Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the January 20th, 2026 meeting of the Town of Cadam Select Board. Please note, this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly hereafter for scheduled and on demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device. If anyone else is
recording the meeting, including the use of AI note-taking apps, please notify the chair. Seeing none, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 28th, 2025 signing of chapter 2 of the acts of 2025 extending certain COVID 19 measures adopted during
the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. Massachusetts General Laws chapter 3A section 20 until June 30th, 2027. in this meeting of the Chattam 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 158-945-4410 conference ID203
386491 pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda. While this is a live broadcast and simalcast on CH Chattam TV, Xfinity channel 1072,
despite our best efforts, we may not be able to provide real time access. We will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible. First order of business is to establish a quorum. Miss Davis, >> present. >> Mr. Dykins, >> present. >> Mr. Meadows, >> present.
>> And the chair is present. But m Mr. Stewart Smith, >> you are present. Stewart. >> Yes. Here. >> Okay. So, we have a full board >> and tonight of course is the uh annual budget presentation by the town manager.
Um so we have no minutes. Uh I will entertain any public announcements or agenda item requests from the board first from the public. I don't see any in the audience or online. Um there's no public hearing.
There's no consent agenda. Um, we'll entertain public comments on the business agenda. The business agenda is essentially the budget, but if anyone wants to make a comment now, I'll entertain it. Otherwise, we can do so um during the presentation or after the
presentation is made. I see no one. There is one item of administrative business first and that has to do with appointments to the board of health. Um
we had um we have two vacancies on the board uh among the regular membership and two alternate members. Um Carol Gordon, a former member of the board of health. She was an alternate submitted um an application to be
reappointed to the board. And we have two full member seats with vacancies running through June 30th, 2026. I'll entertain a motion to appoint Miss Gordon. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I move to appoint Carol Gordon as a full member of the board of health through June 30th,
2026, unless sooner revoked or a successor is appointed. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Moved and seconded. I'll call the role. Miss Davis. >> Hi, >> Mr. Dykins. >> Hi, >> Mr. Matters. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> I. >> And the chair votes. So, Carol is
appointed. That's five to zero. Thank you. Next item of business is the town manager's preliminary fiscal year 2027 budget summary and budget recommendations transmitt for the period of July 1, 2026 to June 30th, 2027
entitled navigating the fiscal year ahead. Call on our town manager Jill Goldsmith and the director of finance Carrie Mezero. Jill. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Well, welcome to budget season. This is actually my
favorite time of the year and I think carries to the time of year when we actually do the budget book, post the agenda report and then get into deliberations. This budget reflects months of work done
by um team Chadam and led by our director of finance Carrie Mazerell in close collaboration with the department heads and many of whom are participating in the meeting but well represented by natural resources and committee
development tonight. So with that, I respectfully submit the town manager's preliminary FY2027 budget, operating budgets, and capital budgets, and that's in compliance with the town's bylaw and charter.
So we're proud to present the navigating the fiscal year ahead budget and it's focused on preserving core municipal services. So I do have a spoiler alert here. This is a level service budget focused on
sustaining grow sustaining operations with total growth under 5%. Budgets reflect prior priorities and the FY2027 budget aligns with community goals and select board direction with updated vision statement language
reflecting input from our newest board member on J and voted on January 6, 2026. In 2024, the select board identified goal categories to move forward on initiatives that align with the vision statement. A more robust description of
each goal can be found in the budget book as well as on the town's website. with review. Earlier this month, the board voted added objectives for this school category, which is respond effectively to the needs of a diverse,
welcoming, safe, healthy, and livable cadam. [snorts] There you go. Uh an added objective was also included in educational excellence school category and that's to encourage students to serve the community and schools through
civic engagement. So I'm going to now turn this over to Carrie, our director of finance. >> Thank you, Joe. That's okay. Um, so the state of the town, I feel like I went through this during the budget summit, but I'll go through it
again. The town valuation is currently 12 bill869,437,800. And that is a 4.28% increase over FY2025. The tax rate is currently $3.67, which is an increase from 20 25 um which
was at $347. Our uh AAA bond rating was reaffirmed in April of 2025 uh stating reserves are stable and comply with fiscal policies. Um this is just a general slide that
we're going to go over the town's budgetary components. So, our budget um we'll go over budget highlights, our revenue outlook for 2027, our expenditures, which include the general operating budget, educational assessments, the water operating budget,
and our five-year capital plan. And then we'll also go over other capital community priority items, which are separate articles for consideration, and um uh capital priorities Before I get into that, um, again, just
as past years, um, our budget is on, um, is our digital budget book will be online and it will go over budget narratives, um, budget statements, our prior year accomplishments, organizational charts, staffing history,
2027 capital improvement plan, which you can see the requests and inventory. Um and then also in the budget book uh you'll see um the debt schedule as well and um a multi-year financial forecast.
