2012-09-20-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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September 20, 2012 including the funding of future health insurance liabilities for retirees, increases in cash capital, road repair and resurfacing, facilities maintenance, and additions to the debt service stabilization fund. The consensus was to suggest that the Board of Selectmen consider the importance of designating uses for presently unallocated FY 2013 funds before the tax rate is set, and, if they concur that it is worthwhile to designate uses, then plan to convene a fall special town meeting. Mollie Garberg suggested that the Selectmen could discuss the advisability of a special town meeting at the October 3 summit. ACTION ITEM: Joe Pato will attend the Selectmen's meeting on September 24. • Solar Task Force: This committee is exploring ways to install photovoltaic panels on town buildings to save electricity costs. School Department: Preliminary counts of school bus riders have increased when compared to the prior year's ridership; however, the increase isn't as much as was anticipated. It was noted that there are 500 more residents in town and 107 more students than projected. 5. Other Post - Employment Benefits (OPEB): Alan Levine reported that Deb Mauger, Rob Addelson, Carl Valente, Glenn Parker and he had met several times to discuss OPEB issues. Towns throughout the country have an obligation to provide health insurance benefits to their retirees. Rob Addelson explained that the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently mandated that the OPEB liability be included in the calculations of financial condition presented in the financial statements of the Town starting a year or two from now; at present the liability only needs to be stated in a note on the statements but does not need to be taken into account in the balance calculations. Rob reminded the Committee that funding of the obligation is not yet required. The Committee was also reminded that Dan Sherman, an actuary who attended a meeting of the OPEB working group, suggested that the actuarial evaluations of the Town's OPEB liabilities that have been prepared for the Town may be overly conservative. He believes that the stock market will do better and the growth of health care costs will not be as steep as the estimates for these factors that were used in the latest reports. He confirmed that funding the liability according to a flat funding profile (schedule) may not be the most desirable option. The potential impact of the GASB action was briefly discussed. The inclusion of a large liability on the balance sheet suggests that the Town's bond rating could be affected. On the other hand, this accounting change will affect towns nationwide and bond rating agencies including Moody's will need to make allowances. Rob Addelson expressed his concern that the liability affects the town's ability to fund services without overrides. The actuarial exercise of determining the amount of the liability is a challenge because it is subject to large uncertainties through factors that are difficult to forecast accurately such as growth in the stock market and increases in health care costs. Additionally, a number of policy options must be chosen in constructing a plan to fund the liabilities. The Town must determine,