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2023-03-20-CEC-ATM-rpt
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2023-03-20-CEC-ATM-rpt
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3/20/2023 11:02:26 AM
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2023
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Town Clerk
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Capital Expenditures Committee Town Meeting Report for March 20, 2023
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CAPITAL EXPENDITURES COMMITTEE REPORT TO 2023 ATM <br /> Foreword <br /> While we encourage you to read this report cover to cover, we also recognize that it's length may be <br /> prohibitive. At a minimum, we encourage you to read this section to learn what keeps us awake at night. <br /> Additionally,you can use it as a resource to: <br /> • Get details on a particular Capital or Community Preservation Act(CPA)Article. Use the <br /> Table of Contents or the Summary on the inside back cover to locate the Article in the <br /> second part of this report, and then read the description from the Town's Recommended <br /> Budget&Finance Plan(Brown Book)as well as any supplemental information we include <br /> to further explain the project'. <br /> • Get context and historical perspective on a department or a Capital project. Locate the <br /> department or project in the front section of this report to read about it and see a five-year <br /> funding history. <br /> • See what Capital spending might look like in the future. Refer to this Committee's <br /> Five–Year Capital Plan (5YCP) starting on Page 10. <br /> Last year, our report called out the uncertainty in both the Town's and our 5YCP due to an inflationary <br /> bidding environment and how that makes short– and long–term planning difficult. One year later, that's <br /> still a significant problem for the Town and it (still) implies increased project costs, the need for <br /> supplemental appropriations, and/or reduced project/program scope. Even worse, interest rates have <br /> increased borrowing costs and therefore overall debt-financed project costs. Please consider that factor as <br /> you read through the information below. <br /> Creating a balanced budget has been especially difficult this year for a number of reasons. The school <br /> budget is under particularly strong pressure from labor and Special Education costs (to name only two <br /> issues). The municipal side is under pressure from a significant increase in trash collection cost(to name <br /> only one issue). While the Town remains a particularly good free-cash position,we must bear in mind that <br /> utilizing free cash is not the basis of a sound budget—it is one-time revenue. As a general policy,free cash <br /> is used to fund cash capital (a policy with which we enthusiastically support).However,when the pressure <br /> grows on balancing a budget, the free cash used for cash capital policy is generally the first thing to be <br /> given up, and with that the amount of cash-based capital that can be accomplished in the next fiscal year. <br /> The alternatives are to either do less or borrow. In the past several budget cycles, Town Manager Malloy <br /> has made a righteous stand by stating that we should move towards a cash-based capital financing policy <br /> for all programs(see footnote).However,the less free cash he has to work with when advancing this policy, <br /> the less we can accomplish in moving towards cash-based capital program financing. <br /> Related to debt-financing,this year we will also incur additional debt in the Community Preservation Fund <br /> (CPF)to fund the Munroe Center for the Arts (MCA) renovation. Normally, introducing additional CPA <br /> debt concerns us,but this year,especially,it concerns us because next year the Cary Memorial Library will <br /> request CPA and tax-levy funds for part of their projected renovation. This is not meant to throw any of <br /> Community Preservation Committee(CPC),the MCA,or the Cary Memorial Library(CML)under the bus. <br /> But it does call attention to the CPC's policy of only considering those requests put before them in the <br /> current fiscal year cycle rather than taking a longer-range view. It seems likely that in order to finance the <br /> CML renovation, additional debt will need to be taken on,which implies higher overall total project costs. <br /> To his credit, Mr. Malloy has taken a 10-year look at big ticket capital projects, largely in the context of <br /> sequencing program swing-space usage at 173 Bedford Street. His presentation to the Select Bard called <br /> ' Within the development of budgets and other financial actions, "program" is used for already on-going <br /> needs while "project" is used for what is considered to be a one-off endeavor, such as a new building or <br /> specific renovation effort, during the five-year scope of financial planning. <br /> 1 <br />
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