Finance Committee Minutes – 18 January, 2007, Town Hall
Meeting called to order at 7:35 p.m.
Finance Committee Members Present: Colwell, Donovan, McKenna, Ricci, Russo, Sobalvarro
Administrators: Bragan, Leonard
Minutes from the 12/12, 1/6, 1/9, and 1/13 meetings were approved with minor modifications.
School Budget:
There was a general discussion regarding the budget, and the level (and status) of outside funding sources. Outstanding general questions regarding the school budget (as presented on 1/13) were compiled.
- FinComm reiterated its request for a YTD school budget document, as stated on 1/13
- FinComm requested a summary of the number of benefitted positions (in FY08 proposed) versus the number of benefitted positions budgeted FY07 and actual FY07.
- FinComm requested a prioritized budget from the School Committee, taking the budget in total and ranking in $200k increments the impact of reductions.
A discussion followed regarding the $165k projected new SPED enrollment, and whether to budget these dollars as a the Reserve Fund increase or keep within the school budget. By unanimous vote, FinComm will budget these dollars in the Reserve Fund.
A discussion followed regarding where to budget the $100k delayed circuit breaker reimbursements (first discussed at the 12/7 meeting). This item remained unresolved.
Pond Committee:
Documents detailing the current and projected electricity usage for the draw-down process were distributed. Total FY08 budget request is $38.5k, of which $24.5k is requested for electricity costs.
FY08 Capital Plan was distributed; some items moved to the small warrant articles include:
23k (School) Bromfield House repairs, 50k (Finance) reval-year; 25k (School) CAD lab computers, and 15k (Fire) tanker refurb.
- Stabilization requests are $200k for an ambulance. Captial Exclusions are $140k (DPW) for 6 wheel dump truck w/plow.
- An additional $75k may be required to replace the water pump at HES; Lorraine to follow-up.
Override Approaches:
Three override approaches were discussed:
(a) One override without reducing any budgets (as currently submitted)
(b) One override with budget reductions
(c) A 3-tiered override with different services (and service levels) in each tier
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
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