101 p.m. on Wednesday March 19th and I will call the finance committee meeting in order I have with me in the room Tom Parkins Peter Twining dead Sor kraton
and myself Sarah M as of this point in time we don't have anybody on Zoom Gail are you on Zoom I am oh okay and Andrea Andrea is on Zoom also I
am yep there you go okay thanks Gil oh yeah if you somehow it's not coming up on my laptop so if you can just kind of give me a heads up if other members of the board join I will let you know that thank
you is there a gallery view you can change no it's off of my laptop I can monitor it too if you want me to get on oh good that I didn't do
something iform one yes and on Zoom walking thisno okay so the first item on the agenda is the change in the
CPC budget I think we talked about that at a prior meeting and the CPC did approve to increase the amount of runda restoration up to 500,000 right which brings the total to
89710 those numbers are correct good so do I have a motion to approve the change in the Rotunda funding and and a new total of 89700 so moves see moves Peter seconds
any discussion Tom yes Peter oh yes I'm sorry you're voting yes de yes yes yes okay that we did
and there's gar we just voted to approve updated CPC budget with the additional amount next up is the school bud so we had a presentation back on in
January um and at that point they were talking about an increase assessment to Manchester 7.29% last night the school committee voted for a slightly different budget
but maintained the 7.29% um so the changes they made was they put back in the Middle School principal because they were getting so much push back from parents the actual Health Care renewal up went down from
27% to 25.45% adding 20 school choice and I believe the reason they did that is because Essex was pushing hard for that um does that save money well it the
concern was that that would have made 96 school choice students and to what ex and out of 1127 so it's like eight and a half per. so what what point does that mean you're holding on to teachers by
filling the seeds rather than saving yeah and plus they were going to have to bring them in at throughout all the grades so they'd be here for a long time yeah I think the last round they brought them in at high
school which is so so bad it's just intuitively I thought the district needed to grow but I guess it's if if this is how they wanted to do it that's fine I mean so I think they're going to still consider it U but they wanted to make sure they had an in
budget that's at the current level before they take on more students because if they have to um if if the budget isn't approved by Essex and they and they get a a lower number approved then that would that would have them rethink that the number
of choice students they think they can take if the budget does go through as presented and essics approves it then they're going to revisit the choice students is how they talked about it last that's interesting I know I
know so they view it as a revenue gain only they don't look at it as a cost right so if they get because marginal SE right approach right but there's new building going on in
Essex yes condos or what's something a relatively large projects going in there with 30 or 40 units is it that many I don't no I thought so I could be yeah thought I thought it was less than that is this at the old Tom location one of the old one of the
antique shops being bought and torn down and Oh I thought this was a different one that was already in process well I'm not aware of that one but it okay because the antique one hasn't been approved I thought they had something that was approved oh I'm not sure I'm not sure so
sir I missed the meeting last night but so and one more thing they changed the use of reserves from 500 to 600,000 make up for that L Choice um on the school choice what were
they what was the Delta they were thinking about increasing school choice to some number of students but they went back to another what were those num 20 more students how many it would add 20 students 20 students okay so 76 76 to 96
okay yeah all right which is getting pretty close to the highest ever had I was going to say the high water mark was like 108 several years big bulge in the middle of the whole 2008 IDE
right but yeah so and I never I haven't been a a strong proponent of school choice I I just think I can see it at the high school level if you have
courses if you want to offer more AP courses and you don't have enough students to fill them then's Choice makes sense to me right doesn't make sense to me in the elementary grade because you have them for so long as
well as right and you you have a certain number that you want per classroom yeah so then if new kids from the towns come in you're adding another teacher so it's in migration during those years whereas High School you have more Flex ability
because you can adjust what hes you offer whereas in the lower grades it's more fixed yeah more fixed education so with the with
this 7.29 increase to the school budget and they've made a slight change in the debt payments that go down a little bit I don't what caused that the interest numbers are different than what they gave us first time around oh I
don't know why I I I don't get it but I didn't realize it until very late that's today I said oh oh my numbers changed so that's why the writeups got to be adjusted for all those right um and so
now with wait wait a minute where's my C was all organized um with that 7.29 assessment from the school and a slight change in the debt it makes our tax increase
3.4% using excess Levy capacity of about 332,000 which leaves us which is about 1% which leaves us a little over 600,000 used Levy capacity capacity for future years which
translates into about 2% yeah it's our our assessments now are 3.3 billion so it's 330 is 1% 330,000 is 1% used to be lower now there was um that multi-year
strategy to try to use more reserves now instead of down the road to avoid something next year something that's something that Essex was pushing for that number crunching that you were saying but now so they didn't do that
and that's their their choice but if Essex has a problem with it do we should we be talking about a contingency of maybe doing that we can't okay not until it happens no no I mean we can't do anything it's their it's their decision
it's we gety for the super I guess we can't fund any additional amount for the school budget right to offset what Essex ownes no no it would be um what they were thinking of is they wanted to put
