[Music] All right. So, guess somebody can step up and be an acting chair. Um, but the first agenda item is to elect the chair and vice chair to finish the meetings and the
agendas. I'll turn it over to maybe the select board to start just in terms of getting the ball rolling to get the conversation started. Anyway, I'll step. >> Okay. All right. Winston's giving me his luck.
Um, thanks for joining today. Um, this is very exciting to have so many folks around the table who've contributed so much to the town and have so much knowledge about where our money comes from and where our money goes. and um
Nick uh gave us all the written charge um and details of the committee, but just as a highle snapshot, the intention behind the committee and what the select board voted to put together in this
charge was really a team of folks to have a long range view of the town's finances and to be able to convene and discuss big tip big ticket topics
um in putting them in context of the town's broader financial picture. The way that our town government works and many town governments statewide work, we have a lot of various committees that um are relatively autonomous from one
another. So sometimes that can make alignment tricky. Um, and our hope here is to have a regular dialogue and conversation about what we're all working on um, in ways that we can
collaborate to, um, to have a more sustainable picture and future. We've had a lot of conversations over the past several years about items in town that have um been pretty contentious.
And our hope is that by having this convening and and talking regularly that we can provide um some answers or work some things out that um will be to the
benefit of the town overall um and the constituencies, you know, to have to have a bigger picture to have sort of a clear a clear voice of diverse representatives from various various ious boards, various parts of town, um,
on on what is happening and and what these things mean. So, um, I don't know, >> I'll if you want to add anything to that. >> I'll add just one piece briefly. Uh this committee is an answer to what we heard
from the town uh regarding our override and uh our budget and it's an effort to get all of our committees and boards across town talking and communicating with each other about the town finances. Also having an idea and a picture about how all of these things connect not only
for today but also for the future in the town and our planning. So, it's really a way to start a conversation, keep that conversation going, and also having more eyes and input so that there are no surprises, that there there's nothing unexpected in something in the story,
and that we can say to the town about that we are looking at our finances, we are aware of where things where things are going, and that all of our committees are really rowing in the same direction for the benefit and in the interest of the town. Um, this also I know we'll talk about this a little bit
in the charge after our elections, but this this is also said that this committee may not exist in perpetuity. It may be something only goes for a year or two or three, but the idea is to get us all coordinated and connected. And if there's a time when this committee is no longer needed, then we'll disband. But
until that time, I hope that we are all working uh and putting our our best foot forward here. So, with that, um, I would like to put forth uh the election of Megan Heaggerty. or nominate her for chair. >> I don't even have to explain it.
>> I just to add, Megan is um obviously my my uh co- member on the board. Uh she's also CEO of Mass for anyone who does not know and has a long career in municipal finance. So, I think she would be a great person to lead uh this committee for the first time. Can we have a
second? So, Nick, do we go through votes roll or there more nominations? one at a time. >> Doesn't sound like there are any other nominations. So, I think you can just lead the committee through the vote and then Megan can take it from there.
>> All right. >> Uh I'm not I'm I'm just here. >> You got to do you got to do a vote. All in favor? >> One question. Are you supposed to be sworn in for us? >> Uh just spoke to the town clerk and because you're all sworn into your main committees, um the only person who
needed to get sworn on was Mr. walker pass. Um, so she's all set and everybody's good to go. >> Thank you for the question. >> As a side note, does that apply to all other committees too? >> Because that's understand her approach is if you're assigned by your board to serve on a committee, then your original
swearing in for your boards carries forward to those additional subcommittee appointments. >> All right. So all in favor I >> all opposed or abstain. All right. Congratulations. >> All right.
All right. So, next we'll move on to the item of nomination and election for the vice chair. Um, is there anyone who would like to make a nomination for the vice chair of the committee? >> Well, I mean, I'd like Roy,
but I don't know if Loy would like it. I Loy is just such a a great committee leader and member of our community. He knows more than anybody. >> All right. So, hearing that nomination is So, we have a nomination and a
second. Um, all in favor of Loy Walker as vice chair of the committee. I >> I >> um any or abstensions? All right. So, Lori Rocker will serve as
the vice chair. >> Be a pleasure to serve with you, Madam Chair. >> Likewise. Um okay. So, we have um we'll move on to item three. So we we were just mentioning
um the charge um membership and term of the of the committee. Um, does anyone I guess we'll just since we've already sort of discussed it a little bit or mentioned it, given it an intro, so to speak,
is there I'll open it up for conversation, questions, anything that folks would like to speak to or comment on as we as we get going here. >> We on the charge or on meeting dates?
