy Attest: Laura A Gemme, CMC / CMMC Town Clerk 10i Page 12/17/2018 FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN COMMENTS ON FY' 18 BUDGET SUMMARY MARK DOCKSER MAY 1, 2017 FY' 18 Budget requires cuts in services for both town and schools • Reading is efficiently managed Curs in past years; stronger cum for 3018 Recommended use of Free Cash has been reduced this year by —50% to $1.2 MM • "Rainy day" accou n, best used for one time expenditures rather than to fund on-going positions • Use of modest amount of these stabilization funds is both responsible and sustainable Still strong Free Cash and stabilization funds balance -->7% (FinComm policy target) We reviewed budget in depth with town and school departments and believe it: • Managing risks in the budget Is a responsible budget given the constraint on revenues 12/17/2018 CHALLENGES- FY' 18 AND BEYOND I. Costs that are out of our control continue to rise faster than our revenues 2. Choice: annual decline in level of services or raise additional tax revenue 3. Not raising additional revenues now through an override will have a strong impact in lower community values 4. Teamwork required: Cooperation between the municipal and school sides allow the middle school to retain 7 FTE positions in the foreign language program, but for one year only COSTS BEYOND OUR CONTROU LIMITED REVENUE GROWTH Uncontrollable costs rising at a rate much faster than our revenues • Co.: health camJbene0, 45t% • Revenues: Prop 2 A+new gronb4i 3%groin • StateAid has not come close to keeping up yet unfunded mandates continue and residents pick up Ne tab Prop 2 Y .-Property Tax increase limitation @ 2.S% per year Established in 19N during use of sanong reverwe growth Communities widb hind and oppamunity for business growth able to continue strong revenue growth Reading is a nice bedroom community 92%msidenual and very limited land for new business growth • Marry towns override Prop 2 revery 10 years... it has been 14 years since Reading passed an operating override 12/17/2018 HAVEN'T WE HAD LOTS OF OVERRIDES ALREADY FOR NEW SCHOOLS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS? Debt Exclusion vs. Override Debt Exclusion: limited time tax to finance an asset purchase Usually 5-10 years duration. New buildings, large capital projects Examples: High School project (coming off soon), Library just starting Override: permanent tax increase to support operating budget DECLINE IN SERVICES OR INCREASE IN REVENUES Demand for services exceeds our means (revenues) Without new revenues, services will continue to decline and at an increasing rate New revenues to address this can include new business growth and many other ideas .... but only means large enough to cover $1 mm+ is an override 12/17/2018 NEW REVENUES AND COMMUNITY VALUES Reading needs an override. As a Fincomm member, it is my strong belief that not passing an override will harm our community values—both in terms of delivering on the promise of Reading as a community identified by its residents for having great schools, exemplary public safety, a strong and thriving library and other public services: and also in terms of how other people view these values and how they translate directly into home values. Ask any real estate agent in town about this ... good schools and good services are the basis of our high and rising property values. But they are being challengedl�reducdon in the quality of schools and services leads to lower property values. COOPERATION: MAINTAIN MIDDLE SCHOOL LANGUAGE.... FOR THIS YEAR Teamwork has created a"bandaid" that will allow the middle school foreign language program to continue in its current form for FY' 18. • Faced with the need w cut an additional $438k in school programs to meet the FinComm guidelines for FY' 18, municipal and school departments agreed to budget reductions and holdbacks to cover most of the $438k • FinComm at its meeting on 3(22/2017 recommended the use of an additional $ I00k in Free Cash (to a total of $1.2 MM) by a vote of 9.0-0 to support this in the school budget • Risk in achieving this within school department FY' 18 budget is reasonable • To maintain this beyond FY' I8 will require additional town revenues. 