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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFINCOM MIN 05142009 T own of Mansfield Finance Committee Minutes of May 14, 2009 ,~ EIVEO ", ;,:' ',,',:i OFf ICE \ ' Attending: James Lazzara Charlene Lavin Karl Chambers Tommy Ratliff Greg Arnold Znno vU 1 -5 /A '1: 05 Motion: To Open at 7:30p.m. (Lavin - Arnold) 5 - 0 Passes Review with Town Accountant Mr. Hart spoke with the Finance Committee about the differences in the town's budget compared to the Finance Committee's budget. There was no difference in the revenue numbers and a $70,000 difference in the expenditure numbers that is from the reserve fund. Mr. Hart said that he is waiting on the numbers for the unfunded liability before projecting out into the five year forecast. The unfunded liability along with the cuts expected in state aid will greatly impact the forecast. Mr. Hart said that depending on what the cuts are the town should be prepared to do more layoffs since there aren't too many other places to find the money, Mr. Hart reviewed the articles for the annual town meeting with the Finance Committee. He said that article one will likely change drastically depending on the number of layoffs that will need to be made. Mr. Lazzara said that article two will likely change since the healthcare and unemployment numbers are expected to change again. Mr. Hart said that for closing out the 2009 budget he does not expect any major shortfall; he was basing this assumption on what has been billed and what is being collected. When discussing the special town meeting Mr. Lazzara said that the Finance Committee has not committed to the request for an additional $10,000 in the reserve fund. Mr. Hart said that Board of Selectmen is waiting for the Finance Committee to finalize their numbers before they look at the articles for the special town meeting. Review with the Town Moderator Mr. Saquet, the town moderator, met with the Finance Committee to discuss articles to change the bylaws in regards to town meeting procedures. These articles are 35 and 36. Article 35 would change the procedure to take the articles in sequence rather than as a lottery as they are currently taken. This change would not affect the finance articles which would still be placed at the beginning and reviewed first. Article 36 changes how articles are brought for reconsideration and what articles would qualify for reconsideration. Ms. Lavin said that several years ago there was a group that wanted to change it to the way that it is now, and that this article would go against what that group had wanted and what had passed. The Finance Committee came to the agreement that they would prefer that the wording for this article be changed in regards to articles that have not passed being brought back for reconsideration. Ms. Lavin noted that she would also like to see a change in the wording regarding the person to make the motion must have previously voted in favor of the article; she said that if someone would have voted for the article in the manner that it is being reconsidered but not in the original form they should be able to make a motion for it to be reconsidered. ~ There was some additional discussion with the town moderator in regards to the formation of an Audit Committee. Discussion Mr. Lazzara said that there was a conference call to discuss the disbursement of the stimulus money and that the state still has some flexibility when it comes to requiring those funds to be used for new programming. He said that right now there isn't anything for them to count on and that although it is clear the money will be available after July 1 it is not clear how it will be available to be used. Mr. Arnold said that the state is talking about taking some of the money reserved for 2011 and using it to cover the gap in 2009; because of that the town should not expect the projected amount for 2011. Mr. Lazzara said that they discussed the model with the schools again that week and that there will likely be another $480,000 that will need to be cut that they were not aware of. Mr. Arnold said that if that cut comes from personnel that there will be additional changes to unemployment and healthcare. Vote Motion to approve minutes of April 30 Finance Committee meeting. (Chambers - Lavin) 5 - 0 Passes Motion: To Close at 9:00p.m. (Arnold - Ratliff) 5 - 0 Passes ( ~~ . Ai -'~ ~'. \ " "",. / '~. . ' ; /'/ r, r -\ \..--1 _ 'I ./ ) . iGAltJU .) / ( ,/ 1L-IJ/Cc~1\ feCi Signature of C erk [- /. ,-~.':! / ._1"\)"1 ',_.j ............"" J \ ..." i Date of Approval ~