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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-08-19 ad Hoc - Capital Improvements Advisory Minutesr-CEIV ` N! G Capital Improvement Advisory Subcommittee August 19,1996 CIAS met at 7:30 pm in the Conference at Town Hall. Present at the meeting were Tom Green, Cathy Martin, Carol Grimm and Peter Hechenbleinker. OVERVIEW OF THE TOWN'S CAPITAL POSITION Most of the buildings in Town have been addressed effectively in the Plan, although building maintenance in a number of buildings leaves much to be desired. Presently, the Town is seeking to fill a vacant Building Maintenance Supervisor position in the schools. In addition, the Town is looking to contract for a consultant to recommend a town-wide building maintenance program. The Town currently spends about $2.25M/year on building maintenance. It should be noted that with regard to maintaining town properties, pavement, grounds and building maintenance are considered as separate. While many of the capital issues in Town have been addressed in the Capital Plan, several issues have not been fully dealt with. Among these are: the Arts Center, the Teen Center, water and sewer capital, and Town-wide road work. Briefly discussed the status of the Saugus river project (unknown), Bear Hill Water Tower (under budget), the water treatment plant (likely to cost more than anticipated), and the Town wells. Regarding the Town wells, the cleanup is nearly complete and cost $700k, of which we've been reimbursed so far about $300k so far. However, whether the wells will reopen or not is still unclear. If they do not reopen, then one alternative is to join MWRA, which for starters would cost in the vicinity of $9M, just to join. In this event, we'd have to rethink the water treatment plant. It was also noted that joining MWRA would likely result in about $500k/yr savings in operating expenses. The issue of road maintenance is complicated by a number of factors. In recent years, the Town has not committed significant funds beyond Chapter 90 funding for road work. The Town's approach towards road projects is comprehensive; when a road is redone, it is redone from the ground-up. This leads to a fewer number of projects completed on the same dollars than with a piecemeal approach, however, those projects that are undertaken are completed for the long term. In addition, the Town DPW does not have the resources to absorb any more projects than it is currently responsible for, regardless of how much more funding for road projects is made available. This means that for the forseeable future, the current rate of road projects is likely to continue. We briefly discussed the open space land acquisition funding request to the state. The Town Manager reported that the state has come to look at the property (a good sign), however, they have many more requests than they have dollars. One point in Reading's favor is that our request is a small one and thus may get funded. CAPITAL BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The process for constructing the capital budget for the next fiscal year is as follows: 1) Capital improvement requests form are submitted for each project requested by Town department heads. Among the questions that department heads must answer as part of a capital request are: what are the projects that you need, and, when do you need them. Many of the requested projects do not get funded, or are only partially funded, but they are gathered together to form a collective needs list. Capital improvement request forms must be submitted within two weeks of their distribution. 2) Town manager establishes guidelines for the size of the capital plan for the coming fiscal year. To a first order, this consists of escalating the previous year's capital budget by inflation, e.g., 2.5%. In addition, he produces ten-year revenue projections that are rather firm for the first five years and progressively softer going out to ten years. 3) Town manager reviews the capital requests in view of budget and revenue projections and recommends a ten-year capital plan. The recommendation is accompanied by a list of those projects that were not funded to provide further context for the recommended plan. All capital requests are summarized in a notebook, copies of which are distributed to interested parties. CAPITAL PRIORITIES FOR FY1998 We discussed a number of issues that we would like to address in the FY1998 Capital Plan. These are (in no particular order): 1) Police station Where will the police station be sited? How will it be funded? The Town Manager would like to have a land acquisition article on the Fall Town Meeting Warrant. Swimming pool Wht are the needs? 3) High .:Tool What are the -,eds? What will they cost? An architect's report is forthcoming that will outline the needs. 4) Road work 5) Coolidge middle school, What are the needs? What will they cost? 6) School Technology What has been accomplished with the $500k appropriated in FY97? Is additional funding warranted and necessary? How do state matching funds (1:3 up to $130k) impact our plans? 7) Landfill How does the state mandated close date (1999?) impact plans? USE OF EXCESS FREE CASH The Town Manager noted that the FINCOM policy on free cash calls for using excess free cash (above 5% of the operating budget) for one-time expenses including capital. The amount of excess free cash is about $300k. He suggested that we consider moving some capital projects forward, or, paying cash for the school boilers ($172k), for which debt is authorized but has yet to be sold. He also noted that an additional $110k from a previous sale of real estate may further increase free cash. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Capital Improvement Subcommittee is 18 Sep. 1996 at 7PM at Joshua Eaton school to review the renovations and the present state of the building. Ahead of that meeting, the Town Manager will provide to the committee: 1) updated financial of bond sale 2) capital improvements forms (will send to us a week before they go out for our comments) 3) package of capital policies 4) schedule of capital plan related events and deadlines