call themselves the 49ers to Germany. >> The time being 6:00, we will call the uh joint meeting of the select board, the school committee, and the Tom moderator to order. Um we uh this um meeting is uh being
live broadcast and uh being recorded um for future viewing by the general public. And uh good evening, Mr. Moderator. >> Good evening. Um I call this joint meeting between the Chumsford Select Board and the Chumsford School Committee
uh to order for the purpose of appointing an alternate member of the Nishoba Valley Technical High School uh school committee. So, do we have any nominations? >> I will nominate Chuck Fedler for the position. >> Uh, do we have a second?
Second. >> Okay. Any other nominations? There being none, uh, at this point, we will vote on the appointment to replace uh the vacancy on the alter as an alternate on the Shoba Valley Technical
High School school committee. Um, since there is only one candidate nomination, I would request that it be done by acclamation. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, I call this I'll entertain a motion to adjourn
this joint meeting so you can have your tri board meeting >> and uh second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you very much everyone. Have a happy holiday. >> Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Okay. Good evening. The time being now
60:02. We'll call the joint meeting of the select board, school committee, and finance committee to order. This meeting as well is being recorded by Chelsea Tele Media and uh being broadcast live.
Um we'll start this evening um with the um quick report by the town accountant, Darlene Lucier. Uh good evening. I'm just going to do a quick report on where we are to date on our revenues. Um not a lot has changed um since we were here about about two
months ago, but um these revenues are through through October 31st. Um again, our our local receipts were our benchmark should be around 33% of um of revenues
received. We are running a little just a little shy of that. Again, one of our largest local receipts is motor vehicle excise. We haven't gotten our large commitment yet. That doesn't show up usually until January. So, we're running a that kind of skews those numbers a little bit. Um, if you look at the
numbers from year to date, from prior year to current year to date, we're running pretty about almost 100% from last year. So, we're not seeing any really um big increases in any of these line items from the prior year. So I'm starting I feel like we are seeing a
little slowdown in our revenue coming in. There's just a couple line items that did increase. One of them was other licensing. One of those line items under those other licensing is the help inspection licensing. They actually
increased their licensing fees um this year. So they're they're actually helping with that line item. You can see it's it's much larger than it was from prior year. And that looking at the numbers, that one line item really did bring in is bringing in most of that
revenue is the health inspections. The other line item that actually is is a little up from last year is other department revenue. And the line item in there is the ambulance we get um paid from the Trinity ambulance service that they provide for us. Um why
that line item's up is that they were a little behind in the prior year from paying us. they in in June actually paid us for some money that they owed us back from the prior year. So that's kind of why that's that line item is a little bit skewed and looks larger than last
year. But um really those low local receipt revenues we're still really not seeing any big increases from the prior year. Um and we'll see what happens with the motor vehicle excise when we get that that large commitment in January. Real estate and personal property. Um,
again, that's that's that's always does well. We do a great collection there. Uh, state reimbursements are right on track and other financing sources. Um, our miscellaneous um those are pretty much the same as again last year. We're not seeing any
larger large increases on there. So, we get a little getting a little little more cautious about where our revenues are going to be going for the fiscal year um because we're not really seeing any anything large um an uptick from the prior year. So a little flat on the expenditure side. Um like I always say
the department heads do a very good job in managing their budgets. These these numbers here are through November. We should be around, you know, 40 sub% uh expended about 41% expended. If you look at everybody's expenditure line item there on the side, they're all within
that benchmark number. So I have no concerns on anybody's um budget at this point. farther into the year, we really start looking at individual budgets and if we might have to do a budget adjustment in the spring. But at this point, I don't have any any concerns. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Darlene. Um the next um speaker this evening is finance director John Souza to speak about the capital plan committee's proposed fiscal year 2027 capital improvement plan. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening,
everyone. The capital planning committee um reviewed 30 projects totaling 9.69 million and after reviewing all the projects voted to recommend 20 projects totaling 6.42 million for funding in FY27. So this slide shows a breakout of
the proposed capital plan by functional area. And you can see that if you take community services for our public libraries, police and fire, those account for about 27% of the total plan. Uh public works and the cemetery
department account for another 27%. Public facilities accounts for about 6% of the total. And then school facility projects at 2.56 million account for about 40% of the total plan. This next slide shows a summary of the
financing of the proposed capital plan. You can see that all of the projects total 6.42 million. We have 149,159 of recaptured funds and those are funds that re are recaptured from prior year
projects that have been completed. Now there's usually residual balances in those accounts. So that money defra 6,279,731. On the next few slides, we'll take a little closer look at the projects uh in
more detail. So the first project is the next phase of funding 850,000 for the Adams Library HVAC system replacement followed by another pro this the next project is 70,000 for repairs and renovations at the rear of the McKay
Library uh which includes a um ramp replacement, some grading work and a door and doorframe uh renovations to that building. The next project is uh 650,000 to fund the first phase of the replacement of the HVA system at the
police station. Then the next two projects uh are for the replacement of two aging fire department staff vehicles. You uh the first is a replaces a 2013 Ford Fusion hybrid vehicle.
The second project replaces a 2017 Ford Explorer vehicle. And then moving on to public works, there's 425,000 included for road improvements, roadway improvements. The next two projects um involve
replacing two older uh heavyduty dump trucks for for public works. The first is a 2007 six-heel sanding truck at a cost of 350,000. The next is a the replacement of a
10-heel dump truck that's a 2010 model for cost of 375,000. The next project on the list is 100 includes 195,000 for the replacement of a 2009 model year uh piece of equipment
used to uh remove snow from the sidewalks during the wintertime. This is the second year of uh replacing one of these units. Um the next the last project on this slide is the replacement of a 1 and a half ton rack body truck
with a plow for at a cost of 135,000. And then on the next slide, the first project is um the replacement of a of a older 2012 Chevy Colorado type pickup truck. And it's going to be
replaced with a 3/4tonon pickup with a snow plow package so that it can be used by DPW for winter snow clearing, snow plowing, and clearing the roads. The next project is 165,000 to fund the replacement of a 2008 cemetery backhoe.
Uh I wanted to note that the cemetery commission has agreed to reimburse the general fund for 50% uh of the cost of this unit over 5 years. The next project is the replacement of a 2010 van used by a municipal facilities
department for plumbing repairs. That's at a cost of 48,000. The next project is the replacement of the this is actually a supplemental phase of funding of 325,000 for the off the elevator at the town
offices building. And then the next project is a includes a h 100,000 for a roof replacement study. So as many of you may know we have uh some large school roof projects coming down the down the road uh in the next few years. This includes our high
school, the Harrington school and McCarthy school. So, the goal of this project is to develop um be able to do some test cuts and uh come up with some uh good uh replacement costs for those
projects. The next project is a replacement of an emergency notification system at a cost of just over 251,000. What this is is it's basically an integrated system that's a replacement of the clock intercom and public address
uh system. And this this these this funding will cover the Bayman South row schools. Uh the next school project is includes 400,000 for the replacement of the um intr building intrusion or security system as well as a fire panel
assessment um at a cost of 400,000. that al that covers the Bay and Harrington schools. Uh the next project on the list is 700,000 for the complete repaving of the Baym School parking lot uh which has
reached its end of life that pavement. Then the second to last project is um a a birectional antenna for McCarthy Middle School at a cost of just under 114,000. This will enhance radio communications
uh for police and fire. that uh well, you know, may be responding to the school. And then the last project on the list is $1 million for the replacement of a section of our high school roof that's over the cafeteria and kitchen area. Uh that roof is 19 years old and
has some leaks. So, that's a look at each project. This next slide shows a breakout of funding. As many of you know, the the list of projects varies each year in our capital plan. And so the the breakout
between general government and school department varies by each year. You can see that this year um the general government projects account for about 60% of the plan and the school facilities projects account for just
about 40% of the total plan. And on this next slide, we thought it was important since we've just reviewed all of the items that um are recommended for funding in fiscal year 27, we thought it was important to take a look for a moment and say, okay, what what
did not make the uh what did not make the cut for funding. And as I said, the committee reviewed many worthwhile projects. Um these nine projects were deferred for funding from FY27 um due to financial limitations. And
just to run through these with with the with the group, uh the first one is a replacement of a the Adams Library roof at a cost of 573600,600. Um public works sidewalk improvements, which have often been an annual item for 375,000.
