##VIDEO ID:EA_va1HZPDo## [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening chadam welcome to the January 21 2025 meeting of the chadam select board please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly Hereafter for scheduled and OnDemand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device if anyone else is recording the meeting please notify the chair seeing no such notification I'll proceed pursuant to Governor Healey's March 29 2023 signing of the acts of 2023 extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law General Law chapter 30A section 20 until March 31 2025 this meeting of the chadam select board is being conducted in person and via remote participation every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the order a reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number 1 15894 54410 conference ID 203 386 491 pound sign or join the meeting online via Microsoft teams through the link in the posted agenda while this is a live broadcast and simcast on chatam TV Xfinity channel 1072 despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide realtime access we will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible uh let me begin with uh the establishment of a quorum Mr necastro present Mr Shell is present Miss Davis pres uh Mr Dyk and Mr Mets we a quorum present thank you this evening um we have um a couple of minor items and one big item on our business agenda we have we just going to start with public announcements and agenda requests we'll then go to the business agenda uh public comments will be allowed or accepted along with each item uh the first one that was on the agenda considering the land disposition agreement with respect to Meeting House Road has been postponed owned until February 4 uh next we are going to consider sales on Town property at the monoy Regional High School um for the class of 2025 bake sale uh and finally and most importantly uh the town manager will and and the staff will present the preliminary fiscal uh 20 year fiscal year 2026 budget summary and budget recommendations uh with that I will invite first from the board any public announcements Andor agenda requests um Jeff thank you Mike just a quick one uh artists are seeking some clarity on the use of K go park or Art in the Park this summer and I think there's some some confusion out there so I'd like to place that on the agenda and and Clarity I and I've heard that too and I I agree we ought to discuss that so please do yes thank you Mr chairman I just really had a question either for you or the town manager um I notice on the upcoming agenda um for next week and I don't plan on being here next week um and I think this is a recurring item warrant article review I uh were you planning uh to take up any uh home rule petitions to the legislature I want to be present when those are discussed I know we had a couple that didn't get passed one of which I had proposed and I would like to be present when those are taken up that's all um thank you through the chair because there will just be three select board members at that meeting on the 28th um we try to um restrict it to to lessen the normal heavy agenda so you will hear the budget presentations U but specifically make sure U the warrant articles um will not be presented okay whatever thank you okay um anything from the public I nobody here I don't see anybody here in the room anybody online I don't see anybody there um so we will next go to um the proposal to uh have a bake sale on at uh um for the chadam health fair um I understand that Anna milin is here to um hello hi Mr chair how are you uh I'm here on behalf of the Department of community services and the health department of chadam we'll be having a community health fair on Saturday January 25th from 9: to 1 or 10: to 1 excuse me and we'd like the uh monoy Regional High School class of 2025 to host a big sale to benefit their after prom celebration um at that event sounds great uh any questions or thoughts from the board i' take a motion I move that the board Grant a special permit for the sale of goods and town property at the chadam community center on Saturday January 25th 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. with all proceeds benefiting the class of 2025 second all those in favor Mr Mets hi Mr dykens Miss Davis Hi Mr Shell says I and Mr nicastro hi thank you very much good luck with that um and with that uh I will turn the floor over to the town manager and the finance director and whoever else uh for the budget presentation thank you Mr chair so the budget that's presented tonight represents a culmination of many months in effort by my team led by Finance director Carrie and in close collaboration with all department heads many of whom are participating in the meeting tonight if you have any questions I also want to extend my sincere appreciation to them for their dedication and strategic insights which have helped shaped a budget that addresses the needs sorry and priorities of our community while ensuring transparency in government operations in accordance with the town's Charter and general bylaws I respectfully submit the town manager's proposed FY 2020 six operating and capital budgets for your review and consideration we are proud to present aain the course budget designed to continue efforts to address current challenges enhanced Service delivery and pave the way for lasting Community investment the budget also strengthens Staffing Resources to achieve the goal of a resilient and sustainable Community for the future this year's budget transal marks a significant shift in approach rather than including the status of town initiatives which will now be detailed in the town manager's annual report the focus is solely on Financial Resources required for the upcoming fiscal year as you as we continue to refine the digital budget book you will see an update on community initiatives and other content that will be integrated into the sorry into it to enhance transparency additionally we are seeking our sites on achieving the government Finance officers association's budget Excellence award as far as our as part of our ongoing commitment to improving accessibility and accountability so I will take this I will move this o move over and have Carrie take you through the budget and the budget message thank you thank you Jill um this slide uh right here the 2026 and Beyond this um goes over the select board Community vision statement reaffirmed on October 29th 2024 um the select board's goal setting for fisal year 2026 continued to focus on envisioning chadam in to 202030 a successful budget aligns with Community initiatives select board directives and the fiscal Prudence to ensure adequate resources are strategically allocated to meet our shared goals to serve all members of the community um you utilizing smart goals specific measurable achievement relevant and time bound the board identified go buckets where the town can move forward on initiatives that will Encompass previous value statements on a variety of levels to move initiatives forward a more robust description for each goal can be found in the budget book and on the town's website on the selectboard page the state of the Town um currently the town valuation is um 12 billion 341 m273 730 that's a large number to say um this is a 6.29% increase from um to FY 2024 for FY 2025 calendar year um the 2024 sorry calendar year 2024 the average residential value was 1.5 million and the average single family home value was 1.6 our tax rate decreased 10 cents from FY 24 to FY 2025 our AAA Bond rating was reaffirmed on June 11th 2024 and our reserves are stable and in compliance with fiscal policies no use of reserves we contributed to the stabilization fund um in FY 2025 in the amount of 150,000 to comply with financial policies and our financial policy states we will maintain a balance of 3 to 5% of operating net of debt so um with this current budget we are actually for FY 2026 at 