Um, so I think we're on I think we're on the charge since we had Yeah. the charge and the work plan as a distinct agenda item. Um, I don't know if we have anything else to cover on the charge given that given that we Winston and I
both gave it an intro. Um, I know that, you know, we we have some we have some firepower in the room. Um, and I don't know if anybody else wants to wants to speak to this, sort of ask any questions or or chair the warrant committee.
>> Yeah. Um, I'm curious about the the long range financial plan. I think that um think that could benefit from a lot of attention. I don't know if it's this group that's going to take sort of ownership of the long range financial plan and examining it, setting policies.
Uh, you know, we we set up a couple of uh we set up a couple of I'm going to use a wrong term, reserve funds this past spring. I don't know if there are policies in place for the operation of those reserve funds. This might be a very good group to set up those policies or it might be
a different group. Um, and just the the long range financial plan, you know, we can look as far as five years, see, do we think there's going to be an override in five years? If so, how do we get there? Now again sort of wondering is this group going to be the one that runs with that? In other towns
they sometimes have they'll call them an override stabilization committee to look how do we get to the next overriding. >> Are we going to run a are we going to operate in that manner? >> Not expecting you to have those answers right now but throwing them. But these are good these are good considerations
>> and I know we have been working on um through the select board finance committee with the town administrator on um our reserves policies. Maybe we can bring that as an agenda
item to this to this committee. We can show what we've started to work on. Okay, >> I have a question. So, originally I thought um the selectman had um
a member who was on the finance subcommittee with the school committee. So, is that no longer is that committee no longer active? So we have we have a select board finance subcommittee but I think with um the resignation of uh
member cohane I think we did we reappoint someone to that or were we waiting for the special >> what I think okay >> last year attended most if not all of the school committee finance subcommittee meetings and that was >> the practice had been that we the select
board finance and the school committee finance would meet every once in a while um John was then participating kind of on a on a more regular basis. That's just how it worked last year. It wasn't that there was a member of the select board appointed onto that committee. There were two distinct committees, but
John was attending most if not all. >> So, wasn't it previously wasn't Erin? Didn't she attend them and then she stopped going forward? >> Select board finance committee was John and Aaron together. Oh, >> okay. And I think the purpose some of the
purpose of this meeting this committee rather was to just get them all together in a room rather than necessarily meeting having Megan or Winston go to all of the school committee finance subcommittee meetings but they may still I don't know what their plans are but that's >> so that's not going to happen you know
that hasn't yet to be >> yeah I think we wanted to figure out the alignment here um that's still very much in the cards You know, I'm not I'm usually not one for more committees. I think we have 90
committees in town and a lot of the committee I mean this before and um a the committees are appointed committees and a lot of stuff happens at committees that the general public doesn't really
know about. So um oh you know that's I don't know the length of this committee what it should be what it shouldn't be um because it was because of the situation with um the
schools primarily um that's why this is in with you know John Failen now at the head I think the town in general has a little bit more um uh confidence
in what's going forward. Um, so I don't know. I don't have an opinion on the length of the committee, but I'm just always not a fan of more committees. [Music] So to go back to the um question that
Jay raised, I think with regard to long range planning, I I think it's essential both to ensure future financial success, but also to to educate public about the town's
finances. It seems to me that this composition of this group is perfect for at least managing that that process and that document for the time being. So I would I would suggest that
creating a long range plan and vetting that with town town meeting and so on would be a perfect part of the charge for this. >> I agree. we have everyone here who who we would put on such a committee. So,
seems to me it's the timing is great and and I think it's essential to help people understand what's coming in the future so that they're not surprised and you can build the support that you need over time. Um, part of the charge
