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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-12-16 Finance Committee Minutes di F � e T � b 6 21 124 IIII IIII 1°jli,°hill 1 Y N Present: Chair Denevan O'Connell, Vice Chair Christine Allen, Regina Kean, Eva Pastor and Nancy Sarro Not Present: Brianna Stetson, Keith Chaney and Dustin Silk Mr. O'Connell called the meeting to order at 6:00pm. The open session meeting took place in the Senior Center on 481 Sutton Street. TRI-BOARD MEETING between Select Board, Finance Committee and School Committee FY26-FY30 Capital Improvement Plan Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues gave a presentation on the FY26-FY30 Capital Improvement Plan. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the Field Master Plan Implementation. Ms. Bates asked if they were also including upper field lights for the high school field implementation. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Mr. Roache asked if it would be an artificial infield. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Ms. Bates asked if baseball and softball will be able to play at the same time. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Ms. Bates asked what the construction timeline will be. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated it will take approximately six months. Mr. Roache asked if there was any change to parking. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated no. Ms. Kean asked if the previous drainage issues would be fixed. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated there will be fully re-designed drainage. Ms. Kean asked if the gravel lot would be staying the same. Ms. Burzlaff stated there is no plan to change any of the parking or parking lots. Ms. Bates asked what is Conservation's concern with a gravel parking lot. Ms. Burzlaff stated that the parking lot is not supposed to be there due to being too close to the wetlands. Ms. Kean asked if$3.2 million was the full cost. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes excluding the tennis court project. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed building projects. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed equipment projects. Mr. Roache asked what the upgrades would be at the high school auditorium and if that was the dump truck a deposit was put on last year at Town Meeting. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes this is the second part of the dump truck. Ms. Lathrop stated it would be for the replacement of the sound system for the auditorium upgrade. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the Facilities Master Plan II. Ms. Lathrop discussed the status of the Kittredge School project. Mr. Roache asked if the MSBA Share changed due to multiple items in this. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated no, shares change all of the time as they reanalyze them every year. Ms. Allen asked how the new building that will accommodate more students related to the current enrollment. Ms. Lathrop stated the enrollment is trending down. Ms. Allen asked if they feel overcrowded in the elementary schools. Ms. Lathrop stated no. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the sewer and water enterprises. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the FY26 Funding di F � _ t e IIII IIII 1°jli,°hill 1 Y N Plan. Mr. O'Connell asked if they could see the impact on taxpayers. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Mr. Roache asked if both the design and construction for Kittredge is in 2027. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Mr. Roache asked if having an override impedes the ability to do debt exclusions. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated there is a limit. Five Year Financial Forecast Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues gave a presentation on the five-year financial forecast. Mr. Roache asked if before they overproj ected expenses or underproj ected revenue. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated what they are doing now is projecting revenues and projecting how much they will have available to spend per unit; before they were trying to guess what the expenditures would be. Mr. Brown asked if projected revenues can vary. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated yes. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed medicaid as a revenue source for the town. Ms. Kean asked why the numbers vary so much unless the student population varies. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated sometimes the student population does vary due to students graduating or no longer being on medicaid. Ms. Lathrop stated it also depends on who is working with the student; only some of the staff members are allowed to bill for medicaid. Ms. Kean asked if they were only getting reimbursed for the cost of the staff that is working with the student covered by medicaid. Ms. Lathrop stated yes. Ms. Lathrop stated they are looking at other staff that could be eligible to bill for medicaid. Ms. Cormier asked how far away they are at maximizing medicaid. Ms Lathrop stated they are pretty close. Mr. O'Connell asked if the opt-out program for health insurance continues to be successful. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated it is a substantial savings for the town. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the salary reserve for Middle School teachers and asked the board/committees for guidance on what should be done with the $700,000. Mr. Hicks discussed the impact a lower budget for FY26 would have on the school system as well as its students. Mr. Roache mentioned that it is not a cut in funding but a cut in spending. Ms. Kean asked, regarding the $4 million deficit, if they have done the analysis on staff levels or staff raises. Ms. Lathrop stated it is a combination of both. Ms. Lathrop stated they are projected to go over the budget this year and are projecting to go over the FY26 budget. Mr. Lathrop stated they have trimmed down by not filling positions, cutting positions, and being conservative with their spending, but the deficit will be larger than anticipated. Mr. Brown stated the salary reserve should be used in the most beneficial way by the Administration. Ms. Sarro stated that they should not be hiring people just to fill a space. Ms. Cormmer asked Ms. Lathrop how she wants to handle the salary reserve. Ms Lathrop stated she would like it to be put back into the school budget. Ms. Bates asked if the overcrowding in the Middle School classrooms had been addressed. Ms. Lathrop stated yes, it has been alleviated. Mr. Roache asked if the $700,000 was put back in the general fund would they be looking for the money to cover something else down the line. Ms. di F � _ ttee T � b 6 21 124 IIII IIII 1°jli,°hill 1 Y N Murphy-Rodrigues stated no, and what is important now is to address the needs. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues discussed the levy capacity and amazon TIF. Ms. Phillips asked how they get this message out. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated the PowerPoint will be put on the website and something can be created to send to the residents. Ms. Sarro asked if they know if there are any ancillary benefits from Amazon. Ms. Murphy-Rodrigues stated they are seeing more people in the area and seeing a lot of positive benefits. ADJOURNMENT -Finance Committee MOTION:Ms. Kean made a MOTION, seconded by Ms. Allen to adjourn the Finance Committee meeting at 7:31pm. Motion approved 5-0 Respectfully submitted. Nicole Civitarese Executive Assistant Documents used at meeting Capital Improvement Plan Five Year Financial Forecast