more in the uh reserves take less from reserves now when they're overriding to avoid overriding next year because it was looking well when I looked at the enrollment figures yeah next year is going to be really bad because we're
popping out a 284 number and our average is going to be closer to a 684 number and our average is going to be closer to 650 and they're not dropping out a high number okay so it's going
to no I'm sorry it's a threee average oh yeah yeah it's a rolling average recruit another town termin the my terminology have something to be desired um yeah because currently
the currently we're averaging 662 449 489 489 yeah and in the first year the in 2022 which will roll off in the threee average next year we had
680 and they had 495 so they're number three years ago is not that much higher than their average where so 132 I mean I don't know what will happen next year but um now they did have a
drop in 2024 of 19 students notable 19 that's pretty um so I don't think next year's going to be much better um it could be it could be worse right
oh yeah so it makes sense still makes sense as we discussed before that we use the excess Levy capacity and not go to an override okay any more discussion on the school up but so just on that topic that I
haven't read your whole report I've only been a little bit into it but that's probably a comment for the voters because they will certainly see an increase even though it's not voted at 3.4% I don't well we can say that I can say that at town meeting when the school
budget comes up yeah right we made a decision not to go to an override and we're using exactly ex cap excess Levy capacity I mean my report explains that the increase in the school budget is 1.1 million right yeah um so the 330 is a
drop in the bu exactly bucket regarding y the full amount so we're absorbing a lot of that AB schute increase in our normal operating offsetting our normal operating budget exactly that's exactly what's happening yeah which we've been doing for a long
time a lot more well we plan for three and a half% increase in the school and this year it was almost eight so right something had to give right and I and we're using less
less tax dollars for Capital right great that's how we're doing yes yes High we're using a lot more um reserves for Capital this year
um Sarah yes Andy is online and his hand is up thank you go ahead oh hi there um so what was the final what was the final number for from
the district for it sounds like it didn't change much based on the conversation I was hearing it didn't the percentages did not change um but what they did is their health insurance came down from 27 to
25.45% so with that savings they added back the Middle School principal because so many people were asking for that and then Essex didn't like the the additional 100K for
school choice so they knocked off the 100K for school choice and took out additional 100,000 of reserves so they kind of tried to appease all parties because I had said it would be a problem if they changed the
7.29% after we' relied on it for so long so they kind of gave each party something okay the school choice thing confuses me usually that's an influx of money to the district it sounds like is that how was essc seeing it differently
or well I think the problem with the school choice is we currently have 76 and they were talking about adding 20 to bring it to 96 which is8 and a half% of the total School population and they were going to have to add it throughout
all the grades rather than just at the high school and I think that the Essex position is well the high school is one thing because you have more offerings so you have more vacant seats if you want to offer a lot of coures whereas in the
elementary you don't really have very many vacant seats and the class sizes are up to capacity almost so if you have more Town residents come in you're bumping into a new teacher so you're not really
saving okay got it thank you anything else no that's it and I'm going to peel off but uh okay thanks okay thanks Andy all right um any
more conversation on the school okay with that do I have motion to approve the Regional School District operational
budget in the amount of 177 m 530,000 529,000 950 look at this thing 530 452 I think that may have been one of the other
options get the new numbers 17 million 529 953 that's what you have yeah okay that's what Michelle said too out earlier today something else 529 yeah I have
something that they changed yes I'm sorry 17 m529 1953 move Dean moves do I have a second second more seconds any discussion take a vote Tom yes bar yes
Peter yes Dean yes Mor yes and sarot yes okay it would of course be a silly question to be sure we're we're correct on the number we just voted the right yes I've seen so many school numbers right I I just wanted to be absolutely sure you
yes it is it is what I have at least six of them it is what Michelle Cresta sent last night after the after the meeting okay just that's that's the good one yeah it's the good one okay we have comes and it's an increase of a,1
19,42 for a percentage change of 729 y yes okay good very good now the next number is the the Deb
number which originally we were looking at like 2,648 or something and now it's down to 2,645 382 because the numbers were being calculated on the wrong interest rate
maybe I don't know why not 100% she had different interest numbers in her first report it may be that she just looked at things more closely and realized that something was Miss so that's a decrease of
$5,595 or 2.78% so do I have a motion to approve it's called the capital budget I guess the capital budget for debt costs for the Regional School District in the
amount of 2 million 645 382 yes pet Mo second and yes so everyone understands these in case people have
forgotten the debt repayments are calculated at the point in time in which the loan is issued based on equalized valuation and population so once the loans issue right
it doesn't change I did not recall that sorry the apportionment Factor at the time the loan is issued right and not as it CH doesn't change right so it doesn't change every year so that you know when you go in on the loan you have to
yeah and because I have no idea what that ratio was at that time can if they they recalled is that substantially different than the current ratio well the loans that we have are over multiple years ah so they're all going to be all sorts of different ratios yeah so for
instance Broken Out by projects too like the high school which is almost rolling off debt and Memorial is just sort of infancy the middle high school we were 75% okay okay see
