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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_10.12.06 TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS FINANCE COMMITTEE October 12, 2006@6:30 p.m. North Andover Town Hall, 1 st Floor FinCom Members in Attendance: Chairman Mike Batsimm,Vice Chairman Melinda Coppa, Eva Hamori, Mike Giarratano, Ben Osgood, Peter Besen, Ellis Fitzpatrick arrived at 6:35 p.m. Others in Attendance: Town Moderator Charles Salisbury, Town Clerk Joyce Bradshaw. I. CALL TO ORDER at 6:30 pm if MINUTES OF LAST MEETING—September 20, 2006: motion to approve as written by Melinda Coppa, seconded by Mike Giarratano. Motion approved unanimously. September 25, 2006: Motion to Approve with the motion sheet attached,by Melinda Coppa, seconded by Eva Hamori. Motion approved unanimously. III NEW BUSINESS a. Joyce Bradshaw swore in Peter Besen as new member. b. Town Moderator Charles Salisbury Handed out the agenda of the next Association of Town Finance Committee, Annual Meeting and suggested attendance of entire committee. He stated that valuable information may be gained and utilized. It was suggested the town might -- pay the associated fee of$55. CS then gave background on Ben Osgood and Mary Hosking, new secretary for the committee. c. BCG Report- Mike B. - The School lunch program has a deficit of$300,000 as of June 30, 2006. This is due to increased expenses from adding hours to the personnel so that they would qualify for medical insurance. The incoming revenues did not increase and consequently this problem must be reconciled. The Town Accountant will not allow further spending out this fund until there is a month reserve of capital. In addition, the Town Accountant requested a detailed FY07 budget for this account. The BoS proposed funding the deficit from Free Cash and also requested the School Committee turn Bradstreet School over to the Town for use as a Police Station. Rewriting the 40R plan was brought into the discussion concerning Lucent. It should be 3001400 units and may raise$1.5 million revenue. The members questioned whether a financial article could open the budget appropriation with a narrow purpose. Selectman Tom Licciardello is working with the Police and Firemen's unions to settle the salary schedules. This does not look good for resolution at this moment. Questions regarding the remaining Foster Farm Capital funds and the second stage of the audit were briefly touched upon. The set up of the BCG committee is two members each from the Selectmen, Finance Committee, and School Committee. d. RFCRC Report - Mike G. Mike G. updated the Committee on the RFCRC's status, and shared his concerns about its ability to complete the required work timely. It was stated that Paul Stewart did much of the work last year and there was no one to replace the time he as able to give this year. As a result, the RFCRC report this year will be considerably scaled back from last year. The Committee is made up of the Interim School Superintendent, the Town Accountant/Budget Director and 2 Finance Committee members; of which MG and EF volunteered. They will report to the Town Manager and Finance Committee. e. Budget Format- Mike G. This sub-committee of the School Committee is made up of 2 School Committee members, 3 members of the community and 1 Finance Committee member(Mike G.). They are working on establishing an improved format for the school budget. In addition, they are hoping to design and implement a regular headcount report. Members of this sub-committee are presently working on loading and reconciling the schools FY07 budget into an Excel spreadsheet. £ Other MB reviewed the Town Clerk's Fiscal Year 2008 Budget and 2007 Annual Town Meeting Calendar, stating a few were not specific dates. The School Committee questions if they can get CII'$ since Foster Farm is now out of the agenda. They are considering bring back the Kindergarten into the Bradstreet. This would be an audit item to be worked with the budget. It was stated that the School Department is an independent entity, with no real balance/controls in place. They will be moving into a new accounting system in June, integrated into the town budget; all must be communication and controls. MB reiterated the request for the Town Manager as to questions and the 2007 budget. MC then raised a question as to the SBA interest,when did it arrive, what is it going against, and is it a one time item? MC also questioned the timing for closing the Fy07 Books. The Website was discussed by MC and MB as to what the new format will be and items to be found. The Mission Statement is to make recommendations and advise town meeting/town on finance matters. Also the committee's names, address', and phones. The members stated that they did not want too much personal information presented. EF also stated that the premise "no member can speak for the committee and questions be presented to the chair person". MC noted in the past the Chairman spoke to the press and didn't have a problem with him doing this going forward. She also noted,when speaking members typically highlight their opinions as being their own. MC requested the members to think about the topics or information they wish to see on the web site; examples provided were listing sub-committees and pertinent financial data. VII NEXT MEETING The dates of the next 2 FinCom meetings were set for 10126 and 11/9; both starting at 6:30p.m. VIII ADJOURNMENT Motion by EH, seconded by MC at 7:58 pm.