Uh main street traffic improvements, this would have been the first of three phases for 500,000. a section of um sidewalk to be constructed along Turnpike Road at a cost of $1 million. Um the replacement of the walkway on the
town common for at for 130,000. The second phase of funding for restroom renovation at the town offices building for 290,000. And then um the replacement of the Harrington School kitchen floor with a non-slip surface. Uh that's just under
108,000. 30,000 to fund a schematic design and cost estimate study for the student locker rooms at Chsford High. And then finally, 150,000 in supplemental funding uh to fund um the switch gear or
electrical distribution uh re rehabilitation at the high school. So those items add up to 3.15 million as you see. And then as we look out on our five-year capital improvement plan, we thought it was important to note that as
the town's facilities continue to age and prices continue to increase, um the the work for the capital planning committee certainly will not get any easier in the years ahead. As you can see by these numbers, um the next four
years for fiscal 28 through 31, um the requests that are on the plan right now total 65.6 6 million and you can see the breakout for the next four years. So it certainly will be a challenge but we wanted to highlight this so that um you know make everyone aware that there are
some significant capital needs coming in the years ahead. So that takes a look at the completes the plan >> for 28. Does that number include the 3.1 that was just that was just deferred from this year? As of right now, it does not because
we'd have to >> that's just what I was submitted, right? Right. We have to redistribute. So, that's a good point. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any questions or comments for Mr. Souza after his report?
Seeing none, we'll move to the next agenda item. Thank you, John. Um, we'll have a report from Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jay Lang discussing the school department's budgetary status for the current fiscal year and outlook for FY27.
>> No, no, that's what it is. But that's I did. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Just uh briefly, nothing has really changed since the last time um we were here. Our fiscal 26 budget is in uh solid shape. I have no concerns with the
salary non-s salary um line items. Again, fortunate um that our contracts are settled. that's very much helping as we prepare the 27 budget to have um kind of hard figures in place. Um for 27 uh and this is a slide um we'll kind of get
to a little later in the presentation, but uh from the school side, we're looking at about a $3.5 million increase. This is where we're um starting our budgeting process. We have uh concluded all of our meetings with our individual schools, our departments, um rolling forward our salaries, uh
plugging in all of our different known contract costs for next year. Um so we're actually a couple of weeks ahead. Um that work will continue right through the holiday and new year break. Um but just to u give the viewing audience and again this is the same information we presented the last time. We're looking
at a little over $2.5 million worth of just wage related increases. These are the recently settled um contracts that include steps and lanes and uh the retirey uh incentives. And then non-wages um going up about $850,000 for next year. Uh first two are student
transportation, our regular education and student transportation costs um go up a little bit next year. We do have contracts in place with our vendors. These are just per vehicle per day uh rate increases. Um we're anticipating some out of district special education tuition increases. Again, the tuition
rates for the schools that our students attend that are not in district that go to out of district schools. Those rates are set by the state, uh the operational services division. We have nothing to do with the setting of the rates. Uh we basically just get the tuitions from the state and have to um pay them. Um we're
assuming at this point in time just a 5% increase over our um actuals for uh utilities and then we have some very minor just under $30,000 um contract increases with our custodial uh contracts and things along those lines. So um looking at about a $3.5 million
increase for next year. We're obviously still as um I'm sure Paul will get into you know waiting to hear a little bit about some of the state aid figures. We're still waiting on the school side. One of the big numbers for us is obviously like circuit breaker reimbursement for special ed tuition. Um those numbers were actually kind of
pregoing through the exercise of trying to figure out um exactly where they may fall for next year. And again the picture becomes a little clearer for us over the next month or so uh towards the end of uh December as we roll into the new year. Uh so nothing major has changed since the uh the last meeting.
Um everything still stays in focus. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lang. Um the next uh person up tonight is town manager Paul Cohen to discuss the fiscal year 2027 budget.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um good evening everyone and and thank you again for taking time out of a busy holiday period to come out uh and discuss the upcoming budget year. Since we last gathered four weeks ago, you know, there have been some developments um as the process
moves forward. Um most notably um on the state revenue side, the state revenues are holding solid. They they released their um most recent revenue count from November and they're slightly above their their target, their benchmarks as
they go through the fiscal year. And so that's encouraging. Um as you know, the state's been very cautious with its funding and and sort of the uncertainty about the federal funding. But thus far they're ahead of they're ahead of the prior year's total and they're ahead of their estimates. What's going to happen
at the state level over the next couple of weeks is they are going to have their revenue assessment meeting meaning they every mid December they'll come in and they'll bring in officials from um department of revenue in the state and some private you know uh scholars and so
forth and and economists and basically set the state revenue budget t target benchmark for the upcoming year. Uh and you can imagine they'll hear a variety of of ranges um in terms some will be conservative and some will be more liberal and then they come back in a
couple weeks and say okay this is the number that's going to be used for the state budget for revenue and that sets a target for the governor the administration as they move forward um as the best they have at this time. And so it's it's giving the the positive
news so far um is giving some assurances that again there'll be no mid-year cuts this year and hopefully the revenue picture will remain solid into as they prepare for the FY27 budget. The other thing that was sort of a hiccup to that is you know with the federal government
shutdown they don't have as much data and statistics that they normally would have had out there and it's even affecting the Fed if you if you watch the Fed in terms of what they may do with the rate cut this month because they just you know going on imperfect data and in some cases lack of data uh
which again affects the overall situation because as you know if you've been following it on the one hand they want to cut in interest rates in order to spur the economy and economic growth. But on the other hand, the growth could also accelerate the inflation monster that
they're trying to tame down. So, it's it's an interesting dynamic if you watch it from the from the outside and how it ripples through. Um, coming back to us um in Chelmsford, you know, as Darene noted, we're we're solid through, you
know, through November. Um, you know, we'll get more data in the weeks ahead. you know, for example, some items like the meal stacks and and room stacks, that's only released on a every quarterly basis. So, we'll start seeing that. And as Darlene noted, um the motor
vehicle excise commitment that everyone receives who owns a vehicle, u that falls in January, and that's the major one for the year. And that's and that's like 50% of our local receipts there. And and then the other thing that John gets to do at the end of the month, he gets to mail out the third quarter
property tax bills. Um and that you know that sort of sets the stage for the actual um and that is the other change in our data and I'll go through it is since the time of our last meeting we have had certification from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue of our of our property tax levy and our you
know new growth and so forth. Um what we're waiting on and should be any day now is the actual approval of our tax rate. Uh probably tomorrow. We we we're hoping for it today, but you know, time tells us it'll be in the next day or so. And that'll just cement what you know,
what we know is solid um going forward. And that again, that becomes the foundation for for 27. And um you know it's a busy time because you've got everybody sort of coming in to to the state at the same time for for tax rate
approval because of the 351 cities and towns I think over 300 of them do the quarterly billing that that that we do. Uh and so it's it's a busy time with everybody getting their information in. But um again if you saw any of those materials you know it was the the the
the town has finished its reval. Uh the assessor presented the options, the select board acted. Um you know the good news is is property-wise the town is doing well. I mean the property values ex increased both on residential values
and on commercial property values. Um and so again people have appreciation of their probably their most expensive asset their home. the difficulty is the affordability and that's then that's the message that we're hearing out there uh
and and seeing out there in the community. So what I have as a presentation I'm not going to go through every slide and the reason I kept the the the length of the report as it is and what's there is I I kept it in a comprehensive form that way if somebody were watching just
tonight's meeting or opening up this file they wouldn't need to go back to the first meeting and then try to piece it all together. And I just think that that's more productive. So I'm not going to go through all 63 slides. Trust me, I'm just but I will want to highlight some things and then the most important thing is there are some options for
discussion um that I'd like some feedback on and I'm sure all of you would you know would would sort of at least get a better clearing on how we proceed to to achieve the balanced budget. Um, I again I'm, you know, we're we're we're sort of looking and and
being open-minded and trying to, you know, proceed as best we can given the uncertainties that are around us. Um, so any without any further ado, again, I'll go real quickly. We all know the issue is it's inflation, inflation,
inflation. Most notably, it's health insurance inflation is really a driver right now. Um and and I'll get provide some more details going forward in the overview. Just remind folks the property tax and chood funds 78% of our operating
budget. Um that's that's you know over three quarters obviously and that's significant because that is capped by Proposition 2 and a half at at you know two and a half plus our growth. Um and um the other balance that comes from state aid and so forth. And the other
thing that happened since we last met is the select board had a meeting uh a week ago with with our state senator Mike Barrett and our state rep one of our state representatives um Rodney Elliot and then representative uh Katalo had his aid on the call and um it was very
clear and not to get dive into that meeting that basically they said don't expect any revenue help from the state. I think that was a fair assessment of the meeting because we explained to them the concerns about how, you know, cities and towns are being squeezed on both in the revenue component by the cap on
Proposition 2 and a half when inflation's running beyond that as well as major aspects of the town's inflation such as our health insurance, our pension assessment, our wages, you know, are above 2 and a half%. And then as you know there've been some