I'm just going to close out of the PowerPoint just to get to the digital budget book just to show you some uh a little bit on it. It's a little bit different this year. Um Oops. What happened? So, when you go to the town's website,
this will be live tomorrow. Um, currently we still have our 2026 budget up. Um, this is just we're going to go through the budget first and then we'll put it live after this presentation. Um, so when you get on here, you can see a
slight difference where you can click down here and you can actually scroll through each page. Um, and you can read, you know, the budget intro message. Um, you can see the history of the town. It shows the
demographics. Um, this is actually based on 2022 census. So, um, the new census isn't out yet. Um, if you scroll down here, you can actually just click on whatever you'd
like to look at. So, if we go to department summary and we'll click on public safety, we have some pictures up there that we added this year. It kind of goes over an overview of each department. Um, and
this is the whole bud public, sorry, public safety. But then if you click down, you can click on each department individually. And then you can go to the police department and you can see their budget message, their staffing numbers, their calendar year accomplishments. We
even added goals this year for each department that you can review. Um, their expenditure, historical expenditures across the board. The ones in the blue are what have been expended and in the purple is what the current
budget is. And then if you scroll down again you can see expenditures per object which would be salaries and expenses um a pie chart. And then down further, if
we just keep scrolling, you can see each by individual, like where they've put their expenses in each bucket. And right here you have a nice overview of the budget again. Um, and then you you'll see what was
approved for 2026 compared to 2027. Um, and then at the bottom you'll see our our charts for the salaries for each department as well. Those are all included in there. So that's kind of like just a overview of what each
department will look like. Some departments don't have these salary charts because we don't have like Capen Islands EMS. We don't have any salaries in there. So you won't see that chart. But um, yeah, that's just basic overview of it. It's
kind of neat. I like how they changed it this year. Where is it not going? Okay. still not going to where I wanted to go. Okay. Sorry, technical difficulties. [laughter] [gasps] Uh, all right. So, our budget
highlights for 2027, as uh Jill mentioned, this is kind of a level services budget. Um, our operating budget without education is at 47,339,94 for an increase of 2,165,993 over or 4.79% over FY2026 and there's no
new positions added. Um the capital plan is at uh 2,490,500 or a 4.90% which is in within the range of the 9% per Chattam's budget and financial management policy of the operating budget funded through
free cash and other available funds with no use of the tax levy. Revenue outlook So this chart shows the percentages of revenues per category. As shown, the largest contributor of the budget is property tax at 64%.
We have local receipts at 15% of the budget. Other available funds at 14%, the water budget is at 7% and state revenue is 0% as this is a very small percentage of revenues that we receive.
state revenues. >> So, they're the cherry sheet. That's a >> I just asked what the state revenues were. >> Yeah, the cherry sheet funds that we've received from the state. Um like veterans benefits that we get. Um we get a um we pay out veterans benefits, but
we get a percentage back. Um what else? God, it's >> No, it's not much. I can get you a list of what we get. >> No worries. >> Okay. How how do we compare on the cherry sheets with other towns in the Cape? Are they all getting pretty
trivial amounts from the state? >> So, um because we don't have a school, all of most of our cherry sheet money goes to the school, which is um like the circuit breaker um goes to the schools.
Um then there's uh chapter 70 that goes to the school. we would get a lot more. I think we pay out more than actually we receive. So our assessments are actually higher. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> You're welcome.
