Sunday, April 29, 2018

FM $144 - Finance Committee - Final Budget Hearing - FY 2019 (audio)

FM #144

This internet radio show or podcast is number 144 in the series for Franklin Matters.

This recording is of the Finance Committee final budget hearing for the FY 2019 budget review. The meeting was held on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The meeting began at 6:00 PM.

The school budget, Police Dept, and Technology budgets were reviewed and discussed before the committee made its vote to recommend the budget as proposed to the Town Council. The Town Council budget hearings are scheduled for May 16 and 17. The budget is currently unbalanced and the Town Council will need to vote to use approx $1.4M of the debt stabilization account to balance the budget as required.

As mentioned at the beginning of the budget hearings, this is the proposed approach to address the budget shortfall this year, effectively buying some time for many new players in key roles. The FY 2020 budget will also be an issue and by this move (use of debt stabilization funds), there will need to be either an override discussion or significant cuts to the services.

The use of the revolving funds on the school budget side and the use of the debt stabilization funds on the Town side creates a hole that will require some serious discussion and action to resolve. There won’t be an opportunity to avoid the discussion next year.

The meeting itself runs about 39 minutes. My notes were captured via Twitter for this meeting and can be found at FranklinMatters.org/
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2018/04/finance-committee-recap-fy-2019-budget.html

Without further ado, here is the audio recording.







-------------


This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors.
If you don't like this, please let me know.


Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements.
Thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
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!


------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Finance Committee Recap - FY 2019 Budget voted on to move to Town Council







Several questions were asked on the use of the revolving funds by the schools to balance the school budget. As you listen to the questions and answers, sometimes it appears that the answer was to another point or to one of the points in the question not to another.

The revolving funds used by the school budget are similar in that to the enterprise funds used by the Town. Fees are collected for a specific purpose (busing, or lunch, on the school side vs. water and sewer on the Town side). Expenses are paid out of the fees to enable the service to be self sustaining.

The questions get at how the revolving funds had accumulated such a balance as to be used last year, and this year for the budget. If the questions were not completely answered to your satisfaction, you may have another chance during the Town Council budget hearings on May 16 and May 17.

The School Committee budget page provides a summary of the various revolving funds.
"The following pages provide an explanation and financial status of the revolving funds
maintained by the District. All balances are as of June 30th in each fiscal year with a year-to-date amount for the current year."
http://franklindistrict.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinDistrict_budget/23.%20Revolving%20Accounts.pdf

Details on the school budget can be found on their budget page
http://franklindistrict.vt-s.net/Pages/FranklinDistrict_budget/index






The discussion on the walk in traffic to the Police Station comes in the context of the new regional dispatch center coming online later this year. The dispatchers would move from the station to the regional center. However, someone will still need to remain staffing the Police station to monitor the folks held in custody as well as this walk in traffic. Discussion is still underway on how to resolve this issue. It will be simpler at the Fire Station as visitors will interact with a kiosk and talk with someone at the regional dispatch center.



The full FY 2019 budget document including the summary letter and several great supporting pieces can be found here
http://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/news/fy19_complete_budget_fincom_with_page_numbers_0.pdf

or here:



Finance Committee Recap - FY 2019 Budget voted on to move to Town Council
Finance Committee Recap - FY 2019 Budget voted on to move to Town Council

FHS baseball tops KP 14-0

Via HockomockSports we share the results of the FHS spring sports action on Saturday, April 28, 2018.


Baseball = Franklin, 14 @ King Philip, 0 – Final
– Franklin’s offense exploded for 14 runs to pick up a win on the road at King Philip. “It was a good team effort,” said Franklin head coach Zach Brown. Scott Elliott had a double, a walk, knocked in a pair of runs, and scored two runs, Jake Macchi walked twice, scored twice and had a double, and Jack Nally had a pair of hits and scored twice for the Panthers. Jason Ulrickson earned the win on the mound, allowing just two hits while striking out two in six innings of work.

For the other results around the Hockomock League
https://hockomocksports.com/saturdays-schedule-scoreboard-04-28-18/













FHS Panthers
FHS Panthers

Reminder: The Annual SEPAC Comedy Show - May 4

SAVE THE DATE for The Annual SEPAC Comedy Show on Friday, May 4 at the 
Showcase Live, Patriot Place, Foxboro
The Annual SEPAC Comedy Show - May 4
The Annual SEPAC Comedy Show - May 4

It is that time of year again!! The 8th Annual Comedy show to benefit Franklin SEPAC is being held on Friday, May 4 at Showcase Live, Patriot Place. 