5% the town's net opep liability as of June 30th 2024 is 16.2 million an increase of 1.5 million from 2023 as the plan fiduciary position increased by 1.3 million and our total opep liability increased 2.9 the revenues received in FY 24 amount to just over a million doar there was 612,000 from tax revenue 311 in interest I'm sorry 311,000 in interest 150,000 from transfer from the overlay in 2024 and we are on Pace with uh achieving 1 million in FY 2025 as we've already collected 563,000 for FY 2026 as done in the past we are recommending that 150,000 be funded from the overlay Surplus as a separate warrant article Town budgetary components as we mentioned in the budget Summit in October every year we begin the um with the available funds of Revenue which includes tax levy local receipts and other available funds expenses begin with the department heads requesting funds to support a level service budget as we work through the budget the process I'm sorry as we work through the budget process it is to have a balanced budget with revenues and expenses as you all know we use Clear glove as a budget module the digit budget budget book includes budget narratives budget statements prior year accomplishments organizational charts Staffing history and the 2026 Capital Improvement plan requests you can locate the digital budget book on the budget Central on the town's website included on the slide I'm going to go to the digital budget book in a second um this year like last year we will be using the digital budget book as our tool for budget presentations so when you go to the town's website I don't know if it's live as of right now but it will be live tomorrow um this is the digital budget book this is what it looks like um we have the introduction and this is the same book that you guys have printed but you can go online and you can see the changes that we make throughout the process um you have the transmittal letter organizational chart fund seminaries are general fund and the water fund and then all of the department so if you're looking for a specific Department you can just scroll to and go to that specific Department if you want General government it will give you a list of all the Departments listed under General government if you want um you know like we'll just go to your budget so select board so and it will show all of the stuff here we have budget statements prior accomp accomplishments what your budget's going to be for the year how much it's increased um and then we have Capital Improvements this is our one-year plan and then the multi-year plan so the one-year plan is for 2026 of the capital requests and then we have the multi-year plan which is of 2026 through 20230 of what has been entered into the system any questions on that no okay sorry I don't think yeah I was done with that slide sorry um I just showed you navigating the digital project book so we'll scroll that okay so um FY 2026 balance budget stay in the course so the FY 2026 budget highlights um shows a increase of 7.62% over FY 2025 an operating budget of 43.9 million this includes funding for five new positions to strengthen the critical operations the capital plan is presented at 2.9 Million or a 6.7% of our operating budget this is within our 9% of chadam budget and financial management policy as we work through the budget it is important to make sure we have a balanced budget as the slide provides a summary we are increasing our local estimated receipts at 88% of our actuals received in FY 2024 the overall budget without education has increased 7.62% there is a proposed increase of 7.97% in education and the water department has increased 15.42% I'll go over those in another slide and our free cash has been certified at 11.1 million to cover the capital budget for FY 2026 so the FY 2026 Revenue Outlook the tax includes the prior year base of 38.1 million plus prop 2 a half at 953 th000 plus an estimated new growth of 350,000 um plus an approved debt exclusion at 8.2 million plus an estimated amount for Barnesville County tax at 339,000 minus the exempt short-term interest which equals our total estimated allowable ceiling with this B budget we are estimating an excess Levy capacity of about 2.1 million our local receipts are estimated at 88% of the prior Year actuals from FY 2024 as you can see in the graph our actual local receipts in 23 and 24 are exceeding the estimated receipts for 2025 and 2026 our estimators are conservative as the Department of Revenue recommends conservative budgeting practices are essential to avoid deficits a widely adopted strategy is to project no more than 90% of your prior year actual receipts other available funds receipts reserved for appropriation these are funding sources to help support the operating and capital budgets which includes waterways Improvement fund the Railroad Museum fund Peg access fund uh sale of lots and Graves Wetlands protection fund and the transportation Network funds we utilize revolving funds to help support other programs and projects such as Recreation and shellfish revolving we receive chapter 90 funds for uh highway state aid each year to help support Paving and Roads and new sidewalks we receive um cap and Islands Cape cot and Islands water protection fund um and that's to help support debt service and we also use Waterway user pH this graph is showing the growth over the past five years of the town of Chatham's hotel motel revenue and meals tax revenue at the end of FY 2024 the hotel motel Revenue collected was 4 million and the Mal's tax was collected was 600 77,000 the revenue has been consistent over the past few years our revenues for our 2026 budget include 66% of our revenues are from property taxes also known as the tax levy 16% of local receipts which includes motor vehicle excise tax Hotel motor revenues meals tax revenue departmental fees and such 11% are from 11 uh other available funds not included in the local receipts such as the sale of lots Perpetual air public education access funds and the waterways Improvement fund free cash and overlay Surplus we also have state revenue as you can see we don't receive a lot for state revenue and 7% is the water budget so we'll be going over the expenditures this is an overview of the 2026 preliminary budget the town operating budget is at 43.9 million the school assessments are at 11.7 million as of now we only well I'm sorry I did write that in here we have the school assessments we have the mon School uh budget um and as of today we got some preliminary numbers from Cape Cod Tech um I'll go over that in another slide um the school and the school budgets may change as we go along um the water budget is at 5.4 million and the 5-year Capital plan is at 2.9 Million and that's for the items that cost between 10 and $250,000 Carrie I just a quick question the school assessments it's 117 now does that include our 100% of the the elementary school yes it does yes and hopefully we'll get to that too because that's gone up quite a bit I just would like to know why okay yeah and they're presenting to the select board I believe it's February 11th okay but I I do have all that information on another slide I don't have the details of why it's gone up so much but um I'm sure they'll have that information for you guys yeah I went up yeah went from a million something to two two something yeah y y thank you you're welcome so again this is a breakdown of the percentages of the Departments for FY 2026 um this information is more in detail in your budget book and online and the budget books that you have in front of you that you've received um as you will see looking at this graph the larg largest contributors contributors of the budget include the employee benefits at a 11% public works at 133% Debt Service at 14% Public Safety at 15% and education at 19% of the budget this provides a comparison of the FY 2026 proposed budget to the FY 2025 budget as you can see the total proposed budget for FY 2026 Plus educ is 55.6 