discussion at the um from the city of Boston most notably and others about oh well what's you know can you provide some modification to proposition 2 and a half in terms of it it doesn't deal with this level of inflation and and clearly the message is no that's not going to happen particularly in an election year
and the concern that the state is feeling is if you followed some of the ballot questions and some of the polls related to that is there's a there's a sentiment out there right now that the voters want to reduce their tax levy, including perhaps even the ballot
question to reduce reduce the state income tax um from you know 5% down to 4%. Uh as well as a number of other changes and that that obviously would have major impacts on the state's revenue capacity um and therefore how that affects us because that becomes
your local aid. um you know the the legislature likes to site the fair share tax and how they view some of that to provide some assistance such as this free school lunch and free community college but clearly it's under stress. Um, the other thing you should note is
on Wednesday of this week, the Massachusetts Municipal Association is going to release its prescript prescriptive plan for how from the result of their study about how cities and towns were underfunded in local aid
um, and chapter 78 and so forth. Um, so we we'll see those results on Wednesday. But I think what you're going to see there, and we did talk about this with our legislative delegation to bring it all full circle is, you know, c can the legislature provide options for cities
and towns. Some technical ones which we think will happen such as procurement and uh procurement assistance and so forth. But what seems to be less likely and and more difficult would be would they allow local option by communities to raise slightly the meals tax or the
room occupancy tax. Uh and then there's also a proposal out there regarding motor vehicle excise. those seem less likely uh particularly in a climate where the legislature, you know, could be looking at either how it works with a ballot question is they they they have
until till I think May or June and either to enact the ballot question that's been submitted or the petition has got to go out and get a couple a few thousand more signatures and then it goes on the ballot. But it's conceivable that there could be a up to 10 ballot questions and we'll know the results of
that uh very within the next week or so about how many signatures were certified. But clearly the climate is is is is challenging um because of the affordability issue and that you know and that becomes our question because you know we're trying to maintain
affordability with with a constraint on revenue but obviously we're hearing that from our residents as well. Um, so we'll see where that goes. Um, it, you know, we we I'm not going to hop again on the fiscal challenges that they're there. Um, our deficit as as
I've received and all the departmental budget requests um across and and working with John, our finance director, and Darlene, we're, you know, we have them in our spreadsheet. The deficit is is is still at $3 million. As Jay noted, in the weeks ahead, we'll have our
budget meetings with department heads and and and and get more information and better understand what our options are and what we're what we're constrained with. But as we note in this slide is of our what we think is a $177 million budget
um $176 million budget you know again a good portion of that is is fixed that we that we really don't have discretion over whether it's our debt service um you know benefits and so forth and so we we we are looking at probably a $3 million deficit over $17 million of
discretionary spending. Um, moving on to the property tax. Again, this this is now actual, which is why you see the line between 26 and 27 in terms of actual data versus estimated or projected. Um, you know, we we had, as you can see, if
you look in the the columns, you know, the two and a half% increase is just a mathematical exercise. The new growth column I bring your attention to because you saw this year 2026, we had 2.27 or 2.23 23 million in new growth which
as you can see is extraordinarily higher than recent years. Um and the reason for that is twofold. One is it was a reval year where there's extra inspections and more work out there by the assessors. But most notably it was the first year
of the UMass West campus you know the 350 apartment units that are built over there. Some were complete. The new growth ends on June 30th. Okay. So it ended 5 months ago. Not all the units were occupied then. And so a cap a portion of that growth was captured in
in 26. And then you can see why I'm using 1.9 million which is higher than any other recent year is that's the balance that we'll get in 27. Um and so that's the that's an outlier and an anomaly um for that for that development
of that campus. Um it was it was significant. I mean, it will be the largest valued property in the community when it fully hits the books in fiscal 27. Um, and you know, it also, you know, it it also drives cost associated
whether it's education of the of the children who live in the complex or the public service calls that go there from police and fire and so forth. Um, so we we so that's the number the best number that we have at this point is about 1.9 million in new growth. um which gives us
again outside of the debt exclusion about 3.97% or $5 million in um in additional revenue on the property tax going forward. Um again the going back to this chart's a little updated from last time because we
have final 26 data. You can now the data in the slide sees the average single family home in this community is now assessed at just under $700,000. Um the tax rate is estimated at this point, but we believe it's around 1327 for the
residential tax rate because we do have a split tax rate of about 14% differential. As you can see by the the penultimate column, the average single family tax bill this year will go up $400. Um which is about 4.5%.
Um and if you look over the five-year increase, it's going up over 24% or $1,800. Um, and so again, this is the biggest bill that people receive in the community. It's probably the most unpopular bill because you receive it uh
quarterly in the community. Um, so but and then we'll know where our ranking is um probably the end of January once everyone's tax rates are approved by the state. State revenue, as we talked about the last time, this hasn't changed. We're I'm still using $150 per student
for a chapter 78 aid increase, which would be another 5% increase. That is the highest increase which we received this current fiscal year than we've ever received from the Commonwealth. Um we I I just believe and and I was kind of pleased to see the town of Westford
manager budget is being presented tomorrow night to the select board in Westford and it's available online because the town meetings in March. Unbeknownst to me, she also assumed the same optimistic viewpoint uh which gives me a little comfort at least
psychologically that you know that the state perhaps has to continue its commitment to chapter 70 education aid. Um and then again the other big portion which is highlighted is our unrestricted general government aid which as the name suggested is unrestricted and it's you
know it's meant to provide funding to cities and towns. that's been underfunded historically as you see in the charts ahead of us and I'm assuming around a percent and a half increase there when all is said and done. Um
again, as you can see our the increase in chapter in chapter 70 was 769,000 this year. You that's when you look back historically as I said that's that's a very um generous increase except except
for the extraordinary increase in 2024. Um, and so again, that's where we'll go forward. I'm not going to review, we did this the last time about the underfunding and so forth. But again, we'll note that this is the final year of funding under the nest, the student opportunities act. The state has already
had hearings on developing a plan for how they're going to fund education going forward because that will have to be basically in place about a year from now because a year from now the the new newly elected governor or reelected
governor and the new legislature will will need to develop a funding plan that the governor will have to release uh in but if it's now in either late late January or early February of 20 of 20 um
7 um because that again that's going to meet the state's timetable. So that's a ba major issue. I understand there was a meeting in Grten a few weeks ago about chapter 78. There was like 140 people present. Um it's really being felt in as
you know by some of the rural and and um uh regional district communities in terms they feel they've been underfunded. Um so again it's it's it's very critical and timely and obviously we expressed our concerns to our legislative delegation and and I imagine
the weeks and months ahead that will continue uh in terms of getting you know a fair aortionment um on that uh moving on to uh unrestrict unrestricted general government aid and state aid revenues again we've gone through that in the
past so I won't repeat it other than we believe there's a case to be made that the state should be a stronger partner partner towards us local receipts. Um again, we now have a budget actual in fiscal 26. So you can see it's 13.293
uh is the number. And so again, I'm projecting a $400,000 increase or just over 3% for fiscal 27. The big ones there again, motor vehicle excise, as I mentioned earlier, that's 6.5 million. Um and then permits being the other big
one. And then the other wild card is interest on investments. And again, if the you gota understand it's always a two two-sided coin. If the Fed is cutting interest rates, then that means the secured assets that John as our finance director is investing in are
getting lower returns because he has to invest those into secure treasuries and so forth. So that's why that number is, you say, well, why isn't it the 1.2 million that you had in fiscal 25? And you can just see how that number just floats with with I mean one year it was negative because he has to mark the
market. So in fiscal 22 as you see the parentheses aren't a mistake. It was actually negative. And so you can just see how that number just bounces around. Um and again it the the variance between actual versus budgeted really fluctuates
annually based on what's happening with the Fed because we're trying to estimate now what's going to happen you know seven to 19 months from now on interest rates in the economy which infects the interest on investments and then the other one is permit activity that
fluctuates all over the place. You saw a huge number in 24 that was because that was the permits for the apartments that I spoke about earlier which is an anomaly because you can see the typical year it's around 16 one 17. Um so again that's that that's why you have
variances between budget versus actual is there are things you just can't predict. Um what what we what we can see it at as what we see in terms of permitting is we don't see much in the pipeline uh significant that's going to
going before the planning board or the board of appeals that will impact either growth andor permit revenue. Um and then the last one on available funds why that's going down is that's really the debt service on the sewer cap sewer project which is the sewer capital
improvement fund. So basically that's just a pass through. So it doesn't again it's not a decline in available revenue. It's just reflecting the fact that the debt service number that that accounts restricted to goes down. So not much going on there. So it brings you to
about $5.9 million in new revenue sources. And if you go to the next slide when you account for the um debt exclusion for the fire station project we bet we got 6.8 million. But again, that 885,000 that is excluded debt
service, meaning that money is tied to the actual debt service for the project. So that's why we've got to look at well, what's total revenue growth, which is gross, versus available revenue to address the operating budget, which is the 5.9 billion, not the 6.8 million.