says that so agree with that. I think that's perfect. Um, >> part of the charge says that we'll meet monthly to review current fiscal year budget to actual analysis. Um, which I think would be useful. What I
would what I think would be um unfortunate is if this committee was doing work that is redundant of other work that's happening in town. Um not sure what's uh I'm not not sure what the monthly financial review is looking like at select board. Can we please get
a sense of like whether that work is already happening? >> Yeah. So I agree with that Nathan. Um, so we meet monthly, Winston and I and Johanna and Nick and Amy. Um, and we do like the monthly
budget to actual. And I think that is something that should inform um this conversation just to just to be open and transparent and sort of what our run rate is, what what things are just generally looking like. Um, but
shouldn't be, you know, we shouldn't be like going line by line and like seeing how how things are stacking up. Um, I I would imagine it would be sort of a quick agenda item. Uh, but maybe that, you know, semiannually or end of year,
you know, that might be like a bigger we we might get like a little bit more airtime on that agenda item, you know, if at all. I think um agree to what's been said but I think some in this committee a lot of
this may be sharing whereas um so this liquid hasn't has a chance to meet superintendent failing yet we haven't had a chance to meet with the new school committee as uh currently um built but this is a place where the school committee can share what they're working
on any concerns they have coming up same for the select board and our finance um subcommittee that's Um, same with the idea of the planning board being here and thinking about how do whatever the planning board's got going on affects um us financially. So I think it may not be that we're not going to be deep diving in terms of what you're saying so that we're not
redundant. We're not going to be going through everyone's line items in every meeting, but the idea of the coordination, I think, is the point we're trying to have um in these meetings. Uh so that we do know everyone has needs or overflows or things that are going to be, you know, reallocated
so that it's not just all of us in the committees to Matt's point, sort of working in a silo and then sort of presenting it and not everyone understanding how it all kind of connects together. I'm good. Well, um I would think though well well I was I'm
on the wall committee and have been for a year and one of my issues was sometimes lack of detail and I would think that we should be able to get like some type of access to the detail like and I'm not saying maybe we don't need to like line by line but like if you can
have it and see it you know instead of like a PowerPoint presentation where you can actually see like what history was what the budget was what the actual is like I think we should have at least just be able to look at that. >> Yeah. >> And have access to that, >> you know. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if that's
>> Yeah. And I think I think there um I I agree with you. Yeah. Like if you want to see it, you can raise it here. Um, we might not do a deep dive in the meeting, but like this would definitely be like if the warrant committee was like, we're dealing with these issues
and we need more access and and more granularity on this, right? you know, this is this is a collaborative group where um and and likewise too, like if you know, the school committee or anyone
else is like, hey, we we really need to do better about getting this report on time or it would really help if we understood this in advance and etc. Um I think we very much want to
pursue things in in that in that manner. >> All right. Good. As long as we get get to see that. >> I was going to say something along the same lines. I I think as Winston said, sharing of information
is important and if we should avoid redundancy so we don't need to do the work that other committees are doing. That said, um that it would be helpful. You're creating the reports for us to see the reports and
the way as you know the way that you manage budget to actual is you look at every line item and you look for exceptions. Okay, this is we're 33% off. What why is that? We're only one quarter into the year and so on. So, I think if
uh that work is being done and those reports are being generated, um Amy might share those, Katie from the school committee might share those, but I think it's important for us to see the information because the school department budget is the most
complicated budget in town, followed by public works, which has enterprise funds, which are also kind of complicated. So I think um it's it's important to understand the detail so that makes it easier to see if there's an issue or a problem. But you have to
understand the detail first. >> So we heard a member of the warrant committee support that. We heard a member of the select board support that. I'm interested in what the school committee or school superintendent thinks about that. I mean, I'll speak for myself at least.
