Showing posts with label FY 2019. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FY 2019. Show all posts

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Town Council approves FY 2019 budget starting Franklin in hole for FY 2020 budget cycle

Over two nights (one longer than the other) the Town Council brought to a close the FY 2019 budget cycle. They voted to approve the proposed budget and voted to use approx. $1.5M from the budget stabilization fund to balance the budget.

The budget cycle started in Nov/Dec 2017 when each department in the Town reviewed their operational and capital budget requirements with Town Administrator Jeff Nutting, et al. 

The capital budget was reviewed in part by the Finance Committee in January approving the utilization of some of the free cash for the capital requirements. The balance of free cash was reserved to cover any overage of the snow/ice budget. The decision on the remainder of the free cash amount will be made in June before the fiscal year closes.

The School Committee followed a separate but similar path. They held a budget workshop in October. The conducted a Legislative Forum in February. They held their budget hearing in March.  (see links below)

The operations budget was reviewed in the Council Budget subcommittee and a joint budget subcommittee meeting (including Town Council, Finance Committee and School Committee) before beginning the formal budget hearings by the Finance Committee in April.

After the 3rd hearing, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend the budget as proposed by the Town Administrator to the Town Council.

The Town Council held their first budget hearing on Wednesday. Like recent years, the budget line items were formally read and if a Councilor had a question on the line item, it was placed "on hold". After all the holds were placed in the reading of the budget, each question was answered and some cases additional discussion ensued on the item before moving to the next budget line item.

Although this allows questions to be raised and answered in this format, the entire budget is not really presented to the Town Council. If you want that kind of presentation and open discussion you need to participate in the Finance Committee budget hearings.

At the end of the 'long' evening Wednesday (almost 2 hours), it was determined that the department managers and representatives were not going to be required for the Thursday meeting. There were not planned to be any more serious questions raised that the departments would need to answer.

The Thursday session opened and was completed within 25 minutes. Three separate votes. One to approve the bulk of the operational budget excluding the Tri-County portion. One to appoint a clerk pro temp to replace Councilor Jones who needed to recuse himself from the Tri-County budget vote. He teaches at Tri-County and to participate would be a potential conflict of interest. The third and final vote was for the approval of the now full budget including the approval of the approx $1.5M transfer from the budget stabilization account to provide a balanced budget.

The first vote for the operational budget passed 8-1 (Earls voted 'no').
The vote for the pro temp clerk passed 8-0 (Jones recused)
The vote for the full budget passed 8-0-1 (Jones recused).

The budget stabilization funds carefully set aside in 2013 has now bought some time for the Town (and yes that means you too!) to have some serious discussion on what to do next year.

The budget for FY 2020 is already approx. $1.5M short (due to the use of the one time funds this year).

The School Committee had acknowledged using multiple millions from their revolving funds each of the last three budgets some of which were 'one time', i.e. not replaceable.

The needs of the Town to maintain current service levels continues to increase. Police and Fire are seriously understaffed in comparison to other similar sized communities. The 3rd ambulance that is needed for the Town to provide sufficient life saving response times would itself call for an additional $1.5M. The School Dept requirements that were unmet by this year's budget are long. The DPW is strapped to maintain over 200 miles over roads with 'nickels and dimes' funding and a very efficient process.

What would Franklin like to do for the FY 2020 budget? There is not likely any miracle funds available. The 2.5% cap is not sufficient to meet our needs.

Fortunately, the Town Administration has stated that the discussion will start early in the FY 2020 cycle. I, for one, will be watching and reporting to ensure that the discussion does happen.

Budget hearing #1 (Franklin Matters notes)
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/live-reporting-town-council-may-16-2018.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/live-reporting-budget-hearing-1.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/live-reporting-to-closing.html

Town Council actions taken May 16
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/tc_actions_taken_may_16_2018.doc_1.pdf

Budget hearing #2 (Franklin Matters notes)
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/live-reporting-town-council-budget.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/live-reporting-fy-2019-budget-vote.html
Town of Franklin budget page
http://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget

Town Administrator budget narrative and documents
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/05/town-administrators-fy19-budget.html

Finance Committee budget hearing notes

School Committee budget summary
http://franklindistrict.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinDistrict_budget/index

School Committee budget hearing
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/04/school-committee-recap-march-27-2018.html

School Committee budget workshop
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2017/10/fm-133-school-committee-budgeting.html

School Committee Legislative Forum
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/02/fm-139-legislative-forum-on-school.html

January Finance Committee minutes
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/minutes/finance_committee_minutes_january_30_2018.pdf



Budget Collection FY 2019



Saturday, May 19, 2018

Town Council - May 17, 2018 - Budget Hearing #2

The collection of posts from the second budget hearing on the FY 2019 budget at the Town Council meeting, May 17, 2018. The Council approved the budget at this brief meeting.