for the second loan for the middle high school we were down to 74% um I what the number is confusing okay for the Memorial School the first loan the big one we were at 74% thank you and
for the next one we were at 73.8% and I think that's all there was okay yeah thank you for going back so it so it's significantly lower now than it had been previous
years well I think the so this is based on equalized valuation and I think Essex population has been going up more rapidly than ours and I think their equalized values are increasing more raply more rapidly
than ours so that's the way it works and then there's still a short-term ban debt that we're down to 73% I don't do you know what they're doing with that short-term ban I was
surprised it's still existed yeah I don't know okayi yeah it's a 1.1 million yeah I was a little surprised to still see that yeah I was surprised to see that okay so we don't know why that's still there maybe they're waiting
for Andy left to uh decline these are Bond anticipation yeah yes I vaguely recall they were keeping that side for capital for finished capital in the
space but why why they didn't use the um you know when we bonded stuff early we made out on interest rates right and that extra we fought that would should stay in capital never go to operating and
then it maybe the band was used for finish capital in the building I don't know I don't see it may be in here I can look back on my but oh I don't even see what interest rate
it is but it certainly has been increasing in each budget year privy privacy interest rates have okay so we any more discussion with respect to anything on the
schools think we need to vote on De we didn't vote we just I think we have a motion we have a second okay's gonna hold us to the fire on this one I'm I was just about to say something Tom yes G yes Peter yes Dean
yes Mory yes Zarah votes yes thank you for get keeping me out of trouble just didn't want to get you in h water um so now we have a change in the capital budget these are these are our
Capital the town's capital budget yep so remember how we discussed 200,00 for the senior sector yes and we didn't like it yes the select
board has come back with a compromise of 50,000 the pl yeah most amazingly expensive little pictures they on yeah I agree amazing
expensive sorry I I just had to say that so so it is to advance the the final design and layout and then do pictures on that final design so it's not just pictures it's okay it's design work but it's not on this Capital thing yep no it
wasn't I'm sorry it's not on our Capital list it's not on the 318 update after that pardon I added the um 50,000 after the 18th
update okay okay so will you send me a new spreadsheet yeah I did well that's what I printed no I think she sent another one I got two okay and I printed the second
one so that should be the one okay it should show that 50,000 in the fund balance column so Capital the for the total Article
Five number what's the final number 4165 875 uh 4265 875 that's up 100 it's 4265 back in the I mean we took out the
um boat thing yes yeah we took out the the structure the storage structure y That's so should be should be the 416 I'm sorry I'm looking at the CPC wait a minute okay 50 m 50,000 yeah fund balance so this is saying that
doesn't sh up in that recommended column yet so 50,000 more it's going to be 4 2 one so it's 4265 875 so 4215 8757 okay that makes sense
ta yeah don't you add exactly don't you add 50,000 I I yeah that's the door I'm adding 50,000 4165 875 and we're adding 50,000 to that to get 421 5875 okay
yes can I ask a silly question how do you get the I'm looking at fund balance on the capital page I see 800,000 and I see a 50,000 I see 116,000 is this from the 227 handout no the 318 I sent it to you at 6:30
tonight and way down on the capital doesn't add up to 1.5 it's column it's column o which is the fund balance column yep doesn't matter and it adds up the add up number is 1,556 th000 but that there seems to be a
disconnector oh it's missing no it's got no that's right it's got the 800 for the Rotunda you got to go up higher yeah oh okay you're not seeing the whole column uh my mistake okay yeah we had a floating I just did the same
thing okay that makes sense so we need to rote the capital budget so if part I'm sorry I should have talked to Andre about this earlier um so the Rotunda doesn't need to be back up it would be helpful to have all
the road resurfacing money available right after town meeting so that that total of 700,000 ideally would be all fund balance and as opposed to Taxation and do no taxation for 300,000 for the
Rotunda taxation yeah exactly I just I just want to swap those two out pretended we won't need until the following February is okay or winter so the road will be
700 I'm sorry can you repeat that so so for Road resurfacing the 700,000 would all come from fund balance okay so so we get rid of the 300,000 in taxation
um so we bring that $300,000 in taxation to rotunda and reduce the fund balance fora um 500 the 500 500,000 okay thank you so no change in the bottom line just
where it's a portion so the fund balance number includes the 50,000 is that correct correct at the 1556 correct correct okay any discussion about this item we okay with it no does to me it
doesn't seem worth going to a town meeting contrary to the select Bo for 50 Grand well given the overall scope of the project it's such a small amount it's it's not going to interfere with
fundraising and nobody's going to say oh gosh you've already allocated all the money you need it's right money is it worth saying that we are looking for construction to be based on funds raised I mean not withstanding
this standby amount the conversation at least in my ears has been had a certain presentation at the start of this Senior Center which I heard to say we'll buy it and and the rest will be done with
fundraising now we've evolved a bit and we're doing the 50 as a backup I I think part of the problem is what's the final design going to be and in that final design what portion of
it is going to be Town Offices that's what's bubbling to the surface oh so if there's talk about putting Department of Health over there yes Council on Aging and anything else maybe Park and rep maybe Park and R
some options certainly the meeting room I mean the multi purpose room will be used as meeting space not thought about that angle so I think that what's going to happen is they're going to go out and do their fundraising and somebody's going to come
up with a cost for this project mhm and the question will be what's the Delta so perhaps a silly question underlying thinking on the Delta will be the town's got a lot going on in this structure that has to do with Town operations yeah when push comes to sh so