million compared to the 51.6 which is a 7.66 increase 7.66 per increase FY 2026 operational factors these are the major operational factors we are seeing which I will go over in other slides in more detail um there's contractual obligations employee benefits insurance premiums debt and education assessments so the proposed FY 2026 budget reflects a commitment to maintaining entral services and meeting our financial obligations the primary drivers of this year's budget increases our salaries employee benefits Debt Service and the rising costs of general liability and Insurance personal wages and benefits represent approximately 70.8 2% ex um sorry of the town's operating budget excluding Debt Service and education increases are required for personal services salaries wages including overtime amounting to 1.4 million or 8.57% over FY 225 a contributing factor to all budget increases is the labor cost pressure due to the limited Regional labor market and compensating employees at a livable wage day competitive compensation is vital for attracting and retaining skilled staff to deliver high quality services to our community the increase in salaries includes cost of living adjustments step increases and contractual obligations the rising health insurance costs and pension contribute contributes reflect broader market trends these benefits are critical for supporting our Workforce and ensuring long-term Financial stability sustainability the increases in the general liability insurance costs reflect market-wide rate adjustments and it is our responsibility to adequately protect the community from potential risks this coverage ensures that the town is safeguarded against Financial exposure from the unforeseen events and also the debt has increased 99.74% over FY 2025 and this was for already approved borrowings at the town meeting and ongoing project projects that we have in the town so this slide goes over existing debt as of 6:30 2024 um just to also keep in mind that we still have approved projects that we still are working on that we um that have already been approved for borrowing operating budget proposed Staffing by departments so this slide goes over the five positions that were put uh forward for requests for additional staffs for FY 2026 to address workload and service capacity um these are the following being recommended for 2026 um full-time local inspector for the Community Development Department full-time boat operator slm Marine mechanic for the Harbor Master division one full-time police officer for the police department and two full-time parks and grounds laborers under Public Works these five positions will have an impact of 258,000 to our operating budget not including benefits benefits for the full for the five full-time budgeted um at the highest rate benefit is 154,000 so that would be a total of $412,000 the FY 2026 School uh education assessments so the preliminary Monomoy Regional School budget was voted by um the school committee on January 9th 2025 at 49.6 million amounting to chadam statutory preliminary pre preliminary assessment at 11.1 which is 7.97% increase from 2025 this includes capital and the chadam elementary school assessment of 2.26 this is the slide that you were talking about um during the budget process um I estimated a 5% increase for the Cape Cod tech school based on prior years um until today we didn't have any further information um their final vote is on Fe February 20 27th 2025 um we received that they are increasing their assessment by 7% um so my I just want to explain something my 5% includes their debt so I actually came out to almost the same amount so um as of right now their 7% is just their assessment um which would be an assessment of 429,000 their debt is at 173,00 97 with a total of 60291 so not much off not bad yep but I'm just going to leave the 604 until I get final information from them um the schools are tely scheduled for um February 11th to present to the select board they have no proposed changes to the regional agreement as noted previously the monoy regional school budget has increased overall by 6.7 and the cadams assessment has increased 7.97% from FY 2025 their final vote will be in March of 2025 I don't have the exact date it's in March this graph shows mono Regional School Districts assessments over the past 5 years um as you can see in fy2020 2 the assessment was 8.5 million and now in 2026 it's 11.1 and this graph shows the Cape Cod Technical High School assessments over the past 5 years um in 2022 the assessment was 444,000 and now we're estimating at 604 for FY 2026 the water department operating budget is funded by revenue generated from water receipts which continues to be monitored as conservation measures have reduced revenues in 2024 versus 2023 and throughout the first half of the fiscal year there has been an increase in the water budget due to increased costs for plant maintenance chemical labor and debt has increased from 2025 to 2026 32.5 2% at this time we are internally working to propose an updated rate structure for the water department the proposed water budget for FY 2026 is increasing overall by 15.42% there are indirect costs include the water in the water department um for departmental uses such as um accounting and treasurer's office and this also includes costs for health insurance and full-time employees and Medicare costs paid by the general fund and the portion the town pays for the employees for pension as well um this is this goes over the current water funds debt as of 630 224 and again we still have approved projects with unauthorized debt other capital and Community priority items the 2026 Capital plan for items that cost between 10 sorry 10,000 and 250,000 the total amount um so that's what we're going to be going over right now um the total amount of the requests that we received in our inventory amount to 46 million this includes all capital including the warrant articles um for items that cost between 10 and 250 we are recommending 2.9 Million using free cash in the amount of 2.7 again this is 6.7% of the operating budget net of debt any items larger than 250 are considered for separate warrant articles and some of the capital requests that are not recommended for the capital plan in 2026 will be moved to the next fiscal year for consideration this chart shows the summary of the 46 million Capital Department requests and the comparison of FY 2025 actual compared to the FY 2026 proposed there is a difference of 525,000 from last fiscal year go ahead yeah go ahead thanks Mike Carrie and and Joel can you go back yeah thanks the uh every year we ask about or I ask about or somebody ask about the Public Works departmental requests at 41 million and of course that gets knocked down uh every year they ask what do they asking for dunk trucks or or what are what they ask they ask million what what's on that list that we're perhaps not paying attention to or is it is it really Pie in the Sky it's all included in here so all of that 46 million you're going to see in here so all of that money so Public Works ask for $32 million for um their sewer so to expand the sewer so that's what that portion of that is that of the 41 that I I see that we see and then we have the 3.9 for the transfer station okay yeah okay yeah so that includes the 32 million bucks that we're going to have debt exclusion okay yep and then when if you go into it should be in the back of your book as well the capital plan you'll see all of the everything that adds up to this 46 281 well the 32 makes a lot of sense I get that there's another nine or so yeah it wasn't that high last year okay yeah all right but just to clarify though that the requests are everything but this page addresses in terms of what we're going to do only those things that are between 50 and 250 is that correct 10 and 25050 yes that is correct these are only the items for 10 and 250 the other items would be presented as a separate articles and and 32 that well