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Town of Hingham
Advisory Committee
September 15, 2009 Meeting Minutes
Hingham Town Hall
Present: Committee Members Seelen, Manning, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Ellison, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Lauter, MacCune, Marwill, Mooradian
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1. Call to order
Chair Jerry Seelen called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:11 PM.
2. Approval of minutes for July 22 and August 3
The Committee reviewed, amended, and unanimously approved the amended minutes for July 22nd.
The Committee reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes for August 3rd.
3. Preliminary Financial and Budget Discussion
Town Finance Director Ted Alexiades informed the Committee that the fiscal year’s first Forecast Meeting will occur on Thursday, September 17th.
Two significant changes are being considered in the preparation of the budget for FY11:
• Revenue-estimation will be the initial step in determining the magnitude of funding available for budgeting
• Funding for significant obligations previously unfunded or underfunded will be accounted for first. These items include:o OPEB
o Capital outlay
o General Fund Balance (Reserves) contributionThe remainder of the available funding will then be allocated to the traditional operating budgets.
With regard to the magnitude of the General Fund contribution, Ted indicated that three options are presented for consideration:
• Continuation of the current trend: expenditures increase at 3%/year over a ten-year period with no increase in the General Fund Balance
• Maintenance of the current General Fund Balance-to-Expenditure ratio (~10%): an FY11 contribution of ~$266K increasing at 3%/year
• Improvement of the current General Fund Balance-to-Expenditure ratio from 10% to 20%: a ~$500K contribution each year for 20 years
Given the continuing decline of the General Fund Balance-to-Expenditure ratio since FY99 (from 26.7% to ~10%), Ted signaled that the Town is on a rating ‘downgrade watch’ as noted in Moody’s Investor Service 9 Jun 2009 Rating Opinion.
Regarding capital outlay, the need for a full inventory of capital assets was expressed, particularly as it relates to building resources. Ted acknowledged that, historically, capital-planning has tended to focus more on the upcoming fiscal year and less on out-years in the Five-Year Capital Plan. Budgeting of a consistent amount for capital outlay would enable more realistic out-year capital-planning.
In response to the suggestion that there should be a greater focus on increasing taxpayer awareness of the overall budget and budget process, Ted suggested that the Committee consider amending the Financial Policy last revised in 1993. The Chair signaled that the Financial Policy will be on the Committee’s October 13th agenda.
Finally, Ted affirmed that the Town will issue ~$38M of long-term debt in the October-November timeframe in order to take advantage of current low interest rates. The cost of such borrowing totals ~$70K, accounting for bond counsel, rating agency, and printing charges. Ted requested that the School Building Committee provide a final statement of total costs for the recent school construction and renovation projects by mid-October so that all anticipated costs can be included in the bond issue.
4. Potential Reserve Fund Transfer Requests
The Chair informed the Committee that the Reserve Fund had originally been funded at $883K of which $450K had been earmarked for emergency capital expenditures, leaving $433K for other transfers.
Potential candidates for future transfers include:
• As much as $13,500 for the Special Town Meeting on August 3rd
• As much as $16,000 for two extra elections to fill the State’s now-vacant U.S. Senate seat
• Hersey House structural inspection and ongoing maintenance costs
• Any additional net costs associated with a possible departmental re-organization
5. School Building Projects Update
Dennis Friedman updated the Committee regarding the status of construction at the new East School and the refurbishment of Plymouth River and Foster. All three schools have received their permanent Certificates of Occupancy.
East
• $791K remains in the contingency; if the entire project remains under budget, any unused contingency amount reduces the amount the Town must borrow through its upcoming bond offering
• The School Building Committee, School Department, and Board of Selectmen are working to address Eastgate Lane resident concerns regarding street damage from utility construction
Plymouth River & Foster
• $489K is the current unused contingency. However, items originally pulled out of scope may be re-considered for insertion as ‘adds.’ Dennis advised the School Building Committee that it should consider adding items within the context of other School Department capital needs and prioritize accordingly
• The Committee requested that it be provided the list of items removed from the original scope of work
6. Cable TV Update
Irma Lauter summarized the Cable TV Advisory Committee’s (CTAC’s) meeting on August 11th with the Board of Selectmen and the attorney retained by the Board, Bill August.
Highlights of Bill August’s review of the ten-year contracts recently executed by the Town with Verizon and Comcast disclose that:
• The two contracts are different, which will control the degree of flexibility the Town has in accounting for and spending periodic payments received from the two firms
o Cable customer rates will increase due to the pass-through by the cable firms of charges which, in aggregate, are the source of the periodic payments to the Town
These payments are projected to exceed $4.2M over the period 2008-2017
Anecdotally, it appears that Comcast cable bills for August have increased 2.5%—an increase of which many ratepayers are unaware and/or have had no input regarding• Other towns vary in terms of:
o soliciting ratepayer input through Town Meeting even though such approval is not a legal requirement, i.e., the Board of Selectmen has the authority to act unilaterally
o implementing a public-access option and creating a non-profit entity to run such a channel and any associated studio
o renegotiating contracts to reduce pass-through-charge impact on ratepayers
Irma concluded that much more work needs to be done by the Board of Selectmen and the CTAC to address unanswered questions as well as the issue of ratepayer awareness and input. Sandra Peavey, Chair of the CTAC, affirmed that much work remains.
The Committee asked for clarification regarding the source for payment of Bill August’s fees.
Jon Asher and Andy Mooradian updated the Committee regarding Capital Outlay Committee (COC) meetings with the CTAC on July 15th and August 6th
• Four capital items, totaling ~$62K from the CTAC’s July 1 proposal to the Board of Selectmen were recommended for acquisition, utilizing funds already received from Comcast and Verizon
• Before making recommendations for the remaining proposal items, the COC requested more definitive direction from the Board of Selectmen regarding:o wiring other Town Hall meeting rooms to facilitate broadcast of other committee meetings
Sandra Peavey informed the Committee that the Board has since provided the CTAC with a list of Town Hall rooms to be wired, for the purposes of soliciting bids; the Committee requested a copy of this list
o implementation of a third, public-access channel
7. Committee Assignments
The Chair distributed the list of liaisons for Town boards, committees, and budget categories and encouraged Committee members to make contact with their respective counterparts.
A new committee, the Taxation Aid Fund Committee was identified. Dave Ellison was charged with learning its function and membership.
8. Rules Committee Status Report
Rules Committee Chair Jack Manning indicated that the Rules Committee had met once, had selected 25 other towns for benchmarking, and was still in the early stages of fact-finding.
Jerry expressed the desire that any rules-related action by the Committee be completed before budget-focused meetings begin in December.
Jerry also reminded Committee members to review the current Advisory Committee Rules, Open Meeting Law requirements, and Conflict of Interest guidelines as well as to limit email exchanges.
9. General Business
a. Meeting Times. In response to requests from several Committee members, future meeting start-times will be 7:30 PM, with the proviso that if meetings start running late, the start-time will reset to 7:00 PM.
b. Meeting Dates. The next three meeting dates are: October 13th, November 17th, and December 15th.
c. Thaxter Street Boilers. The State Department of Housing and Community Development has committed to replacing two boilers, in Building 5 and Building 2/3. If other boilers fail, the DHCD will supply a temporary boiler in order that residents will not be forced to relocate.
d. Ward Street Athletic Field Project. The Committee was informed that a project is under consideration to create two, three-sport artificial-turf fields on the current lacrosse field parcel.
10. Adjourn
The Committee meeting adjourned at approximately 9:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan R. Asher, Secretary