The agenda for this meeting can be found

Town Council - May 16, 2018 - Budget hearing #1

The collection of posts from the first budget hearing on the FY 2019 budget at the Town Council meeting, May 16, 2018


The agenda and associated documents can be found

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Live Reporting: FY 2019 Budget vote


F. Hearings
F. Hearings - FY 2019 Budget Hearing: 7:10 PM

The budget voting doc can be found here

J. Legislation for Action
J. Legislation for Action
1. Resolution 18-24:  Adoption of FY 2019 Budget (Motion to Move Resolution 18-24 - 2/3  Majority Vote (6))

Motion to approve, seconded passed 8-1 via roll call

Earl's votes no

J. Legislation for Action
J. Legislation for Action
2. Resolution 18-25Amendment of FY 2019 Budget (Motion to Move Resolution 18-25 - Majority Vote (5))

Jones refused himself

Motion for protemp clerk
Roll call vote for resolution 18-25
8-0 passed


Motion to approve, seconded, passed 8-0, 1 recused, via roll call


(Jones is employees by Tri-county and thereby can't vote on this section of the budget)


Casey question on ambulance charge recovery from assisted living centers
Discussion on what has been done and improvements made, work remains

Question raised on how the deficit is to start with?
At least 1.5m

Motion to adjourn, seconded, passed 9-0





Live Reporting: Town Council - Budget Hearing #2 - May 17

Present: Hamblen, Casey, Dellorco, Mercer, Kelly, Jones, Padula, Pellegri, Earls
Absent: none


agenda juggled to use time before the 7:10 public hearing on the budget

Agenda ItemSummary
A. Approval of Minutes
A. Approval of Minutes

No minutes

B. Announcements
B. Announcements - This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may also be recorded by others.

C. Proclamations/Recognitions
C. Proclamations/Recognitions


D. Citizen Comments
D. Citizen Comments - Citizens are welcome to express their views for up to five minutes on a matter that is not on the Agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.

None

E. Appointments
E. Appointments

None
F. Hearings
F. Hearings - FY 2019 Budget Hearing: 7:10 PM

The budget voting doc can be found here

G. License Transactions
G. License Transactions

Nothing
H. Presentations/Discussions
H. Presentations/Discussions

Nothing

I. Subcommittee Reports
I. Subcommittee Reports
1. Capital
2. Budget

Administration preplanningp done, joint budget worked the details before FinCom reviewed and then to Town Council

3. EDC
K. Town Administrator's Report
K. Town Administrator's Report

June 7 Commissioner of MA Dept of Energy, green community award in council chambers

Channel 25 July 13 to do "the trip" here in Franklin


L. Future Agenda Items
L. Future Agenda Items

M. Council Comments
M. Council Comments

fund raiser for PJ Maxfield scheduled for June 16 at Wrentham legion hall (add link to prior posting)
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/04/gofundme-service-dog-for-pj.html


DT elementary news report on Youtube (shared also via Franklin matters)
Invite DT kids to council meeting


N. Executive Session
N. Executive Session
Not needed tonight


MassBudget: Analyzing the Senate Ways and Means FY 2019 budget proposal



MassBudget  Information.
  Participation.
 Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center  Democracy.
May 15, 2018