I again, I agree with the I think that the thing we're going to have to figure out with this committee is again the redundancy piece of like what is the role of the select board is to manage the budget of the the town departments separate from the schools, right? And y'all are looking for that. The role of the committee is to look at that too. And so, right, what is the balance
between kind of the redundancy, the the transparency, the coordination and the oversight? How can this committee really further support? I think when we first started talking about this that the primary thing that we felt was missing from the process the last two years is
the piece that um Winston brought up which is just there was no consistent communication between the two entities and so we were talking past each other and I was watching every select board meeting it was clear like select board was not watching school committ I mean it's they're three-hour long meetings
right you can't you can't and so like can we just get a room together and share actually finance committee met on Wednesday and Katie shared this like hey we want to bring this to this committee and say we have a concern about this area or we we did this to kind of move some funds around and we feel really
good about where we are. I do think the place that would have the most value is the point you talk about which is that like long-term projection like how are we how are we managing this kind of over time not just on a month-to-month basis which again to me feels more in the realm of the warrant I'm sorry the
select board for the town departments committee for the school departments but how do we take a step and have an entity I think this is the one to like look at it at a higher level how do we sustain this over time and how do anticipate
future overrides to your point um or you know ways in which we want to make sure we're publicly sharing information about the budget uh to the community at large that allows them to feel a sense of transparency responsibility within these committees things like that that that
would help them support the budget overall. Yeah, I think that we're we're focusing on the Q1, Q2, Q3 process to make sure that that's a detailed report by cost center so we can share that. We'll be doing that every quarter. Um, the reason why the quarterly reports are important
is they come with a summary that actually identify the popping points in your budget that you don't have to go through the 783 lines to discover. Um, so that that quarterly report is not only the numbers, but it's the the report itself allows you to navigate the
numbers so you can actually see what's popping and not have to go search for it. Um, so we are uh working with Katie to identify what are the cost centers that make sense right now in Milton to be able to show to be transparent to make sure people know what the budgets look like. um our budget system is
complicated by general fund, grant fund, revolving fund type of uh budgets that we have to make sure that we report out and and they go in different ways. So uh but we will provide any documents that you need. Uh I think uh monthtomonth can be generated through the system for
folks to review the but you'll have no context. I mean so it's hard to look at and say wow if you pulled it in July there'd be no payroll started yet because all the teachers start in September. If you look at revolving accounts and um you see a whole lot of money in the in the sports uh revolving
account, the athletic directors because we collected all the fees, but they haven't started to spend the money yet. So there's there's nuance and as I think people know that uh those budgeting challenges in the schools uh from being on committees already, but those are important nuances to point out. So we would rely on the quarterly reports to
kind of fulfill that detail piece of the work that that seems to be in the charge. Um I feel the the bigger part of the charge is the longer range view of what do we anticipate revenue looking like over time and what then you have to establish revenue first and then you
have to make sure your expenses are underneath that revenue number and um and I think that that's that's the key big picture question that I think that I would find value in as a taxpayer and as the interim superintendent because we we really do have an amount of money that
we have to be accountable to every year and we have to make sure that we're anticipating the revenue through the different sources that the town gets it and and adjusting our budget and prioritizing at least the school budget in a way that serves our students but also is in line with the amount of revenue that we have available. Um, so
that I so I think the long range plan of this is a really uh a really big part of what could make a difference for the town. comments in terms of looking at a report without context and then if this committee is then bogged down and
understanding trying to understand why a DPW line is a little high I think we're mismanaging our time a little bit and we can respond to questions and certainly address that and we can produce reports out of the system um on a monthly basis. I think going back again several months to when
this John Cohane really was the one pushing for this kind of a committee in the first place and his intention was bring it a chance for this committee to discuss where the pressure points are. So less of a detailed analysis rather than everybody report back you know
where are you where you experienced in savings where you experienced in pressure points and if more discussion was needed at that time dive into a little bit deeper. So we can provide reports on a monthly basis. That was our intention. And then I think giving at each meeting perhaps the schools in the
town a few minutes to report on where things are trending, good, bad or otherwise I think is what the concept was and how the committee wants to take it. We're open to it. But I think I just wanted to give a little bit of kind of background context to that. >> Yeah. And you know my I agree with that
as well. And you know my opinion um my observation you know prior to running for select board and you know watching some of the budget conversations of the past couple years. I think we have so many folks in town who are very good
at watching the budget and watching certain details, right? Um and you know again like where we can be we can always use more transparency but for me I think
what was really lacking was that sort of higher level like elevated executive level conversation about like where we're where we're coming from and where we're going. Um, so yeah. So I think, you know, I think
