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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance Comm. 08/29/2024Town of Mansfield 6 Park Roo, Mansfield, Massachusetts 02048 Finance Committee rsi- Goldfien, Mr. lack Cooney, and Mr. Ryan Martin were present in meeting room 3 A/B at Town Hall. Also Present: Matthew Violette, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Not Present: Mr. Michael Flaherty Opening Meeting 1. Open Meeting " P-1 Ms. Sara Walsh called the Finance Committee meeting to order at 7:01PM. 2. Approval of Minutes July 25, 2024 n Motion: To approve the July 25, 2024 meeting minutes. (Feely/Cooney) Passes 6:0 rn Financial Updates 1. Budget Transfer Memo from Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director 7/8/24 Discussion Ms. Walsh asked Mr. Violette to discuss the memo he sent in July in regards to salary adjustments. Mr. Violette explained and went through the salary adjustments that were needed in Fiscal Year 2024 and 2025 due to the five contracts that were not finalized until Fiscal Year 2024. He anticipates that at Fall Town Meeting he will need to put additional money into the Finance Committee Reserve Fund in anticipation of needing money for salaries and noted that the fund only has about $100,000 currently. He expects he will need about $300,000 for salaries towards the end of fiscal year 2025. The members of the Finance Committee asked a few questions that Mr. Violette responded to. 2. FY 24 Year End Update Mr. Violette then provided an update on Free Cash, he stated that it has not been certified yet and is going to happen later this year. He further noted that the State gives the Town until September 30th to submit a balance sheet. Mr. Violette stated that he anticipates that there will be approximately $4.2 million of Free Cash for Fall Town Meeting. Mr. Violette stated that water and sewer enterprise accounts did not meet their revenue estimates and tightened up on the expenses towards the end of the fiscal year. He stated that the parking enterprise brought in over half a million in revenue which is not at pre-covid amounts but it is rebounding. 3. FY 25 Financial Update Mr. Violette stated that there was nothing of significance at this point in time. He stated that the Town Accountant is working on closing out fiscal year 2024 and until that is completed he cannot run historical reports. He stated that as of now there has been nothing out of the ordinary through July 315t. Mr, Feely asked how the new Accountant was doing and Mr. Violette responded that he is doing a great job and the Town is very happy to have him. Ms. Walsh asked if anything on the watch list and Mr. Violette responded that he has nothing right now. 4. FY 26 Budget Update and Review of 5 Year Forecast Scenarios Mr. Violette stated that the Budget Subcommittee has been working on a five-year forecast. He stated that at the last meeting there were three different versions of a balanced budget presented with a 1%, 3%and 5%for town and schools and the percent increase is for the salary and operation side of those budgets. He is also estimating 8%for insurance and half a percent for cherry sheet assessments in these budgets. He stated that as part of the Budget Sub meetings they have been fine tuning estimates to try and get the most accurate picture for the next five years. He stated that goal of doing this is to build consensus on the assumptions and believes this is going to be a valuable tool if there is going to be an override and welcomes any feedback that anyone has on it. Mr. Cooney asked if the five-year forecast would be shared with the public and Mr. Violette responded that it would be and Ms. Walsh noted that it will be used to help build consensus with the Tri- Boards. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien stated that this information would be helpful to the Town and School Needs Assessment Committee because when looking at the estimated debt breakdown without anything else added to it and we are five years out and it does not have any large capital projects factored in. Ms. Walsh asked Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien if the Mass Municipal Association's Finance Committee is discussing this because things cannot continue like this and communities cannot absorb these large increases. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien responded that MMA is constantly lobbying for increases in unrestricted government aid but there is more movement on school funding. S. Trash and Recycling Mechanism Discussion Ms, Walsh began this discussion stating that have a new trash fee to help the gap and it is also part of the levy. She stated that there will be more discussion on whether it remains split or if the entire cost becomes a fee. Mr. Violette said there are many things done by different communities. He stated that Mansfield is charging a fee of $121.47 which will contribute about $815,000 to local receipts revenues to the General Fund. There are three main options and the first is to have $815,000 coming in as local receipts and have it go to a revolving fund and the $2.5 million of the trash cost would come from the General Fund. The second option is to setup an enterprise fund which its own business and have to account for all the costs of running that business and the trash fee would end up with a full fee of $400-450 range because it has to include indirect costs like insurance benefits, payroll, salary, just like water and sewer enterprise accounts. The third option would eliminate the fee and incorporate the cost into the override. Mr. Violette stated that there are pros and cons to each of these options. Mr. Feely noted that the Commercial and Industrial taxpayers pay for trash and the schools even though they do not get the benefit of the service and they are subsidizing the residents. He said as a Finance Committee they represent all tax payers and need to keep that in mind. Mr. Martin commented that if trash costs continue to rise greater than 2 % percent the fee is underrepresenting the growing problem, Questions from the Community 6. Questions from the community Mr. Greg Penesis of 12 Shannon Lane who was attending virtually via GoToWebinar asked questions in regards to the cannabis businesses in Town and the host community agreements. He then complimented the Finance Committee for the work they do. Mr. Violette left the meeting at 8:24PM. Committee Business 7. Policy Update Ms. Walsh provided an update and stated that she would send a memo and can discuss at the October meeting. 8. Schedule Update Ms. Walsh stated that there will be a September 11th Budget Subcommittee meeting and on September 19th there will be a Tri-Board all three boards together instead of a Finance Committee meeting. 9. Survey Discussion Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien stated that Needs Assessment does not have any questions that they would want added because it is too soon for putting ideas out there. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien noted that a draft could be ready for October meeting and then have it be sent out after the November election, 10. Liaison/Committee Updates Mr. Feely stated that the School Needs Committee Needs met and there are some scary numbers being discussed for projects. 11. Member Comments There were no member comments. 12. Adjourn Motion: To ad'ourn the Finance Committee meeting of August 29, 2024 at 8:4513M. (Feely/Cooney) Passes 6:0 Signa Date Minutes prepared by Carrie Champagne