yeah exactly but it's the the the 10 and 250 are the items that are in the the last column on the last column on the FY 2026 proposed yes maybe I should re uh uh well just in DPW so that $852,000 that's for equipment uh small projects sidewalks all of the the annual as well as the additional um needs that they have back in 2019 that's when the Colin Center had did an overall inventory of all the town Capital requests and we've been adding to that maintaining that plan so that's a fiveyear plan and the FY 26 proposed is what we're funding sorry about just on the you mentioned sidewalks and chapter 90 monies do those those roll do we spend all the money annually or in a fiscal year or do they roll over do we have any balances rolling over at all yes they do roll over so they we receive funds every year and they submit for specific projects and whatever is not spent gets rolled over and we get new money the following year and then we submit again for new projects so yeah do we submit for sidewalks every year some P side um it depends we do um in the capital plan actually pay towards uh put money towards sidewalks um I've mostly seen I've only been here for what a year but I've only seen the roads get done mostly how much is in there now how much is in there now do you know roughly I don't know but I can get that for you I can get you that information yeah wouldd like to have that sure yeah so you've only been here a year I just want to for future reference the magic word is sidewalks you can expect some some some commentary if you use that word yes well we are a pedestrian uh Town Michael Julie noted okay so this is the funding for the capital that is between 10 and 250,000 um we're going to be using 2.7 for of free cash um we'll be using 70,000 from the waterways Improvement fund 25,000 from sale of lots and 130,000 from the peg AIS fund um there's no use of the tax Lobby for the funding of um our Capital plan for 2026 for this one Community preservation Act articles um I don't know what happened to my notes there's nothing in there um so this slide goes over um all of the articles that were voted um and for the applications they received as of November 1st 2024 and they voted January 6 2025 um these are the approved projects and the amounts including the administrative budget and the 10% Reserve fund allocation the total amount is 2.35 million for the community preservation projects for FY 2026 they will be coming um to the select board to do a presentation as well other potential Capital articles pending review so some of these projects that are listed here are ones that you are already aware of cuz um we've gone over some of them already at the capital um presentation that we had um so there'll be in discussion throughout the month of February the transfer station project in the amount of 3.4 um this is going to be split with free cash in the amount of 3 million and the use of the tax levy in the amount of 400,000 can can I just do does my memory um disserved me I I thought I remembered that being presented somewhere earlier as 3.9 it's gone down to 34 can you just give us a picture of how that happened do you want to go over that sure I'm not sure if Rob's on here but uh Rob and the Consultants had reviewed uh the plans and the contingencies and felt comfortable going with 3.4 million versus 3.9 million so this is just happened within last week okay thank you you're welcome um then we have the center for active living renovations to use free cash in the amount of 5 million um the sewer Capital this is to use the Wastewater Capital stabilization Fund in the amount of a million we have drudging in the amount of 400,000 to use the tax levy there is the child care voucher program in the amount of 175,000 with the use of the tax levy other post employment benefits um to use overlay Surplus in the amount of 150,000 um there's the chadam municipal airport Capital items um from their Capital Improvement plan in the amount of 59,000 to use the tax levy new ambulance in the amount of 410,000 to use the tax levy and um the debt exclusion ballot question for the continuation of the sewer Construction expansion in the amount of 32 million Dean so if we were to adopt this proposal the only borrowing we would see would be the 32 million for the sewer project that's correct and Jill um um I think you when I discussed this the other day my memory serves the in the past we purchased ambulances before and I we took them off the tax levy we funded them from the tax levy uh I believe some equipment has been on the tax levy other through free cash um I believe the Quint truck might have been uh because it was a lease and we have five years of of the same payment so yes uh funding FD and and police equipment and capital um has been done before yeah that was before my the Quint was before my time I I think we purchased a VOR truck for the DPW was that on the do you recall whether that was on the tax levy last year yes there was a roll off truck and it was around that was a different truck oh a different truck this the the vacuum truck it's pretty expensive we try not to borrow for equipment and I believe that was on on the tax levy but I'll I can review it thank you so um can you tell me what's in the um the the milon 70,000 item um that's sewer cap identified just as sewer capital I don't think it's going to be in there it's going to be in the budget book I thought I had it in the hold on transm let me just look here oh I have it in the capital yeah it's right here I got it um it's page 31 of the transmittal oh you found it okay so I've got it right here oh thank you sorry guess we all got it at the same time it's on page 31 in here yeah thank you you're welcome it also shows in the budget I'm sorry that was really loud I didn't get through the budget book yet it also shows on the uh in the capital if you go to the digital budget book it will show under there under the steward Department requests okay thank you you're welcome so just so the public knows it is a pump station an air system and system repairs is that one yeah oops were you all done with that slide or go ahead Chef just refresh my my memory on the the uh the belt filter press where's that what action you know the for the wastewater treatment plant the replacement of I remember 4 and a half million 5 million or whatever um I just just just refresh my memory just bear with me well go they would I didn't hear the first part of your question the to press yes we borrowed for that we did last year uh two years ago okay thank you very much yeah what we did we borrow for there were two segments of it though weren't there there was wasn't there like four or four and a half and then we came back and did another million and a half or something we did we did we transfer from the cap the Wastewater Capital stabilization to cover the the the the the remaining balance the balance and then just to further follow up sorry but as been has the work been done did we buy it is it installed or um should have known you asked these questions I have to so I know that they're working on the design I'm not sure they've actually purchased the belt filter press but I will rob is online oh there he is Rob go ahead sorry about that I'm on my phone but um yeah we put that out to bid Robert B hour was the low bidder and they they pre-ordered a lot of the materials like the belt filter press has to be manufactured so that's takes a while it takes about six months for that to happen so um we're kind of waiting for the manufacturer to get on the schedule and uh we'll probably start construction this fall I would imagine and am I incorrect in saying it's it's built overseas uh this one I'm not sure I think it will be built in this country okay thank you yeah M yeah go ahead sorry U just um um as I read the um Town manager budget proposal yeah the 32 million again for the sewer Capital that includes so call it a placeholder was it one to one one and a half million for grinder pumps which