Showing posts with label FPC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FPC. Show all posts

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Bang for your buck

The Boston Globe "G" section has an interesting table depicting the performance of school districts (according to MCAS scores of the 4th and 10th grades) compared to the assessed home value. Franklin is amongst the top.

No real surprises there. Steve Whalen had put together a similar table and now that table is part of the Financial Planning Committee's report.

If the tax rate was use instead of assessed home values, Franklin would rise higher on the chart.

View the full chart here in the Globe

View the Financial Planning Committee report here

Friday, August 28, 2009

Financial Planning Committee - no show

The Town website said there was a meeting. This notice outside the Town Clerks door said there was a meeting. But while folks were continuing to arrive for a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in the Council Chambers, Room 205 remained empty. So I left. Nothing else to report about this committee at this time.





Friday, July 24, 2009

"dropped in rank, from 22nd lowest, to 28th lowest"


In 2008, Franklin's rank jumped to seventh highest, with the average Franklin teacher's salary at $66,361, compared with the total average of $63,520.

The group generally agreed that Franklin teacher salaries only appeared to outpace those of their peers because the district has laid off or lost a great percentage of its younger, lower-paid teachers.

Read the full article on the work of the Financial Planning Committee in the Milford Daily News here


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Long term planning report

Did you ever review the Financial Planning Committee's report?

Did you miss the Information Forum held on April 27, 2009 in the Mercer Auditorium at Horace Mann?

There is no time like the present then to catch up to this important report. You can find the report in the details of my live reporting from the presentation and discussion on April 27th.

You can also view the 2 hour and 12 minute session on the Town website.

This topic is important to understand. The financial issues that Franklin faces will not go away anytime soon. The Town Council will finalize the FY 2010 budget either on July 15th or an August meeting. The Finance Committee has already approved the hotel and meals tax which will help Franklin obtain a new source of revenue. The revenue gained will not solve our problems. The revenue is estimated to be less than $500,000 per year but every bit helps.

The School Committee meeting on July 21st will finalize their budget for this year. What will be the final number of teachers cut this year?

Friday, June 26, 2009

"It's all about information"

Milford Daily News
Posted Jun 25, 2009 @ 11:54 PM

FRANKLIN —

Bent on getting their message out regarding the town's precarious finances, the long-range financial planning committee is considering hitting the streets to personally deliver their report to residents.

Hand-delivering the report instead of mailing it would also act as a symbolic gesture, showing how the town is willing to go the extra mile to save money, Doug Hardesty, the group's vice chairman, said at a committee meeting last night.

Getting the 34-page report to every resident should be a top priority, said Councilor Stephen Whalen, a member of the committee.

Among other topics, the report analyzes Franklin's recurring fiscal deficit and a few starting points for fixing the problem.

Next year, the town is looking at a $6 million deficit, Whalen said.

Read the full article about the Financial Planning Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here.


Thursday, May 28, 2009

"Someone needs to be responsible"

Milford Daily News
Posted May 27, 2009 @ 11:05 PM

FRANKLIN —

Now that their mission seems nearly complete, members of the long-range financial planning committee last night said they want to "keep the momentum going" regarding public interest in town finances.

"People are ripe right now, people are starting to listen," said School Committee member Roberta Trahan, a member of the committee.

The feedback is mostly positive, said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting, reading bits of residents' e-mails.

Doug Hardesty, the group's vice chairman and one of two citizens-at-large on the board, said, "Everywhere I go, people are talking about it."

The group spent the last year meeting, researching and compiling a report on the town's finances and fiscal outlook, which culminated in a public presentation on April 27.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Read the live reporting from this meeting here


Financial Plng Comm 05/27/09

The collected posts from the Financial Planning Committee meeting on 5/27/09


If you have not viewed the draft report produced by the committee:

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Live reporting - FPC - cont'd

Modify the report
Take to Council for 7/1/09
Endorsement of the findings
Consent, approval to come up with a plan
FPC takes lead on next steps
Finalize plan before November election so the candidates can at least talk to it

Reference to J Pfeffer's email feedback
Deb Bartlett to all, then Doug to confirm that the changes have already been incorporated or could be, then Doug to cycle back with her to confirm the report is okay.