where does it fit then in our fairly carefully honed debt 25e debt program I mean it the number so I'm I'm assuming the fundraising is going to be 100% successful so if it isn't then we have
to relook at our 25 year plan I I I still I still feel that way that will be successful yeah I do I do even though there's a lot of structure will be Town Offices
yes I'm not going to look gift hor in the M right skeptical perhaps a horse for the cart or a cart for a horse if this is done as um donations does it fall under
prevailing wage still does unfortunately okay okay any more discussion is there a budget there's the the renovation Construction is assumed to be in the 2.5 million range up up to 3
million is that for both sides of it or just the town side Town side so that's for the you said for the town side yeah Mason are doing the other side oh I realized no I'm talking about is there a budget for the Council on Aging
the the organization yeah senior we hav't split out it's not split out and so we do have a budget for the senior center and the town offices that may also be over there in total that 2.5
to three yeah yes and that was prepared by somebody who that was that was you know a very high level estimate looking at square footage that we were planning you know up for square foot cost so
presumably they have a target of how much money they have to raise and I think that by doing this additional 50,000 that would hopefully make things a little more defendent more precise yeah and
help prepare materials to prepare materials that to show that the owners know what they're what they're doing I think it would be very awkward to have nothing done over this next year since we spent a million so that this
$50,000 is a good idea just the reason to keep it moving you know to spend a million and then to sit and do nothing for a year I think we we need to Prime the was the purchase and sale finally signed or it's very very close it's just
a I know I've been saying that for a long time yes we're aiming for the next and and the people and I'll give I'll drop this drop this is the last question I'll have
there's a person or two or three people who are where the buck stops for the donations yes okay yes if I understand the question yeah that's what it is are there are the people who say yeah we're
we're going to do it don't worry we're we're we're on the hook to get this done yes okay great and there's also a consultant that was hired assist where's that being paid out of that's through a grant that we it's Grant yes estate
State Mark through through a mar thank you because I hadn't seen that number any place correct yeah the grants we don't see yeah no I understand that I forgot there was a grant do we anticipate the purchase and sale being signed before
town meeting yes do it would be good that would be safe just n was saying he thought we' know by on the permit for the culber too is that he put it in like a month ago or
so and he was hoping to hear back by a certain have we heard back we have not heard back so that's still out there okay so do I have a motion to approve a revised capital budget in the amount of
4,215 1875 with the amount the amount from fund balance changing to 1,556 th000 and the amounts from all the other funds remain the
same moved far moved so I have a second second more seconds any discussion take a vote Tom yes yes Peter yes Dean yes Mor yes and Sarah
yes okay so we're good on that um and the additional information I have which I probably should have told you before we voted in the Catholic budget but is that I asked Andrea to let me know looking for the
email what the status of a reserves was after sus spending for this budget and I believe it will be 99.18% of the operating budget 9.32 is what 32 yeah that's what
her email late last night said well maybe not maybe I have the wrong number in my report um she gave me 9.18 um Andrew sent an email last night and what's the right
number let easy just like it's 99.32% of the operating budget I think there was confusion because I also gave you 8.17 of the um total budget that included the capital yes so okay and this is from 11:07 p.m.
that yeah so the fund is 99.32% yep yep which is Target yep now one of the things we talked
about and it's in my policy in this report we may need to change it is we had talked about the fact that it might make sense to have stabilization be only 25% of the total um but I guess the percentage to
vote stabilization has changed to majority right we don't need two thirds oh the statute is Chang okay is it but still two-thirds to take out but one just a majority to put it
in it's always been a majority drawing a blank I have to look at that again I have to look I'm sorry I have to look it up but the the stabilization we can invest in a way that we receive better
earnings than the fund balance it almost makes sense to have a higher stabilization if the reason that we wanted it to be the lower was because it took a different right that's I think why we were talking about it yeah certainly seems that way if it's a
majority from 2/3 that would make sense but you never know we're not using according to this we're not using any stabilization is that correct Andrea that's correct so all this is coming out of
funding balance right I mean if it came out of stabilization we'd have to have a vote on it right right we're not anticipating that correct I mean stabilization has been sitting the same place for a long time yeah it's just because it's so difficult to get out we took some out last year
right it was high yeah we took we spent it on a can't what stabilization is what you're trying to find out how it's invested right well I have we Andrea sent me the investment allocation so I haven't had my software reloaded yet
it's a long story when I get there I'll be but Sarah is right because that's a longer term investment it's more aggressively invested greater longterm returns and the other balance is just interest bearing accounts of the
banks so I'll delete that 25% thing from my policy so was there a change made at the state level or whoever the power is that describes there was there was a change
and I I just can't remember which which way it was it's helpful to know because we always sort of gloss over stabilization by assuming it's a 2third vote we don't want to touch that but if it's Chang it to a majority to take it that's what I
thought you said last year but that that is my memory but it's not crystal clear so let me let me let me let me confirm did our Auditors or anything make any recommendations