and we know that hasn't been resolved yet you're we're still waiting a recommendation from from you yes okay but there's some money in there yeah to accommodate that if has that goes forward correct we we just need the the select board to vote the policy but we have a presented okay thanks so just um two comments one uh a question and two comments the the increase in debt service well first of all I think it's worthy of um clarifying every time the subject comes up that Debt Service includes both principle and interest correct so we're we're paying in addition to uh paying interest we're paying money back that we borrowed in some prior time yes um Can can you tell me there is a pretty significant increase from 25 to 26 in debt service um is there one or are there one or two um projects that we can that we that we um are now paying Debt Service on that that just came on stream in the last year too um yeah there was a lot of um clean water trusts borrowings that came on for the 2026 that we're going to be paying that we're paying on um I just know the numbers in my head it's like CW 47 and CW 47a that just started okay so so basically Mo most likely it's it's it's sewer stuff would be a pretty good guess is that fair yes that's correct okay and then I I'll just make a comment on this um I know we'll probably discuss it in Greater detail but um I I think this presented a a I think a a challenge to figure out how to allocate the various resources that you have to address the needs that that I think everybody agrees we we have to address um and I I as in Prior comments I had um expressed some reservations about using as much as 5 million for the seal um I had expressed a belief that the capital uh for the transfer station was a high priority I I I think just as a general matter uh for what it's worth you've done a pretty good job here of working out uh um allocations here that make sense um it there is I guess it's what's the number almost a million million 595 is going to be on the tax rate which is a one-time item um I I I think that's a that's a at least on the surface a good a good compromise I'm operating on the Assumption correct me if I'm wrong that that's more or less um I don't know somewhere between 13 and 16 or 17 cents on the tax rate is that a fair estimate yes probably okay thank you you're welcome next slide so this slide goes over the balance of free cash of um as of right now so the Beginning free cash that we had was 11.1 million we're going to be using 2.7 for the FY 2026 Capital Improvement project requests 5 million for the center for active living Renovations and the transfer station Capital request at 3 million that leaves us with an ending free Bal free cash balance of $469 $9,000 as of right now and and I guess my only question about that in conversation particularly with the town manager um I've always understood uh that there was a not necessarily a policy but a a desire to try to keep in reserve some number for unexpected um Capital needs during the course of the year the number that I thought was more or less what was uh the target was more in the $2 to3 million range so my question is are you comfortable with obviously you've presented it so you must be comfortable with it but i' I'd like to hear that yes I'm comfortable with this um last year we turned back roughly the same amount of money we didn't have any supplementals that we needed at town meeting we did use a a slightly small amount of free cash for um unpaid bills that came in um I like to keep a a little bit of money just for those cases if something comes up um I don't know about the $2 million turning back but um this I'm comfortable with I think this would be the minimum amount that we're comfortable with we always like to have as you said up to $2 million it's just some say extenda circumstances of projects that were programmed were anticipated a couple of years back and now moving forward for presentment in FY 26 but I'm I'm very comfortable with what's being presented okay yeah Corey um just to follow up on part of that question with the balance being at you know 469 188 um and this is going to be a hard question to ask probably a more harder question to answer because I know forly there's been nothing put on your desk or the select board's desk but we're all aware what's going on with the schools the conversations about some of the projects with the site and Roofing and other concerns that have been being being addressed and continue to be addressed so in the case something comes up from a financial perspective is this one of the sources that we might have to Kick the Can a little bit on or do we have some kind of general feeling of you know if this goes in one direction or another where we might have money available um depending on what route the conversation comes on we I know we don't have anything harder in front of us but we got to be somewhat prepared um to kind of address it um address it yeah so I think with that situation we would typically fund it either through the tax levy have an article and town meeting or a special town meeting warranted depending on the timing or there could be a borrowing authorization too so I do know that the Middle School sighting project um I don't have confirmation for sure that it's coming back but we had programmed $2 million as the monoy Regional School Districts borrowing uh authorization that we would take to town meeting so I I know that the the matter is evolving typically we try to have our free cash certified by September or October so if something comes up where we may need to contribute we can certainly tap into free cash it's just a matter of the timing of free cash certification to the tax classification here and when you're setting the tax rate so it's usually about a month the part uh but certainly those an unanticipated emergencies um could be funded other than free cash Dean go ahead can't you also use the the general stabilization fund I don't mean the sewer stabilization fund we have in other in cities they call it an end fund I think the school district calls it that excess and deficiency yes we have that we have how how much is in that a couple million right now yeah a couple million um and could you also I was going to ask this question anyway um the excess tax levy we don't actually tax to the excess do we we do not but you could we could but we we haven't and the last question on free cash and I know the finance committee has always thought we had too much free cash I know that's been an issue for them they're certainly not going to Buck at this um but doesn't this amount get replenished over the course of the year so that by the time the certification comes comes in it could very well be higher than that it could be in the two or three million range which Mike is talking about is that possible so um I don't think there's time to recertify free cash so you have to get a recertification of free cash and that usually because we're already going to be using this at town meeting in May um we could try to get recertified before the end of the fiscal year but I don't recommend it I would wait until the end of the fiscal year to get recertified usually people get re towns get recertified if they have like a fall town meeting and they use their free cash so they get certified in October they have a fall town meeting in November they use some free cash and then they might get recertified again so when in the ordinary course of events when would the certification take place so the certification wouldn't take place until October so what I'm suggesting what I'm asking is whether by October that that fund could be repl yes it will be yep okay all right thank you yeah because you have the excuse me but you have all this year's activity to to in theory replenish it especially if there's excess local receipts I think was would be The Driver there and I think that's been the case in the last two or three years especially last year and the year before we've had