Minutes - Sept. 26, 2002
Finance Committee
Attending: Susan Brooks, Paul Giese, Al Schmerzler, Pat Phillipps, John Robinson, Robert Steinbrook; absent: Mary Cancian.
1) Susan and Al reported that the first Legal Expense Monitoring (LEM) session seemed promising. Virtually everyone in the meeting felt the opportunity to discuss and review was helpful and useful. The issue, presented by Planning Board Chair Dennis Picker, concerns a suit against the town by a neighbor of the proposed DPW cell tower site. The suit names Verizon as a co-defendant, easing the potential impact on the town's legal expenses to a range of $10K to $50K, with the expectation closer to the lower figure. FinCom discussed whether or not to reduce the Local Revenue estimates in the model (03 budget) and FAA analysis (impact on 04) to compensate for further delays in cell tower revenues. Local Revenue estimates for 03 had included ca. $85K for a half year of revenues from the PS and
DPW towers, starting in Jan. 03. Since, at this point, some revenue from at least one of the towers seems near certain in January already, and since the suit itself seems to have minimal chances of success, we decided not to make any changes until Nov/Dec, when the results of the suit and its impact would be clearer.
2) Susan, Pat and Paul reported on the LSRHS/Sudbury-FinCom meeting, Sept. 25th at LS. This was the first of once a month meetings the Sudbury FinCom has requested with LS. Representatives of the Lincoln FinCom were (are) invited. The results were excellent in terms of the Lincoln and Sudbury FinComs coordinating their approaches and the definition of terms applied to LSRHS and hopefully, eventually, to other budget agencies as well. Sudbury is requesting that LS develop 3 budgets: 1) a level funding (0 funds growth), no override budget; 2) a 3% budget increase from 03; and, 3) a 5% budget increase. Sudbury FinCom stated there was no magic to the 3% and 5% figures and that the group might in the future explore common definitions of each category beyond the no override level. To arrive at a common “no override” level funding definition requires agreeing what fits into the “Required Expenditures” to subtract from the Total Revenues and Free Cash to result in the “Funds
Available” from which the guideline (0) is generated. We will work with Sudbury FinCom for agreement on this. Meanwhile Lincoln FinCom realized it had not included the LSRHS “Regional Fixed Costs” numbers in the “Required Expenditures” and that this oversight could change the Budget Guideline. The difference in the Lincoln budget is estimated to be ca. $50K (the approximate growth of Regional Fixed Costs since 03), and FinCom agreed to absorb this figure into the FAA guideline cushion rather than issue any changes to the Budgeting Agencies.
Action: Continue to work with Sudbury FinCom and LS re definitions and developments Who: Pat, Susan and Paul. When: through Dec. 02
3) Susan handed out the Budgeting Process User's Manual, including the FY 04 Budget Calendar. Key dates to remember are:
Oct. 19 … State of Town meeting (now requiring a short FinCom presentation)
Oct. 22 … LSHS discussion on budgets with LS School Com, & joint FinComs
Nov.18 … FinCom and Selects review Town Baseline and Override Budget proposal
Dec. 5 … FinCom and Selects review K-8 Baseline and Override Budget proposal
Jan. 9 … FinCom and Selects review LSRHS Baseline and Override Budget proposal
Jan. 14 … Joint meeting of LSHS School Committee and both FinComs (required by law)
Jan. 16 … Budget Closure meeting to finalize Override
4) The State of the Town (SOTT) meeting was discussed. The Selects contemplate a 4 hour meeting on Saturday, Oct. 19, 1-5PM. The Selects, with inputs from all Boards, hope to articulate current, near- and long-term challenges confronting the town and to gain feedback on program and service priorities. [Note: Since FinCom's Sept. 26 meeting there has developed a request for a short 10 min. presentation by the FinCom, which Susan and Paul will put together and review with FinCom at the Oct. 10 meeting]. The whole FinCom was encouraged to be present at the SOTT meeting, participating actively throughout the proceedings.
5) The new Green Sheet was handed out. The committee discussed Liaison assignments and responsibilities for each of the 3 types of assignments. For the Agency Liaisons (Town, K-8, LSRHS, Library and Capital Planning), the primary responsibilities are pro-active assistance to the Agencies to help them develop credible Base Budgets per the Guideline, with FYI reports to the FinCom as needed. For the Project Liaisons (K-8 Task Force, LS Building Committees, CPA), there should be periodic progress reports to FinCom as appropriate. For the Research Liaison assignments (Communications, Comparative Statistics, Tax Relief), reports and discussions should be scheduled at appropriate dates during the year. Each FinCom meeting will normally review one or several Liaison reports from one or more
categories.
5) Liaison Reports
(a) LSRHS Build.Com … slightly behind w. minor changes. Full SBA funding still risky
(b) Communications Master … a logo identifying the 5 or 6 major parts of the budgeting process is needed ASAP. Action: Suggest logo at next meeting. Who: Susan. When: Oct. 10. The first article describing the budgeting guidelines should be drafted ASAP. Action: 1st draft of guidelines description. Who: Mary then FinCom. When: Oct. 10. The SOP for all articles will be for a 1st draft by a designated member, submitted to FinCom for comments and adjustments, with final draft appearing over FinCom s or everyone s names.
(c) K-8 Task Force … only partial returns so far. Final report due Nov. 19th. The final report should have comparisons and constructive suggestions for priorities. Whether these conclusions will be definitive this year, and whether the Task Force will continue for another year remains uncertain.
(d) Tax Relief … JR has uncovered two possibilities, RE property valuation freeze and RE Tax deferral. Sudbury has just passed the latter. Action: investigate Sudbury's Tax Deferral program. Who: JR. When: End of Oct. FinCom wasn't sure who should play the principal role in furthering tax relief. Action: Discuss with Selects the responsibilities of pursuing and developing a viable, useful Tax Relief program. Who: Susan. When: End of Oct.
The meeting was adjourned too late. The next FinCom meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 10, STSP.
|