Town Council - Agenda - 2/3/2010

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – January 6, 2010

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS - Application for a New Wine & Malt License – Spruce Pond Creamery

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
• Resolution 10-85: Authorization to Expend Funds in Excess of Available Appropriations
• Resolution 10-86: Authorization to Borrow for the Purchase of Trash Totters
• Resolution 10-87: Rescission of Authorization to Borrow – Municipal Off-Street Parking
• Resolution 10-88: Rescission of Authorization to Borrow – Purchase of Street Lights

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

Budget Workshop Collection - 1/25/10

Franklin held conducted a budget workshop on Monday, Jan 25, 2010.  This is the collection of live reporting and audio recordings from the workshop.


Live reporting from the workshop can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-special-meeting-budget.html

and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-budget-workshop.html


Parts 1 through 4 cover the Town portion of the budget with Jeff Nutting, Susan Gagner and Jim Dacey leading the discussion.

Part 1 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/fm-budget-workshop-12510-part-1.html

Part 2 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-2-12510.html

Part 3 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-3-12510.html

Part 4 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-4-1252010.html


Parts 5 through 8 cover the Schools portion of the budget with Maureen Sabolinski, Miriam Goodman, Sally Winslow, and Beth Fitzmaurice leading the discussion.

Part 5 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-5-12510.html


Part 6 of the workshop recording can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-6-12510.html

Part 7 of the workshop recording can be found here

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-7-12510.html

Part 8 of the workshop recording can be found here

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-8-12510.html

In Part 9, Jeff Nutting provides some closing remarks and Bob Richer (citizen at large) provides some good feedback on the session.

The final segment, Part 9 of the workshop recording, can be found here

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/02/fm-budget-workshop-part-9-final-12510.html

In the News - Haiti, cyberbullying

Network needed for aid in Haiti

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

The New England Chapel is located in Franklin

------

Cyberbullying too real for teens

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Abby Jordan/Daily News staff

Teen Angels is a group of middle school students working to raise awareness amongst their peers on cyberbullying. The TeenAngels presented to the School Committee earlier this month. You can see what they did here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-teen-angels.html

and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/teen-angels-pledge-text-think-send.html

FM - Budget Workshop 1/25/10 - Part 1

Franklin held conducted a budget workshop on Monday, Jan 25, 2010. This is part one of the session. Susan Gagner, Town Comptroller, reviews the first pages of her presentation.

Time: 28 minutes, 30 seconds


MP3 File


The files discussed in this segment of the workshop can be found here

Susan Gagner - Overview Page 1

Susan Gagner - Overview Page 2

Susan Gagner - 6 Year Operating Revenue Summary

Susan Gagner - 6 Year State Aid History

Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit FranklinMAtters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to the website to listen to the audio version.

Budget workshop documents

The documents from the Budget Workshop held on Monday, Jan 25, 2010 can be found stored within a folder on Google Docs. You should be able to view the files and print each individual PDF on your printer should you want a copy for more detailed review.

The files can be found here

Susan Gagner - Overview Page 1

Susan Gagner - Overview Page 2


Susan Gagner - 6 Year Operating Revenue Summary

Susan Gagner - 6 Year State Aid History


Susan Gagner - 6 Year Estimated Local Receipts


Susan Gagner - 6 Year State Assessment History

Susan Gagner - 6 Year Budget Breakdown

Susan Gagner - 6 Year Fixed Cost History

Susan Gagner - School Budget Chapter 70 History

Susan Gagner - Net School Spending - Page 1

Susan Gagner - Net School Spending - Page 2

The files uploaded and available now are from the presentation by Susan Gagner, Franklin Town Comptroller. I will be adding the remaining files as time allows.

I want to share the recording of the presentation and discussion from this workshop and will be releasing sections of the workshop as time permits.

Note: as is was checking the files to ensure that you would be able to view them without a Google Account, I did see an error - "Sorry we are unable to retrieve the document for viewing. Please try again later." I was able to refresh and view the document on the second try.

Gov Patrick's budget for FY 2011

Gov Patrick released his budget on time. The budget home page can be found here:

The full process steps starting with the release of the Governor's budget can be found here

There is a budget guide to read about how to find out what you want to know. The guide can be found here

The home page for the FY 2011 budget can be found here

Respectfully, this is a whole lot of good information.

What does it mean for Franklin? 
The key dollars for the Franklin budget comes in the Local Aid section

The totals for FY 2011 proposed by Governor Patrick are:

Municipality	Chapter 70	Unrestricted General  Government Aid

FRANKLIN	$28,371,695	$2,177,055

This totals to $30,548, 750 which is $852,318 less than the $31,401,068 Franklin received for FY 2010.

What does this mean? Too earlier to tell. This is only the first step in the long State budget process. It is not good that we are starting with less than last year. I don't think it likely that either the House or Senate will increase what the Governor has already proposed, but that is my two cents.

What comes next?

• The House Ways and Means Committee reviews the Governor's budget and then develops its own recommendation.

• Individual representatives submit budget amendments which are then debated on the House floor.  Once debated, amended and voted on by the full House, it becomes the final House budget bill and moves to the Senate.

• The Senate Ways & Means Committee reviews both the Governor's and House budgets and develops its own recommendation.

• Individual representatives submit budget amendments which are then debated on the Senate floor.  Once debated, amended and voted on, it becomes the final Senate's budget bill.

• State Finance law requires the Governor to submit budget revisions to his proposed budget if revenue forecasts predict a shortfall after the original submission.

• House and Senate leadership assign members to a "conference committee" to negotiate the differences between the House and Senate bills. The conference committee report can only be approved or rejected - no additional amendments can be made.

• Once approved by both chambers of the Legislature, the Governor has ten days to review it. The Governor may approve or veto the entire budget, or may veto or reduce particular line items or sections, but may not add anything.

• The House and Senate may vote to override the Governor's vetoes. Overrides require a two-thirds roll-call vote in each chamber.

• The final budget is also known as the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or "Chapter xxx of the Acts of 2010."

All of this should happen by June 30th in order to start the fiscal year on July 1.


Stay tuned in to the budget discussions. 

Franklin has a similar process. Each department prepares their budget. It is reviewed by the Town Administrator and presented to the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee hold public hearings to review, adjust and recommend a budget to the Town Council. The Town Council holds budget hearing to solicit input from any interested Franklin residents before voting on a budget. Franklin also needs to pass a budget to begin operations on the new fiscal year July 1.

How cold is it?

very cold, as evidenced by the frosted windows at Berry Insurance on Friday morning