[Music] um I want to thank everybody for joining it is uh one minute after 6 on the 18th of February this is a meeting of the finance committee of
Halifax um in attendance from the finance committee are Michael Bennett Frank Johnston Bill Smith Mike Retta and myself um this meeting is being recorded by area 58 committee members in attendance have been named and roll call vote will be made for all items that
need to be approved on this call so that said um we'll start with the acceptance of the meeting minutes from the the last meeting um they were sent out I believe on over the weekend has anyone everybody had a chance to read through them
anybody have any ads changes or deletion that they would like to be done look good okay hearing no objections to the minutes as written uh we have a motion for the minutes to be approved so move
second thank you uh roll call vote uh Mr Bennett yes Mr Smith yes Mr Johnston yes February 3D 2025 uh meeting minutes good Mr Retta yes thank you and I'm a yes as
well so that motion passes 60 thank you gentlemen um that closes out that agenda item on to the next agenda item which would be the FY 26 liaison updates I'm going to presume at this stage that we
have all completed uh meeting with our departments Cody has all the information uh that is needed to create the budget for the town uh that we will begin reviewing next week um that said over the weekend I sent out the uh
presentation that was given to the Silver Lake Regional school committee um that was reviewed on Thursday the 13th I went to that meeting I think John cely was there and I was also had a chance to talk to Carl from Kingston because he
was also there um so uh they did not approve a budget on that evening uh they are waiting again as I think Cody and I are both aware of that they're waiting to certify their end funds again uh and try to use th those dollars to close the
large gap that they currently have at this point in time so no budget was approved by the school committee at Silver Lake um so we're still kind of waiting on that number at this point Cody anything to add to that or do you have any other information no I think you hit the nail
on the head Jim one thing to note is the school committee presented two asked the the administration to come up with a 2% overall budget increase uh assess to the towns and at 2% of Silver lak's Budget Halifax is looking at a 5.9% increase
due to enrollment increase so even though they were only increasing two we're looking at a 5.9% I'm waiting to get numbers from the administration on how many students that is because it just seems like a lot looking at enrollment numbers I didn't anticipate
it being that high so I'm hoping to get some more information because we obviously you know a 2% budget increase uh equating to a 5.9% increase for us is large yeah well they're are two big
hitters I think if we all read the PowerPoint where salaries at 1.3 million increased uh this year last year or this to to the next year from this year and then special education out of District transportation went up by a million so
it's just I the transportation thing is I don't know just mind-boggling to me and you know I'm sure that and I'm sure the the uh the other towns are asking the same questions of our legislators to make sure that we're getting fully you know reimbursed for whatever it is you
know whatever dollars there are for the special education Transportation because I think that's something that's seems to be lacking here as of late at least in my opinion so so um anyway anybody have any other comments Cody any comments on the
on the liaison stuff for next year we all set no I think we're good we're going to have in uh several let's see the uh police chief uh library and Highway will be in next week and then uh fire
department will be in the week after I and then I'll go over the rest of the budget stuff with you guys two budgets we're going to go over this year um yep one one would be with a potential override for the school um and potentially a couple other small things
and then the other would be a um non override budget working within our our tax levy um and you'll just just that's what we're going to have to present and then obviously the selectman we'll have a joint meeting with you guys and the selectman um as we get closer through
the budget process present those two budgets to them and then there may be some small adjust from there depending on how much of an override they want to go for so the for those of you that I think was everyone there the finance committee everyone was there at the last meeting with the board of Selman yeah uh
yeah except for Cheryl she was in okay yeah yeah so you all know how that went so now she's preparing the two budgets which we're working on right thank you Cody appreciate that problem Jim um I just want to Circle back back to the meeting minutes it was
a 0 not 60 um count oh you're right my apologies yeah thank you Frank appreciate that you're welcome okay um so I think that's um so that's that's where we stand
currently with the FY 26 budget we're getting ready to go through them um next week's we'll we'll cover this at next meeting planning but next week's meeting or the meeting on the 3 is in person in town so next week will be the virtual meeting with the other de with department heads presenting their stuff
um so we'll close out that uh specific um agenda item and uh committee liaison updates um so uh two things uh I think we're meeting this Thursday to finalize the bylaw Review Committee stuff um
that's at 4:30 uh with Cody at Town Hall uh and then um for the government study committee Mike and I were at the we were we went to the we were at the meeting uh last week or two weeks ago I guess uh and talked to the government study
committee about kind of the finance committee and the things that we do and how we function and they had some questions that we answered uh regarding you know how we're appointed how we function who we work with uh all in all was a pretty good meeting and I think we answered all their questions at least
satisfactorily at that point okay so if no one has anything else to add to the committee liaison updates we can close that item out all right hearing none we will close out that agenda item and move on to um
correspondence and as may arise uh so I have haven't gotten any um emails uh and I don't think Cody has sent me anything uh that he has gotten himself so I think we're uh we're we're pretty clean on
that item uh as may arise as I said I sent out the Silver Lake stuff we're waiting for the numbers from them um I'm uh actually I I Cody and I are alligned that they have such a large increase in enrollments I I just don't I just don't
understand where that number's coming from so hopefully we'll see is that um based on the um kindergarten enrollment Cody or how do they come up with that number yeah so it's it's um as of
October 1st those figures are the ones that they utilize for enrollment so they would look at um you know sixth graders play to go into to seventh grade the graduating class and then they should be
taking into account um prek uh because that's that's yeah prek is regionalized now um well that's right that's right yeah so we're prek and then 7
through 12 is regional um so th those are the figures that should be taken I I just I haven't seen anything so I I don't know I just know that it's a 2% overall budget increase is resulting in a 5.9 for Halifax given
that there's got to be a sizable increase in in the enrollment I I don't know what that number is but given just your you know 3.9% of that is related to enrollment and not actual cost increase