>> Carrie, the available funds just as a defined by by what? >> Uh yep. I'll get to that slide. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Thanks. >> You're welcome. I'm going to go over everything more in detail. Yep. >> So this slide goes over our revenue property taxes. Um, so this is an
estimate for FY2027. Uh, the tax levy. So, property taxes represents approximately 2/3 of the town's overall revenue. The estimate for 2027 is 48.7 million. Um,
and um, our total assessed valuations of the town is 12 bill869,437. Sorry. 12 bill869,437,800. The average residential value is currently 1.6 million and the average
single family value is 1.7 million. So this slide goes over the local receipts and other available funds. So, we estimate our local receipts at around 89% of our prior year actuals, which is our closed at um 2020 at the end of
2025. Um estimated local receipts currently are at 11,681,22, which again is 15% of the town's revenue. This includes meal tax, short-term and traditional lodging, department fees, service charges,
interest, um ambulance fees. We also have recreation that goes in there. Um the other available funds is again 14% of the town's revenue at 10,63,922. Um 1,415
I'm just going to cut it short. 1.4 four [laughter] supports the operating budget um which are receipts reserved for appropriations uh or other items free cash and community preservation funds. Um sorry. So to answer your question about
what other available funds are, they're the PEG access funds. Um they're funds that are put into receipts reserve that you have to vote to be appropriated. So um we can't use these funds for
anything else until we vote for them. That's typically what it is. We the waterways um improvement fund I believe is one of them. >> Yeah. >> Right. Um and then we have um the Cape Islands um
It's Cape and Islands water something. It's used for our debt service. Um, what else do we have? >> There's a couple of them. I didn't list them out on my sheet over here to >> Yeah, they're in the report.
>> Carrie, the um local receipts, the estimate at 89%. >> Yes. Is that what we used last year that >> so this um this is actually a little bit more than our estimate from last year? Um so for 2026 I actually went I was
able to go up a little bit higher. So what happens is is when I'm setting the tax rate I can actually increase the local receipts just a little bit. So, these are just estimates for now. Until we close the books, I can actually see like where we've closed at and then I can kind of base what I'm going to do.
But our estimates for last year were around 11.2. >> And what percentage was that? >> That was 88%. >> Okay. >> Could you back up a slide because I had a question about um the excess levy. >> Yes.
>> There was a negative number there. How is that computed and what does it mean that it's negative? Uh it's just a min to minus it out. It's just money that we haven't used. >> And again, that's just an estimate based on what the current what we're looking at for the budget. >> Okay. All right. Thank you.
>> Mhm. So it's not a negative number. It's it's a positive number. It's just subtracting out. >> Subtracting. >> Mhm. So then we have other some other offsets to um other available funds that we use and these are items that we can use
during the year. Um we have revolving funds uh the recreation revolving uh which we use for um program costs and there are some positions that are actually paid out of the revolving fund. Then there's this shellfish revolving
fund. Um, we use chapter 90 money that we get from the state to help support um, the roads. I did mention uh, Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund that's on here to support the debt service. And then we have the water water user fees. Um, the
current balance is 1.4 million and that's as of uh, December 31st. And this slide right here, this kind of goes over um the past um six years of short-term and traditional lodging and meals tax revenue.
At the end of 2025, the um hotel motel revenue collected was 3.9 million and the meals tax was uh 695,000. The revenue has been consistent over the past few years with just a slight drop in 24 and 25. Tracking and monitoring
local receipts for trends is important, especially when building the budget. >> I'll get into the expenses. Yeah. >> Just have a quick question. the the uh you know the search charge that we enacted oh few years ago half to the schools and half to
>> housing are those in available funds as well or they are separately appropriated we have to ask for appropriation I believe at town meeting >> correct so those are held so when we get the funds in we separate them out so this is just the money that's gone to the general fund to support the general
fund operating budget >> and then the other funds go to attainable and um the elementary school. >> And do we have there there was a note that says the fund balance for each stands of $3 million. Does that mean we have six million in total or
>> uh Yep. Yep. So, um each of them actually get the same amount >> and they get the they acrew the same amount of interest. So, and there hasn't been any expenditures from them yet. >> Yeah. We haven't tapped into them. >> We haven't? Yeah. >> Right. >> So, they both stand at the same amount. >> Yeah. I'm just >> Well, that's good. >> Yeah. I'm just kind of We haven't tapped
him yet. So, >> Right. But that can be used for example in the elementary school. >> Correct. >> Okay. The the red is the meals tax. >> The red is the meals tax and the blue is the Yeah. the the rooms, >> the hotel and and the new short-term
rental all blended in with the >> traditional and short-term. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Combined. >> Thank you, >> Carrie. Does that ever get broken out? The short >> uh Yeah, actually I break it out on the ledger. I can break it out if you want on future years so you can see the difference >> just as a point of interest.