June 25th 7:30 PM next meeting

Live reporting - Financial Planning Committee 5/27/09

Attending: Roche, Bartlett, Nutting, Zollo, Hardesty, Cameron, Wilschek, Kelly, Trahan
Absent: Ogden, Whalen

Approved minutes of 4/23/09

Document located off the Town Administrators page although the Committee is listed as a subcommittee of the Town Council

Discussion on potential schedule for budget, open hearing on 10th, continue it the 11th, and then continue to the 24th. At that point decide upon a number, and go with that. You can adjust later. Especially if the State hasn't made their decision.

Reading some of the citizen feedback via email.

One feedback is better PR on what the Town has done to cut costs.

The problem is real. What are we going to do to get out of this mess?

Short term, finalize the report; let the Town Council, School Committee, FinCom accept the report and then they should set next steps. Probably shouldn't come up with recommendations before they specifically ask us.

Within 2 or 3 key assumptions, this is the number. They can go with that.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

FPC - Information Session 04/27/09

The live reporting posts for the Informational Forum held to review the Financial Planning Committee report can be found here:

"The committee made several recommendations"

GHS
Posted Apr 28, 2009 @ 12:26 AM

FRANKLIN —

Using the parable of the boiled frog to describe the possible trajectory of Franklin services and finances, Doug Hardesty told an audience of about 100 residents the town needs to immediately tackle its recurring fiscal deficit before the damage is irreparable.

When a frog is thrown into a pot of boiling water, it'll immediately jump out, Hardesty said. When it's put in a pot of room temperature water, and the heat is slowly turned up, the change is so slow the frog doesn't notice. The frog dies before it reacts.

"That's very much the kind of thing we're worried about in Franklin," said Hardesty as he began his presentation on the long-term financial committee's plan last night at Horace Mann Middle School.

"Because we're facing this slow structural problem, it creeps up on us. The question is, what and when do we jump," said Hardesty, an auditor and one of two residents-at-large on the committee.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here


Monday, April 27, 2009

live reporting - Q&A #2

Q - the fear that I have is that my taxes are increasing 20% but the services my kids are getting in school is going down. I am okay with paying more taxes but I need to know what that number is. Relive peoples fear. I don't know if you can do what I just asked. I know it is hard but that is what I need. These numbers are scary but with the taxes increase and the schools services being cut that doesn't help.
A - Zollo - in terms of wage earners, most people are not spending the same each year, due to a variety of reasons. Cost of gov't does not go down. Inflation doesn't go down. Costs will go up. There is a built in subsidy. Three children. Avg citizen pays 4500 taxes, per student cost is 9200. The Zollo subsidy covers police, fire, etc. I will have received in the aggregate 250,000. I could stay here forever but I'll never pay it back. What is the reason for bringing it up? If I would educate my children on my own, it would still cost me more. The demand for the twon and housing in the town. The housing thirty years ago will be sold for more now.

If we were closer to the median, we would be in a better position with the adiditonal funds.

A - Whalen - you did a great job describing the difficulty and the challenges we have here. We are a pretty efficient shop. I am a research analsyst and that is what the numbers tell me. It really all comes down to, what kind of town do we want live in?

A - Bartlett - if you look at Page 14, there is the range of the 8.5M and 12.1M.

Q - Have you factored in the assessed values going down?
A - The 2.5% doesn't apply to each individual taxe rate. It applies to the overall town rate.
A - Bartlett the 8.5M would equate to a 22% increase

Q - financial forecasts are not actional, translate to something we can relate to; i.e police or fire, etc. Don't go back and re-do it. Clarification on the health care cost savings of 1M?
A - Roche - the 1M came from the difference in the original projected cost and the recent bid. That is one time savings.

Q - Has the town investigated farming out the tax collection? Hotels, meals tax, how much will it generate? In Florida, they have an impact fee.
A - We get 100% of our taxes, even if they are late we get 14% interest on the amount late. Against the law for an impact fee, it was through out by the courts. We have proposals for the hotel/meals tax but they have not been enacted yet. It would help but not solve our problem. It will diversify our tax receipts.

Q - On the health care side, how does the Town do it?
A - We pay about 7M for all our health care. We have been very successful working with the unions. With an increase of co-pay and a decrease in premium, it makes sense. They have worked well with us.