at this point I'm like just seeing what everybody else has said, but I think it's really critical that we we convene um some leaders in this town to have these these conversations. So question, so prior to the creation of
this committee, who's responsible for the long range planning? I assumed it was the town administrator and the selector. >> Correct. We have Yeah, we have a and we annually provide an update a five-year forecast. Um
but that that sat with our office. It will sit with our office. But in terms of a more public and more public and more robust public discussion, I think that's where we are looking for this committee to participate >> and to again have that coordination between the five-year projection and the
one of the biggest cost drivers of that expenses which is the school I think has been as robustly established historically >> and also revenue and you know planning and land use under understanding like those dynamics
and how they how land use can impact our future um our future financial picture. >> That's a question. So are we talking about operational budget only or are we also talking about capital budgets in
other types of budgets because uh capital budget uh forecasting is very very important in the sense that you uh your your any operational year can be upended by the need to replace a a huge asset in the town or not planned for. So I'm wondering if that's going to be a
parallel conversation. Yeah, I don't I agree with you, superintendent. Like I I don't think you can have I don't think you can have this type of a conversation without including capital. >> Right. >> I don't know how others feel. >> Absolutely. And has to include operating
capital and debt. >> Yes. >> Can't have all three. Great. >> If you may, I just wanted to to piggy back on something. Um Megan had just mentioned that
you know, something I think about in in my day-to-day, but also again as a resident and a taxpayer is is not just the expense um section of our budget, but also that revenue section of our budget. I think that this is good people
to discuss pressure points and and um potential uh you know different policies and procedures at individual committees and boards that might impact that as well. >> We can't spend money unless we have it.
I feel like sometimes we're focused um on new growth, but when we talk about new growth, we actually don't talk about the expense that comes with that new growth. >> That's a good point, too. Yeah. >> Yeah. If we, you know, we look at towns around us that have a larger commercial
base and they they have they might have a slightly lower residential expense, but more commercial means more police, more fire, more board of health to support the new restaurants or whatever. So, I I totally agree. >> And more housing brings more children.
>> Well, maybe, maybe not. We >> can have that conversation there, too. Okay, >> Megan, one quick thought here. Um, sounds like we're all, you know, getting clear on what the purpose is and all the
upside. I think one one downside to having this committee is that um so without this committee many of the things we'd be discussing here would happen at like big milestone moments
throughout the year at ma at our major public boards that more people are likely to be plugged into. Um, and instead, well, not not necessarily instead, but as an alternative, we're going to be having a lot of those
discussions here so that when we get to major decisions throughout the year, we've we're not like we're not asking each other those questions in the moment, finding out problems in the moment, right? We're solving them as we go. Um
and so so and just to use an just to use a a comparison to get to my point on school committee we have a practice of at our finance committee the rest of the school committee is welcome to attend and frequently does um and I have noticed that when the full school
committee is in attendance at the finance subcommittee when when then Mark does the report out at the full committee there's less discussion uh because everyone was So you're not like asking clarifying questions because you already know the answer. You were there which means that the public is less
aware of what happened in that meeting if they didn't actually watch the finance subcommittee meeting. >> Interesting. >> Um so I think there is a risk that uh the the public could somehow end up less informed on some issues because
we're having the robust discussion here in a meeting that probably very few people are watching. um and may not have that same level of discussion in the meetings that the public is actually watching. I think we just keep an eye on that. And I, you know, this is my first time, this is my
first rodeo here, so there's a there's a chance that like I don't totally know what I'm talking about here, but I think it is it is something to pay attention to and maybe listen to what people are telling us. >> Yeah. Well, it's all our first rodeo, right? >> So, that was my concern. like I h I
share that concern because that was my um concern about all these committees. So we all have you know we have the master plan implementation committee and a lot of decisions are getting made at that committee where the general public
has no idea you know I mean fortunately the planning board gets a pretty high rating on um our um meeting nights but EMP doesn't get a high rating affordable housing trust doesn't get um even conservation commission not a lot of
people aware of a lot of things um you know things buildings like 40B on Randolph AB which is so impactful now that discussion has been going on for nearly 15 years and everybody's shocked. Oh my god, where did this building come from? When did this happen? Who approved
it and they just don't see it until it's actually um being constructed and it's too late. So that's my fear about all these committees. Nobody is aware of them and then it puts more pressure on us as committee members. Now I have to
watch Empic. Now I have to watch for quality. Now I have to watch all these other things that is very timecon. >> I don't think it's a reason not to do this. I'm fully supportive of this. I think it's just a risk to be mitigated. >> But I think it brings up the question I kind of asked at the beginning which is
um are we posting these meetings? recording these and posting these for public access or not. Um, make the decision the school finance committee to record and post those and I think the reception of that has been positive. Sure. What the rest of the committee
members here think about. >> Maybe we are conscious about how we publicize and notify folks in town of what we're doing, what we're up to, purpose, etc.