>> Yeah, sure. >> Yeah, it would be good to know that. >> Yep. >> It's pretty consistent around four million bucks though. 22 23 24 25 pretty consistent >> really changed. >> Yep. So the FY2027 budget overview,
the town operating budget as is at 47.3 million. The school assessments are at 12.59 million and um as of now we have only received a preliminary budget from the Monoy Regional School and we're still
waiting for the budget numbers from the Cape Cod Tech. Um, so the school's amounts could change soon. Um, the water budget is at 5.7 million and the 5-year capital plan is
at 2.49 million for items that cost between 10 and 250,000. Um, this is a breakdown of the percentages of the departments for FY2027 expenses. This information is more in detail in
your book books or online on the digital budget book. Um you'll see the largest contributors of the budget include employee benefits at 12%, public works at 13%, debt service at 14%,
public safety at 15%, and education which is at 19% of the budget. This slide pres oh sorry this slide provides a comparison of the FY2027 proposed budget to the 2026 budget. As you'll see the total proposed budget for
2027 plus education is at 59.9 million compared to 56.8 which represents a 5.37% increase. The operating budget minus the educational assessments is at 4.79%.
>> Uh car Carrie Carrie and Jill. So can you go back to that slide just for a sec? So the all-in is 4.79 but in and when you look at uh public safety or public works and facilities blah blah blah um is most of that most of that
increase related to contractual obligations knowing that we have no new no new staff being proposed. >> So can you comment on that please? >> Yep. So most of it is um contractual obligations. Um our salaries represent
70% I'll just say of our um expenses >> and um they increased roughly around $900,000 this year overall. Um the largest factors to our benefit uh to our
budget is definitely going to be like employee benefits, our um insurance, um education. Uh we did have some other um increases overall. Um I'll get to it in a minute, but um
like utilities have gone up a lot. >> Insurance, >> health insurance. >> Yep. Yep. um >> property insurance, too. >> Our property insurance. We haven't gotten our um final information on our pension yet, so
I'm still waiting for that. >> Okay. >> But yeah, mostly mostly salaries. >> Just another quick question. The school's fairly monoy in particular fair fairly um fairly comfortable with the budget that they presented the first draft.
>> They voted outstanding. There's no contract outstanding there or >> No. Okay. >> No, they they finalized all their contracts. Was it last year or the year before? >> Last year. >> Yeah. >> So there's no wild cards there, per se. We don't think knock on wood. Okay. >> No, I think they're they're facing the same pressures we are.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Some sometimes special placements come in at the last minute and you know they're expensive, but blah blah blah. >> Yeah. >> That's kind of a wild card that can affect the budget. >> Right. Right. I think a lot of like special education at the school has a big part too. >> They do. That's Yeah.
So they'll be for be before the select board income come the week of the 23rd of February is >> yeah the 24th right that's Tuesday so again some items that I just talked about um the operational factors um
these are the major uh factors that we're seeing um so we have our salaries contractual obligations utilities employee benefits insurance premiums, our debt service and educational
assessments. Bless you. Um the operational increases. So our salaries have increased 893,000 um which is um amounting to 4.87% over uh FY 2026. Our utilities and electric
have increased 216,000 which is an increase of 25.5% over FY2026. Our insurance is uh budgeted currently at 12.60% which is an increase of 138,000.
Employee benefits is up 529,000. Um there was an increase to the Medicare costs at 19%. And then um we have a projected increase in our health insurance of uh 10 to 12%. Um we'll have a better idea of where our
health insurance will be in midFebruary when they vote on it. So this is currently resulting in an increase to benefits of 14.6%. And then we also have it purchases uh of services the software increase $50,000
for increased costs for software which is at 12.5% more. So, this slide goes over our current existing uh general fund uh debt service. Um, so for uh FY2027, it's $8.8
million. Just to keep in mind that we still have projects that are being worked on and we'll have to go out to borrow for those. So for FY2027, the school educational assessments at 19% um we have the Monoy
Regional School District which is at 11,979,000 which is a 7.74% increase. Um the regional assessment hasn't been amended since um 2022 and the Chatt Elementary School is at
2.3 million. The Cape Cod Tech School is um we're I'm estimating a 5% increase for them. I haven't gotten any budget information from them yet. Um so this is uh at 617,000.
Their final vote will be in February, just after I think they meet with you guys. Um, there's currently 19 students that are going to Cape Cod Tech. >> Good. >> So, so absent the elementary school at
23, Monoy Region will be 96. I'm just kind of kind of thinking kind of without the elementary without the elementary school where it be. And that's >> that's fairly fairly consistent. That's fairly stable. Okay. Yeah, 96 is kind of what we used to
spend before we had the elementary if I just want to interject um because this is in the town manager's um budget message um and we've been hearing a lot from Haritch
about what they perceive to be um inequity in the assessment formula that the enrollment of Haritch students in our regional system is uh about 76.37%.
So 76% of the kids are Haritch kids. >> Mhm. >> Um Haritch is paying an assessment of 76.5%. Chadam has 23% 23 or 24% of the kids and we're paying 23%.
