Date of Meeting: Monday, March 23, 2009
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM
Members Present: Chairman James Stanton; Roger Deal
Absent: Ken Sydow
Others Present: Stephen Madaus, Town Counsel; Nancy Colbert, Town Administrator; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant; others as noted on sign-in sheet.
Roger Deal conducted a brief discussion regarding the Revenue Study Committee’s report. It will be distributed at the library, the municipal office building, light department, senior luncheons, the center store, as well as being distributed to all boards and committees.
7:00 PM – Senator Harriette Chandler
· Boylston will have a $41,452 reduction in lottery funds (10%). This is an “across the board” cut and cannot be voted.
· The Governor recommended a $121K reduction in local aid
· Tax: $48,439 in hotel/meals tax
o 1¢ stays with the Town
o 1¢ goes to “pool” that is redistributed equitably to all towns
o There is an option for the Town to participate
o Roger asked if $48K is the projection based on meals only. Ms. Chandler said Yes; feels it is a little on the high side.
· GIC (State insurance plan):
o This is optional; towns can choose to participate
o Must have “as good as or better than” GIC plan
o Jim Stanton said he had been told that the plan is 90/10 in order to participate. Ms. Chandler said she hadn’t heard of that. She has heard complaints that once the terms are all in place, you can’t get out.
· Chapter 70 funds:
o $25,315 in additional bunds to Berlin-Boylston for FY’10. This represents an effort to bring towns up to foundation spending.
o Roger made the point that times have changed, communities haven’t been re-evaluated. Boylston has been unfairly assessed and getting much less funding due to Boylston being a more “wealthy” town than Berlin.
o Sen. Chandler said the best way is for her to make an appointment for Superintendent Brian McDermott with the School Board to present his case.
· All Ways and Means hearings have been completed.
· $42,487 Special Education costs will be additional costs to Boylston due to extraordinary number of Special Ed students in Boylston.
· Sen. Chandler is the vice-chair of the Oversight Committee for stimulus money coming in. The Committee’s task is to be sure it’s distributed properly. The first meeting was held last week. She said they are trying to make sure “worthwhile” projects are funded.
o Roger asked who is providing guidelines for distribution?
o Sen. Chandler said she couldn’t answer that question; it’s just developing now. Rules and regulations are being defined. The Governor’s office controls distribution; the Committee just oversees it.
· Jim said the Telegram & Gazette ran an article last week with a list of “shovel ready” projects from various towns submitted for Obama Bucks. Although Boylston submitted a list of projects, we were not on the list.
o Sen. Chandler asked if they were “shovel ready?” She would like a list of projects so she can review them. They must have all been previously permitted and ready to go.
o Nancy made the point that the difficulty arises because permitting is not sought unless the funding is in place. Sen. Chandler said that money could then be released to be used elsewhere.
o Jim stated that if we already went through the process of debt exclusion, it’s not operating money that can be reallocated; asked if “shovel ready” could refer to the $25K that was put aside for a Route 140 road study
o Sen. Chandler said she will look into it and get back to him. These are the same questions she’s been hearing and she will try to clarify “final permitting.”
· Fiscal 2009 local aid has been cut by $128M; part of the “rainy day” fund was used to balance the FY’09 budget.
· Revenue figures have been revised down twice; might have to do it again. Sen. Chandler noted a letter she received today regarding the Governor’s proposal for distribution of Federal Stimulus money. If Chapter 70 not adopted exactly as recommended, the numbers released could change significantly.
· Jim noted, regarding the Quinn Bill, that we have contractual obligations, yet the State shows a cut in Quinn Bill compensation. That seems like a double cut on top of local aid.
· Regarding the Municipal Relief Package (hotel/room tax, GIC insurance, etc.), the Town can choose to participate or not, but participation from many communities will help give back funds. Regionalization will be encouraged; communities will have difficulty surviving without participating to some extent.
· Jim asked her about reviewing PILOT money from the State for DCR land.
· Board thanked Sen. Chandler for her assistance with the MCJTC negotiations, helping us to maintain them as a tenant.
Mike Ridinger (8:00 PM) (Community Cable):
· Mr. Ridinger said they would like to install cameras and microphones in the Selectmen’s meeting room.
· Jim said the room is used during the week and for other non-open meetings. Jim asked Nancy’s opinion, since she also often uses the room.
· Can the cameras be activated by remote access? Mike said they can be, but it is never done. He would first need to be physically here to turn on the power. Also, lights would indicate when they were “on air” and when microphones were on. A person would record from the video room.
· Steve Madaus said he has been to a number of meetings and that it’s difficult to tell it’s being televised; it is very unobtrusive.
· Roger recommends the proposal be accepted as outlined. Board gave Mr. Ridinger okay to begin installation of cameras and equipment.
Sign Requests:
· Sign requests by the Playground Committee, the Lions Club and Katie’s 5K Race were all approved.
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board of Selectmen:
Ice Storm Debris Cleanup:
· The DCR has proposed assistance with a multi-town cleanup. The Town would need to sign a memorandum of understanding that commits our share (25%) of costs to be paid to the State and the State would apply for FEMA (75%) reimbursement on behalf of all participating towns. They will do this within a week. Boylston’s share would be $70,400. An account would have to be identified and fully funded in order to proceed with the State’s offer.
· Another option is to clean up using our own resources at a slower pace and publish a tentative schedule to ease phone calls to the Highway Department and inform the public.
· Don Parker (present) feels his department can complete the work as proposed in the schedule. Nancy notes we also don’t have the money in FY’2009 funds.
Marijuana Bylaw:
· A sample bylaw provided by the Attorney General’s office empowers the police department to fine offenders found smoking in public ($300 fine).
· This will be added to the Warrant draft.
Assessors – Appointed versus Elected:
· Nancy cited an excerpt from Medway’s Warrant explaining the reasons for appointed versus elected.
· Stephen Madaus provided language for the Warrant that would be the simplest.
Linden Street – hold
· Stephen was asked the status of the title search for certain parcels. He will check with the title search company (all land that abuts Linden Street Extension.)
Budget:
· Nancy said the budget is balanced.
· The school department produced a budget to stick to a dollar amount they were given by the Town (Joe Connelly and Jim Stanton) in December. The Town submitted a conservative budget, and then the balance of new revenue was given to the schools for their budget. Overall, a four percent increase. A substantial portion is an increase in Special Education services.
· Roger said he feels 4.5% is in excess of what was originally communicated to the schools to stay level-funded. If Special Education services increased, cuts should be made in other areas to offset those unexpected increases.
· Nancy stated it is a one percent increase overall on the Town side; Elementary School, a two percent increase.
· Roger said other towns have had to “bite the bullet” and make cuts, yet we continue to increase our bottom-line budget. Other towns also have unexpected increases, but they cut in other areas. What are we going to do to reconcile the increase:
· Jim said that the way we built the budget, they’re within anticipated revenues. The only way we did it is to reduce the municipal budget in real dollars (increased health care costs absorbed, etc.).
· We should have a follow-up budget meeting with the Finance Committee to review the numbers. Roger said it needs an explanation. Nancy said Eric Brose suggested to her a meeting on next Tuesday, but he hasn’t confirmed a time. Mondays are difficult.
Revenue Study Committee Report: Final version.
Upon motion made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito
Administrative Assistant
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