you know pretty nice excess local receipts budget out 85 and then we get quite a bit so what I think if I might just second what I think you I heard you guys just say is that should we get and we think we have probably a a large ask coming for the middle school that is not yet baked into this budget I think I think we can fairly assume that it's coming should we get that ask the options are to reduce the free cash use here and bond some of this or Bond new money for for the school ask or use the tax levy is that is that what I just heard and your proclivity is to use bonding is what I think I just heard Jill say for yes for the mrsd but for for us I wouldn't recommend than reducing what we're proposing as a town only because it for any Capital items going to the school it's going to require both towns to approve it so this that our financing plan for our Capital items is solely for chatom and again the the timing might work out or the timing might be that we just authorize the school district to the do the borrowing and then that doesn't hit our assessments for another year or two you know that's a that's a very good point I think that's likely what that's a very good point I think that's likely what what would happen in this case yeah I and and I I think so but I'd like to from my feeble mind here to clarify if to to use a a a a factual hypothetical if the if the if the school district committed um contracted to do the sighting and and and so forth project um let's say they committed to do that sometime in the summer of this year uh and let's say that number was the number that's been thrown around here which is $6 million at what point would we anticipate that we would have and assuming that we had the appropriate uh agreement to uh fund our portion of it at what point would we have to be authorizing a a bonding a bond authorization in order to uh sustain our our portion so the school would need to get that the district would need to get it on our 2025 annual town meeting and the first year assessment won't hit our assessment until FY 27 and if that's the case it would come off of the tax rate for our our amount to fund their their Capital exclusion or their Capital borrowing so I don't think and and we have a meeting next week with the superintendent and in the town of harwi I don't not sure any of this will hit our tax rate or free cash are funding source until FY 27 but we need to confirm yeah and that's I I hope I'm clarifying what uh Jeff was expressing as well yeah no you have and I think that's again I think that's the like the most likely scenario I think that's probably what will happen Okay I I just one other I'll hush but I I have had some inquiries about you know how did we get $1 million of free cash so I just just be you know I think it's a very legitimate question and um there's some confusion about not confusion but um interest in you know last year versus this year etc etc so I just think we need to really be prepared to fine-tune that messaging and really understand where we did generate all that free cash from it's a big number it's a big number we've always enjoyed some free from quote unquote free cash but that's that's a much larger number than we're used to yes I agree we've talked about usually in the last few years average about 7 million and and because of the the timing of the reimbursements um we have had 5 million or so held until the reimbursements came in this fiscal year which Carrie was able to certify we have a couple slides on that so I'm not sure you want to present it tonight but we we have it for when the board is considering the articles for the the capital yeah I think folks want to understand what was turned back what was generated from excess receipts etc etc how what gen what's what are the Genesis of the what's the Genesis of the dollars in other words yeah I was just going to Echo that I mean I wouldn't mind having it presented tonight because I think there's some perception that there was a book bookkeeping error on the part of the town and that really wasn't the case you explained it in your in your budget message that there were there were grants that we received but they were charged against because of debt payments we owed is that the correct so when you have deficits in accounts such as grants or any of your other funds your borrowing account um this is going to probably get into a little bit more detail but um when you have deficits in all your other funds so basically you're using like a pot of money that's not really there yet right so that's why the Department of Revenue holds that money against you and says okay you're you don't have these funds right now we're going to hold this until you receive the money so that's why it's important to get the reimbursements by a certain date for your grants and to make sure that you're getting enough funds to cover your borrowings and such like that because the Department of Revenue says you don't have that money so we're not going to give it to you we're going to hold it so had we received that those Grant monies earlier this would not be 11 million correct for the current year that's correct it would signicantly less so it was a do policy in practice yes it is a do policy yes that's correct and you have to receive the funds by a specific date in order when you go get your free cash certified if you don't have those funds then they hold it against you thank you Jeff for bringing that up yeah no and that's that's clarifying to me and that's I thank you for that thank does that does that help I do have a slide on it but that help I think that you think we should share the slide doesn't be tonight but that should be shared okay I'll do it not I I hope this doesn't confuse the issue here but would it be correct to say that if we blocked out a period of let's say four years ending with fisc scho the the last year for which free cash was certified which I think is 24 is that right yeah the last year it was so if we block out four years and we add up the amount of funds that have closed to free cash over that whole four years it's going to be the same number no matter when which year it closed in right so this 11 million happens to be where we are at the end of those four years but whether it clo whether it closed in one year or another we'd still we we'd still would have had the same total of of funds closing to free cash over that period of time is that a fair statement that is a fair statement absolutely thank you thank you y I'll get through this presentation and then I have a couple slides on free cash if you want I can go over that again okay um so this is actually the last slide of the presentation which is the 2025 annual town meeting calendar um so this shows um the timeline of important dates for the budget the finance committee and preliminary recommendation is due to the select board on February 18th um the select board approved um FY 2026 budgets are transmitted to the finance committee on February 25th the finance committee warrant article recommendations are due um March 11th uh the annual town meeting warrant closes on March 18th Annual town meeting is on May 10th and the annual Town election is May 15th so that's that and I will find the other slide um so while you're doing that based on that timetable um is is this presentation going to the the the finance committee as is right now yes that's correct thank you it will be this Thursday yeah um so this slide right here is um goes over the last few years of our free cash and what it was certified as at so at the end of uh 2021 well actually I put in the fiscal years that we're currently in so in 2021 we had we were certified 4.3 million in FY 2022 we were certified at 8.6 million 2023 we were certified at 7.5 million and FY 2024 it was certified for 2.6 and then as you can see there's a decline from 23 to 24 and then we had our certification for 2025 at 11.1 um so at the end of FY 2023 the amount certified is lower because there was uh