So I just submit. How is that an unfair assessment? >> Well, it's how it's supposed to work. >> It is. >> It is. >> So I think um I know Harri wants to talk about it. >> This is and this is consistent with what their own report says. The numbers are
pretty close, >> right? >> So just wanted to point that out. >> Thank you. So, just a little bit more about Monamoy Regional. Um, so they present to you guys on the 24th of February. Um, again, there's no,
uh, proposed changes right now to the regional agreement. Um, uh, the overall proposed bud budget from Monamoy was a 7.04% 04% increase and to Chadam it was a 7.7
74% increase or $860,000 more over FY2026. Uh they do have a potential borrowing to replace the roof on the middle school. Um and the school committee will vote on
March of 2026. And this slide goes over um the last uh six years of uh Monamoy Regional School District assessments. And as you can see um the assessment in 2022 was 8.5 million and now in 2027 it's roughly
11.9 million. And that's again that's preliminary for them. They're still waiting on the um the governor's um uh what do you call that? budget. >> Yes. >> And that 11.9 includes the elementary Chadam's responsibility for the
elementary school. >> This includes Chadam's Yeah. elementary school. Yep. >> Just refresh my memory. When did we take over the elementary school? In 24 or >> I think it 2022 when you guys redid your budget. It was 22. That's why I left it on here.
>> Really? Okay. Thanks. >> It was 22, right? >> Uh 2023. >> No budget. budget for 23. >> Oh, it was a budget for 23. Sorry. >> It was 22 that we opened up the agreement. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> And this slide goes over the Cape Cod Tech uh high school. Um as you can see in 2023, I think there was like what five students that went to school there. Yeah. So, and then 2025 uh they had 20
students and now they have 19. So, one must have graduated. Um, >> do we know if there's going to be a change in that? Have they indicated to us yet in their enrollment? >> No. Um, the last time I spoke with them, it was still at 19 students. And it's,
uh, the way they do it, they base it on their prior year. >> Okay. All right. >> So, the water department budget, um, this is a separate article. Um, it's an increase of 4.68%. 68% compared to FY2026.
Um it includes salaries, expenses, indirect costs, and debt service. Um there's an increase of 255,000. So this slide goes over the water existing debt service. Um for 2027, it's at 2.5 million.
And again, we still have projects that haven't been approved. Um, so or I should I say unauthorized. >> Are the um the recent increases that we made in the water rates, are they showing that we're basically on track
and we're not >> in deficit? >> Correct. Yeah. >> So, we'll finish the year. Okay. >> We'll finish the year this year. Yes. [laughter] Um, I added uh this slide. It's a little bit different, but I I seem to always
get the question of um how much debt do we have and what's um un unissued. So, as of June 30th, uh the general fund had authorized debt of um 118 million. The water fund had authorized debt of 34
million. Um there was unissued debt of 43. It was already approved, but we haven't issued the debt yet. So, it's at 43 million. So, the general fund has 40 million of unissued and the water fund has uh just about 2 million of unissued.
Um, and then there's a couple of um old um articles that have uh balances of unissued debt and so I will be preparing an article to resend that at town
meeting. um they're so old you can't even borrow for them anymore. The um financial advisors just don't let you go back that far. So, general fund has uh 659,000 from article 10 that was done in 2006.
Um article 14 um I'm sorry that combi that's combined with article 10 and from 2006 and article 14 of 2009. And then the water fund has one article from 2012 in the amount of 478,000. >> So if you look at the fourth bullet down
on the unissued debt, so 43 million if you subtract that from the general fund authorized and the water fund authorized debt, we're about I'm just Jeff can do this in his head. I can't. We're about hund00
million in actual outstanding debt. Is that if you do the math? >> Uh I think I have it on the next slide. >> Oh okay. >> So we have debt. Um so this is the equalized valuation. So it's you have to take your 5% of your equalized valuation
and this is based on 2024. Um it's done every other year. So, um 5% of that is $632 million that the town can uh take for debt. Um and then our net of
uh debt is $161 million leaving a total available that we can uh borrow up to is 471 million. So in this slide, our total outstanding debt is currently 153 million. That's including general
fund and water. And then again, our unissued debt is 43 million bringing up to 196 million. And then what you do is you subtract out your outside debt, which is water. So anything water is outside debt. So you subtract that and
then that gets you to your um your basically 161 million that you subtract off your debt limit of 5% and that becomes your available amount. And the 161 is what we actually have outstanding. >> Absent water. >> Absent water.
