1941-02-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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516 SELECTMEN'S MEETING February 3, 1941. ' A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Selectments xoom, Town Office Building at 7:30 P.M. Chairman Giroux, Messrs. Potter, Rowse, Locke and Sarano were present. The Clerk was also present. At 7:30 P.M. Mr. James J. Carroll, Town Clerk, appeared Juror before the Board for the drawing of a ;juror. Mr. Roswell S. Eldridge, salesman, of 17 Edgewood Road was drawn to serve on criminal business in Lowell, beginning Tuesday, March 4, 1941. Mr., William Roger Greeley, Chairman of the Planning Board appeared before the Board to discuss the study of re - Planning ceipts and expenditures for the five year period, 1935-1940, Board re: inclusive. Mr. Greeley said that the Planning Board had receipts & tried to workout a statement that was not technical so that expends-- citizens who are not experts in accounting could obtain the tures, statistics easily. He said that the Planning Board felt that with this kind of a statement they could base some sort of a program for the future. The Planning Board has started to draw graphs that will express these figures on a chart. He thought that a figure could be set up showing what should be expended in'the coming years based on previous expenditures. He said of course they did not know what return the State was ' going to make to the Town or what the Town would be taxed by the State. He had in mind going to Commissioner Long and ask- ing him for his best guess. Mr. Greeley said that this plan was on a parallel with that of Brookline and Winchester. More and more towns are working on this basis. Mr. Rowse asked who operated the plan, and if the Town Meeting voted on it. Mr. Greeley said the plan operated through the Selectmen and the Appropriation Committee, as a guide for their recommendations and as a talking point to the citizens at Town Meeting. There is no force in it. A table would be published and upon it the Appropriation Committee and the Selectmen would tend to base their recommendations. He said it was true, in Lexington it would not seem as necessary to have such a plan as in some other places. He said at the present time there was nothing alarm- ing about the method of handling our finances, but at the Town . Meeting there has been an increasing suggestion that a budget be worked out so that Town Meeting members could know what future plans were. The Chairman said that if this;:was to be used as a guide, the uncollected taxes for each year should be shown. He thought that this had considerable bearing on the picture as some people might think that a reserve should be set up to offset the uncollected taxes.