Analyzing the Senate Ways and Means FY 2019 budget proposal

The Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Budget differs from the House budget only modestly: it makes somewhat larger investments in K-12 education, and provides less new funding for early education; it proposes to hold down pharmaceutical costs by allowing the Administration to negotiate rebates directly with the manufacturers, and sets a spending target; and it makes a few targeted new investments such as an initiative to improve or create accessible affordable housing units for renters with disabilities and an increase in funding for Regional Transit Authorities.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's latest Budget Monitor finds that, in important ways, the SWM and House Budgets are very similar. Both include several significant policy changes:
  • An increase in the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 23 percent of the federal credit to 30 percent. The EITC is a tax credit that primarily benefits low- and moderate-income working parents and their families. Research studies have found that in addition to encouraging people to work and helping families to make ends meet, the EITC improves health outcomes for mothers and children, and boosts children's academic performance.
  • An initiative proposed by the Governor to increase funding for adult mental health services and to restructure and expand the primary adult services program. The goal of these reforms is to provide more coordinated, standardized, and consistent treatment that will better align with health care systems, and will be more comprehensive, particularly for people who also have substance use disorders.
  • A change to the rules for Transitional Assistance removing a restriction that bars families from receiving benefits for a child conceived while the family was receiving Transitional Assistance (the SWM budget makes this change effective January 1, 2019 while the House made the change effective in FY 2020).
There was also much that the House and SWM budgets were both not able to do, given revenue constraints. For example, both fund higher education at levels that will likely lead to continued cost increases for students. State funding for public higher education in Massachusetts is down 32 percent since FY 2001, and those funding reductions have led to increases in tuition, fees, and student debt. Both budget proposals also continue to rely on temporary solutions to balance the budget in FY 2019, suggesting that fiscal challenges will continue into FY 2020.
Read the full report here.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts.

MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER
15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700
BOSTON, MA 02108


Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, 15 Court Square, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02108

Sent by nberger@massbudget.org in collaboration with
Constant Contact

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Live Reporting: Town Council - May 16, 2018

Present: Hamblen, Casey, Dellorco, Mercer, Kelly, Jones, Padula, Pellegri, Earls
Absent: none

You can also find the full set of documents in one PDF
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/agendas/may_16_council_agenda.pdf

Agenda ItemSummary
A. Approval of Minutes
A. Approval of Minutes
B. Announcements
B. Announcements - This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may also be recorded by others.

volunteers still looked for the Downtown Beautification day
bricks for sale at the Library and the veteran's walkway

C. Proclamations/Recognitions
C. Proclamations/Recognitions

recognition for DPW, Water Dept
for outstanding performance for water conservation

lower per resident water usage in State
the whole water crew does a great job


D. Citizen Comments
D. Citizen CommentsCitizens are welcome to express their views for up to five minutes on a matter that is not on the Agenda. The Council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during Citizen Comments. The Town Council will give remarks appropriate consideration and may ask the Town Administrator to review the matter.

Gary McCarragher - next week is national medical services
they delivered a baby and then attended someone who took their own life, they do a range of things on a daily basis

Monique Doyle for the support of the Library renovations

E. Appointments
E. Appointments
F. Hearings
F. Hearings  - FY 2019 Budget Hearing - 7:10 PM
G. License Transactions
G. License Transactions - La Cantina Winery Company

looking for a license to sell at the Town Common/Farmer's Market

Pellegri - question on police detail required?
Nutting - this is for samples and purchases, not consumption

This is third year participating in the market, we are cautious in our selling, we are building a community here in Franklin

Jones - appreciate your help with non-profits in the area, particularly the recent one for the FEF, it was well received

H. Presentations/Discussions
H. Presentations/Discussions - Franklin Farmer's Market

Cynthia Garbosci, market manager
starting in June

coordinating with groups/org to expand
working with Library for example to do a scavenger hunt 
anything for sale needs to be related to farm and farm produce
every Friday starting June 1, from 12-6
no market on July 6th (due to other events on the Common)


I. Subcommittee Reports
I. Subcommittee Reports
1. Capital
nothing

2. Budget
nothing

3. EDC
nothing tonight

J. Legislation for Action
J. Legislation for Action
1. Resolution 18-21Expenditure Limits for FY 2019 on Departmental Revolving Funds Established by Franklin Town Code Chapter 73, as Provided in G. L. Chapter 44 Section 53E 1/2, as Amended (Motion to Move Resolution 18-21 - Majority Vote (5))

motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

annual requirement to be set
no comments, no questions from Council
J. Legislation for Action
J. Legislation for Action
2. Resolution 18-22Salary Schedule, Full Time Elected Official (Motion to Move Resolution 18-22 - Majority Vote (5))

motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0

this is the last year of the agreement

J. Legislation for Action
J. Legislation for Action
3. Resolution 18-23Compensation Plan, FY 2019 (Motion to Move Resolution 18-23 - Majorirty Vote (5))

motion to approve, seconded, passed 9-0
recommended increase of 3% in the ranges, separate and apart from individual salaries