Finance Committee Minutes – 17 February 2007, Town Hall
Meeting called to order at 9:15 a.m.
Members present: Colwell, Donovan, McKenna, Mead, Ricci, Russo, Sobalvarro
Administrators Present: Bragan, Leonard
An overview of the Special Education task force’s work was presented. A vote was taken (7-0) stating, “We support the citizen’s petition for a Special Education audit, and advocate available funding is allocated for the audit. The contracting authority for the audit will be both the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee.”
Changes to the calculator were discussed. Primary changes were:
Include settlement dollars; add additional $300k for contract settlement into FY09 salary line, for potential FY08 contract settlement
Lorraine and Marie to meet and confirm where the cherry sheet charges and offsets should be reflected, including where to carry ‘School Choice/Charter: Out’ charges.
Marie to obtain the updated capital plan, and incorporate into the calculator.
Discussed modifying the calculator to incorporate special education costs as a driver, to reflect the assumptions stated in the warrant (i.e., remove SPED-aligned dollars from salary, benefits, and out of district (net circuit breaker) so that the assumptions for special education going forward are discrete from the general ‘salary + benefits’ lines.
Warrant discussion:
Debbie to contact Bill Johnson and see if they have good pictures for the warrant cover.
Marie to follow-up regarding artist picture for cover of warrant.
Tim to follow-up regarding obtaining business sponsorship.
FINANCIAL ASSUMPTIONS
The Capital Plan for Fiscal Years 2008-2011, as presented on the previous pages.
New programs will not be greater than ~½% of total omnibus budget, before debt.
Continuation of a moderate growth economy.
Local Aid (Cherry Sheet) will increase 2% beyond FY08.
A General Stabilization Fund balance of over $1.25M is necessary to maintain our good bond rating and must be preserved for emergencies.
Budget revenues and expenditures will be affected by:
Total payroll costs, including COLA increases, seniority and merit steps, and personnel changes will increase 5% per year.
Health insurance cost increases will be 13% per year.
Interest rates will average 4.0% over the next five years.
General increases (non-salary) will increase at 3% per year.
Special education costs will increase by 15% per year.
Increases in tax revenues from new growth will be approximately $160,000 per year, starting in Fiscal Year 2009, with moderate increases during re-evaluation years to $190,000
Local receipts will increase at 1% per year.
The meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m. for a tour of the new library.
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