1996-02-27-AC-MIN.pdf - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1996 COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE, 7:30 PM Present: P Lapointe, M Miley, R Borghesani, J Pagett, R Colwell, R Leone, M Mairson, J Ryan Absent: M Hastings, L Peck * MOTION to approve, minutes of February 21, 1996 as amended, UNANIMOUS * General discussion of contacts made in researching the articles as assigned. R Colwell has discussed articles 24 & 25 with Joyce Miller. Joyce will attend the March 5th meeting to discuss the two requests (Winning Farm & Augusta property) * P Lapointe has talked to J Young about the operating budget, enrollment estimates, technology and space requirements. Jeff will attempt to have his staff attend either the March 5th or 14th meeting * P Lapointe has obtained a copy of an audit of the MMRVHS(voke) and will be meeting with counterparts from Arlington and Belmont on Thursday evening(2/29). Group is thinking of suggesting a 3 to 7% across the board reduction in the fiscal 1997 assessments. The town assessment only makes up approximately 40 to 50% of the operating budget of the school. The remainder is generated by the " businesses" conducted at the school * General discussion of the concept of attempting to align operating expenses with operating revenues and non-operating expenses with non-operating revenues in an attempt to insure that funding is available for the infrastructure. General consensus was that something needs to be done but concern expressed over the demands of the operating budget and the funding available in order to maintain the same level of services. * R Leone expressed concerns over the apparent leaping into the public power issue, article 37, Municipalization of Utilities. Bob has had some experience in this area and will assume a role in reviewing this article * Discussion of the Fiscal Policy and Recommendation to the 1995 ATM. It was suggested that the spread sheets prepared by P Lapointe could perhaps be used as a management tool in budget preparation. AC needs to clearly define who our audience is and how we are to present our report * General discussion of free cash. How is it generated? How are estimates prepared? What are future year projections? Do we only use free cash for capital expenses, debt service and catch-up? What is an appropriate level for this reserve? Concern expressed that it is a numbers game that ultimately can be used to balance our current financial problem. AC needs to spend some time on this issue. Need to drive home the point that the use of free cash to balance an operating budget problem automatically impacts all future years unless the program being funded is either cut back or eliminated. * P Lapointe discussed the possibility being floated that the town seek a debt exclusion of existing debt as well as future debt. If this were to take place the pressure on the operating budget would be removed at least in the short term * P Lapointe will attempt to do some work prior to the next meeting in making projections