Absent: to be filled in
1. Call to Order
2. Introduction of New Members Nicole Corbosiero and Mike Kasberg
3. Vote for Officers
motion to keep existing slate of officers as is
seconded, passed 6-0
4. Approval of Minutes
approval of Apr minutes, seconded, passed 6-0
5. Citizen’s Comments
none
6. Capital Appropriation of Roads: Earmarking of Hotel Excise Tax ($900K)
combined with Chap 90 would be about 2 M to work the roads this coming year FY 2020
money for crack sealing, chip sealing, sidewalks and curbing which can't be done with the water/sewer funding for the road rebuild
important to get now is good for bidding purposes
The RT 140/i495 roadwork is being done by the State
Some modifications are being done at the intersection, not all will be resolved with this work. more needs to be done to re-time the intersection
motion to approve fund transfer, seconded, passed 6-0
7. Town Administrator Supplemental Budget Message
Why are we still talking about the FY 20 budget?
the budget is actually not fully closed out until the tax rate hearing (this year on Dec 4, 2019).
The State numbers are not final in May, nor are the assessors growth numbers, local receipt expectations, etc.
hotel motel tax, meals tax, etc. are also better understood by now
8. FY20 Budget Adjustments; Schools, Facilities, Council on Aging, Veterans’ Services, Fire, Assessors, Town Administrator and Legal Services
additional $1.4M from various sources of revenue over the number used to set the initial FY 2020 budget in May/June
(see end of the memo for the summary of the increases)
this is a record year for new growth, the highest amount we seen in 20 years
not just the new buildings, it also includes all the property value increases from various improvements (additions, re-models, etc.)
cant use this as a new trend, the 10 year average will be used
propose to use all of the 'extra' new growth to put aside for the open space fund to all for purchase of open space as it becomes available
$231,500 half of the local aid number increase
approx $102K was already approved for the budget by the Town Council
took the parking fee off the high school and added the 2 aides for kindergarten to start the school year.
Supt Ahern:
2 consultants - one for enrollment projections based upon census and housing data; another around the facility adequacy study for Davis Thayer, also need to include the other buildings to see what capacity exists in the district for new demands of instruction
restoring funds previously cut from the budget in the Spring
site based supplies to be added back ($54K)
professional development ($25K)
hard to restore positions at this time as the year is underway but these would be the best additions at this time
Q - would they go so far as redistricting?
A - no they would not include transportation but the numbers they come with would be the basis for further decisions
Q - what types of supplies?
A - reading books for the classroom libraries, markers, etc. for use in the classrooms, consumable materials for the math program
Q -how many seats would we handle?
A - that is what the study should do for us? We have taken down modulars, we have special programs in place so what spaces could we legitimately handle
currently at 5080 (Oct 1 number)
Jamie
looking to get a marketing person to help with joint work on the Town and Schools stories to tell
we need to re-evaluate what we do where, this is why we are hiring
social media generates 'white noise' so it is hard to make sense of
$110K for facilities
deputy director for facilities and schools
no metric available to help substantiate this need, the demand is there, one person can not do it alone
Mike D'Angelo has been here 2 decades and has built or reworked every building we have, I am afraid it is all in his head, and we need to build some backup for that; need to get out of the ditch before we add new projects to the mix
The library had a panel door was locking on Sunday's properly, it took months working with the manufacturer's, the owner got involved before it got resolved
Q - for $110K, what is the quality of the candidate we can get?
A - fair question, Mike is probably underpaid per market, have not done a full market analysis, will be doing this sometime this year, we do expect that it will be someone will be good quality; all their licenses, ready to hit the ground running
on the Senior Center
$11,500
an unanticipated retirement
evaluated position and requirements, to get this nurse
adding a dollar to the tax work off projects
Q -what is the Senior Tax workoff?
A - typically about 100 hours, to do some clerical or other work to offset their property tax, we get way more applications than we have positions for; the Senior Center runs the program working with the departments to determine needs, etc. and then match the applications; only available to Franklin residents
propose $13K for Veterans Services
veterans assistant grant expires, this is to the cover the difference in the amount available from other funding
Dale brings in a large amount of Federal and State money that comes in for the veterans
$20,300 for Fire Dept
an unknown affiliation agreement for M&M rounds
with Milford Reg Hospital
an unforeseen promotion of an EMS lieutenant to handle the medical and ambulance accounting
this would cover classes taught by medical staff at Milford Reg 2 at the hospital, 2 elsewhere; approx 53 fire personnel required to be covered
could estimate 12-18% being left on the table from the ambulance company, we'll see what it works out to be (approx 1.2M)
$60K to hire another assessor for property appraisals
collective bargaining underway, could exceed prior years
Open Space fund $1.2M currently, would add the $900K to this
would give us some ability to evaluate a purchase of some open space
without Community Preservation Act revenue available
9. Land Acquisition Trust Fund Appropriation and Transfer
motion to approve the budget adjustments as describer, seconded, passed 6-0
motion to approve the Open Space appropriation as discussed, seconded, passed 6-0
capital program ramping up soon, due from Dept heads likely by end of month and for the FinCom at end of November
ops budgets due end of November, review FY 21 during December
we won't have a lot of numbers and assumptions until early in the new year
particularly with health care
10. Adjournment
motion to adjourn
Balances as of June 30, 2019
- General Stabilization $ 6,072,943
- Recreation Fields Stabilization 302,065
- Traffic Stabilization 4,643
- Property Acquisition Stabilization 267,228
- Budget Stabilization 2,705
- Fire Truck Stabilization 207,612
- Open Space Acquisition Stabilization 1,107,863
- OPEB Trust 5,706,986
