Back to Advisory Committee Minutes
Present: Committee Members Lauter, Seelen, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Johnson, MacCune, Manning, Marwill, Mooradian
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1. Call to order
Chair Irma Lauter called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:07 PM.
2. Approval of minutes for March 19, 2009
The Committee reviewed and approved minutes from the meeting on March 19th 2009.
3. Budget and Forecast Update
Finance Director Ted Alexiades provided a summary of the departmental budget reductions from their original FY10 requests.
In aggregate, non-School requests were 4% lower than their respective FY09 budgets, while the School request was .47% higher than its FY09 budget. Taking into account the subsequent $1.537M budget reductions applied both to the non-School and School budgets, the final non-School budget reduction was ~7% and the School budget reduction was ~4%.
Ted also presented the two options available for long-term-debt-service payment: level principal and level debt-service. Most municipal bonds are level principal, with declining interest over the life of the bond. Level debt-service bonds cost more in aggregate but have lower initial payments. Triple-A municipalities, in particular, are expected to pay down principal as quickly as possible, i.e., utilize level-principal debt-service.
The Committee requested that Ted provide a breakout of the $38M of long-term debt which the Town expects to issue in the autumn 2009 timeframe.
The Committee also reviewed, and recommended changes to, a draft ‘Statement on Use of Potential Federal Stimulus Money.’ The Statement describes, for taxpayer benefit, the combined intent of the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, and Advisory Committee with respect to the effect of any additional Federal stimulus funds on the tax levy vis-à-vis the proposed $1.1M override. The Committee voted to support the concept of a document encompassing the following three points:
• There is no certainty that the Town will receive any additional stimulus money
• The Advisory Committee supports the proposed $1.1M override
• Any excess stimulus funds received—over and above the level of currently anticipated state aid—will be used to lower the tax rate in the fiscal year in which the funds are received. The stimulus funds are for a one-year period only, and the expectation is that the full $1.1M override—assuming passage by the voters—will be needed for the FY2011 year.
Finally, the Chair walked the Committee through the highlights of a March 10th presentation by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation to the State House of Representatives entitled State Finances: A Large and Growing Crisis.
4. FY2010 Budgets (Vote Only)
The Committee reviewed and voted to approve the FY10 budget summary prepared by Finance Director Ted Alexiades totaling $77,538,460. The attached Town of Hingham FY2010 Budget Votes Summary***Draft*** provides a similar summary.
5. Warrant Article Discussion and Follow-up
The Chair informed the Committee that the #15 By-law re: Docks and Piers Warrant article has been withdrawn for this year.
The Committee reopened, reviewed an amendment for clarification, and approved the following proposed Warrant article:
• #16 – By-law re: Dogs
6. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan R. Asher, Secretary