Franklin Matters

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Live reporting - Audit report

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS – Auditor’s Report
Scott McIntyre, Vice President - Melanson

Audit document
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/Audits/Franklin%20Final%20FS10.pdf

audit was good, no material disagreements on transaction applications

Page 12 - long term prospective balence
Net OPEB Obligation
year two of accounting standard, to be fully funded over 30 years
over $15 M, increased
dropped from $8 to $1.5 M as unrestricted assets

page 14 - short term
500,000 draw on operating balance, not unusual for these economic conditions
$5.2 M down about 700,000 (used for capital expenditures)
8% of general appropriation, about where it is supposed to be

revenues came in about 700,000 above forecast, good but in narrow range
expenses under budget, so this creates a positive balance
use of existing cash reserves is not a good thing

Management Letter
close inactive project funds, not fully completed as end of fiscal year but has been fully closed now

Management letter document
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/Audits/FY10%20Franklin%20Management%20Letter%202.pdf

develop a more formal risk assessment process, mentioned before
identify risk areas and respond, formal policies and procedures should be applied
possible areas of risk supplied to Comptroller

outstanding bonds not reconciled to ledger at end of fiscal year, this has been done subsequently

GASB 54 prepare for new standard, mostly terminology
account for raining day funds to be reported in the general financial statements (i.e. stabilization fund)
funds combined only in the audit report, other regulations take precedent to keep them separate

Nutting - can you reconcile the diff between the $15M and the $79M obligation

McIntyre - estimated to be your fully funded liabilities earned by retirees
Accounting standards don't require this to be recognized at once, can take 30 years to fully fund
this liability is not in the general fund, no obligation to actually fund it

$80 M is without a trust fund, if there was a trust fund to be used, the liability would be cut in half

There is a substantial amount of town audits where there are no material disagreements
turn the clock back ten years ago, and I could not have said them same thing
accounting systems and general ledgers have improved

McGann - what condition would you find Franklin in compared to other towns of similar size?

McIntyre - considering debt service and fund balance, those two attributes put you in good company, they like to see between 5 - 10 percent, you are at the upper end. For the debt service, (page 39) it shows how quickly you pay off your long term debt, how much of your debt are you paying off in ten years. you pay off 70% of your debt in 10 years, that is very good, for the enterprise accounts, approx 70% within ten year period, also a very favorable result.

The report will be posted to the website in a couple of days.

Franklin, MA

live reporting - License transactions

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
Longhorn Steakhouse – Alteration of Premises

motion to approve, passed 7-0

Joe’s American Bar & Grill – Transfer of License
motion to approve, passed 7-0

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Town Council

Present: Jones, Vallee, Whalen, Mason, Pfeffer, McGann, Powderly
Absent: Kelly, Zollo

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - February 16, 2011
motion to approve, passed 7-0

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
meetings are recorded by Verizon, Comcast, and Franklin Matters

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS
none

E. APPOINTMENTS - Conservation Commission
motion to approve Regan Harald, passed 7-0

Franklin, MA

Citizens Against Waste: Trash fee question

Question:

So, when the town spent however-many thousands on those new trash and recycle containers the implication was that the household trash collection cost would go down slightly. While I do like the new containers the only reason to spend money like that, especially during a time like this, is if it will reduce the cost of trash removal.

We recently received our quarterly water/sewer/trash bill and while not in front of me at the moment I believe the trash cost was $55. Is that lower than it was a few quarters ago before the new bins? Or do they just expect that everyone will forget about that little promise and keep charging the same? Anyone remember what it was before?

Now that the trash removal company requires only one worker per truck instead of three and can clear more cans per hour I assume the savings are passed on to the local governments it services. Were those savings passed on to us? That was how it was sold anyway so just curious. Thanks.

Answer:

Yes, the quarterly rate reduced from $61 to $55.

Part of the rate reduction came from the efficiency of the new single stream process with one-person mechanically operated trucks as opposed to the two-person truck manual operation of the prior vendor.

As the $800,000 for the bins (barrels, toters, or whatever you want to call them) are paid off, there is potential for a further reduction.

Note: the financing for the bins is done within the solid waste enterprise account. This account is where the trash and recycle fees are collected, town expenses accumulated, and occasionally when the account balance is sufficient, a rate reduction is passed along to the rate payers.

Thanks to Adam for the question. He entered it on the question form and on the Franklin Matters Facebook page.

If you have a question, please ask it here and we'll get it answered.

Franklin, MA

School Committee 03/15/11

The collection of posts reporting on the School Committee meeting for Tuesday, March 15, 2011 can be found here:

Franklin, MA

Offer to candidates for election - November 8, 2011

To the citizens and potential candidates for Franklin's election on November 8, 2011:

I extend an offer to conduct and post an interview with you here. The interview can be either text or audio.

You are running to conduct business on behalf of Franklin. Together, we can share your views, your objectives, and help to spread the word to create an informed voter.

Send me an email (shersteve at gmail dot com) and we can arrange a mutually convenient time.

Be aware that this is my public service effort conducted solely to create an informed electorate here in Franklin.

I do this for fun and education. If it stops being that way, I will stop.
This is not an advertising site. This is an information sharing site.

My disclosure statement can be found here.
My comment/editorial policy can be found here.

A similar offer was made for the Franklin, MA elections in 2009 and 2007.

Results of the interviews posted during 2009 can be viewed here