changing I talked to Andrea about it because I was a little confused as to whether we needed stabilization equal to 5% or something and she said it's the total Reserve that they look at a lot of towns don't have
stabilization right so from a rating standpoint it doesn't matter yes stabil it's one of the reserve funds nobody wants so it's it's a it's a it's a higher it's a more restricted yeah
fund balance fund okay so you have Reserve funds and then you have stabilization no the stabilization is part of our reserves part of the reses so our reserves are stabilization plus fund balance okay and the fund balance
is if we have revenues higher than what we project or expenses are lower than what we goes into the bank it's like income the municipal equivalent of yeah thank you right so the state the state calls it free cash and
stabilization it's two different yeah two different well we're calling it fund balance I know that's change don't like what is the purpose of calling it stabil what does it stabilize it gives the I think originally they were pushing it to have
the town proactively set aside money into a cash fund to be able to protect when expenses go up or down so operational stability so to speak if we get hit by a tsunami
and we drain our free cash then we'll have to use the stabilization we'll have that time to convert it and it makes more sense in some other towns where it's difficult for them to get overrides yeah um we
haven't had a lot of push back yet on taxs is that why Essex has more a they set up a number of reserves oh yeah is that that's in fact to stabiliz accounting method they use like
accounts for trucks and accounts for every little thing so what we do is we set a tax rate equal to our current expenses yes Essex sets a tax rate higher than their current expenses in order to squirrel away money in advance
in various funds they like funded depreciation it's like like our fire fire apparatus F we put 300,000 this year in the fire apparatus fund yeah I think also we have a very tight budgeting system thanks to
town Greg and Andrea and so you know we don't need to be squirreling away into all these little compartments we kind of look at it as a whole like a rain barrel but but all these different accounts are are looking ahead at fire and looking at different things so and
we fund a new I mean our our schedule is we fund a new police vehicle each year the whole price sometimes two um but we don't set aside one third of the cost each year
because we're automatically doing one a whole one each year so it doesn't make sense but thank you we don't like to and all these SCS that we don't know exist um because the other savings
account we have is the um water and sewer Enterprise funds so those we purposely keep extra money in them in case the rates fail to cover the actual expenses in a given year since the rates are set at the beginning of the year and
if we don't have if we have lots of rain people don't use as much water so we don't collect as much revenue I would still find it to know whether it's two3 Vote or majority yeah no I'll confirm that for you I think it also makes our town
meeting easier too because we're not voting on every single little Reserve account having to withdraw from this and add to that which is just sort of chaotic yes in my view yes I would agree
okay so we have voted for all items on the budget we're now completed on the budget yes unless anybody has anything they want to raise with respect to the
budget uh uncertainty with some of these projects and the financial reserves whether it would be prudent to have more money in our Reserve account we set a target of 8% of total
not Reserve not that Reserve the fincom Reser oh in case we need to need to because what we used to have a higher fincom Reserve but was when we had only one town meeting a year whereas now we're routinely having a meeting in
November well that was the point it would avoid a special time we always seem to have it zoning issues we do yeah so and frankly you can do a supplement at the annual town meeting as well well that's true too you do have that option
yeah so I mean I would typically not you against the higher Reserve number but um I think we're okay well I'm just looking at the con like we had the U the Culver we have the um those can't Thom Reserve
Capital items can't come from thcom Reserve all those projects I'm just worried about the estimates because of the new tariffs coming in then they have to come back before town meeting again okay and those are going to be bigger numbers than you're going to want to put in reserve yeah you're talking but we don't
use the finom reserve for Capital right we only use it for operating okay yeah well then following slightly on that with all the turmoil at the federal level the moment are there grants that have become or applications that we have
yet to hear about are this there changing propability of federal money and any of the grants that we've got outstanding standing or gr that we anticipate to have outstanding um I mean it's a worry um the covert
project in particular we have a 4 point 4.2 let's call it in a in a FEMA Grant okay um we do not have that money in hand so I I makes me nervous FEA
yeah I I think I think female monies are I haven't heard female Monies being talked about in terms of some of the Flash and burn that's going on but you're talking about sending it all back to the state to deal with right right and Boston's
mayor this is already a pass P has already passed it to the state which is allocated it to us we don't have it in hand but it is allocated to us okay so I so it's a pass it gives me some worry but I'm not panick and what about the mil
runda we lost the czm but what's the other Grant the other one is a Cort Economic Council B okay fund again that's State money okay um and indications are that we're in pretty good shape for that one we will know by I don't think we'll
know by town meeting but maybe shortly there after great got it thank you than you okay further I have um I looked up the stabilization fund thank you so it's a majority vote to put money
into the fund but it still retains a two-thirds vote to make Appropriations out of the fund okay thank you so the change was to make it a simple majority to put it in correct yeah okay but I I will say more heila just put through her
um mod her empowerment act to change the some of those rules about stabilization so we'll see in the future how that that will hold yeah but right now it's still two-thirds to appropriate out do we think it's going to get more stringent to remove it or less
