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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance Comm. 01/14/2025Town o, f Mansfield 6 Park Row, Mansfield, Massacbuselis 02048 � Finance Committee ?V5 Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 Present: Ms. Sara Walsh, Chair, Mr. Scott Feely, Vice Chair; Ms. Greta Thurston, Cie rk,j ivl1 Goldfien, Mr. Jack Cooney and Mr. Ryan Martin were present in the MBC meeting room at Tow Also Present: Matthew Violette, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Not Present: Mr. Michael Flaherty Opening Meeting 1. Open Meeting Mr. Matthew Violette called the Finance Committee meeting to order at 7:42 PM. 2. Discussion and Consideration to Approve of Meeting Minutes December 19, 2024 Motion: To approve the December 19, 2024 meeting minutes. (Feely/Martin) Passes 6:0 Reorganization 3. Reorganize Chair, Vice Chair, Clerk Motion: To nominate Sara Walsh as Chair of the Finance Committee. (Feely/Tarsi-Goldfien) Passes: 6:0 4. Committee Assignments Motion: To nominate Scott Feely as Vice Chair. (Walsh/Cooney) Passes: 6:0 Motion: To nominate Ryan Martin as Clerk. (Walsh/Cooney) Passes: 6:0 The following members were assigned to the following committees: Budget Subcommittee —Jack Cooney & Sara Walsh CIP — Scott Feely & Greta Thurston Audit Committee —Jack Cooney Insurance Task Force — Scott Feely & Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien Downtown —Greta Thurson TIF — Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien School Liaison — Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien & Jack Cooney School Building Needs Assessment — Scott Feely & Ryan Martin Tarsi - Mr. Martin commented that a Finance Committee member should be present when the future trash contract is considered. Mr. Violette stated that he would look into how that renewal is handled and how a member of the Finance Committee could participate. Financial Updates S. FY25 Update Mr. Matthew Violette gave the following update on General Fund Expenses. He is watching the snow and ice budget of $389,000 and as of now the Town has spent $159,000 of the budget. Mr. Martin asked how that money has been spent since the Town hasn't even had a storm that has resulted in school being cancelled. Mr. Violette stated that when they go out to snow or plow it is always about a minimum of $100,000 for each storm. Mr. Feely mentioned that the Town always leaves the snow and ice budget the same because State law says you cannot deficit spend without raising the budget the next year. Mr. Violette stated that if needed the Town could appropriate free cash at the Annual Town Meeting, or we could request a transfer. Continuing on with the update, Mr. Violette stated that the transfers in the Special Town Meeting warrant were all approved. He does not feel that they all need to be transfer yet, so the Town Accountant will move those funds as needed upon approval of request. Enterprise Fund Expenses are all tracking as they should be. The parking expenses this year over last year is now picking up the state regional assessment. On the revenue side, water collections are at 57% collected. The sale of water to the City of Attleboro will boost the water revenue this year. Mr. Violette stated that when we set rates the Town will have to account for this anomaly and balance out the increase. He noted that the unfortunate dynamic is that we want water customers to conserve water, but it results in an increase in cost to the customer. Parking fees collected is at 52% for the year. Sewer is at 46% collected through December. Mr. Violette stated that we are still expecting $467,000 sewer -related receipt coming in from the Town of Easton. Mr. Martin asked about the Special Town Meeting vote allowing large developments to go on either sewer or septic. Mr. Violette stated that it could be an option for the developer to pay a betterment to get added to the sewer, but that would depend on where the development was being built in Town. Mr. Martin noted that this flexibility is a positive for the Town. Mr. Violette continued with the General Fund update. He stated that local receipt revenue is at 41%. He noted that motor vehicle excise tax won't come in until February and other taxes such as hotel and meals taxes are doing well. Cannabis however has dropped off even with two business in Town. Building permits were at $461,000 at this time last year, and this year they are only at $96,000. One reason for this might be that last year's Chocolate Factory project had huge permits and fees. Mr. Martin asked if the larger percentage of building permits came from new buildings or renovated. Mr. Violette stated that he would guess that most of the revenue from building permits are from renovations not new buildings. Ms. Walsh asked about PILOTS and what they are related to. Mr. Violette stated that MMED pays a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). Ms. Walsh asked to see the PILOT agreement with MMED. Mr. Violette said he would provide the agreement. Mr. Violette then stated that investment income is down based on rate cuts. He noted that he will be looking into the Prudent Investor, and he understands that there are pros and cons, but it does give the Town options. Mr. Martin asked about borrowing. Mr. Violette let the Committee know that status of borrowing and how the Town is positioned to decide as the borrowing climate allows. Mr. Violette said that on the Miscellaneous Revenues the Town does not budget anything because we don't have to, so it helps us to offset in other areas. He noted that Miscellaneous Revenue is down this year, partly because the opioid money does flow through there anymore. Also, the sale of the Fire Station affected it. Miscellaneous Revenue sometimes comes for things like sale of disposed vehicles, community host agreements for cannabis, etc. Mr. Violette then stated that Local Receipts are tightening up and for Fiscal Year 2026 he expects the local receipts will be about the same as where they are at right now. 6. FY26 Budget and Scenario Discussion Mr. Violette then provided a summary of where the budget projections are currently. The deficient is down from $4.9M to $1.9M, where it had been at the last Finance Committee meeting. The decision was made to use all remain healthcare stabilization funds, Regarding the overlay, the FY2026 budget plan is to utilize some excess funds that were left over from previous years. In regard to the Schools, the plan is to move money from their budget to Capital Improvement Plan. Mr. Violette stated the Town is looking at offering a high deductible health insurance plan to employees that will hopefully be appealing to some employees by contributing funds toward employee Health Savings Accounts. The current anticipated savings would be about $300,000 in FY2026. Ms. Walsh