But it it it it just helps with the road map. The next slide are the are the drivers. Uh, and this is where you get the $3 million deficit from, you know, the 6.6 to the 9.6. Um, because again, debt services in this number and and and
you can just see, you know, big numbers. School department 3.5 million, health insurance 2.67 million, general government employee compensation 1.285 285 with the asterisks because we we we still do not have a resolved firefighters union collection bargaining
agreement which this would be the second budget year for that. So it means you're going to have a a basically a two-year increase if it gets settled this upcoming year which we hope and expect it would. So, that's why that number is is high. Um, because you have to account
for it because we're going to pay retro. Uh, and then we got we have to then build a new base, which is a two-year bump in the base. But we're we're prohibited. As I explained at our last meeting, we cannot budget into the budget the um actual settlement in
projection of estimate. So, that will be a separate article of town meeting when the time comes, but it will affect our tax levy. Middle Sex retirement as you can see is big number six and a half percent. Um this is the that's the second of two years. Um and as I
mentioned our excluded debt service you can see the 885,000. Um and then our non-excluded debt service is up 300,000 and then as you saw earlier about the sewer betterment funded debt service going down that I mentioned. Uh and then there's these
other issues you know funding the PAS remediation no theobate solid waste and recycling and so forth um again inflation inflation inflation the latest data we have is for Boston area is 3.3 which is higher than the
national one um so again we we don't see any change in that trend Jay went over his slide so I'm not going to repeat that I'm not going to repeat everything on the health insurance. What I can tell you, and you'll see it in the next coming slide, is I don't see any signs
that it's getting worse. Um, and if and the other thing that I highlight in this slide that I mentioned last time, I'll mention it again, is if we didn't have the health insurance premiums, we wouldn't have the deficit. If if you know, if we had no if we only had a 7% increase the last two fiscal years and
projected forward, we wouldn't have the deficit there that we're dealing with. That's how bad it is. Um because benefits and insurance are now eating up one out of every five of our budget dollars. It's almost the it's the equivalent of what the state's doing. And this is what the legislative
delegation told us. Over 40% of the state's funding is going towards health insurance costs either in the form of Medicaid and so forth. And that's why they're constrained and so anxious about the loss of funding coming from Washington in terms of services. Uh and
you can see that number is driving up. Um the uh again we don't need to go on to the key deliveries of healthcare we talked about the last time. This slide here is new. Um I have data now through October. It was over another $100,000 increase in
October. So the the increase in the GLP1s for weight loss are escalating um in in real time. Um so it's I think it was 503,000 a month ago. It's now 618. Um, so we have 131 claimants 10 months
through October of over $618,000 for the GLP1s. Um, we have employees asking at this point, are these drugs going to be continued in the in the new plan year next July? Um, because they're trying to
make decisions because these people are using them. That's how significant it is that people are that conscious of the in that sense their desire or need for the drug and the coverage aspect. What I can tell you at this point is no determination has been made on coverage.
That won't happen till probably six weeks from now for our plan and then a little thereafter for the state GIC. uh and it's going to come out in the governor's budget and we are already seeing lobbying going on and advertisements and so forth encouraging
the governor to maintain the funding for the GLP1s uh for weight loss and in her proposed budget for the group insurance commission which is the state's health plan for its employees of which some cities and towns participate.
The problem is the costs are growing astronomically. the participation rates are and with the as I mentioned at the last meeting with the release in pill form of these drugs expected the next several weeks the expectation that this will continue to
drive um the cost going forward um and again I also did see our claims I mentioned earlier for one more month of claims and again we're not nothing concerned me to say oh gez is the is the estimate that you're providing here um underounting it and I don't I think so.
I also don't think it's overounting it. I'm hoping that our estimate will remain solid at about 13% increase in premiums. Um so to we can just move forward to um
slide 44, middle sex retirement. again that's actual um so and what's going to happen now is is the end of this month the retirement system in in the state they will now do begin the work of an
actual assessment for the upcoming two years so they take the actual data as of December 31st in this case 2025 and that'll form the basis for the fiscal year 28 and 29 assessments so rough roughly about nine months or so
from now, we'll know what that's going to be. The good news is if the market holds over the, you know, the next few weeks, you know, that that that those numbers hopefully won't be ridiculous because, as you know, the market returns
have been strong in the stock market. Um, but what we know is from our actuarials that we should not expect anything less than 6 and a half% for the next several years. and and um we'll see what those were. And you can saw what happened the last two cycles it was
8.38% and two years prior that it was 7.5%. Um so we'll see what happens going forward. Again I touched upon the excluded debt service for the fire stations project. Um the non-excluded
again uh interest rates will have a bearing on that as well because if interest rates go down then our debt service will will go down. um in terms of the borrowing that we'll need to finance our our um capital improvement plans. Um so we'll see how that plays
forward and um as you can see our debt service on on slide 48 as I noted earlier it's not excessive. It's you know it's not excluded is 4.6% 6% of our budget, which is well below
the 10% uh guideline in our town's financial policies. It total debt service is 6.2%. Um so again, we're we're you know, we're hopefully at a good balance at this point. Um but as John noted, and I will
take a moment, John mentioned the $3 million of projects that weren't funded in the capital plan this year. in this slide I presented last time, but I want to again draw attention to it again is this is what we see coming at us. Um, we did fund the million dollars in the capital plan that John described earlier
for the high school kitchen and cafeteria portion of the roof. Um, but we have Harrington coming in uh we believe as perhaps as early as next year followed by the high school balance of $8 million in 29 and the $7 million
balance for McCarthy. and why those are out there and why we talking this roof study is the goal would be to put it into the accelerated repair master the school building authority plan. But the problem is we don't know if we can get there in terms of time or if the
state's funding will allow them to reach us because the high school roof is only about 20 years old. Um and normally the state doesn't fund roof replacements below 25 years old, but this year was even further out. I think
it was around 28 to 29 years. So the problem is is we'll at least be able to know what how long we can hang on for. Uh but we may not be able to reach the ultimate of can we survive till we can get state reimbursement. Um but the other problem is the longer you wait the
the more expensive the projects become because of inflation and also if you start getting damage you know by leaky roofs you don't want you you'll be doing more work. Uh, and then the other thing coming right at us in in two fiscal years is the is our fire apparatus replacement schedule. The vehicles that
we that we bought 20 years ago are coming up for renewal. You know, ladder truck we're now estimating at $2.7 million. Uh, and then replacements each of the following two years. And then, of course, the big one in is going to be the Parker Middle School debt exclusion.
that won't hit the town's finances until 2031 because we don't expect that would be the that would be the fiscal year that the that the school would open. And what would happen before then is we would do temporary borrowing and some minor um interest costs carrying costs
to that temporary debt until that period of time. Um which is normal during construction. We're receiving the state reimbursement. We'll know the final cost, the final reimbursement rates, the final project when it's all done. Also, you want to tie that debt to those who receive the benefit of the new school.