again I just went over this the deficits in the funds such as um the borrowing accounts or Grant accounts and then the do basically holds those deficits against us um so we didn't receive our reimbursements or our borrowings in time um when the certification took place if we got recertified in the year we could have got recertified and then you know if you receive money and you get money for borrowings we could have gotten recertified and then receive the money in the middle of the year but that's typically not done too often um so anyways due to the timing the 5 million was released and then our free cash was certified at the end of FY 24 and what we would have received at the end of 23 for the end of 2024 at the 2.6 um we would have received it then but we received it in 20 for 2025 instead so this is the slide I had presented previously for the timing scenario so as you can see if we didn't get that hold against us we would have received 7.6 at the end of fy2 23 for 2024 last year and we would have only received 6.1 for 2025 is that and the 7.6 would have been spent yes EX exactly y why do you say that because it's a big number appetite to spend I mean they were a lot of projects that we okay fair enough but in fact it wasn't spent I mean all we spent was the the the 2 point something the balance is added to the six correct correct yes so the amount that you don't spend say we we didn't it carries over yes it carries over yep the the years are a little confusing but I it's that that's Illuminating to be honest with you it's very helpful yeah it's not new money it's money that the town would have closed out on June 30th no matter what had we had the reimbursements then the the hold from from the D would have happened um we I don't think I've ever worked in a community that recertifies free cash I haven't heard it to be done that often U but certainly free cash was certified in February of 2024 and then uh again in October of 2024 so just uh I I think that the finance team was trying to figure out a solution on how not to have it charged and and and in the end it it it was it is what it is and that's what it was presented but you're right there there wasn't any errors or or or we can't hide funds anyway they're they're nowhere to be hidden but it was just a timing issue so um as long as we're on the subject uh free cash in in simple terms for the lay people is basically funds that we didn't forecast we were going to get okay or funds that we forecasted we were going to spend and we didn't spend them is that is that a fair statement so well this this slide goes over the exact definition of free cash um but to be fair yes we estimate our local receipts conservatively so whatever we've receed above that is going to be en close to our fund balance so we receive say we estimate 11 million and we get 13 so then there's an extra $2 million right there right and then we budget for our expenses every year at a certain amount and that whatever we don't use for expenses gets closed out as as well so I I think you the same combined yeah okay so I and I I I'll put my own two cents in on the subject I I I don't understand why that's such a bad thing I don't either okay um um um I don't either okay good ier just agree with that position yeah okay good think you have consensus I'm done I just uh I just question to first of all the slides that you have done tonight including the free cash slides can we have those disseminated to the board and posted to budget Central for the public I think they're very Illuminating yeah um the you mentioned the receipts and how we estimate them and again and historically the finance committee thought we were estimating them too low um so we typically have done at 80% and now you're bumping it up to 88% is I think we at 85 last we were at 885 last year yes and this year I estimated them at 88 um okay so that's close and the last the last question again this is an issue that I know fincom raised last year um the insurance costs are all our buildings insured every piece of uh Town property they should be um I know the insurance company does uh reach out here and there on certain particular projects to ask if they're complete okay um there was one recently um on some wells that were going on a pump station it might have been a pump station but she she's really good at reaching out about specific projects to make sure they're complete all right thank you Mr so I I know Miss Gibbs is waiting let me just ask you a quick question and and U Mr dykens also would like to pop in but do you have and I know this is a hard one maybe it's imposs possible but do you have any idea of what you think free cash might end up being for 25 I haven't even looked at those numbers I'm sorry okay I don't I don't really know okay if you haven't you haven't I I I done uh we would have more of a closer look towards um more like April okay thank you Jeff did you have some yeah I'm going to bounce around a little bit here and I apologize in advance but uh we've talked about excess l capacity which we don't tax to we mentioned the elementary school I just had a question there was this a year that that um and refresh my memory the region renegotiate teacher contracts this year do you know they negotiated them last year okay yeah so that might be um yeah Reon why yeah a driver for increase and and where are we on water rates so um currently Rob and I and a company called waterworth are working together to um get a some rates put together to present to the select board so they can get approved and be done and hopefully they'll be soon because we have a meeting actually next week with waterworth so so you're working you're look okay you're aning where we are and kind of looking at expenses and covering expenses Y and the borrowings and all that for the water fund Y and then and then you know I put a I put a placeholder in for paid parking every time we talk about a budget but um I'll do a placeholder here as well I think that we are leaving some money on the table here in the town it's a semi-rs topic but I I really think local receipts could even be bolstered even more with with uh with paid parking and I think we have plenty of good places to put it those dollars to good use um our infrastructure for one schools for another etc etc etc so anyway I do a a little uh um infomercial on paid parking every time I get a chance I do I think the T I mean I'm going to advocate for the time has come I believe um where was I the other day I was in city of Boston the other day Washington Street there's a meter take out your debit card or your credit card put it in the meter you automatically get an hour it's you know cents on the dollar very you know 50 cents whatever a buck whatever boom done I mean couldn't have been any easier painless seamless and I'm sure profitable anyway yep uh de I'll hush the just one final comment I forgot to say this earlier I did like the restructuring of the budget presentation as opposed to pre previous previous years are fine but I like the way you've redesigned this presentation in the book and focused solely on the financial aspects and left the uh accomplishments for the town manager annual report I I found that a lot I thought that made a lot more sense thank you thanks um if there's nothing else up here for the moment uh Miss Gibbs would you like to comment uh yes thank you um unfortunately I didn't realize the meeting started at 5: so I didn't log on till 5:30 so um I my first comment is about the free cash and if if as a late person just member of the public my understanding of free cash is it is money that we appropriated uh at a town meeting at some point for a VAR various projects whether it was Staffing or whatever and for whatever reason those things didn't happen and then the Department of Revenue says okay you saved all this money because you know it was a Personnel issue or whatever and so now we have that money appropriated but it hasn't been spent and now it's being reallocated