Yeah, I mean from the school committee side, we plan on having any time we meet, we'll include that on the agenda and provide an update about what was broadly discussed in this meeting. >> Okay. >> Like any of our other committees >> and it's on the book agenda for report on Tuesday night as well.
>> I think there's Nathan's here. There's also the other side of that where this committee can be um amplifier for things that are happening. Um, just as uh Maggie saying, we're not all of us do not have the time to watch every single committee and catch up with
what everyone's been working on or talking about, but it is a place for all of us to hear from each other. Um, you know, the Warren Committee is going to do probably a deeper dive on all of our finances than any of us are going to do. But when do we get the opportunity to hear from the warrant committee, right?
Perhaps this is the meeting where that happens. I don't get a chance to watch every school committee meeting or hear from superintendent failing. I know I miss you too, Martin. But this is the place where we can bring up some of those issues, right? Maybe for for the school committee, I'm going
to sound just as like any other citizen in town. I'm going to have some of those questions. So, we get to play the role of a citizen that has not watched every meeting, right? We get to ask more questions openly. We can post the meetings if we choose to. So if we are
concerned about this being a place where um where we're actually kind of tamping down the conversation then we can make sure that we as the members this is a place where more information is shared um not kept from >> and we have like most other committees
like we've got a page on the town website where like any presentations any material etc that they're producing is publicly accessible and available. Correct.
>> I'm sorry, I'm distracted. >> It's okay. >> I'm asking, do we get the same like like web page, landing page type? >> Yeah, we already set it up with the charges up there. >> Cool. >> Meeting units and agendas will be um posted there and then we can certainly
slide decks, etc. Okay. and if we wanted to sort of publish what our plan for the year correct >> looks like um how how we how we want to set out this work we could do that >> and I think the other
future meeting agendas and ideas is you know is there um is there an interest in saying we'll take this conversation at this committee and and get the school committee war committee select board in a group for a meeting in October November to say here's what fiscal 27
looks like. Here's what the long reach forecast looks like. So, we're >> getting that out um into a broader group with all the people sitting around the table. I know logistically managing that in terms of running a meeting might be a little challenging, but I think it might be a good opportunity. It's something Jay's talked about before. It's something other communities do where
they have >> those three boards get together a couple of times a year. Um so, it's a way of taking this work and bringing it to that bigger audience in a much more public setting. So, >> yeah. Okay. >> All right. So,
Brian look like I was about to I was I had that question too, Brian. Um but I didn't know if you were about to say something else. >> Change the subject. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, >> and I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself, but >> one of the charges I think of this committee might be um,
>> if there's a particular policy that we want >> like in the town, like for example, like there's a climate action committee and which would affect like should affect the town, it should affect the buildings and how we manage that. There might be a way like I think about uh there might be
a way of how we might want to measure it and this is where I would think maybe we could help things like I think about um and we did this in my past company but like um measuring like electrical usage you did it by like town and you make a part of the budget process which you can
do you kind of see how you progress if you're meeting your goals if you have a plan if you have a um something you did if you're becoming more efficient or something like that save money you should have a sustainability program that should be able to theoretically save the town money which I think is
positive for us and I would think maybe there's things that we could implement here to measure those things might have a different way of looking at things that would be helpful and another thing would be like utilization sheets like I don't know if they do that on the capital planning committee I didn't see
it on the war committee last year but that would be like you know buying cars buying trucks buying this for that like what's the utilization that the town has such Just being able to measure it, I think, is helpful and important. >> I don't if you guys agree with that, but that's a thought. There's a lot of
things you can come up with. >> Yeah. >> But like, you know, if you you can like you you have to report on your budget utilities for the schools and some of them were way up last year. Like, well, what happened? You know, why were they up? like you can if you're measuring like kilowatt hours, you know, or and
measuring like what the cost per kilowatt hour is, you can see if you're being more efficient or if there might be a problem. And I think that's helpful. >> Yeah. Like why the utilities at Cunningham were sky high. It's because their um solar panels weren't working and nobody understood that they weren't
working. >> Well, the the windows are open in the winter, too, because the heating system didn't work properly. It's also an issue. >> Yeah. My daughter left her her window open and she told Consolidated Facilities and it was open when she returned in September to her classroom.