22/17/2038 FY'18 BUDGET • What we are bringing to Town Meeting this evening is a recommended budget of $104,551,681, an increase of 1.6%. This compares to an increase last year of 2.6% and previous years that averaged —3.3%. • We believe this budget will support the town in FY' I8 as outlined by the municipal and school departments and is a responsible budget given the constraints on revenues. 12/17/2018 Presentation May 1, 2017 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source:l.Wilson, Reading ED Liaison • Correlation of population, demographic, residential, commercial and policy data of 25 peer communities • Comparison of employment, employment growth and employment relative to population is particularly illuminating 12/17/2018 2 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source: J.W ilson, Reading ED Liaison � s rn�n+a Burlington e Rending • E n� �� • wmen �o.w. u� pN ,® Wwiw ..au w..,a.. m... Be.. ` w0.knaeMl w. • RdWM� emwm� """� WeMorough N e •MMlwa Nitl° d 2015 Average Month Employment 12/17/2018 2 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source: Milson, Reading ED Liaison � Y auMnglon e E E W N 2 d 2015 Average Montly Employment 12/17/2018 2 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source: J.Wilson, Reading ED Liaison wm't. I 2015 Average Montly 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities E mm�E.werm.. n «we w.pwlM1:�]B mpl- •rLS ry rm Em IgmmN3pNro O p 0.m�r N m 2015 Average Montly 2015 Avenge Montly Employment 12/17/2018 3 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source: J.Wilson, Reading ED Liaison wMNFmpkymem WrV�m:F [mpryen m FmpemmViD4v0 L BuAYletelF � m BMKrw_ C 1][NmM�'m[bmmm �wrpevM: Fmwryr. �.m h E�nNiuSE YwE 1 WYMlnlM Zea.pwM: v3B30Fmplgm •F s� • Emdmmmu=�. 2015 Avenge Montly Employment 12/17/2018 3 12/17/2018 2017 Survey of 25 Peer Communities Source: J.Wilson, Reading ED Liaison Average Weekly Wages Ranking Chart Higher% CIP Towns generally have higher average weekly wages, Reading is the lowest for average weekly wages in both 2010-2015. Although the goal msy not be specifically to create jobs, attracting the'nght' CIP can increase availability ofjobs and improve upon wages, Awrame Weelft Wages % 2010 2016 cfaunas em.ren scan m vm wvwm ww scvm7 • w.mm au w . 1°°' w 110u` v. e Tm ezewx wvmm mxu deux 1 veep 1M eve Man mem wwwr +.nx M. I,vn;.17vm mxex w ar w vxwawv 1711. ma 1711. 1138% t.nx xorms..s ru cN„ m - u�za m01.ueu ma .m reowr suzu wm.a vax I MI vx .amrx rra ow .ee„eq x pmm m lA agnmexon omm"saves este uxw u om weu o.00x ..mord a.mx `m'„aEmPimm.m � EE o ,® E W Wikfg.b MmmYiY�E�M^eM ,1ey • r5yurerorM: mgepm OH r® xmoMm.,,Vxocaw O p N porn aelEMa 2015 Average MontlyEmployment Average Weekly Wages Ranking Chart Higher% CIP Towns generally have higher average weekly wages, Reading is the lowest for average weekly wages in both 2010-2015. Although the goal msy not be specifically to create jobs, attracting the'nght' CIP can increase availability ofjobs and improve upon wages, Awrame Weelft Wages % 2010 2016 cfaunas em.ren scan m vm wvwm ww scvm7 • w.mm au w . 1°°' w 110u` v. e Tm ezewx wvmm mxu deux 1 veep 1M eve Man mem wwwr +.nx M. I,vn;.17vm mxex w ar w vxwawv 1711. ma 1711. 1138% t.nx xorms..s ru cN„ m - u�za m01.ueu ma .m reowr suzu wm.a vax I MI vx .amrx rra ow .ee„eq x pmm m lA e ]1 45l.tex omm"saves este uxw u om weu o.00x ..mord a.mx 12/17/2018 Size matters: Commercial Size & Valuation Source: V. Santaniello, Reading Assessor, 2016 Data UNDER $500k, $24,445,800 $SOOg TO $1M, F$1144,155,11W�IA $39,637,800 2016 Commercial Class Value: 281.444 $IM TO $244, 543p81,600 $2M TO $10M, AA $60,136,900 CIP growth means medium -large business Next Steps for Priority Development Areas ae Foods iiing WooprosesofpYnnl a asapWounzoningor Reading incus on wmmazsAl/Ingusbial artas and zoning Gwl of-fickIng In W1 Emm rtsltlasRs/WIIOIry cone. on nano and, Rllgning dozens pslwit es and need for new commercial growls ae Foods iiing WooprosesofpYnnl a asapWounzoningor Reading incus on wmmazsAl/Ingusbial artas and zoning Gwl of-fickIng In W1 Emm rtsltlasRs/WIIOIry cone. on nano and, Rllgning dozens pslwit es and need for new commercial growls