The Finance Committee met as scheduled on Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023. The Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4WDEAYIeJU
6 members participated, 4 in Chambers (Chair Conley, Hamilton, Riley & Nagel), 2 participated remotely (Keophannga & Sansoucy)
Quick recap:
- State revenue forecast for FY 2024 not meeting expectation, no cuts yet per Governor, does likely mean less revenue for next years budget although local aid is usually one of the last to get affected, something to stay tuned into
- Budget hearings for May 2024 were confirmed as May 6 for General Government, May 8 for Public safety (Police, Fire, & Dispatch) and DPW (water, sewer, storm water) and Schools on May 15. Proposed meeting calendar to be updated with this decision
- Discussion on the list of facilities provided, yes it is facilities not just the buildings
- Extended discussion on the solar farm which we don't own but for which we own the electrical output and which leads to credits on the Town electrical bill that are used for multiple other electrical improvements, upgrades
- This turned into a discussion on the heating efficiencies of some buildings; FHS for example was built with better insulation and the walls are R40, vs. the 3 middle school complex buildings are rated R19. This means the heating cots for those buildings are higher due to the less efficient (i.e. insulation factors)
- While mentioned in passing that the Master Plan Committee has a subcommittee on facilities, and the Schools are working on their long range comprehensive facilities plan, there was not further details added at this time. Members of the School Committee and Central office were present but did not get to provide any additional info
- The 10 year projection of expenses across the buildings was split evenly between Town and School per Chair Conley. It was not discussed how these expenses would be funded. It was mentioned that the Facilities budget is the first to get hit when a budget shortfall is needed to be adjusted for. Projects get postponed until funding is available (hence the listing of projects that exists, some of which have been awaiting for some time)
- Discussion on the 10 year report of grants received by the Town and Schools. These made for interesting reading although some of them are not purely "grants" (i.e. the cable access fees are included, they are present due to the accounting for them). One quick takeaway from the grant report is that the Town has been quite successful over time in obtaining grants and while they will continue to do so, the grant amounts are not sufficient to really make on impact on either the Town or School budget. Averaging approximately 4 million (combined Town & School) on a $150M budget is small change
My notes captured via Twitter during the meeting:
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| Franklin, MA: Finance Committee - Agenda for meeting Dec 13, 2023 |
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