Town of Concord Finance Committee
FY09 Guideline Subcommittee
Minutes of October 4, 2007
Final Approved
The Finance Committee Guideline Subcommittee met at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 4, 2007 in the Board of Selectmen's Room at the Town House, Concord, Massachusetts. Notice of the meeting was duly filed with the Town Clerk, Town of Concord, Massachusetts.
Members Present: Tom Anzer, Susan Bates, Walter Birge, Mark Howell, David Kramer, Michael Lawson, Maura Perkins, Mark Russell Prior, Roberto Tenenbaum, Judy Quanrud
Also present: Tony Logalbo, Finance Director; Chris Whelan, Town Manager
Subcommittee Chairman Walter Birge brought the meeting to order at 7:32 PM.
1. Chair's Remarks:
Mr. Birge stated that the purpose of the first couple of subcommittee meetings is to review the economic state of affairs of the town. The information developed and presented in these sessions is intended to be used by the full Finance Committee to inform the development of the FY09 Guideline which will be adopted and published in November. Tonight's meeting will review the Town of Concord operations and next week will include Carlisle Finance Committee and consider the Regional School district followed by the Concord Public Schools. Mr. Birge then welcomed Concord Town Manager Chris Whelan.
2. Town Manager Chris Whelan:
Mr. Whelan reviewed the contents of his Oct 4th memo to the Finance Committee which was a response to the Finance Committee's request for information.
The memo highlighted some areas with increased needs including legal services, largely driven by additional activity and public safety dispatching where Concord has been staffed at a lower level than surrounding communities. Mr. Whelan stressed that his priorities for funding include adequate salary adjustments and Central Building Maintenance Fund.
In response to the Finance Committee's request of information in the area of mandates, he noted that no specifics are identified at this time; however the new requirement to report the post-retirement group health insurance liability even though the town doesn't have a mechanism available at this time to address this long-term liability is a concern. Currently it requires special legislation to enable the town to establish a Trust Fund and secure the necessary investment authority for this purpose. Mr. Whelan also noted that areas of increasing demand on town resources are parks and conservation land management, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail management and Comprehensive Long- Range Plan support from the Planning Department. He is working with the involved departments to clarify how to address these areas over time.
In reviewing capital planning, Mr. Whelan mentioned that the town plans to conduct a space needs study to understand what might be recommended for new office space in support of some these growing demands listed above. Current approved capital projects are proceeding on schedule.
In response to questions, Mr. Whelan responded that the four new firefighters are working out well, with the first quarterly results providing better overtime savings than had been projected. Over time, development and redevelopment in West Concord is likely to drive additional demand for services from the Fire Department in the future.
Mr. Whelan reviewed the list he included of possible FY09 spending needs. There is a comprehensive pay and classification study going on for the first time in seven years. In terms of collective bargaining, both the Police and Fire union contracts expire on June 30, 2008.
Mr. Birge reminded the committee that the list of needs is preliminary to detailed discussions The Town Manager will conduct with each of the town departments regarding specific budget requests.
3. Finance Directors Report:
Mr. Logalbo offered to review the list of Town needs at the Oct 18th meeting in more detail. He distributed a comparison of FY03 and FY08 budgets. He noted that managerial and operations support has generally been improved over the past five years, especially in terms of technology and the ongoing funding of technology. Overall maintenance of the level of services has required four to five percent annual increases.
The subcommittee reviewed the Sept 20th projections of the FY08 tax rate assessment. The increase will be lower than expected, with about $1 million of additional funding within the levy limit. Some items for FY09 to keep and eye on: Free Cash allocation, additional funding from Burke/Strawberry Hill land sale (an expected approximately $450K may be realized by the sale of the Strawberry Hill parcel for the "School Capital Needs Stabilization Fund" and $265,000 may be returned to the General Fund reimbursing the three-year interest cost of the Burke Land short-term Notes, all as set forth in Article 32 of the 2006 Annual Town Meeting).
Mr. Logalbo reviewed the spreadsheet titled "Calculation of Funds available for the FY09 Operating Budget" (attached) which will be the basis of the Guideline Subcommittee's projections.
Other Business:
The committee began to discuss the school allocation questions that will be reviewed next week. Also, on Wednesday, October 10, there will be a joint chairs meeting with Concord and Carlisle to discuss coordination issues. It was noted that this will be a very challenging year for Carlisle.
Upcoming Meetings:
a. Next Subcommittee meetings - Oct. 11, 18, Nov. 1, 8
b. Next Regular FinCom meetings - Oct. 25, Nov. 15, Dec. 13
c. Public Hearing: October 22
The meeting adjourned at 9:37 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark L Howell
Guidelines Clerk
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