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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of fin com 07102008 Town of Mansfield Finance Committee Minutes of July 10, 2008 r;FCl="I\/EO . . _ . .._ v ~'L[F~i\S OFF ICE Zn"B .''1S - I A at: 05 uti ..,A Attending: James Lazzara Charlene Lavin Jack Goldberg Andres Gazzolo Greg Arnold Karl Chambers Tommy Ratliff ;.. i~ .t , 'l, ~, ELO c<.\ CHtJSETT S Motion: To Open at 7:00p.m. (Gazzolo - Goldberg) 6 - 0 Passes (1 abstaining) Presentation on Interdepartmental Budget Transfer Requests Ms. Kearney presented to the Finance Committee on the Interdepartmental Budget Transfer Requests. Mr. Gazzolo mentioned that at the previous evening's Selectmen's meeting it was brought up that many of these transfers were left until the last minute and that it seemed unnecessary as some of these requests were known previously. He also said that some of these requests were a result of balances being left in some accounts after the special in May. Mr. Gazzolo requested that Ms. Kearney only present to the committee on the larger transfers. Ms. Kearney said that the second transfer request was for employee benefits and that the transfer at the special had not been enough. Mr. Lazzara requested that in the future the larger numbers be detailed on the form so that it is easily understood what these amounts are for. Ms. Kearney said that the third and fourth requests were for legal expenses. Ms. Kearney said that the fifth request was for work related injuries in the police and fire departments. Mr. Gazzolo asked whether there were several smaller requests or just a few larger ones. Mr. Gazzolo also asked how there could be $10,000 coming from the police fund when they were so tight earlier in the year. Ms. Kearney responded that there was a spending freeze to save for other things and this money was as a result of that. Mr. Gazzolo asked how the money was coming from the library budget and Ms. Kearney responded that there were some employees that used all of their sick time but required more so it was time unpaid. Ms. Kearney said that the sixth request was related to the shooting incident and that it was for psychological services. Requests seven, eight and nine were bypassed as they are relatively small. Ms. Kearney said that the tenth and eleventh requests were from within water. The Finance Committee had several questions about these funds, as it is a very large request for it to be unforeseen. It was asked that Ms. Kearney obtain some additional information about these funds and report back before the end of the meeting. Ms. Kearney said that she was not made aware from the water enterprise of these changes. It was suggested to Ms. Kearney that a new procedure should be institutionalized which states that all town accounts (including enterprise accounts) should provide all major transfer information in time to be included in the Special within the annual. Only last minute transfers should be done in July with detailed explanation provided before the meeting. Ms. Kearney later returned with additional information about the tenth and eleventh requests. She said that some of the money hadn't been used from the water main projects in November 2006 and this had saved the town some money on interest. They are anticipating that this money will need to be borrowed in 2009. Vote Motion to approve Interdepartmental Budget Transfer Requests (Lazzara - Lavin) 6 - 0 Passes (1 abstaining) Mr. Gazzolo suggested an amendment to the previous motion adding that the Selectmen need to have advance notice of large requests and also for a record to be provided to the Finance Committee a month and a half prior to voting. Vote Motion to amend previous motion to approve Interdepartmental Budget Transfer Requests (Lazzara - Lavin) 6 - 0 Passes (1 abstaining) Reserve Fund Transfers Ms. Kearney asked the Finance Committee about the reserve fund transfers and whether they had been approved by the committee. Mr. Gazzolo said that the Finance Committee does not have a problem with these transfers but that they never received a copy of the requests. Ms. Kearney provided the committee with a copy which was read aloud. Vote Motion to approve Reserve Fund Transfers (Lazzara - Arnold) 6 - 0 Passes (1 abstaining) Ten Year Forecast & Charter Change Mr. Gazzolo brought up the idea of a charter change, this would allow the town to have all union contracts negotiated at the same time rather than spread over different years. In order to do this they would need to collect signatures from the town and then the Selectmen could choose someone to head up the charter commission. Mr. Gazzolo said that they should plan to try and have the signatures by the beginning of September; a good way to bring attention to this would be to write a letter to the paper. In addition to the process taking a few years to line up Mr. Goldberg suggested hiring professional negotiators going forward. The Finance Committee decided that they will need a representative to put together a mission for this. Vote Motion to appoint Greg Arnold to prepare information for charter change (Lavin - Lazzara) Passes (1 abstaining) Mr. Chambers was also asked to assist Mr. Arnold with this project. Mr. Gazzolo brought up that the schools have already prepared a forecast for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for all expenses and to maintain how everything is being run now. He mentioned that the same will need to be done for the town. Ms. Kearney asked if there should be a committee put together to look into this. Mr. Gazzolo suggested that a meeting be planned to discuss this. It was decided that Mr. Gazzolo, Mr. Lazzara and Mr. Ratliff will work on this project. The forecast shou Id break out income from expenses and also break down enhancements from necessities. Discussion Mr. Goldberg brought up the correspondence that has been sent to the Selectmen and asked whether the Finance Committee had received a response to this. Mr. Gazzolo said that they have not received a response and that if they don't receive something within a week they will need to follow-up on this. Mr. Goldberg brought up the audit of the Municipal Light Department and the financial statement for the entire town. He said that the auditors will be back on August 20 and that the Finance Committee should prepare questions prior to then. Mr. Lazzara planned to work with Mr. Goldberg on this as Mr. Goldberg will be away on August 20. Mr. Goldberg mentioned that the Selectmen may want to put together an audit committee, similar to several other towns. Mr. Goldberg pointed out that when problems come up in an audit they are fixed and no one is ever notified that there was a problem; the audit committee would be responsible for tracking these things and from preventing the problem from happening again. The committee decided to leave this as an open issue. Mr. Aptowitz told the Finance Committee that the Selectmen have voted to set up a sub committee for the town accountant search and would like a representative from the Finance Committee to participate. Mr. Goldberg volunteered to be the Finance Committee representative. Mr. Chambers and Mr. Ratliff provided the Finance Committee with their backgrounds as they are the new members. t 8:45p.m. 6 - 0 Passes (1 abstaining) 2~~rKa,