So, you wouldn't kick that in till 2031. But, of course, that decision is probably going to be made within 14 to 15 months from now. And we'll have to estimate in today's dollars what it would be for those, you know, when that debt service kicks in. But obviously, that's the that's the big, you know, the
big consideration for the community uh in the short and midterm future is the new middle school project. And um the good news is that is progressing and I know there's another forum coming up in uh next week, right? Next Wednesday. And so that and that'll quickly follow by
the January, you know, meeting of the school committee and the school building committee in terms of what we'll be looking for in terms of a project and then submitts to the state. Uh and then ultimately by late spring, um some direction from the state and approval on
on pathway for a project. Um, the show at this point again we the best I can do at this point is we know our percentage enrollment. We talked about that last time. The best information I have looking at the our increased share
of the enrollment as as well as the costs that are at the district is about a 5% increase or roughly $200,000. Uh I I believe Westwood's using the same percentage increase and and same figures. So, and again, it it's always
interesting when you sit with your other members and sort of get different perspectives, but we'll know again more of that at the end of January, early February. Um, because again, we know our enrollment numbers. Um, historically, we're now at 216. And then right now,
and I I I just put this in just as a to orient people, what a cost. Because I think you know sometimes we look at tax bills and tax rates and sometimes people don't understand what it costs to provide services or in this case a technical education which is a high school
program. It's roughly around $25,000 per student and that's actually low. If you see that if you remember the data that we received from the show tech in their budget report we're one of the lowest cost technical school districts. Uh and in Chelmswood we're probably around $20,000 a student roughly if we were to
estimate what we are in this current year um in going forward because elementary education is less expensive than technical high school education and so forth. But it just gives a perspective that if your tax bill is $9,200 but it's costing double that to
educate a student, it gives you an idea of what what where the dollars are going for and where the costs are. Um again, we provide the employee accounts. We're not projecting any increase in employees on the general government side going forward. And again, as you can see with this chart, everything has been static
despite the increased population and demands. And same on the school level, as we've talked about in the past and and we'll hear in the weeks ahead in the superintendent budget, we're sure the demands on special education, you know, the need to provide support services for
students, whether it's psychological or other individual education assistance. Um, that's really what's driving out there because the we haven't really recovered in terms of academic performance certainly from the pandemic and we're only 5 years out from that.
Um, all right. So, now we get to sort of the the main attraction and where we go on how do we tackle the $3 million deficit. Um I will call this part and conclusion of the meeting probably coming attractions because whether some of these things likely it may not be
implemented this year but they're probably going to be have to be addressed at some form if the systemic problem doesn't doesn't get uh altered in some manner or means in the years ahead whether it's due to the state's inability to assist us or whatever
happens in terms of inflation. So the first one you always start out with the with the strong suit I think it's responsible to maintain you know services is maintaining this the support that we're whether we're educating children in the
classroom or responding to public safety and public health and other services in the community. Um what I putting out there is if we were to fund our other post-employment benefits
um funding level at fall town meeting instead of in the operating budget at Springtown meeting from our FY26 certified free cash. it it won't be it it will result in no cuts in service delivery because I have every reason to
expect that our free cash reserves um at the end of this fiscal year will be typical and at the bottom of the sheet you can see what what it has been for the last four fiscal years anywhere between 2.9 million to one to uh 4.9
million um so I think the 1.5 million is is certainly obtainable um it's not deficit spending because you know we we don't we don't need to add to our reserves. It's not funding you know any
increase in services. What it's doing is is it's it's allowing us to meet this obligation which is a which is important. And why I say it's important is if we don't fund this at all then the town will likely lose its AAA bond rating. And what that means is is when
the town goes to finance its debt service, whether it's for the annual capital budgets or for something like a new middle school, which we know will be six, you know, you know, in the hundreds million dollars, you will pay for that
in in in interest costs for no benefit. So I don't want people to think, oh, why fund it at all? Um, and because we will hear and the select board's going to hear at their meeting on the 22nd, they will hear their financial audit presentation for the fiscal 25 and we'll
have the OPED obligation. Clearly, the OPED obligation is real. It's it's over $und00 million. It's growing because of the cost of health insurance. But the credit rating agencies are asking and they're monitoring how we're funding OPEB. And so what I'm proposing here is
is to continue to fund OPEB but to fund it at fall town meeting. So when we submit our tax rate and submit our finances for the year that goes through fall town meeting. Remember we do the submitt in November after fall town meeting. So we're not eliminating it
from the budget. We're not skipping a year. We're not pausing anything other than there'll be a delay. Normally we would send the check out in August. This time we would send the check out in basically November. um after fall town after the October town meeting. And so
again, I think this is a way of of of being financially responsible but also recognizing the the the extraordinary circumstances that we're dealing with at this point in time. Um so that's that's you know
that's a big step I think of attacking a $3 million deficit and getting us halfway there. Um it gets harder from here. Um the other thing is we can continue to look at permit fees. On the general government side, you know, our biggest fee, as we
mentioned earlier, are building permit fees. The selective board is always asking us responsibly, hey, look, are we at market and are we adjusting our fees to what's going on? Some of that is the fact that property values do appreciate. Therefore, your fees, you know, for
building property fees comes in. We also have to look at what our fee schedule is. And also, I was communicating today with the um building commissioner. What you got to understand is nobody likes to pay building permit fees. We we had somebody submit for an accessory dwelling unit
that they claimed that to build the accessory dwelling unit, which can be, as you know, up to 800 or so square feet, that the cost of building that was going to be $100,000. And you know, that's not that's not accurate. It's not reflective of the market. Um so I assured the building
commissioner that he is to treat accessory dwelling units and any other building permit fees to be representative of market because one it's only fair to those others who pay market pays building fee um and in many cases we ask for cost affidavit
um afterwards because you can fill out a building permit fee say oh it's going to cost me you know this many dollars to build or rebuild or renovate but we have the town has the right and we do we'll go back after it and say, "Well, we want the cost affidavit to verify that you've
paid the adequate fee." Um, and you can imagine some of that is complex on commercial projects, but again, even on, as I mentioned earlier, even on a residential addition and so forth, I mean, if somebody came in and said they were going to build a garage for you and could do it and filled out a permit fee for $25,000,
you'd laugh. And but we don't laugh because it's like, no, that's not what it's costing you. The challenge with the ADUs is there's no history out there because again, this is a new development. I mean, there have always been in-law apartments, but the what we're seeing now, we're at about 18 or 20 of these
applications already. Um, and then same thing on the assessing side for new growth. We we don't have an assessing history of of accessory dwelling units. We have some for unlimited uh in-law apartments, but that wouldn't have the same market value as a
accessory dwelling unit because that can be rented to anyone. Whereas in-law apartments were always had that caveat. Oh, well, when it's no longer used by the in-law, it's you don't have the right to go to market and and have that unit go out. So, again, I I just say
this anecdote is just to give you the idea of the complexities and the challenges that we're we're we're dealing with. So again, we'll look at our fees and see if we can um you know, we'll look at everything. And I think on the school side, the superintendent mentioned to me, I mean, they are
looking at items such as their bus fees and other items in terms of again looking at what the market is and what's fair and what people can afford uh going forward. Um so again, it's it's that's one item. The other item I spent some
time on is regional public safety dispatch. And I mentioned it at our meeting last month. And since that time, I did have an opportunity to meet with the state official who runs the program along with our police chief. And in fact, we were joined in that meeting by the Kingsboro um town manager and the
Kingsboro um police chief as well as our fire chief Gary Ryan who's in the room this evening to talk about this. Um there is merit in doing regional public safety dispatch. Um, it provides an
enhanced level of staffing to deal with real emergencies. As you may know, there was a there was a fire early this evening in Tingsboro which resulted in significant mutual aid. You can imagine how the dispatcher in Tingsboro must have felt dealing with that um when
there's only two people on duty and they're dealing with other calls and everything that's going on. And so the idea of a regional thing provides efficiencies, but it also can provide some elevated service levels to deal with the extraordinary cases. Um there's two ways to go with this from the town perspective.
