HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINCOM MIN 03262009
Town of Mansfield
Finance Committee
Minutes of March 26, 2009
Attending: James Lazzara
Charlene Lavin
Andres Gazzolo
Karl Chambers
Jack Goldberg
Greg Arnold
Tommy Ratliff
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Motion: To Open at 7:30p.m.
(Goldberg - Lazzara) 7 - 0 Passes
Budget
Mr. Gazzolo began the meeting by saying that a letter was sent to the Town Manager asking to schedule
the one on one meetings with the various departments. There will be an executive meeting between Mr.
Gazzolo, Mr. Lazzara the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen.
There was some discussion in regards to grant money that was received. Mr. Gazzolo said that grant
money is not included in the budget as it is nonrecurring income. Mr. Arnold said that the grant was to
offset Chapter 70 not being increased. Mr. Arnold suggested changing the 70/30 allocation to reflect this
grant money. Mr. Lazzara said that doing so would change the base for the next year and potentially
cause problems. Mr. Gazzolo said that they do not have all of the facts on the grant money yet and that
he wanted to be cautious of the legality of the situation. Mr. Gazzolo said that grants are never taken into
consideration when it comes to the budget. Mr. Lazzara said that the foundation budget shows a
breakdown per school per category and that it may show a deficiency right now as they do not have the
full breakdown.
CIP
Mr. Hart had met with Ms. Lavin the day before to discuss how CIP works. Ms. Lavin said that Mr. Hart
would like to see CIP built into the five year budget. She said that he has the latest version and is
planning to reconfigure for short term borrowing, long term debt and enterprise projects.
Mr. Gazzolo expressed that the town should have more in the five year capital budget for maintenance.
Ms. Lavin said that she doesn't foresee another debt exclusion and that the town needs another plan; she
also said that she would like to see something built in for roads. Mr. Lazzara said that there are projects
that need to be completed regardless of how they are paid for. Mr. Arnold brought up the dam as an
example. Ms. Lavin said that Mr. Hart has seen the list and that CIP still needs to meet to prioritize the
projects.
Electric Department
Mr. Lazzara said that he had looked at the budget and that there is an increase in salaries of 3% and that
as of then there had not been a discussion of a wage freeze. Mr. Goldberg said that the capital and
operational budgets needs to be kept together and that they often offset each other. Mr. Lazzara said
that there is a pole replacement program in effect and that they replace two per month if there is not an
immediate need to change another. Mr. Lazzara said that there is more maintenance and less
infrastructure costs; also some projects overlap on fiscal or calendar years. He said that they have a
chart to track employee costs throughout the year; he has asked to see projections of the split between
capital and operational budgets. He said that they are comfortable with the way that the budget is going
to be presented; but they do not know what the actual numbers will be since the Finance Committee
doesn't make those decisions. He said that the electric department provided them with a five year
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budget; the Finance Committee had some questions and some changes were made to the way that
certain things were explained but not the expenses themselves.
There was a discussion on how the rate is set for the electric department; and Mr. Gazzolo said that he
would like to know how flexible that number is. Mr. Dentino said that the rate payer was overcharged
between October and December of 2008; that should have been reflected in January 2009.
Mr. Lazzara said that the Finance Committee is not making a recommendation on the electric budget so
they can't make a motion. Mr. Goldberg said that nothing has come to the Finance Committee's attention
that makes them uncomfortable and that all of their questions were answered.
Discussion
Mr. Gazzolo told the Committee about an upcoming seminar on April 6 and another on April 16.
Mr. Gazzolo said that there was an allegation brought up about illegal meetings of the Finance Committee
and that there is a letter from the Attorney General's office that this would be investigated; the Finance
Committee had still not received a copy of that letter.
Mr. Gazzolo said that there is a meeting the next day with the schools to discuss handling the grant
money and that if there were any questions to please submit them to the Committee.
Mr. Gazzolo said that he, Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Chambers would be meeting with the light commissioner
on April 1 at 7:00p.m. and that the meeting was open for anyone else to attend.
Vote
Motion to approve minutes of February 12 Finance Committee meeting.
(Lazzara - Goldberg) 6 - 0 Passes
Vote
Motion to approve minutes of February 26 Finance Committee meeting.
(Lavin - Lazzara) 6 - 0 Passes
Vote
Motion to approve minutes of March 5 Finance Committee meeting.
(Lazzara - Chambers) 5 - 0 - 1 Passes
Vote
Motion to approve minutes of March 12 Finance Committee meeting.
(Chambers - Lazzara) 6 - 0 Passes
Vote
Motion to approve minutes of March 19 Finance Committee meeting.
(Lazzara - Chambers) 6 - 0 Passes
Motion: To Close at 8:40p.m.
(Chambers - Lazzara) 6 - 0 Passes
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Date of Approval