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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINCOM MIN 03192009 Town of Mansfield Finance Committee Minutes of March 19, 2009 ir,:{;o::~,!/~~Fr-ICE Zuuq APB - 3 A 8: 42 Attending: Motion: To open at 7:3 'Pm (Goldberg - Lazzara) 7-0 passes Status of Fiscal Yea 2009 Budget Mr Gazzolo opened the eeting with a brief explanation of his conversation with Rep Poierer regarding the on -time injection of money into the state and town's budget. It was stressed that this is or FY 2010. Caution is highly recommended when looking beyond FY 2010 for bu get preparation. He also met with the Town Manager to get the green light to begin Fincom meetings with the individual department heads, in preparation for the town meeting in May. He reminded the committee that the Board of Selectmen have yet to confirm the town meeting date. It is expected to be around May 15,2009. Mr Gazzolo and Lazzara also met with the Town Manager and Eric Hart (Town Accountant) to review the 5 year forecasted Budget and any last minute updates. The capital budget is due by April 1, 2009 which Eric says will be realistic. The capital budget dollars need to be reviewed in respect to their impact on the 5 year Budget. Charlene advised that the Capital Improvement Committee has been meeting to derive these numbers even though expectations are for no dollars to be available. Mr Gazzolo reminded the Fincom that we need to review in light of safety or emergency preparation requirements. Mr Lazzara also reminded the committee of the Dam project which the Town Engineer, Mr Sullivan has reminded everyone that the Town will be subject to fines if repairs are not completed by the state mandated deadline. The Net School Spending Report will be available for review by April 5, 2009. It will be reflecting the cuts worth approximately $3.5M. The Town Manager also advised that by April 1, 2009 plans for possible streamlining the town's operation will be prepared. "1T' Member's Updates: Tom Ratliff queried Chairman Gazzolo about the email threads between the Town Manager and the Chairman of the School Committee which were copied to this committee and the Selectmen, etc. The topic was regarding the news story that the schools were going to receive $2,094,000 from the state. Mr Gazzolo responded, after some forethought, that the email to the School Chairman was not very professional on behalf of the Town Manager and that it should be left at that. No further discussion. Mr Lazzara updated the Fincom on the progress the Electric Department committee has made regarding their budget preparation for approval. The Light Commissioner's meeting was scheduled for March 23,2009 to review and approve the budget. Mr Lazzara advised that the sub committee did not have all the data to review in a timely fashion and therefore would not be able to recommend to the full Fincom approval of the Electric Department's budget. It was recommended to request a postponement to April. The subcommittee would solicit the additional information from the Electric Dept and then take the proper care to review and ask any additional questions. Their expectation is to be able to provide the Fincom with a summary review and recommendation at the next Fincom meeting on March 26,2009. Charlene Lavin and Jack Goldberg provided some input to the committee regarding the CIP recently held with the School Dept and Parks and Recreation. A priority list of public building improvements, etc was promised for the next Fincom meeting. Mr Gazzolo indicated that 3 - 4 items on Mansfield's "shovel ready" list were in the area of safety, while Mr Lazzara referred the committee members to the state's web site for more details. He indicated that 1 road project had already been approved and Charlene Lavin said she would check with the DPW director for any updates regarding his CIP list of projects. Mr Arnold said that he had minimal time to "plug" the new Town budget numbers into our fiscal budget model. He would need to spend more time to double check and review. Mr Gazzolo said there are still questions on the budgeted dollars for FY 2010 and the additional dollars "plugged" into the FY 2011, the +6% increase for FY 2012, etc. He also noted that although the Fincom had requested that $70,000 be earmarked for the stabilization fund, this had not been agreed to by the Town Manager. Foundation dollars for FY 2011, 2012, 2013 are not yet known and could have a significant impact on the school department budget for those years. It was recommended that Mr's Gazzolo, Arnold, and Goldberg have a workshop to further review the 5 year budget numbers. Mr Gazzolo was clear in stating that the Fincom certainly doesn't want to over react and that it would be in the best interest of the Fincom and the Board of Selectmen to have a more thorough review via the workshop. Since the updated financial numbers had just been received and plugged into the financial model as mentioned above, Chairman Gazzolo recommended that it would be more "''' prudent to conclude this session and be prepared to discuss more clearly at next week's Fincom meeting. Motion To Close at 8:30 p.m. (Lazzara - Lavin) 7 - 0 Passes dL4hJ~71f 9i1JfY'~ 3'c;2u,(]tJ 1Tf