asked how many employees would have to switch in order to make that savings. Mr. Violette stated that they are still looking at that, but it would be a significant amount. Mr. Violette said he would like to have this conversation again once the Town receives the final FY2026 insurance rates. Mr. Martin stated that he believes that there would be better success if the Town did not state that the reason for the new high deductible plan is for the Town to save money, but rather for the employee to save money. Ms. Walsh added that it might play differently with employees if the message is that the reasoning is to save jobs. Mr. Violette felt that we need to be clear to employees that we need save money on health insurance because the rates are increasing so significantly. Mr. Vioiette then stated that these items collectively brought the shortfall Town to approximately $3M, so the work now begins to reduce the remaining deficit. The School and Town will both be looking closely at how to make reductions. Mr Cooney asked if Mr. Violette is involved at all with the School budget. Mr. Violette stated that he is not very involved with their budget, but understands what they face in general. He noted that he recognizes that the School's big wildcard in their budget is their special education costs. Mr. Violette then gave a summary of some of the budget changes that are being considered. For example, they would include shifting some Park and Recreation salaries into their revolving account. He noted that move could be considered risky because if there was another year, such as we experienced with Covid, where Recreation programs were limited, the revenue would be affected and there may be challenges with funding salaries in this way. Also, there is a custodian retirement on the horizon so this salary will be eliminated and replaced with a custodial contract. The result will be an overall reduction. Ms. Walsh wanted it noted that elimination of the police and fire requests for additional personnel would only occur under the balanced budget scenario. She stated, should we get to an override situation these positions will be remain in the FY2026 budget. Ms. Walsh asked what would be most impactful to help public safety. Mr. Violette said that police and fire both have options for grant opportunities to onboard new personnel. Mr. Cooney asked for an explanation of the grants. Mr. Violette responded that the police have already been awarded a grant approval for a COPS grant, and if the override passes, fire could apply for a SAFER grant. If approved and utilized, they could move forward with hiring, but we would need to build up the budget to prepare for the end of those grants as they are limited in how long they fund the public safety salaries. Ms. Walsh summarized that currently we are at about a $2M shortfall. The Town and Schools have been asked for two scenarios. First is a balance budget, with an understanding of where the cuts are coming from and another with what it would be using the reserve funds and then a preferred budget amount with override. Mr. Martin asked what dollar amount is the difference between 15% and 19% insurance cost increase. Mr. Violette responded that he estimates that it would be between $300,000 and $500,000. Ms. Walsh stated that the Tri- Board will need to develop a timeline for the next steps leading up to Annual Town Meeting. Mr. Violette stated that with the public safety positions being added an override would approximately $2.3M, anything less will result in a shortfall next year. Mr. Martin then asked about the outlook for FY2027 and Mr. Violette responded that most of the possible actions to reduce more will have been eliminated in FY2026. 7. Follow up from Special Town Meeting Ms. Walsh commented that she felt it was an efficient meeting. The Committee members agreed that the CIP items were well explained in the presentation and through the answering of questions from voters. Mr. Martin asked if some articles had been summarized, but Ms. Walsh clarified that the motions were full. Ms. Walsh noted that she would like to participate in the Public's Article Reviews that will take place prior to the Annual Town Meeting. 8. Financial Policy Discussion Ms. Walsh stated that there was feedback from Town Counsel on policies and they are outdated. Ms, Walsh will ask Mr. DeRensis his recommended updated policies. Ms. Walsh updated the committee on counsel's recommendations on debt exclusion consideration and timing. She suggested that the committee should review their debt exclusion policy. Mr. Violette gave examples of why debt exclusion as a percentage is a good thing. Questions from the Community 9. Questions from the community There were no questions from the community. Committee Business 10. Town Report Finance Committee Page Ms. Walsh commented that she with circulate the draft page for the 2024 Annual Town Report, so everyone has a chance to see it before it goes to press. 11.Survey The committee discussed that now is a good time to release the survey after Ms. Tarsi-Goldfein distributes Nancy Griffin, from the Town Manager's office will help with communication through social media and the newsletter at Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien's request. 12. January -June Schedule Ms. Walsh communicated that the Finance Committee will continue to meet every third Thursday, unless a change is needed due to school vacations or other conflicts, which will be the case in February. Therefore, the Committee will plan to meet on second Thursday in February. 13. Any Items Not Anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting There were no items. 14. Adjourn Motion: To adjourn the Finance Committee meeting of January 14, 2025 at 9:20 PM. (Feely/Tarsi-Goldfien) Passe 0 19 ure Minutes prepared by Nancy Griffin Date Town of Mansfield 6 Pan6 Ron, Mansfield, Massaebusells 02048 Meetine Minutes lanuary 14. 2025 IRI1 ' .- �s. 21 1 ) Present: Ms. Sara Walsh, Chair, Mr. Scott Feely, Vice Chair; Ms. Greta:Thu,rsto'nj Berk; Mr. Jack Cooney, Ms. Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien and Ryan Martin were present'at'Mansfield Town Hall in Meeting Room 3a/b. Not Present: Michael Flaherty Opening Meeting 1. Open Meeting Ms. Sara Walsh called the Finance Committee meeting to order at 6:27 PM. Finance Committee Join School Committee for Budget Discussion The Finance Committee members had a discussion with members of the School Committee. Please refer to the meeting minutes of the School Committee for more detailed information. Jack Cooney arrived at 6:40 pm. Adjourn to Regular Finance Committee Agenda in Town Hall, 31 Floor MBC Committee Meeting Room Motion: To adjourn to the regular Finance Committee Meeting at 7:40 PM. (Tarsi-Goldfien/Cooney) Passes 6:0 Jl Zo/75---, Sigridtre Date Minutes prepared by Nancy Griffin