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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINCOM03142013 Town of Mansfield Finance Committee Minutes of March 14 2013 R E':;W !'VED l'�;S OFFICE 5 d Present: Chairman Walter Wilk; Liz Christo, Clerk; MInAtIr5:5Miistia8:117.5Brien, Scott Feely and Yogen Chemburkar. Others present included Mark Morse, School Business Manager for Southeastern Regional School; Bill Flannery, School Committee Representative ofiSouthkiasierii Regional School for Mansfield; Joe Mulkern, Conservation Commission Chairman; Mike 4eaiey;' Conse vitiia�n Commission Member; James Turnbull, Conservation Commission Member Absent: Steve Schoonveld, Vice Chairman; James Bazinet, Member Call to Order: Chairman Wilk called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Presentation of Proposed FY 14 Budget for-Southeastern Regional School The budget has not been approved by School Committee. The School Committee is formed with one member from each community and two members from Brockton. The numbers are based as of October 1, 2012 enrollment. There are 54 students from Mansfield which is an increase of 8 students. Total students are 1,042. Chapter 70 (State aid) is $13,473,735; local assessment to community is $7,342,662; and taking $200,000 out of Excess and Deficiency Account (E&D) to get a proposed operating budget of $21,016,397. E&D account can hold up to 5% of budget. Cost of transportation is $1,266,255 less transportation aid (54%) reimbursement $676,000; balance of transportation is $590,255. Other expenditures are MSBA (renovation/expansion) project. The construction started about a year ago and should be completed in another year. The renovation/expansion project includes a new gym, library, cafeteria, science labs, and media center. The whole school is getting a face lift. Total 2014 total budget is $22,718,977. Local assessment FY13 was $449,127 and assessment for FY14 is $518,625. The factors that the assessments are based on are student enrollment and enrollment as percentage of community. The municipal revenue of growth factor went up to 4.8% and this is calculated by property valuation and income. Mansfield has been paying above targeted share. The Governor is proposing Mansfield's share be lowered, but this is based on his tax proposals which has not been approved. Their budget process is weighing all requests and what they need for their departments; they look at all requests and decided what they have for money and what they have for requests. The budget will be voted on by School Committee in April. Scott Feely asks if they plan their budget on a year-to-year basis. Mark Morse says their line items are done on a year-to-year basis; however, capital plans are done on a five-year basis. Yogen Chemburkar asks if Page I 1 Finance Committee Meeting March 14,2013 assessment is based on per student or are there other factors. Mark Morse says the biggest factors are enrollment, property valuation and income. All students get the same services but each community pays a different amount. There are 12-15 different trades at school. They have their own superintendent and principal. Presentation and Review of Conservation Commission FY 14 Budget Joe Mulkern, Chairman of Conservation Commission, says the budget is basically the same. The biggest thing they are asking for an additional 8 hours per week for Conservation Agent, Elizabeth Leidhold. She is presently at 19 hours per week. They have a lot of projects coming up and Elizabeth has to review every building permit. Mike Healey, Conservation Member, says the only revenue that is gained by a permit is if they have to do a filing. The State mandates a fee for a particular type of filing. A certain percentage of that goes to the DEP and a certain percentage goes to the Town. It goes into a special fund that has restrictions on what you can use it for. It cannot be used to pay the agent's salary. A Conservation Commission is mandated by the Wetlands Protections Act in the State of Massachusetts. Walter asks how the process works. Joe Mulkern states that when building permits are pulled, they all need to be looked at by Conservation Commission. If there are wetlands in the area, the Conservation Agent has to physically go and look at the property. Whether if falls under Conservation Commission's jurisdiction or not, the agent needs to do a visual inspection. There is also a lot of paperwork for the Agent. Conservation Commission does have the authority to issue fines. However, they do not. The Finance Committee wants to look at building permit fees and try to generate some revenue for Conservation Commission. The position of the Conservation Agent was reduced from a full-time position to a part-time position 3 years ago when the current agent was hired. Scott Feely suggest we look into some support in the administrative area to lessen the load for Agent. Mike Healey says according to the Wetland Protection Act, Conservation Commission must have a hearing within 21 days of their application. At this point, the Conservation Commission only meets once a month. They are saying they cannot hold more meetings more because the Agent does not have more hours. Conservation Commission was not invited to the Planning Board session with industrial park. The Finance Committee suggests reaching out an olive branch. Scott Feely suggests making the Town website more user friendly to residents to help with more standard questions with wetlands. Conservation Commission is supportive of industrial park. Ruff of Will make a few changes to the minutes of February 28, 2013 and March 2, 2013 and bring back at next meeting for approval. Page I 2 Finance Committee Meeting March 14,2013 Updates Walter Wilk talked with Bill Ross and the Town and School have their priority list almost complete. He also talked to John Stanbrook today and he is almost complete closing the open articles accounts. Finance Committee is going to need to sit down before Town Meeting and get full accounting of all articles. Walter Wilk also talked to Bill Ross in regards to changing the article for the DPW Facility to Design and Build. Scott Feely feels the Design/Build concept is very efficient and get good results. DPW Facility will be put off until Fall Town Meeting. Walter feels uncomfortable about taking the money out of free cash. He would prefer to bind them together and bond this in one shot. Walter, Steve and Liz met with Parent Advisory Counsel and MESA to discuss Finance Committee and their role. They discussed prior fiscal year's free cash usage for operating activities. This meeting was very successful and the people enjoyed being educated on budget. Finance Committee feels they should go to more places, for example Counsel on Aging, to inform people. Town website needs to become more user friendly for information on Town Meeting. I Adjourn Motion to Adjourn at 9:15 pm (Chemburkar/Feely) Approved Roll call vote: Christo aye, O'Brien aye, Feely aye, Chemburkar aye; Chairman Wilk aye. Sig ture of Clerk 9 /4 l/3 Date of Approval Page I3 Finance Committee Meeting March 14,2013