One is we could join the facility that's in Tukbury that services Tukbury and Break It and revisit that which was last examined by the select board but back in 2018. Um and we would be the largest community in that district. uh although that
district is now formed and therefore we'd have to fit into their model. Um and how that works is the state incentives that are current, you get 100% reimbursement the first three years and then it goes 50% the fourth year and then 25% the fifth year and then zero
the sixth year. Kind of like school choice funding if you've seen that model. uh and what we're now seeing in places like Drake who are now at the end of their fifth year. Oh, it's gone away and they're questioning the efficiencies of of remaining in that model. Um the
the other alternative would be if we were to pre host and provide regional dispatch, which is why we brought Tings into the equation because we actually share services with Tingor currently an animal control uh and mental health clinician and so forth. If that's the
case, we and we actually have room in our public safety um dispatch center that we for additional sta stations. If that were the case, we wouldn't receive any reimbursement because we would be the host community, not a district. Um
although we would receive fees from um from Kingsboro to come over because they would get reimbursement under the regional model. So again, it holds some promise. Um the state is reviewing its incentive program and we did talk that there may be
something that we could study perhaps in six months um in order to um look at what us being a host of that because then we would have control there'd be a greater acceptance u of the system um the deadline to get into these systems
is March and so we could not do that kind of a study and have that work done by March if we were to be the host community. So again, that's something that is under consideration. Um the other one is is probably going to be significant one is making personnel and
expenditure reductions to balance the budget. Um so that's that's you know that sort of just speaks for itself. Um now we get into solid waste and recycling. Um this has a broad spectrum of possibilities. One is you could you
could you could raise $3 million by by providing about a $300 per resident solid waste fee. Uh which Drakit did uh in LOL does and some other communities do. Um so it would avoid any cuts in
service delivery, but basically it's it's a backdoor override or or a tax because what you're doing is you're charging people a fee for something they've been receiving in their property tax bill. Um and um it also can't be
deducted. So those who are using their their property taxes as an income tax reduction at the federal and state level, if you make it as a fee, you can't write that off. Um also, if it's a fee, it has to be voluntary. Um which would mean we'd have
to put in some system that you just can't just send people a fee and call it a fee. That's called the tax and his case law in Massachusetts on that. So we have to devise a system of tracking who is receiving the service um and then
obviously doing collections on that and it's obviously incredibly not popular um for trash fee. The the there's sort of um another way of doing it is well what if we were to modify the fee. What I have on the screen here is one option
that we mentioned last time was well what if we didn't provide it to multif family condos with four or more units because currently we don't provide rental uh collection at four or more units and so we amend our town bylaw which would take a town meeting vote and
um put this in the budget you know then we could save perhaps somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000. Again the difference here is it's not a property investment. a condo, which means generally they're owner occupied. Um, and so again, it kind of has the
same pitfalls of um of what I just described of a trash fee and not sure it would survive town meeting um because a significant amount of town meeting live in condos or condo developments. So, another option that's not listed but
provided there and is what Westford's doing. Westford's doing what they call hybrid pay as you throw. And what that means is is in Chsa's context would be well what Westford's doing is they used they currently provide three barrels of 96 gallons of trash per week. Chsa we
have two. You remember you get the 64 gallons a week. What Westford's proposal going forward is they're going to 35 gallon barrel um per week solid waste and anything above that you got to buy the overflow
bags. So it's kind of a hybrid pray as you throw where everybody gets issued a town barrel which which is costly and in our case would be about a half million dollars plus. Um but then going forward you'd have that investment made and then
basically you would reduce their solid waste tonnage collection mostly down to down to um 35 or so gallons or one barrel in our our context as opposed to two. The idea being that would spur
additional recycling um and therefore it's kind of a you know kind of a midpoint of well we're not eliminating it totally we're providing the service but we're providing it at a lesser level which provides an incentive for people
to um recycle um but for those who generate the waste i.e. larger households um then then you're going to pay for that fee. So it you can say you can see how this just has different possibilities. Um and then the
longerterm solutions uh again repeat those because again the the state looking to the state for chapter 70 and under restrict on government aid local option uh revenues and taxes and then looking back internally to the town
about how do we facilitate additional revenue services um in terms of facilitating commercial development. Um, as you know, the recent trend and the recent concerns from neighborhoods and town meeting has been not to do that.
You know, we've, as you saw, I brought a request to provide um change our zoning to allow drive-throughs up in 129 that got rejected by town meeting. The proposal that was proposed to um provide drive-throughs at the Chamsford Mall has
been withdrawn by the applicant in in light of neighborhood opposition. Um the planning board just uh decided against the another project on Rivenneck Road. Not saying these are these are bad decisions, but the point is you people
need to understand their revenue implications from not only the denial of these projects, but the reputation and atmosphere that's out there that discourages people from coming to do expansion or projects in childhood.
One suggestion that that select board member Lo just mentioned to me the other day is well what about revisiting the billboards which we tried back at the time of the Tur fields and then we quickly rescended those planning bylaws because again the ne the neighborhoods
where they were close to um weren't popular. Um again that would take longer than the upcoming year to implement. We also tried the cannabis you remember we we did a draw question on that last year that failed miserably. Um, so again, these are other revenue sources that
other communities sometimes unveil themselves to. I mean, you go down Route Three to Tingsboro and they're running they're floating billboards and they're floating cannabis stores, you know, right at the town line and again and lol's doing the same thing. Um, but places like Chumsford and Westford
aren't doing that. Um, so again, it has implications on our ability. Um and then the last thing I mentioned is is there is an effort by the planning board to reach out to residents to better understand their preferences for growth going forward. Um because in as I said
in this big picture as a conclusion you can't have the best of all worlds um because of the cost environment uh and you know the the desire of community character they're sometimes at odds. So that concludes my presentation and I'll
I'll answer any questions that people may have uh at this time or if any again has any suggestions or thoughts that we haven't touched upon, please let us know. Um at this time >> the solid waste recycling fee that
>> three how how did you come up with the $3 million? How does that work? >> Well, that's a >> because it's such a large number. It's interesting number. >> Well, that's because that's our deficit is three million. I know that, >> right? But you could I mean, you could set it at any fee uh to raise whatever
amount you want because I mean we spend, you know, we spend more than that on solid waste and recycling. And so therefore, you know, you could you could create a fee that would cover that full cost. And looking at solid waste and recycling in our budget right now, it is um
you know, we we are we're currently spending I give you the actual numbers. Um, I just got it over right here. For the upcoming year, we project between collection
and disposal for solid waste here. Uh, we're at 4.84.6 million. So, again, that would be a partial fee. It wouldn't cover the full cost, but it would it would cover a portion of the
$4.6 6 million that we're going to spend on collecting solid waste and recycling in the year ahead. And of that 4.6 million, let me tell you, only 55,000 is for salaries. That's our solid waste and recycling employee. We're spending
$1.9 million on solid waste disposal and $2.6 million on waste collection. Um, that's the bulk of it. and and yet as we can see we don't have a perfect collector. Um
and cuz you know we've had some issues on collection whether it was leaf collection and so forth but we knew because we bid this every three three to five years the other alternatives were millions were were we're were literally millions more than what we were paying now. And we also looked at whether we could do it ourselves saying well what
if we were to hire our own trucks and maintenance fleet and employees that wouldn't do it either. But no, but I'm just showing you we left no stone unturned. So the question is how do we come up with 3 million? Well, we're spending 4.6 and it would cover basically, you know, twothirds of that cost.
