Back to Advisory Committee Minutes
Present: Committee Members Lauter, Seelen, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Ellison, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Johnson, Manning, Marwill, Mooradian, O’Meara
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1. Call to order
Chair Irma Lauter called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:02 PM.
2. Approval of minutes for December 16, 2008
The Committee reviewed and approved minutes from the meeting on December 16, 2008.
3. Budget and Forecast Update
Ted Alexiades, Town Accountant/Finance Director, walked the Committee through the recently-distributed FY2010 Budget books, highlighting:
• the likelihood that most of any FY10 capital outlay would be funded from FY08 Free Cash
• the proposed elimination of an FY10 OPEB contribution in his recommended budget, given that very few other triple-A towns in the Commonwealth are currently funding OPEB
Irma encouraged the budget subcommittees to learn from their respective Town departments all the sources, size, and frequency of department-generated and collected revenue (e.g., licenses, fines, fees, gift funds, etc.).
Ted reiterated his request for budgetary ‘direction’ from the Committee and the Board of Selectmen regarding service-level cuts vs. tax increases related to the FY10 and subsequent fiscal-year budgets. A suggestion was made for a joint AdCom-Selectmen session to discuss budget direction and options for FY10 and beyond; Irma will follow up with John Riley, Selectmen Chair.
Ted’s request engendered a spirited discussion among Committee members with respect to how best to balance not only the FY10 budget but also to fashion a multi-year plan that also addresses the $4M-$5M deficits projected annually for FY11-FY14.
4. Affordable Housing Update
On behalf of the Hingham Affordable Housing Trust subcommittee of Laura Marwill, Dave Ellison, and Dick Innis, Jon Asher indicated that:
• the HAHT will close on the Lincoln School Apartments property on 23 Jan 09
• the LSA LLC is working with Corcoran Management to schedule an energy audit and to accelerate Year 1 and Year 2 capital expenditures, particularly related to heat and windows
• the Local Application Unit application for the Back River affordable units has been signed by the HAHT on behalf of the Town and submitted by Hastings Properties to the State Dept. of Housing and Community Development
o HAHT secured the desired changes from Hastings Properties in the proposed local preference lottery plan
• the HAHT will begin to fashion a ‘long-range housing trust plan’ with input from several Town boards, including the Committee
5. School Budget and Building Project Update
Amy Farrell, Education subcommittee Chair, indicated that it is the School Department’s intent to detail how the Finance Director-proposed FY10 budget cut of $1.5M would be addressed at the working session on 31 Jan. The Committee encouraged Amy to ask the School Department also to be prepared to discuss how the new elementary school could be opened without an operational override and to request that the entire School Committee be briefed on the details and implications of the most recent Town Five-Year Forecast.
Andy Mooradian provided a brief summary of the School Department’s FY10 capital request.
Dennis Friedman concluded the update by informing the Committee that regarding the PRS and Foster renovation:
• the School Department has received the requested variances for accessibility
• since a second round of General Contractor rebids has come in higher than budgeted, window replacement/repair ($825K at PRS and $589K at Foster) has been placed in Alternate/Delete status
6. CPC Project Review
Dave Ellison, CPC subcommittee Chair, walked the Committee through a tabular summary of the 10 Community Preservation Committee funding applications for 2009, totaling $776K.
Dave indicated that the CPC anticipates receiving $900K this year, $600K from the Town levy and $300K from a State 50% match.
The CPC will vote on the applications on 11 Feb. Consequently, the Committee should know the final CPC recommendations by the end of Feb.
7. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 11:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Asher, Secretary