stringent yeah less but that that empowerment act isn't gaining much traction yet so isn't that the one they had to pull the um the hybrid meeting h
they pull it out do it separately yeah the empowerment act gives some more local option taxes would be great but the legislature is lo to give up some of their taxing Authority okay next on the agenda is the
warrant articles right um Greg sent out sent the warrant about a couple of days ago I've gone through it and I've come up
with all of the articles that we traditionally would take no position on because they don't have a financial impact and I don't know if we want to vote those once that we take no position and those articles are one to yep 7
through 14 which your zoning things and the tobacco thing I think and then 18 and 20 so at the risk of having a tomato thrown at me there there is potentially one walk right um what might that be and
that is a request from the assessors to adopt um a new local option to allow the exemptions granted to Veterans to increase at the rate of
inflation and so um it's called the heroes Heroes act which was adopted last last session and uh so the board SEL Point hasn't taken it up yet they they they will will'll take it up next week what's
the current exemption current exemption is um roughly $400 we have 18 veterans who take advantage of that so if if it had been in place this current year it would have
added a total of about $500 to our um uh what do we call it why am I blanking on the t uh Andre help me out what's the fund we use to refund taxes overlay overlay overlay
overlay the overlay thank you okay so it would it would just have that fun if if it had been in place it would have been about $500 more what we paid out uh this current year in the overlay and the overlay typically has those dollars to
to cover that and do we have do we have records on what we're we're spending out of overlay because we just have the overlay item in the budget every year and we never see what the balance is or anything are we spending the 100
grand um not not every year now uh is it a carryover amount do we carry it over if not spent does is it one of those unique accounts or is it added back just to free cash they actually appropriate some of it too
every year what do you mean so for another finance committee um Reserve fund we usually use 125,000 of overlay excess um each year um that we you know any any of those overlay funds that we don't use we
put towards that fund balance Reserve in the operating budget oh okay so it's not going back to free cash no no unless you don't use the reserve
fund okay right um can I just make another comment about the the heroes act yes um since I was just at my conference we actually had a whole session on the heroes act okay helpful yeah it is very helpful um and one of the things that they
mentioned was that um communities should be aware of is that before when you could get an exemption on your uh real estate um you know you could just go to the assess fill out your form submit all your documentation but then if you wanted um you can also get 100% off your
excise tax but you had to go to the registry of motor vehicles to do that and like go to their medical unit and it was really difficult and so a lot of veterans didn't do that this new Heroes act changes that so when you when a veteran
comes in and applies for their exemption on their um real estate at the same time they can also ask for 100% off their excise so that could impact so that could impact some of our um I don't know what
the impact would be yet but um I don't think it'll be a lot but I I don't I haven't looked into it yet um but that was something that changed that I don't think a lot of people are aware of that they were warning communities that it might impact your excise motor vehicle
excise so we're looking at what about 18 people in town do we think 18 20 people so 18 out of 4,000 or that pay excise tax or 3,500 is probably small you know typical excise
tax say what a typical one is 100 bucks or something or 200 it's more than mine 60 mine's 63 because I have an old car it depends on it just depends how old your car one it's big and then it
goes it's probably cars and boats and motorcycles and stuff like that right I would think the change would be in our 95% estimate that we do thought that's why the 95 made kind going with it yeah
oh yeah it definitely as far as cars get older whatever it's called so we would have to take a stand on that um once we need number from Andrea so would that so that's something you can wait until town meeting make your
recommendation on the floor yep just to give us time to give you more analysis okay so do you want to look at 35 6 15 16 17 and 19 some of these we've already done I think but oh 19 I was assuming we didn't have to do 18 through
20 look at 19 um yes so um is it 13 talks about short-term rentals it's really more of just a question do we collect any revenue from shortterm rentals yes do
and that's been that that was established years ago and it's just sort of automatic right through the state or whoever's doing that collection we get something back on that as long as they're registering like Airbnb and right BB if you're using one of those firms
they they make do it you're collecting your pay to the state so there's no change implemented there on 13 um it just status quo basically yeah yeah I mean 13 is saying this is only applying
to adus right so what it's doing is is our our current short-term rental that we have in town is less than a week right if people in town register but we get payments from BNB regardless of how
long it is but this is saying if you do an Adu you can't rent it for less than for less than a month you just can't do it y right see how we enforce [Music]
that so that they didn't want people putting in adus just for short-term rental but you could rent them on a monthly basis basis in
the and that is the definition out of state so because the Adu law said you could exclude short-term rentals you couldn't go any longer than 31 days in the state kind of thing so it's kind of
this so are people comfortable with us saying we take no position on 1 to 7- 14 and 18- 20 I am y I'd like to look at it and vote on it next next meeting no we need to vote
on it now so that it gets in the war gets in the booket yeah I I mentioned the one I we're going to talk about all the ones with financial impact these are just the ones that I felt didn't have any Financial impact and I don't see any
point of discussing in a finance committee meeting a warrant article doesn't have Financial impact everyone may have their own opinion but if it doesn't have Financial impact didn't make sense to discuss it Financial impact to the town budget correct yeah
