1999-10-14-CEC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Hi: Here are the proposed minutes of the October 14th meeting. Please contact me if you have corrections or other improvements. Thanks. -Tom G- Capital Expenditures Committee Minutes October 14, 1999 Meeting 1) Meeting was called to order by the Chairman at approximately 7:40pm. All members present: Charles Hornig, Shirley Stolz, Karen Dooks, Narain Bhatia, and Tom Griffiths. Candy McLaughlin was also present for part of the meeting to discuss the Selectmen's new cash capital policy and projected capital expenditures. 2) The Clerk passed out minutes of the September 30th meeting and a schedule of upcoming meetings. 3) Candy McLaughlin said the policy voted by the Selectmen reserves 5% of the previous year's general fund revenues for cash capital spending: to include both outstanding within-the-levy debt and small- ticket capital projects. Small-ticket capital projects are more-or-less defined as those with a cost between $25,000 and $1,000,000 and a useful lifetime under 10 years. The general fund consists of the tax levy, local receipts, school receipts, and cherry sheet reimbursement. It does not include Chapter 90 money for roads. 4) During FY 2001 and 2002, particularly, the new policy will see most of the 5% cash capital reservation used to pay outstanding debt. After that, debt retirement will free up money for small-ticket capital spending. The Selectmen propose to finance some small-ticket capital spending in the early years of the policy with short-term borrowing. This will result in a five-year spending plan outlined in a Table called "Cash Capital Financing - Scenario 1" provided in a handout supplied by Candy. 5) Scenario 1 is a starting point, not a "for instance." The numbers are to be refined in November: senior managers will get requests about November 2nd and the Selectmen will get requests about November 8th. Once the five-year small-ticket plan is set, managers will be asked to verify their requests in subsequent years, not resubmit them. 6) It appears there will be no big-ticket requests for FY 2001. The timing of big-ticket requests is, at the moment, uncertain. The Selectmen intend to have a blue-ribbon committee determine the timing of these, but that committee is not in place. 7) The anticipated $500,000 for road work in the anticipated override would not be merged into the 5% of the general fund reserved for cash capital. 8) Charles pointed out that the $500,000 (and its 2.5% growth/year) combined with Chapter 90 money was anticipated to provide sufficient ongoing revenue for road maintenance, EXCLUSIVE OF the currently needed reconstruction and resurfacing backlog. 9) Charles also said the $500,000 was currently at risk, a potential victim of trying to keep the override within acceptable bounds to promote passage.