>> Absent water. >> Okay. >> So if we wanted to, you know, build a new town, we have 471,15. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> That's a lot. >> But that but that is something that people need to know that we because we hear a lot that we're
>> overly dead indebted and I just don't think it's makes a whole lot of sense. There are other reasons why it doesn't make any sense that we have only 6,000 people in the summer and we I mean in the winter and we have 30,000 in the summer. >> Okay. Right.
>> So, >> hey Carrie. >> Yes. >> Terry, uh those those um unexpended articles from ' 06, do you recall what they were for? Uh, no, but I I'll bring them to you
because I have to come and present that to you. So, um, >> I'll have all that information then. I'm sorry. I don't remember. Um, I don't think it's in here either. >> No, sorry. >> I was here and I don't remember. >> Yeah. [laughter]
>> Yeah. They're quite old. Other capital and community priority items. Uh so um this slide will go over the FY2027 capital plan and the these are for the items that cost between 10 and $250,000.
So the total amount of requests for FY2027 is 11.5 million and this includes all capital including warrant articles. Um, for this one, we're using um $2.5
million. Um, and we're using free cash in the amount of 2.6 million. This represents a 4.89% of the operating budget net of debt. Any larger items more than 250,000 are
considered for separate articles. Uh this slide shows the capital plan approved for 2026 and the department request summaries for 2027 and recommendation totals. As we move through the budget process, these amounts are subject to change.
So uh again to answer your question, other available funds, I actually show some of them on here. So, we have the free cash, the waterways improvement funds, um cemetery sale of lots. We used that last year, but there was no actual
article this year from them presented to us. So, um we're not using those funds this year. Um PEG access fund. Um we have prior year articles and um a conservation fund. Oh, same slide.
Can I ask a question on the capital? >> Yep. >> Because this isn't on the screen, but because I don't think there's a slide on this, but in the town manager's budget message on page 23, you don't have to pull it up, but there there's a detailed
itemization of each of the items. Mhm. >> And the town town manager's consulting budget, you're reducing that from 100,000 to $75,000. Why do you why are you doing that? Because that's something
that we often tap into unexpectedly. >> We we reviewed um the amounts so it carries over from year to year. >> Yeah. >> And we we felt we were at a comfortable amount looking at our various eararks for items that we would typically use it
for. Um, in the past we've used some of it for the SEAL conceptual designs. Um, now that that was approved at town meeting and with the additional uh appropriation request, there's not as much of um
I guess there's there's there haven't been as many funds identified for that consulting and engineering account. So, we're comfortable with moving forward with a reduced amount. >> How much is in there now? Um, the last time I looked, I think there was roughly around 400,000.
>> Okay. >> All right. Y >> on that same schedule, if I might, there you have 100 grand last last year and this year for sidewalk construction. Do we we do we get chapter 90 monies for we can use for sidewalks as well? We don't get tons of money from chapter 90. Do we
get 100 grand, a couple hundred grand that we could use? We get about 330,000 a year and some in some years there's an additional appropriation um through the state and um it's been used to offset
some projects uh roadway improvements um sidewalks. Right now um we'll be looking at our um a sidewalk management plan looking at the assessment of what needs to be done. We're in a mode of fix it first before we're expanding sidewalks. And so I think we'll we'll
have a better idea moving forward. So next year's budget FY28 may see a more substantial amount being requested. >> Thank you. >> So we have quite a few of other potential articles um that are kind of
pending. Um the normal one is dredging that uses a tax levy. Um there are two borrowing projects to be considered which is Barnhill Landing Bulkhead and Ryder's Cove landing improvements. There is one capital exclusion to
consider which you guys are aware of for the center for active living. Um and then there's the child care voucher for 200,000 uh using the tax levy. the the the capital projects
um two, three, and four, they're going they have to go on the ballot, right? >> That's correct. They do. All three of them. All three of them will go on the ballot because these will be um a debt exclusion, debt exclusion, and a capital exclusion. >> And they'll require a twothirds vote at town meeting, but a simple majority on
the ballot. >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> Yep. And there's also the financial management software um on here as well. Uh I did apply for a IT grant on January 5th. Um, so I'm still waiting to hear if we get the grant to help support. So
>> is the child care voucher is that does that include the Seldon program? >> No, this is separate. Yeah, the Seldon program is preschool family support. >> This is with Monoy Community Services. This one here, >> it could be used for summer camps from I
think ages of birth all the way to 21 years old. Has has has there been increased demand? Do we need to consider >> increasing that or >> this was just increased? >> This is an increase. >> Human services committee um reviewed all
of the the their normal requests they get through their RFPs and they had uh submitted to us I think it was an increase of >> 25,000. >> 25,000. Thank you. Okay. >> Based on need. Mhm. >> So, um some additional ones, um there's
a floor treatment renovation, uh using free cash, uh >> for the community center. >> For the community center, it also it's a combined one. So, it's got the community center, uh the town hall needs some extra money in their uh budget, four
floors, and then there's a portion going to the police department in the dispatch area. >> Okay. Um, and then there's a uh a sewer capital transfer from wastewater capital stabilization
um in the amount of 2 million. And this is to help fund an article that was appropriated um back in 2017 for phases 1 C and 1D. um where um there was costs um have
exceeded the funds allocated and uh didn't receive uh state revolving fund money for those expenses. And in the article, it states that you can use um it will be an offset of the wastewater capital stabilization fund.