yes that's might to an individual but right yeah hello I have my hand up yes what scale um the first time you mentioned the warrant articles it was 1 to2 7 to
14 and you said 18 and 20 18 through it's 18 through 20 okay well I wrote down the wrong thing so I'll correct it so so I must have misspoke well no I'm sure whatever
y so what are the numbers we're recommending skipping over 1 to two 1 two 7 through 4 14 and 18 through 20 so I'll make a motion that we take no position on warrant articles 1 and two
7-4 and 18 through 20 do I have a second second seconds any discussion there was one I think hold on is it [Music] um oh the one about construction noise
that was struck because of the well construction now just doesn't have a financial impact well so it talks about raising the fines to 500 and higher why should we but we we can't do that it's it's against state law state law caps us at 300 so that's going to be passed over
this is article 20 but why don't we just change the number from 500 to 300 and then it would be okay that's not our well it's up to us somebody somebody it's already it's already in the Bible yeah oh it's already like that yeah okay
motion I made a second I second second anyone discussion take a vote Tom yes gar yes Peter yes Dean yes Mor yes and Sarah yes and then there's one number
21 which is the catch all that we have to make on town meeting Flor rightly right y so do I have a motion that article 21 make a recommendation on so these may
change if we add that we add that Hero's act so 21 which may become 22 oh okay I see what you're saying yeah number numbers may change slightly but
we'll certainly track which ones okay so now we have one two three four seven we need to discuss and vote that's right the first one is article three yep
which is the funds for the Essex nure we've already voted this here so we vote recommend yeah okay we have the budget yep recommend we done that
okay we have the capital budget Article Five which we've done as amended tonight six this has it in there um six is a school district we've done okay
so I have a mo do I have a I I make a motion that we recommend warrant articles 3 4 5 and six do I have a second okay any discussion take a vote Tom yes bar yes
Peter yes Dean yes my yes Sarah says yes okay 15 16 and 17 okay one second you made a motion um myy made the motion to do 21 I made the motion Sarah made
the motion on meeting 21 you didn't there was not a second and um no we're on to three four and five yeah we didn't vote on 21 all right I was just checking in on that I think we're back to 15 correct is
that correct do we want to vote on the 21 first oh okay the 21 is we already done that whatever let's just voted again then so so I made a motion that
we make the recommendation on town meeting floor for article 21 maybe 22 who's the second second carar second take a vote Yes Tom yes Peter Dean yes yes Sarah yes okay so mechanically we
basically meet before the meeting open our open our meeting and then we vote on this or not vote on at the end of the meeting then we close it what's our risk what's our risk is if we don't do that and we open our meeting on town meeting
FL we have to do this we won't be posted to open at the end of the meeting that's our problem right you say to post the meeting simultaneous with it's such a pain to have to adjourn our meeting at the end of town meeting
and we never this article never comes up recently sometimes it does you know one for years yeah but I remember one year we had a a member of the audience get up and request fire hoses we had to change the budget and it was like darn you know
yeah but we have excess living capacity that's true I think this is if you have to go to override to avoid it I guess it's to avoid okay yeah we'll just do what we do just do it
nice chance to get together in the little seats did we vote the little school seats did we vote on this no did we just are we on 15 I think we I think we just voted on 21 21 may change
but we voted concep last you voted on the last article one that I thought would be a d is taking us a half an hour okay you voted on 15 the 15 is the CPC CPC we voted
that 16 is the Revol going over 21 we just oh um yeah 17 is a revolving fund for it sets the spending limit right parks and parks and W and Bo we do every year sort of the same way we just started a Board of Health last
year that's true right okay so do I have a recommend do I have a motion that we recommend articles 15 16 and 17 so move second there seconds any
discussion Tom yes G yes Peter yes Dean yes Mor yes yes okay so we've done those so we've done everything I think I think you got I think you got come to the Finish Line on this
one okay so again some of those numbers may change a little bit depending on the order of the S puts them in so these numbers were based on this isn't dated verion I sent you
last I said that to you yesterday afternoon yeah 318 the 318 version 449 can we get an updated final budget yes it says draft two up above presumably you would go to draft three
with significant changes okay I think last year we had number changes and we got really screwed up that very yeah you're right very confusing any other anything else on the budget meting
no okay um appr minutes um so Dean you made some suggested suggestions to change the minutes and Gail has said she's gone back at the recording based on what was
actually said so I would beer prefer if we do not change those minutes well I would prefer that add the thought that I had put in um she's saying it's not in the recording so we can't just add things we add what I had in the recording she said it some of it wasn't
there I had added that um know I mentioned that this we need to look at a flat rate for for this um sanitation for the we putting absolutely everything in our minutes that we no I
think this is very important though because we're going to need to supplement ment the sanitation budget when we lose the income but we'll deal with that when we deal with that budget yeah well this is a harbringer because I think a comp for that land would be the solar farm at Hamilton right next door
just see what the value that they're getting for that versus what we're getting in money so what I did not did not discuss that in detail in that meeting if we want to have a discussion in detail at some other meeting when
it's appropriate we can do that yeah well I think something needs to be put in that that it was said um because it's what I said and I think it is important because I think it's not a good deal for the town this black Earth I my concern is is that every if every
