Franklin Matters

Monday, April 27, 2009

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:

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