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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance Comm. 08/17/20236 Mr. Jack Cooney, and Ms. Melinda Tarsi. Absent: Mr. Michael Flaherty Guest: Mr. Barry LaCasse, Assistant Town Manager Minutes: Sharon Varricchione VIANSFlELD MASSACHUSETTS 1. Call the Meeting to order: Ms. Sara Walsh, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:OOpm. 2. Approval of Minutes: 5/31/23 and 6/15/23 3. Motion: To adopt the meeting minutes 5/31/23 and 6/15/23 Passes: 5:0 (Feely/Thurston) 4. FY23 Year End Results: Mr. LaCasse gave updates on the following: Local Receipts: $2.829 Million Dollars represented the money we collected from the local receipts above budget. This is a good thing as we always want to be positive. He also stated that we projected conservatively and that they did that for a reason as we always want to have free cash and to have consistent free cash which the bond rating agency looks for. Motor Vehicle Excise Tax: came in $341,000 above budget which typically indicates the strength of the economy as people are buying automobiles. Earning On Investments: was one of the best performers of the local receipts which came in around $635,000 above budget which is primarily due to the rate of return the treasurer collector is receiving on monies held by the Town General Fund Revenue. Gen Fund Other Revenue: came in around $931,000 above budget. He then spoke about some of the highlights that contributed to that number. Medicaid reimbursements came in for $92,000, Auction Items for $60,000, the Other category for $505,000 which included the Opioid money that we are getting on an annual basis and finally there was the Host Community Agreement money that came in from ReLeaf our marijuana dispensary which came in around $275,000. Ambulance Revenue: came in around $342,000 above budget. During Covid Ambulance Revenue suffered as residents were not taking ambulances to the hospital and now this is an indication that this is coming back which is good however, you never want to see that many rescue transports. State Revenue: came in around $683,000 above budget and that is primarily because the hotel, meals and cannabis tax monies we received were above budget. Hotel came in at $357,000 and meals $161,000 and $164,000 in cannabis which is always good to see and indicative of a recovering economy. Mr. Feely asked how the trajectory looked. Mr. LaCasse said he will share the three-year comparison during the next meeting and you will be able to see that upswing trajectory. General Government: Mr. LaCasse said the General Fund is $107 Million which was approved from the last Town Meeting. The revised budget was approved at the Town Meeting plus other moneys that were introduced to the General Fund through the Town Meeting or the Special Town Meeting. The interest that was added from the December 22, Town Meeting was the following: $138,000 we increased the Finance Committees reserve fund by $450,000 at that same meeting. We had a decrease in the budget understate Assessment that was based on the final Cherry Sheet which is a negative -$273,000. We took out the Opioid Stabilization Fund $301,000 and $280,000 was transferred for the OPEB liability that came out of Free Cash so that was put into the General Fund. We added the money from the December 22 Town Meeting of compensated absences of $196,000, we have a Capital Project pay down for debt service of $422,000 and another transfer of compensated absences of $160,000 at the last Town Meeting. When all of those .transfers were added up, it came to $1.6 Billion dollars. You add the $1.6 Billion to the $107,000 from the approved budget, that is where you get your $109 Million Dollar revised General Fund. Mr. LaCasse then explained how much of the $106,970 Dollars we have spent and there is now $2.5 Million remaining in the General Fund in FY23. He then mentioned that they needed to subtract some things like the encumbrances from the Schools and the Town and then we have to add encumbrances from FY22 that didn't get spent. He then mentioned that if you combine the $2.52 Million with those encumbrances it comes to $1.832 Million for the turn backs, it's second part of the money that goes into the Free Cash calculation. In addition, we have the $2.89 Million Dollars in Local Receipts, $1.8 Million in turn backs from the General Fund and then you also have the $505,000 that we didn't spend of Free Cash from last year so if you add up those three numbers it's in the ball park of about $5.1 Million Dollars. He then added they have been very conservative and this reflects that. Mr. Feely inquired about how we have money so we may not need to borrow money. Mr. LaCasse mentioned that depends on how they deal with the CIP items. Mr. LaCasse then mentioned that he put together a very rough draft of the CIP plan using cash that we anticipate we will get as we don't expect to be borrowing. Final FY23 Enterprise Numbers: Water: we came in at $595,000 above budget for revenue, Sewer came in $28,000 under budget for revenue. Parking we came in at $165,000 above budget and Airport came in at $9,500 above budget. The enterprises by enlarge except for Sewer were on budget or above. S. FY24 Budget Update: Mr. LaCasse said we are only one month in so far, in period one. Revenue: Motor Vehicle Excise Tax is at $132,000 so far and last year at this time we bought in $123,000 which is a little higher. Earnings on investments we bought in around $21,000 last year and this year we bought in around $74,000. Ambulance receipts last year was $128,000 and this year is $149,000. For Building Permits was $24,000 last year and this year were around $42,000. Overall, we bought in around $630,000 and last year at this time we bought in $425,000 so were up around $204,000, 48%, which is positive. Mr. LaCasse then stated it wasn't worth it to do a year to date summary for expenses for this meeting but he does think it's worth it for the next meeting as there we'll be two periods behind us. Ms. Walsh inquired about the Cherry Sheets. Mr. LaCasse stated that the State hadn't settled their budget until August and that when it all shook out; our assessments had decreased by $11,000.On the Revenue side they gave us $42,000 less which netted out to a $31,000 hit to our budget. We will deal with that during the recap time and we will adjust one of our local receipts downward by $31,000 so it will balance out. Sara asked about the Cherry Sheet. Mr. LaCasse reiterated for Revenue, they gave us 42k less which is a hit to our budget. Local receipts were downward which is not a big deal but it's frustrating when the state comes back with different money. 6. questions from Community: 7. Survey Planning: Ms. Tarsi shared a survey draft link with the committee for everyone to review. She included a question about the utilization of different Town services in case that's a potential impact on how folks might view financial decisions. Ms. Tarsi used a couple of questions from Whitman, one of them regarding an override, she included a question about how to increase revenues and decrease costs and a question about balancing the budget, folks preferred and least preferred method to balance it. She added a few demographic questions and asked for any suggestions. The Committee also discussed getting this ready for the Special Town Meeting for this Fall. Ms. Walsh said they have time and she will share with the other Departments to see if they have any other questions to add. Ms. Tarsi will also run this through her intuitional review board now so they are ready for the Fall. Ms. Walsh thanked her so much for doing this. S. Committee Updates: • Mr. Feely mentioned that he's been getting school committee updates and that he had nothing on CIP. • Ms. Thurston said they should divvy up the goals during the next meeting when everyone is present. • Ms. Walsh said the Budget Sub Committee will be starting up in a couple weeks and there will be a TO Board Meeting at the end of September. • Ms. Thurston stated that September or October would be the next Audit meeting. • Mr. Feely talked about the new COA building assessment and the funding. It was a great presentation and Ms. Walsh will try to get them to come present to them in September or October. • Ms. Walsh said the Schools completed their building assessment and the presentation was good and she will share it. Mr. Feely talked about prioritization in general, as all these items will be coming up. We have to maintain our buildings, build new buildings and fix the fields and more. items not known in 48 hours: None 9. Finance Committee Member Comments: Ms. Thurston said thank you to Ms. Tarsi for doing the survey. 10. Adjournment: Motion: To n the meeting at Passes:5 (Feel/Thurston) / Z/Z Date