>> Is that to pay down debt? Yes, >> it's to pay down um >> a project that we've exceeded expenses on that we didn't receive um reimbursement from clean water trust
and the state revolving fund and this was identified to me by actually Rob Phy had identified it to me last year when we were going through some of the uh projects >> and phases 1 C and 1D were more recent phases. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. You're welcome.
And the borrowing was done way back in 2017, so I don't think they realized how much it was going to cost back then. Um, then there's the other post-employment benefits. Um, this year, um, I think I told you guys last week I was going to fund it
differently, so I'm going to fund it through free cash instead of using the overlay. >> Why are we doing that? >> Because we need the overlay to support the um >> Okay. >> Yep. We just want to point out again in the message, the budget message on the
on the OPED. Now, some of this is sort of um results from the stock market, but the um OPED liability, which was at 16 million and it was there for several years, it's now down to 10
million. >> Crazy. >> Yeah. for our actuaries. And as a result of the contributions we've been making, not just the 150,000, but we also have the uh sort tax. >> Mhm.
>> That used to fund the um the um >> land bank. >> Land bank. Thank you. >> One and a half%. >> Yeah. >> The reduction of >> reduction. Yes. and and and we took 50% of that and so it's about five or six hundred,000 a year.
>> Yes. >> So our percentage of funding the outstanding liability of 10 million has increased from 27% to 43%. That's dramatic.
>> So that's that's pretty good. >> It's a win. >> You know, it's driven by the market. I know. I know. I know. But we still have a funding mechanism that no other community in the state has. >> Yeah. No other. >> And I It still puzzles me that no one
else has tried to take advantage of that. >> I know. >> But anyway, >> well, we we we took half the land bank. We we have we said, "Okay, I know >> half of it we'll give back to the voters." >> We did we did we had that in place, but may but still it's a model that I would
should think some other community might want to take advantage of. >> Good one. Yep. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Um listed here is also um a water storage tank repairs and painting. Um this has
been pushed off since 2019. >> Um so I thought maybe this would be a good year to address this situation. It's for 2.3 million for the water department. Um this would not be a ballot question um because it's outside
debt. It would just be because it's not prop two and a half. It's not a prop two and a half question. It would be a borrowing for the water fund. >> Just a brief comment. When I read the package, it looked as though we're we're overdue. >> The way the way I read the package,
we're overdue. We should have done it maybe even four or five years ago. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Y >> we've been deferring it. >> Yeah, we have. Um and then we have a stabilization um article and this will be funded by free cash and a reappropriation of an old
article that was actually funded through stabilization for $350,000. And this is kind of um to um get in compliance with our financial policies.