>> I'm looking at the 300 a year. >> Mhm. >> And and that translates to 3 million. Maybe I'm misundersto,000 units. >> 10,000 units times $300 per year. Three million, >> right? And that's just covering the >> that's a net cost. Yeah. It's probably more than that when you got to figure
the administration, you know, to do that. And as I said earlier, if we were to do that, you we would have to buy barrels, provide barrels. They would probably be barcoded >> um so that you could scan and track who was doing it and so forth. And again,
that's what Westford's doing. They're going with the barrels and the bags. And they're going to charge 350 a bag. So, you know, if if you want to throw out more than one barrel, 35 gallon barrel in Westford after July 1, you're going to pay 300 $3.50 for a bag.
um not the only community doing that. I mean, you know, we we currently have an overflow bag, but it's it's after two barrels and there are there are communities whether it's Worcester does straight pay as you throw. I mean, there's >> everything is bagged and so forth. And again, it's all I can tell you is in
speaking to our public works director and speaking to my colleagues, the solid waste thing is on everyone's forefront because it's an identifiable service and and it's it's it's it's attainable quite frankly. Um, and that's, you know, if you saw there weren't a lot of options
here. Uh, and that's one that's that's available, um, as a means to, um, you know, to basically, you know, obtain revenue from a service we're currently providing. >> I have a question about that solid waste
also. So, the towns >> in this area that have been going that way, >> um, what's the percentage of participation um, been in residents? How >> Oh, it's very high. It's high. It's almost 100% because what's your alternative? Your >> I was going to ask where would you >> alternative would be to contract with a
private vendor for your own solid waste collection disposal or drive it. >> That happens. No, but yeah, but you got to have a dump to drive it to, which we don't, >> but in mo in some of the smaller towns, >> um, you know, Carile has a transfer station and so forth, but in other towns
and even Carile there, there are people who come and pick up your trash at your door in Carlile if you pay them. And that's what you would have to do. I mean quite frankly in Massachusetts there's no obligation for a municipality to provide solid waste and recycling collection. You know theoretically we could just outsource it and say well
you're on your own. The reason you don't do it is the economies of scale that if the town's doing it through a vendor it's it's less expensive than if every resident were on their own like they were buying wireless phone service and go okay here's here's a bunch of vendors go go deal with it. And then you drive
down the street every day and be whichever vendor is picking up for whomever. Um, you know, but yeah, so that's how it works. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Um, >> what I'm concerned about is if you say,
"Oh, I'll talk really loud. I can do that. It's not a I'm a soccer mom. I cannot do this." Okay. Anyway, um my concern is if you go down to one barrel, I was on the trash committee many many years ago where we're going from four cans to two cans and I remember people
on the committee being very green and wanting to go to one can and I'm like you cannot take people from four cans >> to one >> to one >> and that what I'm concerned about is people going oh this is recyclable this is recyclable and it's not
>> right that's contamination of loads and it happens and what is very frequently. >> Right. So, what happens? Do the recycling people go, "Yeah, I'm not taking you any more chance food. You your people don't know how to recycle worth a damn." >> Yeah. They re they they reject the loads
and then you've got to pay for the disposal of those. >> That would be my concern from going from the from the two >> camp or illegal dumping is the other thing is people say, "Oh, okay." And then you see the bags of trash on the side of the road. >> Yeah. Yeah. There's there, you know, there's there's there's always
consequences of actions. Okay. Just just wondering if that was considered and wonder happened about >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm not saying that's the way to go. I'm just telling you. >> No, no, no. I was always wondering >> and I remember I remember being in the select board meeting room at 204 when we came in with the differentiz barrels. I think Pat's nodding. Remember that when
Jennifer Almeida were in there with the different size barrels deciding which type of barrel and what size container because at that time there were some who were promoting going to the smaller barrel and the board at that time said no that's too big of a leap you know and that's why we went to the two barrels
but you can see Westford by by h you know by necessity is going from three barrels to one and you're right it be interesting to see what their experience is going to be um in >> with recycling rejection. Yeah. Yeah. >> But you're right because that's what
happens. I mean, you know, but the challenge the the I guess the what's different today than was back then is it's all cameras now. >> You know, when you dump you dump your load No, when you dump your load in in those machines, it's all on cameras. So, if somebody
dumps something that's inappropriate or contaminated, they'll they'll they'll they'll flag you and they they can go after you. Yeah. And when I was on this trash committee again a long time ago from the four cans to two cans, there was one gentleman who showed up at practically every meeting from a condo complex. I believe it was
Foxwoods on off of 110 and he was concerned about people if we they went from the four to the one that people would drive by and use the dumpsters at the >> right at the condo associations. >> Yeah. The more challenge at the condo associations is it's the tragedy of the
commons. you know, there's no way they can regulate their own behavior, never mind somebody coming in from the outside because unlike a resident one where, you know, it's in front of your house, it's your two barrels, your recycling bins, there it's a free-for-all because everybody has access to the dumpsters.
>> Um, that's a challenge. >> Going to your your first option with OPE, is that a decision the select would make? Who who would make that decision to shift that to >> Recash in the fall? Well, ultimately I I I'm responsible for the budget, but I would expect that if there were any concerns, I'd hear about them from the
select board or, you know, finance committee or others, but I I I kind of don't see any resistance to doing that. >> That's why I was number one. And it was like, you know, we sort of, you know, we, like I said, we we were looking at
everything and um I think, yeah, I don't see why we I I just I just don't see why we wouldn't do it >> because, as I said, we're in a position where I think we can responsibly do it. Our cash reserves are adequate. Um we we
we know we'll close the year and I don't see it as going off a cliff where, okay, it worked for one year and then it goes. Um the the the the problem with it is >> it's going to def continue to it'll take money away from the capital investments we need.
>> If you've noticed what we've done in the fall town meetings in recent years, we've taken our free cash and applied it almost exclusively towards capital projects. >> You know, whether it was the high school kitchens or the roofs and so forth. We're now going to basically,
you know, diminish that. There's no other way of avoiding it. Um and the problem is in the same time that the capital demands are growing because it that's that's the real concern that I have is you know you know and that's why
we listed John you know when John and I preparing the presentation John tell them what we didn't fund initially as capital requests and oh by the way you saw on my slides look this is the these are the roof projects and fire apparatus that are coming And that's going to be a
challenge going forward because, you know, take a $2.7 million ladder truck, you know, you're going to be talking a couple hundred,000 a year in debt service for that truck if you borrow it over a 15-year period or what have you. >> And and the lead time for the >> And the lead time is Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
the problem is is we thought about this. I mean, you know, we we spent a lot of time and Donald, he's been part of this. We said, 'Well, what if we audited the truck now because the lead time is four years from now. But the problem is, as Darlene knows, when they're there building the truck, they said, 'Well, give us the check for the chassis, right? You know, they provide you
physical evidence that the chassis is being built. So, you can't say, "Well, order it and then we'll pay for it in four years." You've got to order it and then start paying for it within, you know, less than a year over time. And so, that's the problem. So, you've got a lead time of three plus years. But you just can't say, "Oh yeah, you
know, we in other words, I can't just go to town meeting and say, fund this appropriation, but you won't see the financial impact for three years because you will see the financial impact even though you won't get the truck for three years." So that's that's the big challenge with the the fire apparatus.
Um is is the is the the weight. Um but and and that's the problem is the lead time but you're you know so again there unlike what I was talking about the school where you're not going to pay the debt service significantly until the school opens you pay the debt service on the fire apparatus before you get the
truck in a period what could be two to three years before you pay get that truck. >> Um so that's that's the problem and and again what they do like anyone else is they'll say well if you give us the full amount now we'll give you a 4% discount. We've we've done that. >> Yeah.
>> But the problem is, okay, but how do you do that? How I can't squeeze in? Even though I know I need a ladder truck in a couple years, and I know there's a lead time, we can't physically finance that in the short term because of the the constraint. And you know, there is
something called a debt exclusion or a capital exclusion for capital equipment, but that's not going to happen in this community. We we have no evidence that that would be successful. >> Um, so that's the challenge. I know there's a history here of the free cash being in excess of three
million. >> Yeah. >> But what happens if it's not >> then I mean we've had negative the town had negative free cash 20 years ago and what it is is you then got to that's why you have cash reserves. You then have to fund that deficit.
