Finance Committee gets first look at Capital Budget requests for FY 2024

The Town Administrator memo to the Finance Committee outlining the proposed first pass of the Capital Budget summarizes:

Please find the attached Capital Plan Round 1 for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), as well as the five-year capital plan from each department as required by the Town Charter. Included in this memo is a chart with the 20-year free cash history. The average free cash balance is $3.52 million over the past ten years and $2.89 million over the past 20 years.

From the certified total, there are several policy commitments that eat into the total right off the bat, most notably contributions to stabilization accounts (per town policy). Please note that snow and ice removal is now fully funded in the operating budget and there is no reason to “hold” any free cash for snow and ice removal. See narrative below for more specifics.

These recommendations are the FY24 Capital program Round 1. A second round will be later this Spring.

The following is an overview of certified free cash status for FY24:

Find the full memo in the agenda doc (also contains remote participation info) ->

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/uploads/_2024-01-05_memo_fy24_capital_program_fin_comm.pdf

Finance Committee gets first look at Capital Budget requests for FY 2024