Um there's a new grant match fund um to be funded with free cash in the amount of 50,000. And this is an article to have some funds available. If a a department head or department decides to apply for a grant that's a matching and
we don't have the funds, this would be something that they could use to help fund that and use so they can prove that they have match for the grant. >> Do we have to go to town meeting to set up the fund? >> No. >> Okay. because I can just set it up as a
separate article just like um how these other ones like Jill's consulting and engineering how it rolls over year after year. Um and then there's two articles for the airport um both using free cash. One was an article from 2026 that they still
need the funds for to support their grant and another one which is a new uh grant that they applied for. and then the PEG access funds, the cable funds which will go to Cape Media. And then we have the article for overlay
um in the amount of 500,000. Um so our free cash balance, so as of October, our free cash was certified at 5 million. We'll just say $5 million. We're using uh 2.2 for the capital improvement
projects and then we're using uh 2.4 for other capital artic and article requests. So our ending free cash balance is 246,000 >> and that gets replenished at the end of the fiscal year, right? Or in the beginning of the next fiscal year,
>> correct? So um if we have anything left, it will roll over to the next fiscal year. Um, anything that we get in excess of closing, if there's any expenditures that are closed out or any revenues that we exceed our estimates, we'll close out
and we'll get that certified again. >> Carrie, I thought you were going to rename that undistributed fund balance. [laughter] >> I forgot about that. Did you? uh community preservation articles. So, um as of November 1st, um the the
community preservation committee received 13 applications and they have not voted yet. They plan to vote on February 2nd. So, there's quite a few. I have a couple slides actually that go over their um
their projects or applications. So, we're not likely to see all of these because they have to bring them the total down to match what they have available. >> So, right now their applications are just over 3.3 million which exceeds
their um current balance um which is approximately estimated at uh 2.6 million with estimated receipts. Um, and I recommended that they leave around 500. So maybe between 300 and 500,000 in
their reserves to have a balance for their start of the next fiscal year. So um, they vote on February 2nd and I believe they present to you on the 12th. I believe they're scheduled to vote to
come to you guys and talk about their projects. >> So we'll see what it will be interesting to see what they vote on. And I'm already towards the end of this presentation. [laughter] [gasps] Uh so timeline of important dates for the
budget. The finance committee preliminary recommendation is due to the select board on February 17th. The select board um approved um should approve budgets uh for 2027 to the finance committee on February 24th. Um
the finance committee warrant article recommendations are due um March 11th. The annual town meeting warrant closes on March 17th and the annual town meeting is May 11th and uh annual town election is on May
14th. So, the finance committee chair will come in on the 17th of February with his recommendations to us. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Any um >> do you guys have any questions >> questions or comments from the board
beyond what we've already asked or from the public? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I just have a comment. I thought that the the digital book looks fantastic. So whoever masterminded that worked hard on that and it and elsewhere probably the whole team but looks really good
easy to use and and um it makes a lot of sense. The folder makes sense and you can navigate really I haven't I haven't tried it yet but it looks like you can really navigate well. >> Yeah, it's really nice. I like how it came out this year. Um and it was a combined effort. It was Jill Kathy um
Craig from IT and Chris from um finance >> also helped. So we all kind of work together on it. >> Yeah. And I mentioned to Dean last night in a conversation that I thought the package was was excellent. It was very clearly written and follow it. >> It's as someone who has had to sit
through >> the budget summit for and you did too. I think you've been to every one. >> I have. >> I've been to everyone because I was on FINCOM. Um and then these uh it's become much more streamlined. I really appreciate that. that's a lot easier to go go
through it um as well as the budget summit. >> Thank you. >> presentations. >> I forgot to mention also the collaboration of departments helping with their departments. >> Appreciate that information. [laughter] The point I would like the public to know though too though is we get a we get a high level look at here but you can literally dive into every single
corner of the finances of this of this town. >> Yeah. >> Every single corner. Every single corner. So if you want to you want to dig deep, you can dig deep >> and the finance committee will do that starting next well they're going to hear your this this presentation next week but they do go down line by line but as
Jeff said any citizen can go online and look at it >> and then we're going to have a joint session with the finance committee sort of experimentally to take up the public works budget I think >> public and public safety >> good good >> so you won't have to do those twice
>> right >> we're going to start in with the natural resources 's budget next next week, I think. >> Yes. Okay. Mr. Burman says yes. >> Mhm. >> Okay. All right. Well, I guess we thank you for the presentations. Uh and um
>> thank you. >> We can um take this take that off the screen. And the next item on our agenda is an executive session. And the it reads executive session Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21 number six to consider the
purchase exchange lease or value of real property parenthesis 31 meetinghouse road and 438 George Ryder Road if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body with no return to open session. So
it's our intention to go into executive session in this room. we will adjourn in um to go next door so we can have better um use of um our technology. Uh I'm going to offer a motion and then I'll
ask for a second and then we'll take a vote. >> Uh second, Mr. Chairman. >> Well, I haven't offered it yet. >> Okay. Um, I move that the board select board go into executive session under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 38 section 21 parenthesis 6 close
parenthesis to consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property parenthesis 31 meeting house road and [snorts] 438 George Ryder Road closed parenthesis if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body with
no return to open session. and a second. >> It's moved and seconded. I'll call the role. Miss Davis >> I. >> Mr. Dikkins. >> Hi. >> Mr. Matz. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> Did we lose Stewart? >> I don't see him on there.
>> Maybe he's going to join us on the other one. And the chair votes I. So, it's 4 Z [snorts] to go into executive session uh with no return. Good night, Chadam.