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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of fin com 1242008 Attending: Andres Gazzolo Greg Arnold Tommy Ratliff Charlene Lavin Karl Chambers James Lazzara Jack Goldberg I Town of ManSfird Finance Committee eeting Minutes of Decembe 4,2008 I I !' ED , i.l r::: fC"'" ", i t f":H -"";_'.ot. -1') /\ ':): nb ' . l....J Motion: To Open at 7:10p.m. (Chambers - Goldberg) 5 - 0 Passes Town Accountant I Mr. Hart met with the FinancelCommittee to discuss the finan ial future of the town and to get their opinion on what should be done. They reviewed the revenue projections for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Mr. Gazzolo stressed the nee~ to do this now so that when th town prepares to go into contract negotiations they have a full urderstanding of the financial sit ation. Mr. Hart suggested to the Fin~nce Committee that the town p epare a "what if' situation if the state were to cut the money that they proVide to the town. He said that t is is a realistic possibility and he wants to be prepared in case it happen$. Mr. Gazzolo said that the to n should expect between -2% and +2% from last year. Mr. Arnold sta~ed that if revenue is going up 1.58% the town needs to be aware that there are fixed costs that will go up ~ore than 1.58%. Mr. Ratliff sa d that 1.58% implies that there will need to be reductions across the boar~. I Mr. Lazzara said that they sho~ld expect the state revenue be ng less. Mr. Hart said that the town will likely have to make adjustmen~s across departments and programs; he also that the town should plan to take the $32.7 million and loo~ at only having 95% of that. Mr Goldberg suggested that they look at the numbers and then budget for rrinus 2.5% and minus 5%; that ay they have a plan for if that happens and they know where they canl go. Mr. Gazzolo asked Mr. Ha how he sees the state's revenue playing out from 2011 to 2014. Mr. H~rt replied that he expects the re enue to be flat for a year or two and then slowly increase back to the no~mallevel of 4% or so. Mr. Gaz 010 said that the first full impact may be seen in 2013. I I Mr. Gazzolo said that he woul like to see all of the contract n gotiations on the same schedule. Mr. Hart agreed and said that he would like to renew the current contra ts at a 0% increase for one year and then have everyone on the same s hedule. Water and Sewer Depa ments Update Mr. Azinheira met with the Fin nce Committee to discuss the ater and Sewer departments. Mr. Azinheira said that the Water c pital plan has been updated sl ghtly since last year. He said that the plans for the water treatment p ant could be pushed a little fast r if the money becomes available from a grant or other method; otherwi e it will likely be 2011 or 2012 s they are trying to minimize the impact on the rates. He said that he wou d like the $120,000 for the che ical containment area in 2010 is possible. He said that there has been an increased cost in the chemical hat Mansfield uses and they are currently looking at other options. . Mr. Azinheira said that as of right now he didn't see that there ~re any projects in the Water and Sewer departments that couldn't be p shed back a year if necessary. He said that he is trying to line the capital projects up to the debt that will e coming off of the books to minimize the impact to the town. - ---~~.-.,_.~ -. .. Ill. --,."~,_.!" I Mr. Lazzara asked Mr. Azinh ira if there is any way that he c uld add two more columns to the presentation that he gave th Finance Committee; one for fi e year projections and the other for revenue projections. Mr. Gazzolo agr ed and requested that the sa e be done for the Sewer department. Mr. Azinheira told the Financ Committee that the departme ts have stuck with the plan that was presented in 2006; however, 'f there is a large failure in the e uipment some projects may have to be moved up; it has already bee pushed off a couple of times. Discussion Mr. Gazzolo said that the Fin nce Committee is trying to put together a folder for the town to use for the next five years. He said that he Electric department needs a plan that is separate from the general fund; and that the same would hold true for the Water and Sewer departments. Mr. Lazzara said that it would be easy to come up with a te year forecast for the Electric department as they already know the cost of all of their contracts. Mr. Gaz 010 suggested at Mr. Lazzara plan to meet with the Electric department over the next week or so; tha once the Finance Committee has a clear understanding that they could set up another meeting with Mr. art to discuss this. Mr. Gazzolo said that at the p evious week's Board of Selectmen meeting they had asked about the project subcommittees. He s id that after looking at the subcommittees he would like to merge the salaries and benefits subcom ittee with the union contract negotiation subcommittee. He said that the Finance Committee should 10 k into having this new merged subcommittee meet in the near future as well as the public safety and apital projects subcommittees. Mr. Dentino said that as long as the members are decided that the Board of Selectmen would likely vote at their next meeting. A review of the members of the subcommitte s was done by Mr. Gazzolo: Salaries Benefits and Union ontract Ne otiations Greg Arnold - chair, Andy Ga zolo - substitute George Dentino, substitute to e determined Lisa Losiewicz, Jean Miller - ubstitute John D'Agostino, substitute to be determined Public Safety Jim Lazzara - chair, Tommy atliff - substitute Ann Baldwin, substitute to be etermined Steven Greenberg, Franck De Vecchio - substitute Arthur O'Neill, substitute to be determined Capital Proiects Charlene Lavin - chair, Karl Camber - substitute Sandy Levine, Ann Baldwin - ubstitute Mike Trowbridge, Jean Miller substitute Ken Tarman John D'Agostino, substitute to e determined Mr. Gazzola asked that each 0 the subcommittee chairs come up with a flowchart on how the subcommittee will provide guid nce along with a mission statement for the subcommittee. Mr. Gazzolo said that he would like to take the numbers that the Finance Committee talked about with Mr. Hart to the schools so that the are aware of the situation. He said that this would show how the revenue profile has changed. Mr. Gazzolo mentioned that Mr Goldberg and Ms. Lavin are up for renewal this year. Mr. Lazzara asked about the c mmittee that Mr. D'Agostino had put together to look at health benefits; he wanted to know who was on th committee. Mr. Gazzolo said that Mr. Aptowitz used to work on the health benefits and that Mr. La zara should speak to him. - . -._-,.. '.,.' ,.-.........-.-.. -'--~-".'.'-~",""",,",,"""~- ...... Vote Motion to approve minutes of November 13 Finance Committee meeting. (Lavin - Arnold) 5 - 0 - 2 Passes Motion: To Close at 8: (Chambers - Lavin) J:] / J I / ( ) 8/) I Date of Approval ...