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Finance Committee Meeting Minutes 12-3-2013
Town of Newbury
Finance Committee Meeting
Tuesday Dec 3, 2013, 7:00 pm, Town Hall
Meeting Minutes (draft)

Committee:  Linda Allen, Gene Case (Vice Chair), Larry Guay, Erica Jacobsen, Marshall Jespersen, Frank Remley (Chair)

Ex-Officio: Tracy Blais, Town Administrator/Finance Director
Guests: Rick Harris, Personnel Board.

  • Meeting Minutes, 11.05.2013: Unanimously approved without revision, except that Gene case was mistakenly left off those in attendance.
  • Sep, fy14 YTD Financial Reports: The Town Administrator reported that there are no overriding issues or concerns. The TA observed that the first third of the year has gone well, with no significant deviations from either revenue collections or the current expense budget.
  • Revenues: Collections as or 10/31 were $350,268 ahead of last year and were 41% of projected collections through the first 33% of the year.  Real estate and personal property tax was at 44% through October, while interest and penalties were at 50%, PILOT payments at 252% (due to early collections), Fees, licenses and permits are also at 67% and 40% respectively. New growth continues to rise over prior years. In addition, as a result of a change in state law, the Board of assessors has approved the levy of partial tax assessments at mid-year on new construction based on partial completion as of January 1. This is now possible per a change in state law.
  • Expenditures: Outlays are at 34% of the appropriated budget, and with one exception there are no unexpected expenses through October. The one exception is due to a maintenance contract overrun in the Public Building Maintenance Fund address in item 3 below. Overall, Total outlays are influenced by some larger early expenditures, such as the $250,000 transfer to the Stabilization fund voted at the ATM, early payment of the Essex Regional Retirement Commission’s assessment in order to save 9% on the total, insurance coverage’s, scheduled maintenance, and other annual purchases and commitments approved and the May 2013 ATM.
  • Summary: There were no substantial questions or discussion over either YTD revenues or expenditure progress.
  • Reserve Fund Transfer:  The Town Administrator requested a transfer $10,000 from the reserve fund to Public Building Repairs and Maintenance. The purpose was to replenish this fund as a result of an unexpected extra cost in the re-roofing of the Grange Building in Byfield due to unforeseen replacement of underlayment amounting to a $14,000 overrun of the approved $17,500 contract for replacing the asphalt shingles. Since the additional expenditure did not exceed available budget in the Public Building Repairs and Maintenance budget, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to table this request pending the need for additional unscheduled public building repairs and/or year end budget reconciliation.
  • CPC update: The CPC Chair was not in attendance.  However he has subsequently updated the current list of requests for capital allocations as of the November 1 deadline. As of his last report in October, the total requests were $395,905. Current total requests are now $858, 968, largely due to the addition of a $325,063 pumper truck for Fire No. 2 in Old Town, and a $138,000 request for the scheduled replacement of a rubber tired excavator for the DPW. The request for a new pumper truck is scheduled to be further discussed by the Board of Fire Engineers, CPC and FinCom at a December 16 meeting.
  • Other  (as needed):
  • Role of the Finance Committee: A meeting is now scheduled for January 17, from 9:00 am to noon. Rick Harris of the Personnel Board has agreed to facilitate the meeting. Bob Connors has agreed to host the gathering at his house on Annapolis Way. It will be considered a training session and thus not subject to posting as a public meeting.  Rick will confer with Frank Remley and Gene Case after January 1 to construct an agenda and identify key questions to be addressed. The entire Committee is invited to attend as well as Tracy Blais. Frank handed out background materials on the current Finance Committee Bylaw, and the MMA/ATFC guidance on Finance Committees. Other background materials may be distributed in advance. Members are encouraged to convey their thought and questions in advance as appropriate.
  • TA review of FY15 Budget calendar: Tracy Blais reviewed the budget calendar once again, and recommended to the Committee that the Town Moderator be invited to attend the currently scheduled March 25 joint session of the BOS and Finance Committee regarding the FY 15 projected budget. The Committee agreed and generally felt that this would help the moderator in conducting town meeting in May. It was also proposed that the Feb. 25 BOS meeting in which the TA provides preliminary budget information should include the Finance Committee as well.
  • Next Meeting (tentative): Tuesday Jan. 7, 2014, 7:00 pm Town Hall