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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance Comm 06/26/2025Town of Mansfield 6 Park Row, Mansfield, Massachusetts 02048 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes June 26, 2025 Present: Ms. Sara Walsh, Chair, Mr. Jack Cooney, Ms. Melinda Tarsi-Goldfien, Ms. Greta Loukos and Mr. Michael Flaherty were present in the Meeting Room 2 A/B at Town Hall. Mr. Matthew Violette, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director and Mr. Mike Ahern, Public Buildings was also present. Not Present: Mr. Scott Feely and Mr. Ryan Martin Opening Meeting 1. Open Meeting Ms. Walsh called the Finance Committee meeting to order at 7:05PM. 2. Discussion and Consideration to Approve May 15, 2025 Meeting Minutes w Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of May 15, 2025. (Loukos/Flaherty) E) '_ Passes 3:0:1 (Tarsi-Goldfien abstained) r ;7 r- r co Financial Updates„ n „� 3. Staffing Updates r,ID FriQj c� Mr. Violette provided an update on the positions that were not being filled aathose tail at wire reduced due to the override failing. He stated that there is a part-time front desk position ailhe CCi#, a foil -time position in Accounting and a part-time Zoning admin that were eliminated. He stated that Town ClerPs office, Library and Highway lost a position through attrition and three employees at Mansfield Green were reduced from 24 hours a week down to 8 hours a week. Mr. Violette then announced that this was his last Finance Committee meeting as he is replacing Ed Donoghue at Mansfield Schools. Ms. Walsh congratulated him on the move and thought it was a good opportunity for him. Mr. Cooney arrived at 7:08PM. 4. FY25 Year End Updates Mr. Violette stated that Local Receipts met estimates and are $500,000 over the estimates but noted that this is still under what has been seen in recent years. He stated that receipts were over estimates by $2.4M in Fiscal Year 2023 and $2.8M in Fiscal Year 2024. He stated that the building permits exceeded estimates in the amount of $270,000. He stated that they are still waiting for hotels and meals tax and cannabis tax so the number should increase a bit. Mr. Violette then went through the Enterprise Fund Revenues. He stated that the sewer reserve were over estimates by $6,600 and that was due to the increase that was made to rates in the fall. The water reserve was $700,000 over estimates, parking was $16,000 over and the airport was $12,000 over. Mr. Violette stated it was very important to meet those estimates. Mr. Violette then spoke about the expense side and the reserve fund transfers that were needed. He stated that there are another three warrants to process Fiscal Year 2025 bills and then he will know if there are any turn backs from departments which become Free Cash. He stated that none of the enterprise funds need transfer requests. S. FY26 Updates Mr. Violette Stated that there is no warrant activity yet. He stated that it is a reduced budget that is balanced. Ms. Walsh added that they will start talking about Fiscal Year 2027 in a couple weeks. Ms. Loukos stated that the Boston Globe had an article on health insurance rates and asked if it was going to be factored in. Mr. Violette stated that the Fiscal Year 2026 has the actual number and the numbers in the article will affect Fiscal Year 2027 and he is using a 15% increase for the health insurance estimate. Mr. Violette then stated that the Town is looking into what plans are offered and compare them across other insurance groups. He stated some communities are self -insured but the Town is at 100% utilization so does not make sense to self -insure. He noted that that any changes have to be bargained with the unions. Mr. Cooney asked if this affected all communities and Mr. Violette stated it does. Mr. Violette then stated that there were so many years when the increase was under 1% and he is hoping that these high increases do not become the norm. 6. Reserve Fund Transfer Requests Mr. Violette then reviewed five Reserve Fund Transfer requests that he needed the Finance Committee to approve. Mr. Violette stated that the first request was for legal fees of $138,000. He stated that these are expenses paid out of Town Manager and Select Board legal lines to cover unforeseen legal bills for the investigation and they would have been in budget without these expenses. He stated that the second request was for the Firefighters contract that settled on June 30, 2024 so those increases were not included in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. The amount of this transfer was $300,000. Mr. Violette then reviewed the third transfer request which was for $6,000 for testing to find out what contaminates are in the Roland Green School building because the Select Board wants to get the building torn down as soon as possible. Ms. Walsh stated that she would like the entire costs tracked for the project to see what is spent. Mr. Violette then provided information on the fourth request for $200,000 for remediation of contaminates at the cell phone tower that is