single person on the committee comes back with changes for every single little thing they said I only commented on one thing on the whole meeting okay I don't think that was uh excessive the only thing I added is that
we should compare the money from Hamilton that they're getting to a I explained that it was a um the tonnage of money equivalent I didn't say the money equivalent but I it's implied with when I was comparing it to I did that
for clarification so I mean it seems like a formality to me what does the board think was it in the recording I don't know I mean that's the problem
is if everyone wants to add things in I didn't add anything gaale has to go back and relist to the recording to validate what was actually said we need to increase our budget La I remember your commenting on it after I
made the comment to you remember so we're talking about 227 yes the first the first thing that you indicated you said was that you were looking to generate Revenue to make up
for the Lost Revenue that was not stated during the meeting you did state that you wanted to change the lease with black Earth however they have a 10-year renewable
lease which refuted your statement on being able to change the lease no I wanted to change it in the future the next time something changed but you know I wrote what I thought was right if you guys want to sterilize it go for it you know I'm not going to approve
it in some uh other committees uh that I've been on and I'm not suggesting we do it here uh when there's a a question of an issue that someone thought was important to put on the record they could make a motion during a committee
meeting that we put in our minutes of that current meeting where he's you know attending and say I'd like to make a motion that I feel that we we should charge more to black Earth and so forth
and that we should look at what it on comparing apples to oranges yeah and it was a statement that I made pretty clearly okay I was just considering that might
be a possible solution but what's you feeling I'm feeling that we should follow um Gail and what was in the recording um and I must say I do I do worry about going back and altering
minutes to look in the past I wasn't the intent isn't to alter the minutes it's to set the record straight it's your interpretation of what was said so doesn't feel that way that's fine you know if she wants to put what she heard that's fine I think it's
an important comment I I think my statement was unfortunately I can't read people's minds and I can only develop the meeting minutes based on the recording and what I write down
and I go through the recording line minute by minute before I write the meeting minutes yeah well Gail this isn't a criticism of you I can't expect you to write everything that was said in the meeting but when someone feels like what was said was important and it was
by you interpreted that it wasn't then you know I think a little I didn't interpret it wasn't important you didn't say it is what my first statement was right well I did say it Okay okay
right it's being recorded for these minutes isn't it yeah it's all recorded now so record let's move on yeah have to agree with said but it's being recorded now so it's matter of public record yeah that's anyone can listen to the recordings as
the benefit of what we do now yes they can they're very hard I I've tried so I have a motion to approve the minutes from February 27 so move second ready to
vote Yes Yes Dean no yes s yes was I was yeah I wasn't here so I okay so I so our next meeting is Thursday March
27th I sent out a draft of the annual report late today before I took my walk got to finish it so I can go take a walk um it was great that you pulled it all together so
quickly I got to rejigger some of the numbers um I highlighted in yellow some some information I need Andrea to validate for me um and so Andy in the
past has put it in SharePoint for us but he's out of town on business um so I'm wondering what people want to do about giving me comments what your I I would like to be able to we need to vote in it
on the 27th is that correct yeah um what's the best for you so I would like to be able to get out a final report to you on Tuesday does that make sense so you have time to
look at it before Thursday is Tuesday enough time for people do you want comments before then yes I I want to have a final report on Tuesday you want comments by Monday from
us Monday yeah Monday morning maybe the the date Monday morning what date the 24th 24th okay let's say by noon between now and then I can get them oh yeah you can give them to me earlier if you can get them to me earlier that's great we go straight to you or is it circulated
among all of we're not just it to me and then I'm going to integrate them all and then I'm going to send the whole thing out to people on Tuesday so then people will see what's all been pulled together and
we can discuss it on on the 27th to see if the conditional changes so you'll still have an opportunity on the 27th to make changes but it's really helpful if I get this stuff in advance because Greg is chopping at the bit to send it to
well the problem is is we used to have the Boy Scouts deliver them so now they have to mail them right and the US Postal Service isn't very fast considering it's been taking them four days to get me overnight
mail they have fewer employees these wait wait a month or two so Sarah a suggestion um we're not using SharePoint at the moment right would it be helpful if we when we made comments like highlighted our comments in a color
for you yes use the track you can use track changes but I'm just thinking yeah if You Haul up two documents and and our comments troubl with track changes yeah so what if we just highlight inlight it yeah okay I don't know I have some new color any color
exactly I have some new version of word okay and for the life of me I can't go I can't make it that changes for me I don't like that sounds familiar I've tried it but it's always I'm always in a rush so I we highlight yeah so just highlight your changes yeah and I'll
figure it out slow thank you for doing it okay and I did consolidate some things good so I made a section on thcom policies and we had it you know I just I
tried just streamline a little is not perfect but it's what you do when you kind of wait till the last minute well you accomplished three save pages that's almost onethird so nobody's allowed to add in
Pages worries here um anything else we need to discuss make a motion to adjourn second Dar Mo Mor seconds take a vote Tom yes yes Peter yes
Dean yes yes thank you very much thank you good spot