Q - The state has more people, they must have more bargaining power.
A - Nutting, actually our plan is better than the State plan. We look at it every year.

Q - With teachers at about 60K, can you bring in somebody for less
A - working and wages are subject to bargaining conditions

Q - with the health care, is there an opportunity to work with surrounding towns if we are the lowest, that would be something to gain
A - teacher pensions are not paid for by the town. There are 106 pension systems in the Commonwealth when there should be one. No one would design a system where there are 351 communities in the state. It will be hard to change. We do things like this every year. It is not just a public thing. It takes a lot of momentum to get things done.

Q - For me, a good school is not the thing. The curriculum is the key
A - Nutting - the school committee would agree with you.

Reminder - our meetings are open meetings

Q - split tax?
A - Roche - If we do decide a split tax rate, it doesn't allow us to raise any more money.
A - Whalen - there is a decided majority on the Finance Committee and Town Council not to do so in order to encourage business to relocate here.
A - Zollo - it is worth noting that the residential versus business is 80% to 20%. We would need a more diversified tax base. The time to make your feelings known is in November at the Town Council tax hearings.

Q - page 12 - net school spending, we are descending, based upon what we know today, what are we doing to prepare?
A - This is one of the reasons we have prepared this report.

Q - We need to be more frequent. These are general statements, we need to be more specific.

Q - Why did you get to the 31? You used some in some reports but others in some reports.
A - We picked the towns were the most comparable. We also wanted to use data that anyone could check on. We chose the DOE numbers because they are available. Norfolk was excluded only because they had not submitted their numbers to the state.

Q - My point earlier was the numbers are all good,
A - You're crossing over into a very subjective area. If you're across the board lower, there must be something there.

Q - You're only getting efficiency when there is a comparison on the same services?
A - I can't tell you how we could measure our schools with Walpoles. I see them as facing eminent decline.

A - Zollo - I don't disagree at a statisical level but at a general level it is fair to say, you know reputationally how they are doing. They are not out on the curve one way or the other.

Q - Should you include the grow projections for the school for the next five years? I know it would be beneficial.
A - The numbers are available. The total at the high school is projected to be about 1700

Q - Important to have our local reps (Spilka, Brown, Vallee) look at the legislation in process.
A - thank you!

Live reporting - Q&A

Q - commendation on report, job well done. concerning peer data, if we raise our taxes, is there a guarantee that the state won't reduce and we are back where we started
A - Whalen, put the numbers together, don't think the state looks at that statistic. we should be a below average tax burden with an above average benefit

A - Zollo - if the state minimum is hit, the state will help us determine how the money will be spent. Federal stats say we should have more police/fire but that doesn't matter to the state. It does to the school side of the budget.

Q - should include the school building issues into the 5 year plan otherwise, it wouldn't be a complete report. should update this quarterly
A -those items aren't quantified but they are addressed
Q - those items need to be there.
A - from the committee standpoint, those items are being looked at, there are no firm estimates for those factors to incorporate
A - Cameron - also look at the full report, there are additional details there. We focused on how the funding works for this executive report. We recognize how important this is.
A - Hardesty - information needs to get out, the details should be available when those decisions need to be made.

A - Zollo - the committee debated internally, we will come up with some alternatives, the relaity is what it is. The Town needs to be aware of other capital expenses. The funds for those could come from two sources, (1) Debt exclusion (expires when debt is paid off) (2) override (raises tax permanently). Differences between town fical funding options. But not out of the operational budget.
A - Whalen - in comparison with our peers, we are below the peers in debt service
A - Roche - transparency, dashboard on the website, but once the budget is set, the budget numbers don't really change. In most cases, the state number once given is set, unless there is unique circumstances, the state doesn't take away the money.

- side note - provided advice to the committee that some of the comments are coming across as defensive of the report when they should be soliciting feedback from the community

Q - when is the decision coming on the high school
A - Nutting - the building is not in that bad shape compared to other schools they have been into. We don't know when they will committee. They will not commit at this point. In six-nine months, maybe they'll give us an answer. We don't have it and we are continuing to pursue it.

live reporting - Doug continues

example of state unfunded mandate - wind instruments are now required to be professionally cleaned before reuse.