to spend on something else that we haven't you know that the town did not approve um and that we have appropriated it but we haven't spent it until you actually borrow it so when you talk to people about free cash it's not free in that it's money sitting there and we're going to spend it and then we're going to borrow on it and then it's going to cost us money and uh but I think also by using the free cash uh to fund the seal and those kind of things if I'm not mistaken they may only require a majority vote versus a 2third vote uh whereas you know some of that money may have required a two-third vote before so you know the public needs to know it's not free we haven't borrowed it yet we've appropriated it but we haven't you know we're not going to feel it until you actually spend it um I'm very concerned about1 million and basically spending all of it but a half a million um when it is on you know some the seal the transfer station and some other projects when we have the schools um which our priority um and and should be we should be reserving money for the schools uh monoy is going to cost us a lot of money uh the elementary school is going to cost us a lot of money that was in disrepair we didn't really know how much work needed to be do done on that when we redid the um uh the agreement with hartch and took that school over and so what's going to happen is we're going to come to May town meeting and then there's going to be this huge thing oh my God the schools have mold we've got to spend $5 million and we have no free cash you know that should be the priority we should be most concerned about the schools and what that's going to cost us because I've been reading the newspaper and harwitch is on the bandwagon again that chadam is a wealthy community and we should be paying more and they're going to come back and they want to do redo that agreement and uh so we should put that into the equation uh when we're moving forward secondly um with respect to Water and Sewer I've been asking for this uh ever since Bob duncanson left um we were supposed to sewer two-thirds of the Town by 20130 uh there are about 88,200 properties that means 5,000 properties should have been sewer connected to the Sewer by 2030 it's fast approaching we only have about 900 I these are round numbers 900 actually connected to the sewer and we spent you know a couple hundred million so far uh we were told that for the sewer we were going to have projections as to what the 5-year plan was how to get to that number by 2030 how many homes would be actually connected we have people in chadam that are in that first 2third that will have been paying for the sewer for years and we'll never get connected we re we redid the system and went up Meeting House Road so that we could sewer East harwitch uh for $6 million um we should be focusing on the sewer and it it was mentioned it was alluded to in the packet but it doesn't point out that we've only got about 25% of that number sewed that we're supposed to have 100% of the 2/3 by 2030 and how much is that going to cost us because I see the these projections are only good for like through 2026 we need to know what our five-year objectives are going to be and how much we're going to get hit with over the next five years sewer is huge the other one that's huge is water uh again we've been talking about it and I know Mr M Mastro has for a long time now we need increased storage capacity we have 11 Wells most of them are old they need repair we have to have uh iron and maganese uh treatment in all of them in the event paa shows up because you can't put in paa filtration until you have iron and maganese that's going to cost money and we we wanted to have um estimates over the next four to 5 years what it's going to cost for iron and maganese for the 11 Wells the repairs on the 11 Wells increased storage capacity and the potential for locations for new wells what's that going to cost us it's going to be significant it's going to be in the hundreds of millions water and sewers should be and the schools should be our top three priorities and I don't see any of that in this budget here so I would hope that and and we were supposed to have all those numbers we were promised this a year ago that we would be provided with the 5-year plan for water and sewer by December and it's now January and we still don't have those projections and the third thing I'd like to talk about is the inflation reduction act um you know president Trump has said that he is putting a halt on spending for the inflation reduction act which is basically climate change it includes windmills electric vehicles and solar um if the money has not been distributed from EPA federally to the local towns we may not be getting those funds and I think that that has to be incorporated into the planning as we move forward have we do we already have that money for the electric vehicles because it is federal money it's not State money uh State the state D is only administering the inflation reduction Act it's a federal program so if those um monies are being suspended we need to know what grants were not going to be receiving uh for a whole variety of things in town whether it's the electric vehicle installations solar those kind of things and how that's going to impact our budget going forward so those are the three things I have concerns about as you move forward um into uh the discussions for each of these line items I think the schools have to take top priority and water and sewer and I think that that's the public health and safety was in our mission statement in initially and I don't see it in there anymore and I think water sewer and the schools are public health and safety and they should be the priorities thank you thank you um anybody else from the public the moment I don't see anybody um I I was going to make um one one other comment and it's really more to inquire of you um the the increase of 76 I guess it is is a it's a good robust number I I'd like to call attention to the fact that and and I I'm very supportive and and I think that's partly if you confirm it what contributes to it we we made some um very I think um good um movement in the the the the settlement of our uh contracts with um fire and and um police and and the emergency folks and police um and that that was a uh they made an aggressive ask we we responded I think in a in a very positive way we're getting what we're paying for but it it's it ain't cheap and that's reflected in this budget and I I think that's worth mentioning um the other thing I'll mention and I again I support it but um the the five new people to deliver um on the service commitments of the town and the staff um those also are not cheap I think you if you add in the the the um the benefits it's $400,000 410 whatever it is um that's what we're we're we're putting our money where our mouth is in terms of of Service delivery so um I I you know I wish it weren't seven I wish it were lower but um as I said uh things don't come cheap these days so we've been talking as Town managers in our group and all of us were talking about our budget messages and how we you know customarily refer to inflation and our local inflation is our our regional labor costs trying to uh recruit and retain people and high quality people and that we that's probably our greatest pressure for this year's budget it's 71% of our overall budget is for personnel and and salaries and so I mean we we need people to perform the services so it's an investment but that seems to be across the board with with all of the towns this you know super restrictive Regional labor pool for us yep understood uh anything else I think that's it do you have anything else for us I'm all done you're all done okay I guess I'll take a motion thank you um motion to adjourn Mr chairman second all all those in favor uh Mr nicastro hi Mr Shell says I Miss Davis Mr dykens hi and Mr Mets hi thank you very much good night chadam it is 6:24 [Music] [Music]