based on this budget they they could move forward with presenting a higher percentage increase in particular where Kingston um is looking at only a two point based on this budget you know 2.8 or something around there I don't have
it in front of me and then Clinton's looking at less than a percent so yes so so one of the things that we have to be mindful of is that Kingston Plimpton very well could afford more
right we cannot but they have if if that if they can we have to make it work um and where their numbers are lower because I'm assuming their enrollment has declined Silver Lake may come back I tend to think I I hope that they won't because
they know kind of the situation Halifax is in and all the communities are in but it is something we have to be mindful of that that could occur given the smaller increases in Kingston and Plimpton and the large increase in Halifax yes yes in your spot on Cody it's 5.1%
for Halifax 2.8 for Kingston and 0.1 for blinkon one thing I want to note in that presentation that is a little bit misleading is where they talk about total in or total increase it's not really a great number to to look at and the reason I say that
is because they include our debt which decree which is decreased in F fiscal 26 but our debt is excluded so so with excluded debt whatever whatever we have to pay on that debt we tax separately
basically so that doesn't free up money for us in the in the tax levy or in our revenues because whatever excluded debt there is is exactly what we bring in when there was a debt exclusion for Silver Lake years ago and the way it works is whatever that debt is year to
year is what we can tax additionally but that doesn't free up money for us so so it looks like only a 5.1% increase because I think that takes into into account the the the debt decrease which is 40,000 give or take but it's not really it it really is
a 5. 5.8 or 5.9% increase I believe because right that's actually what it's going to cost us in our operating budget in our given revenues the debt is kind of separate whatever we get charged we directly get from the taxpayers because it's excluded right so it's not so there
it looks like there adding ex or are they they're manipulating the exempt Capital number yeah right to make it look like it's only a not make it look like but if you add the two together it is only not only but it is a 5.1% increase but the reality is is we need
to come up with the full 5.9 within our operating revenues because the C now if that if that debt or Capital were not excluded and just was part of the operating budget then yes I would agree but it's two different pots of money that you can't are
change yeah now obviously additional conversations need to be had with the with the school to understand how they're their math here at this point okay fun
times all right um anyone else for as may arise or any correspondence just that free cash came in uh late last week so um the Department of Revenue notified us Friday evening that they have certified free cash our general fund
certification was 1.54 Million our water Enterprise fund was just over a million and our in the I think the best news of all is our Solid Waste Enterprise fund was just a little over 300,000 which the Enterprise fund had actually been
operating in a deficit for the past several years so we're finally where we should be with that Enterprise fund excellent nice so the um recycle center is 300K 3075
307 yep $37,500 that's a good turn yeah it's great and we and we need it we need a recycling truck um which is almost right around there so you know
hopefully with within next year we'll be able to purchase one um and then we're not having to go out and pay interest on a loan and things like that so which is good we need to be covering our operating costs so we're we're heading in the right direction which is a great turnaround in the last couple
years yeah Fair Point very fair point the uh the Water Department was a million yeah a million 13,585 so that that's also good because we have that uh water treatment plant project um that we bonded for so I
anticipate we'll we'll try try to pull out another 500,000 of that for this coming fiscal year and then rather than going out to long-term borrowing we'll roll over the ban again and and look to pay this off in the next couple years rather than t uh locking ourselves into
like a 10-year uh Bond so that's good I mean again that that'll save us a lot of money paying interest over three or four years versus 10 yeah no that's good good work sounds great good numbers
yeah yeah kudos to Lindsay and um and the accounting team they got this done and got it submitted it was a lot of work thank you Lindsay much appreciated well done
Lindsay thank all right um I think the last thing I had is Lindsay would it be possible for you to send out the most recent uh budget status report for ending January yep um still going over a couple things with Linda but it should
definitely I'd say probably tomorrow honestly that'd be perfect thank you much yep all right um if there's nothing else we will close that out that agenda item and move on to public participation so
with that uh let's open the floor for anyone from the public who has any questions for the committee or anyone who is on this call okay going once going twice all right going three times uh
being there no participation from the public we will close out that agenda item and move on to our last agenda item which will be the next meeting planning so um I have we have already published the agendas for the 24th and for March
3rd they are up on the calendar for your review uh so um again next the next week's meeting will be virtual will be at six o'clock we will have three department heads on to review their potential budgets for uh fiscal year 26
uh and then the March 3D meeting is uh we will have the fire chief in and that will be an in-person meeting at the Town Hall Okie do good anybody have any questions while we have everybody on the phone Jim if uh in in light of last
year's town meeting and some of our conversations they thought it may be beneficial if for the next meeting we have a topic of um budget forums or budget presentations and and we can talk but my high level thought was I'd like to maybe hold two or three budget forums
in April so after the budget's been finalized and try to invite the town to come out we can record one or two of them and maybe maybe do want at Town Hall do want like the COA or something and just try to explain the budget to people before town meeting so we try to
get as much information out as possible but we can we can talk more in depth at the next meeting and dates possible yeah no absolutely agree with that I think um with the state of finances everywhere it's important that our residents
understand what the town needs versus where their dollars are going they certainly deserve that answer and those responses and I'm happy to give them as much information as we possibly can so we don't have to have you know don't go through what we went through last year not that it was a bad thing but I think
it could have been prevented if we were uh a little more proactive with getting the information out there no that's a great idea Cody so thank you very much for that all right anybody have anything else okay I think it'll be a quick
meeting for this evening so if I could get a motion to adjourn so moov second thank you roll call vote Mr Bennett yes Mr Smith yes Mr Johnston yes to adjourn please and Mr
Retta yes I am a yes as well motion carries thanks everybody for joining and we'll see you next week all right have a good night
[Music]