How has Franklin responded?
  • reduce head count and cut employee benefits
  • streamlined operations
  • enhanced revenues
  • spent cash reserves ($7.5 million)

Impact of current problem
forecasted deficits are structural, not directly due to the recession

FY 2010 forecast was for a deficit of 4.5 million
With other one time items, the deficit currently is $750,000

Where does this leave us?
  • We depend more upon state aid than other towns
  • Our property tax burden is less than other towns
  • Our cash reserves are stable and at the right level
Where are we now?
Town expenses
  • Franklin ranks 27th out of 31 comparable peer towns in per capita municipal spending
  • Recent capital projects have minimal effect on operating budget
School expenses
  • spending per pupil 22% less than state average
  • net school spending rapidly approaching state minimum
  • teacher compensation remains "middle of the pack"
  • Schools have cut non-teacher costs sharply
Town spending
slide of comparison to the other 31 towns

School spending
slide of numbers directly from the State Dept of Education web site

Net school spending slide
the long curve is going the wrong way

Impact of capital projects on Town Budget
  • Capital dollars can not be used for operational expenses
  • Capital debt burden is about 2% of the total Town budget
Where we are headed
state aid grow of 3% - 8.5 million deficit
state aid flat - 12.1 million deficit
state aid declines 3% - 15.3 million deficit

What can we do about this?
  • Agree on the problem
  • Develop a comprehensive multi-year plan
  • Improve transparency and accessibility if information
Continue to improve operational efficiency
  • explore regionalization in addition to Library, recreation
Influence the legislative process
  • preserve state aid
  • address unfunded mandates
  • pension reform
Ensure salaries remain competitive

explanation of steps and lanes on teacher side of the compensation

Increase tax revenue
  • find revenue from non-Franklin resources
  • assess need for override and debt exclusion - 5 year horizon
  • look to soften impact for low or fixed income households
Improve transparency and accessibility of information
  • assign ownership for improving the flow of info
  • communicate more effectively with citizens
  • preserve credibility
final thoughts
recap of previous topics

stay tuned for Q&A

Live reporting - Doug Hardesty

Committee addresses the problem, trying to boil it down to simple facts on where we have been, and where we are going.

free of bias, free of clutter

- be sure to follow along the presentation -

Boiled frog analogy - water in pan, turn heat on, put frog in pan, he'll jump out. Another pan, same amount of water, same frog, turn heat on gradually, the water will heat up and the frog will boil. The slow change was not noticeable and couldn't be avoided.

Similar to the Franklin finances, the problems have been here for years.

Franklin at a glance slide

Franklin at a glance - General Fund Revenues

clarification on this presentation is the executive summary with a couple of extra slides
the full report is available on the town web site

- rechecked the head count quickly, approx 150 people in the auditorium

Live reporting - Info Forum - Part 1

Financial Planning Committee members: Bartlett, Trahan, Cameron, Zollo, Whalen, Hardesty, Roche, Wilschek (Kelly missing)

Jim Roche, Committee Chair opens with remarks and introductions

About 100 in audience as we get underway

Doug Hardesty starts doing the full presentation

Live reporting - Informational Forum 4/27/09

Preparations underway, folks are gathering

At Horace Mann/Thomas Mercer Auditorium for the presentation and discussion of the Financial Planning Committee report

Click through to the Franklin Town website to view and download the draft report of the Financial Planning Committee here

Questions for the Forum

If you don't have questions for the discussion this evening on the long term plan, here are a few to help get you started:

  1. Page 12, the color bars are not labeled, what do they represent?
  2. How does a salary "freeze" still allow for increases due to step and lane changes?
  3. Which regionalization effort will bring the best dollar savings? Library and recreation efforts are small dollars.
  4. What unfunded mandates should be challenged to improve our expenses?
  5. If overrides are in our future, how many? when? and how big do they need to be? to get us out of this mess?
  6. Is the Town Council committed to keep this long range plan up to date (since previous efforts apparently failed)?
  7. Will the Town develop a "capital budget" as the auditors recently recommended?

Click through to the Franklin Town website to view and download the draft report of the Financial Planning Committee here