2008-02-13-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 13, 2008 Budget Summit Meeting 2. The committee joined the Budget Summit Meeting in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room where presentations were made by the Town Manager, Carl Valente, and the School Committee Chair, Tom Diaz, regarding the state of the Municipal and Public School Budgets. Both budgets are now within funding levels anticipated for 2009. Alan Levine reported that the Appropriation Committee had discussed the school budget. He mentioned that, in general, while there is no criticism regarding the worthiness of the programs in the budget, there are concerns raised about the future sustainability of the programs in fiscal years 2010 and beyond by the significant increase from FY2008 to FY2009 which looks larger if one takes the projected FY2008 surplus into account. He stated that all parties have to recognize the risks inherent in the budget as proposed. He reported that, while the Committee has not formally voted for or against the budget, four members were in favor of utilizing $350,000 of free cash originally designated to fund a SPED Reserve to fund the 2009 operating budget, one was against, and two did not believe that we had enough information to support a decision. The Committee would like to do further analysis and will provide comments in their budget report. The Budget Summit Meeting ended at 8:30. Further School Budget Committee Discussion 3. Tom Diaz, Tom Griffiths and Maryellen Dunn joined the Committee in Room G-15. A discussion of the school budget and the difficulty in evaluating it on an overall basis and understanding the real rate of growth then ensued. It was concluded that Pam Hoffman would follow up with members of the School Committee and Maryellen Dunn to determine a number for FY2008 that would be more useful in comparing with the FY2009 request and in determining a percentage increase. Maryellen Dunn provided insight into future cost increases that will be helpful for the Committee’s financial projections. Warrant 4. There was a discussion of the Warrant articles and preliminary assignments as follows: Article 4 – Schools – PH, MK, RE; Schools SPED – MK; Minuteman – EM; Municipal – AL and SM; Shared Expenses – RE; Facilities – SM; Tourism - DB Articles 5&6 – JB Article 7 – RE Article 8 – JB Article 9 - EM with assistance from DB and AL Articles 10-13 EM and RE Articles 14-15 DB Articles 16-17 JB Article 18 PH and RE Article 19 DB and RE Article 20 SM Article 21 RE Article 22 DB Article 23 MK Articles 24-25 DB Article 26 SM Article 27 PH Article 28 SM