>> Um right >> you have to raise it on cap and then you raise that money and your >> tax. we have to go to town meeting and we'd be basically taken from the state stabilization fund to balance it. It's no different than if the town got a court judgment. >> Yep. >> Or other lean against the town. Um then
that's then that's or if we had, you know, whether it was an appellet abatement or anything else, you then have to fund that obligation. It's a legal obligation of the town. So yeah, that's why you don't go crazy saying, "Oh, let's assume the the best case." But you're right, when when if you and
it it happens usually it's in a recessionary period that's unforeseen, towns can have negative free cash. >> And I think I think the other question I have is are we setting a a precedent at least for these coming years to this is how we start to fund this, >> right?
>> Is the expectation going to be another 1.5 million or two million following? >> It'll have to be. And the only the question is how long can you hang on for under the current and I know it sounds you know dubious. We are we are
currently expected by schedule to to fund our oped obligation I'm sorry our unfunded pension obligation by 2036. Believe it or not that's only nine fiscal years away assuming it stays. >> We're spending what? $12 million a year
in the pension obligation. that's only going to grow a million per year. So you're right, there will be a day and then that's what happens is is the the the financial model is you transition from from um pension obligation unfunded to OPED obligation. But the problem is
you can't stop now and wait 9 years to do it. That also assumes it that the 9-year thing sticks. And I can tell you this, when I started in this business, the unfunded pension obligation was supposed to be paid by 2018, and now it's 2036.
Um, so it it just goes to show you that it's it's, you know, >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And and Paul, this option only shows a $ 1.5 million impact. We're showing a $3 million >> deficit. So even if we do go this route,
>> I still have a million and a half that we I've got to find. >> Yeah. And what what I envision it'll be it'll be you know it'll be looking at some you know can we bump some revenue from fees it'll also be cuts and you
know I don't see any way around that >> and then and that's what you know what we'll be doing in in the years in the you know weeks ahead. Um I don't see any other way around it >> you know and the other beauty is is we will know at the end of January what the
governor is proposing and her fiscal 20 state budget and you know it'll be it'll be interesting to see what you're proposing because the only thing that helps us is it is a state election year >> and you have a governor that's running for re-election just say what it is call it what it is
>> and you know she has you know she will have an opponent on on you know and um and so the legislature they they're in you know and generally the rule of thumb is is that you would tend to get more financial aid in an election year than in a non-election year.
>> But again what they don't know and what's unusual now is is what's happening with the federal funding since that's the wild card. >> Jay, were you going to say something? Yeah, I can ask you out to that point.
>> Any other questions, discussion or comments on the town manager's presentation? >> So, Paul, are you looking from for direction from our three committees tonight or are you looking for >> I I welcome any thoughts either tonight or in the weeks ahead in ter in terms of
where where where we're to go. As you say, some of these require some effort. I mean, if if we're going to pursue some kind of modification of our solid waste and recycling, >> we're going to need a lot of work between now and, you know, and spring and certainly when they submit the budget. Um, you know, if you know, the
the it's >> you need an article for spring town. >> Yeah, you need an article for springtown meeting to amend the the town's general bylaws. Um, you know, we also need a plan um on how to do it. Um, as I said earlier, if we were going to go towards regional dispatch, we'd have to have
that done by March. We have to have the application submitted by March, which isn't a minor undertaking because that would involve a lot of discussions between the select board and the the police chief, fire chief, the dispatchers, and so forth on on a pathway forward. And and again, that you
know, it's that's not a minor undertaking. Um, you know, it's >> and it's not >> Well, it doesn't contribute. How does it contribute? Yeah. >> Significantly to the problem we're dealing with. >> I mean, there's only two items.
>> This is a systemic problem that >> contribute significantly. >> Yeah. >> And they both have major risks to them. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> So, I think we have to pick a course pretty soon. >> Mhm. And this >> there's also the third course, but I
it's not one that I would recommend. I'm just saying if we're going to have to get there one way or the other. Mhm. >> Now, is this three million is this three million short going to be three million short for the like for the life of the life of of the life?
>> The best information that we have and John did his fiveyear forecast is we're looking at a systemic problem of roughly $3 million for you know John you can speak to that. I mean you've done the the presentation. >> Yeah. just um as the town manager said just if you remember back to um October
town meeting just my 5-year forecast the deficit wasn't it wasn't the thing that concerned us is it wasn't just a one-off event where we we could get through fiscal year 27 it was growing over time just a mismatch of revenues and expenditures >> if you can only raise sinks two and a
half and you have inflation of three plus something >> I'm an English major even I could do that math >> and that's the discussion that's going on across cities and towns across the Commonwealth. Um, and and I'm sure Jay's
here when he's at the superintendent meetings and the school committee association meetings. It's really bad in the rural communities. I mean, it really is. I mean, as much as you know, we feel it tough here. you know, three million out of 176 million. There there are communities particularly out in western
Mass and you know, even well even closer to us out in out in in the Nshoba district out in Peril and Towns and so forth who insp how how they're going to you know operate. Um because in those cases many times they don't have a say in the
assessment because they're only one of multiple communities in a regional district and and that's a real challenge. Um and again it's it's I think what's different is from you know we've had Proposition two and a half now since you know 1980 the
difference is is inflation is different today that was unforeseen particularly in health care and and general inflation. And then the other thing is as we saw and you'll continue to hear about the state was was a stronger partner um in revenue sharing with
cities and towns and that's that is not happening. Um and and it doesn't seem like that's going to pivot anytime soon. Um because you know it it's just there's just no evidence to suggest that. And right now
you've got a you've got a climate where consumers meaning our residents are feeling squeezed. And you've got a climate where people leaving the state. Hey folks, look, you know, just read read the paper today and everything else. People are relocating.
Um and that's by choice. Um, it's certainly not the weather that's keeping them here, you know, in terms of the, you know, the warm weather, but it's, you know, it's it's it's it's a real challenge because they're feeling it on the utility bills. We're the highest we're the highest, you know, spot in the
country for utilities. We're the highest cost state for health care in the country and and and that's where the whole issue becomes of concern of where the competitiveness is. And credit the governor, she's formed this competitiveness council and so forth. Um but that takes an incredible amount of
time. Uh and and those th those changes take place in years not months. Uh but that is that is the challenge and that's why you saw the state fumbling with the MBTA and everything else is you've got some you know years of underinvestment
are finally catching up. Um in our case is underinvestment by the state for local assistance as you saw there was underinvestment in the tea and in other areas uh in and this lack of competitiveness is is really hurting and it's hurting the area um in terms of you
know what what was what was the story today one out of three residents would relocate if they could that's just it's just alarming because you know and and the biggest concern is what was our biggest drawers of of employment was our instit higher ed institutions and our
health care and those are two industries that are under siege right now, right? The higher ed institutions are under siege from funding from Washington and then health care is in a financial basket case whether it's hospitals or providers and what have you. And that's
so our our largest assets in Massachusetts and in this region are are in a bad spot right now. And that's that's what's you know part of the story in addition to the inflation is you're you're seeing the whole market collapse in terms of lab space in Boston and an
office space what have you and again John sees it John sits on the planning board there's others you know Anita sits on the planning board there's others we're just not seeing the level of activity coming in that indicates oh you know you know and the biggest cost is
housing um and you can see that's a number that's that's a problem that's not getting solved immediately. Uh, and it's going to take time. So, it's that's why I said it that's why we use the word systemic problem is if it was a one-year thing, we could we could we could attack
it differently. But what what what's it going to be like sitting here a year from now or two years from now if things don't change? Um, I don't know. And I don't mean to be gloom, but it just it just it's just the reality of of what's out there in terms
of, you know, getting it from all sides. Other discussion, other questions? >> Seeing none, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Okay, we have a motion in a second. Um,
are we the only ones with somebody on Zoom? Select board. >> Yeah, just Jeff. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, I'll do this quickly. Um, so the select board just needs to do a roll call vote because we have somebody on Zoom. Um, Jeff Hardy, Aaron.
>> Yes. Pat and myself is an I. All others in favor of adjournment. I >> opposed. Unanimous. Thank you all. Thank you.