being constructed but where lead was found in the ground and he is hoping that the project will cost less. Ms. Loukos asked if it was going to be a phased project should they just fund part of the project now. Mr. Violette explained that the reserve fund closes at the end of the year and the funds do not roll over, they get turned back to free cash. He recommended that they fund the full project now because the funds can only be used for this one project and there is only going to be $150,000 in the fund starting on July 1'i for Fiscal Year 2026, Mr. Violette then stated that the final request is for $8,500 for cameras at the animal shelter and storage for what is being recorded. He explained that people are bringing animals and leaving them outside in boxes or tied to the fence and they need to monitor activity. There also was an incident where someone forcefully came in and took their animal that had been seized so the cameras will provide safety for the volunteers. Ms. Walsh asked if this was an unforeseen expense and asked if this should have been a capital project. Mr. Violette stated that it has been an uptick in activity however it is below the capital projects threshold. Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien asked if they can check in a couple months to make sure its effective and that a more robust system is not needed. Motion: To approve the reserve fund transfers as presented. (Loukos/Flaherty) Passes 5:0 7. Bristol County Pension Contribution Ms. Walsh started the discussion asking Mr. Violette what the Town paid annually and he responded that it was $7.31M in Fiscal Year 2026 and it will be $7.7M in Fiscal Year 2027. Mr. Violette stated that any expense over 3% is a problem and needs to be looked at closely. Ms. Walsh stated that they adjusted the calculations to get all towns caught up and the end date keeps moving as to when the Town will catch up. Ms. Walsh stated that she spoke with Roxanne Donovan from Bristol County Retirement and she is willing to meet with the Finance Committee. Ms. Walsh stated that she is hoping that this can be looked at because all Towns going for overrides and would like to explore if the payments could be reduced. 8. Financial Policies Ms. Walsh stated that she has corresponded with new Town Counsel on the financial policies and will have updates on that soon. 9. District Improvement Financing (DIF) Ms. Walsh stated that she received information from Sarah Raposa, Director of Planning & Development. Mr. Violette stated that he attended a brief meeting on this and he read information from Mass Development that explained what DIF is. He stated that it is a useful tool that allows a municipality to identify and capture incremental tax revenues from new private investment in a specific area, and direct them toward public improvement and economic development projects. He stated that DIF is not a new tax or a special assessment and it does not increase a municipality's tax rate. He stated in Mansfield the district would be the TOD/Downtown and the new growth would be directed towards the parking garage. Mr. Violette commented that it is a good concept but he also noted the need for new growth to fund other services. Ms. Walsh asked if this was actively being looked at and Mr. Violette stated it was but was unsure if it would be considered for this fall Town Meeting. Ms. Walsh asked when this is on a Select Board agenda could Ms. Champagne let the Finance Committee know. Committee Business 10. Survey Planning Ms. Tarsi-Goldfein noted the updates she made to the survey. She asked the committee if they wanted to have questions around how residents voted. Ms. Walsh stated that she would like to know and understand why residents voted the way they did either for or against the override and what would it take to get them to pass an override. Mr. Cooney stated that he would like to ask what would they cut. Ms. Loukos commented that it would be good to know if people are surprised by the cuts that are happening. Mr. Cooney commented that it was clear what was being cut if the override failed. Ms. Loukos stated that it would be good to ask if they attended any of the meetings and how do they want to get the information about an override. 11. Committee & Liaison Updates Ms. Walsh stated that Budget Subcommittee will begin meeting in August or September. 12. Summer Schedule Ms. Walsh confirmed that the July meeting would be on the regular scheduled day of July 171h and Ms. Champagne would look to see if August 28' is available for the August meeting. 13. Any items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting There were no items. 14. Member Comments Ms. Loukos stated that it has been great working with Mr. Violette and glad he will be on the school side. Mr. Cooney wished him the best. Mr. Flaherty and Ms. Tarsi-Goldfien also offered their congratulations and wished him the best of luck in his new role. 15. Adjourn Motion: To adjourn the Finance Committee meeting of June 26, 2025 at 8:0413M. (Loukos/Cooney) Passes 5:0 qz;-r�) 76, Z I Sig ' r Date Minutes prepared by Carrie Champagne