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Advisory Committee
October 14, 2008 Meeting Minutes

 

 

Town of Hingham
Advisory Committee

October 14, 2008 Meeting Minutes

Hingham Town Hall
Present:  Committee Members Lauter, Seelen, Asher, Cavoores, 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 7:05 PM.

  1. Joint Session – Selectmen Goals

The Committee met in joint session with the Board of Selectmen to receive a presentation by Selectmen Laura Burns and Bruce Rabuffo of the Board’s top-five goals for the current fiscal year:

    1. Tax Relief Exemptions and Education
    2. Town Revenue-Enhancement Options
    3. Zero-based Budgeting for Town Departments
    4. Town Master Plan Renewal
    5. Water Supply Conditions and Development
  1. Approval of minutes for October 7, 2008

The Committee reviewed and approved the minutes from the October 7th meeting.

  1. Forecast and Budget Update by Ted Alexiades

Town Finance Director Ted Alexiades walked the Committee through the highlights of the forecast presented to the Forecast Group at its first meeting on October 8th:

    1. There is currently a $3.44M shortfall between projected Sources of $77.85M and Uses of $81.29M for FY2010.  $2M had been the largest previous forecast shortfall
      1. The Town is budgeting for a 10% decrease in State aid
    2. The Board of Selectmen has requested that three versions of departmental budgets be prepared:
      1. Level-services—includes ~4-5% labor-contract settlements and step-increase funding
      2. Level-funded—excludes ~4-5% labor-contract settlements and step-increase funding
      3. 5%- reduction—from level-funded budget; equates to ~9-10% departmental budget cut
    3. Procedurally, the Board of Selectmen will hold budget hearings during the first two weeks of December. 

The Committee will hold its budget hearings during January and February.

      1. Committee budget sub-committees will receive their budget books during Thanksgiving week and should not schedule meetings with their respective department heads until after Thanksgiving.

  1. Lincoln School Apartments Update and Discussion

Jerry Seelen related the highlights of his and Selectman Burns’ presentation at the Senior Center regarding the proposed Lincoln School Apartments acquisition.
With respect to the Committee’s scheduled vote on October 21st, the Chair signaled that, in accordance with the Advisory Committee Rules and the Mass. Open Meeting Law, a member must be physically present to vote; this position has been affirmed by Town Counsel Jim Toomey.  Several Committee members offered to further research the matter.
The Chair requested that members keep Thursday, October 23rd available as a back-up date for the LSA vote.

  1. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Asher, Secretary