Enjoy good food, drinks, lots of laughs, and chances to take home fabulous items through the silent auction, food frenzy and raffle. 

All proceeds raised will fund SEPAC’s speakers and social events. Tickets are on sale now on our website: www.franklinsepac.org!! 

If you cannot attend but would like to contribute, we welcome any and all donations. 

Please email us at franklinsepac@gmail.com with any questions.
Hope you can make it!!



GoFundMe: A service dog for PJ

"Our son PJ has an extensive medical history. He used to stop breathing and he would turn fluorescent blue. We found out when he was 9 months old that he needed brain surgery for a malformation of his brain. This surgery saved PJ's life. 

PJ also has a cleft in his Larynx that causes him to aspirate. He has a paralyzed vocal chord, and is completely non verbal. PJ was diagnosed with Autism just shy of his third birthday. He also has PICA disorder, which causes him to want to ingest non edible materials, such as metal, glass, wood chips, rocks etc. 

PJ has truly had a difficult beginning. But PJ is a beautiful, sweet, fearless little boy. He started about a year ago at a special school for children with autism and has really made some great progress. Since being there we have seen more of his personality blossoming and his communication has increased. He is now able to use a special ipad to help him communicate his wants and needs. This school has helped PJ in so many ways. He has become a happier little boy. 

However as he has gotten older/bigger our day to day lives have gotten more challenging for our family and more dangerous for PJ. He is a runner, and has no safety skills as far as traffic and a fetish for any water he can find. Even though he is making some progress we believe there is still more we can do to help him live the best life he can, to help him with his life skills and day to day activities. 

Having done some research on Autism Service Dogs, we have discovered Ry-Con, an Organization in Raleigh NC, that breeds and trains service dog specifically for Autism. Mark Mathis founded this non profit Organization after training a Briard for his own son who is also diagnosed with autism. We have recently gone down to visit Mark and meet some service dogs in training and it was AMAZING!! 

Our son PJ blossomed before our eyes. He made a very magical connection with one dog in particular and we saw a side of PJ that we have never seen before. He was connecting with this dog on a level I never could have imagined. He was seeking him out for interaction. Looking for him as he would try to run towards the road and responding when this dog would herd him back towards the safety of the interior of the yard. PJ was in love with an animal for the first time in his life. 

This special dog laid with PJ in a bed for a rest and PJ was hooked. He was giving love like we have never seen him do. We are sold on the wonderful things this animal can help him with. such as:

  • Prevent him from running and wandering into dangerous situations
  • Enhance his current therapies
  • Help with his sleep patterns
  • Ease his anxiety in new or difficult situations
  • Allow for some independence at home and when in public
  • Engagement and interactions with his peers
  • Keep him from ingesting dangerous non edibles


Please consider making a donation.  https://www.gofundme.com/a-service-dog-for-pj

Please also visit Ry-Con Briard Service Dogs website or Facebook page to learn more about the Briard Breed and Autism Service Dogs.

Thank you so much for your consideration."

The Maxfield family from Franklin


GoFundMe:  A service dog for PJ
GoFundMe:  A service dog for PJ

"lawmakers facing intense pressure from the pharmaceutical industry"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Bills introduced in at least 15 states would impose taxes or fees on prescription painkillers. Several of the measures have bipartisan support and would funnel millions of dollars toward treatment and prevention programs. 
In Montana, state Sen. Roger Webb, a Republican, sees the approach as a way to hold drugmakers accountable for an overdose epidemic that in 2016 claimed 42,000 lives in the U.S., a record. 
“You’re creating the problem,” he said. “You’re going to fix it.” 
Opioids include prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and illicit versions of fentanyl. Public health experts say the crisis started because of overprescribing and aggressive marketing of the drugs that began in the 1990s. The death toll has continued to rise even as prescribing has started to drop."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/zz/news/20180428/states-force-opioid-makers-to-pay-for-addiction-epidemic


Franklin Public Library: Jon Berman in concert - Apr 29, 3:00 PM

Musician Jon Berman is scheduled to perform a free concert at the Franklin Public Library on Sunday, April 29 at 3:00 PM



This was shared from the Library page
https://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2018/04/musician-jon-berman-sunday-april-29-300.html

For more about Jon Berman, visit his page
http://jonbermanmusic.com/

A video sample of Jon's music from YouTube
https://youtu.be/vAXLBQG5LRI