2007-11-14 Ad hoc Budget Schedule Report

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1. Staff develops revenue projections for the tomingjear and brings this to the BOS7 and the Summits for concurrence. This happens in mid-November and provides a general picture of anticipated revenue growth for the year. 117e may be slightly delajed this year because it is a revaluation _year which may delay our newgrnwth figure. 2. Ounce we have our revenue projections for FY09, we need to first subtract Town and School Shared Expenses to determine the remaining revenue available to split. This year will be a bit more complicated because we will need to include as part of Shared Expenses the budget for the Department of Public Facilities. Per the Selectmen's agreement with the School Committee, the school department portion of this budget will first be submitted to the SC9 before it is forwarded to the Town Manager. So while we are working on budget estimates for all Shared Expenses (liabili!y insurance, health insurance, debt service, etc.) the SC needs to be reviewing its portion of the Facilities budget. All of this work generally takes place during December and we present the revenue split figures to the Summit in early January (usual} right after the Superintendent and Town Manager present their budgets so that any budget shortfall can also be presented). After revenue is set aside for shared expenses, the remaining new revenue (if any) is apportioned between the school department (School Committee) on the one hand and the municipal departments (Selectmen) on:the other hand. In recent years, by consensus, the actual spending of the past fiscal year is used as a guideline for the percentage the each major unit (e.g., the schools) receives. For a number of reasons, including the points made by the Town Manager, above, the revenue split does not occur before early January. ELEMENTS OF AN OPTIMAL SCHEDULE Option 3 suggests an optimal schedule by means of the following steps: 1. Complete the town budget as early as possible ---no later than mid February. Completed means voted by the governing boards and serving as the basis for the Appropriation Committee's fmal report and for printing for Town Meeting members. 2. Convene Town Meeting Wednesday in the week following town elections. Use the first session of Town Meeting only for committee reports and other nonfinancial matters. The Appropriation Committee report would be on the table for Town Meeting members if it had not already been provided to them. 3. Take up the Town operating budget at the second meeting of Town Meeting, on the Monday following the first meeting —the third Monday in March. 7 Board of Selectmen. 8 A Summit is a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee, and Capital Expenditures Committee. 9 School Committee. 7