>> Well, that's a then and then like if the principal is responsible, they'll probably, you know, if we talked about the school committee, which I I thank you for embracing this, but they're going to make the principles are responsible for the cost centers. like if they could see that then they would
um care about it and they would probably address it and fix it like they would have like a ownership of it you know which I think is helpful would be helpful everybody >> sorry we're picking on the schools >> no I'm not because I you guys said you have a lot to say about wait till my turn
>> no you guys did say you do it and I think for that >> we're going to be a long group together so I want to make sure that we build relationship you won't you embraced it so So, so yeah. So, well, I think I think that that's an interesting that's an interesting idea
to consider um as we as we move forward. >> I think what's not um in the charge and hearing what Brian is saying is uh we do not have in the charge that this group can make recommendations. >> Yeah. Um and perhaps that's what we're saying is I think we talked about this a
bit at the select board too is as we go through this if with having all of these um some groups and groups together how do we make the recommendations if we find things as we have this conversation and say here's an idea we've um
discussed in this concrete line or this is a way to share or here's some things we find to be redundant how do we go about making that recommendation from this group and I think I don't know if we want we write the charge or if it's just sort of um understood that this group has the ability or should we have
the ability to make recommendations about changes or updates to our finances or process? I mean I would assume that within the conversation right like if we're talking and again I don't know Cunningham utilities super
island comes up as a thing and there's some recommendation of like you know hey solar issue was an issue a couple like I don't know I I feel like that informally using the expertise within this room would come up to say like hey I be kind of helpful if we did this or have you
all thought about this and then my opinion that then goes back to the board that is tasked within the town's bylaws to like enact that or not. I think one of the concerns we had from other school committee members is just, you know, is this a
committee that kind of supersedes the work of the finance committee in some way uh for the schools or takes that away from the rest of the school committee. And I think what we try to be very clear about is like no, this board cannot make policy. It cannot, >> you know, it's not kind of enacting
anything. It's a communication tool to share and obviously if good ideas come out of this that we're like, "Oh, that's a a great idea. John, we'll talk to Katie about that. Maybe we can do that next time we report whatever it might be." Um, I would think that'd be more of like an informal
process. >> But I think if we and I don't want to, we have 15 minutes left. Um, but I think I think there is an interesting question about if we were in like we have a year, right, to sort of pilot this But
I think depending on how well we do at having this highle strategic sort of conversation, you know, what kind of or or we might decide it now, right? But what what would be like the scope or
like the lane of a recommendation, right? And I I could see us too like maybe bumping a little too close to the warrant committee, right? But, you know, would we be able to as a committee have a voice on comment commenting to a
long-term picture? Um, you know, how a macro issue like say a new school actually impacts the long range financial health of the town. Like, would we be called upon to do
that? would we be able to have an opinion or make a recommendation that nobody has to take up but it is this group's you know this crossf functional group's opinion of xyz um I think that's I think that's a
really interesting question and a and a good thing to consider as we go forward >> I think part of the answer to that question is if you look at the charge. I think there are a range of options that
are afforded to this committee and they could include recommendations to a specific board. They could include uh generalations about how uh committee is operating or
could improve its operations and I don't think see anything that precludes a recommendation to town meeting in an article. So it depends um in part on uh the quality of the work we do and how
respected we are. But I don't think any of those options are precluded by the charge. >> Okay. Yeah. >> So my um question though is we already we already sit on boards and committees where we make our recommendations and the Warren Committee has written
pages of recommendations for town meeting um and they're ignored. The planning board has made recommendations hours and hours and hours they're ignored. So I don't why would anybody listen to our
recommendations from here? >> Well, I I think what I would suggest to you and happy to have this conversation offline as well, but I've done some analysis of when and why some of the warrant committee
recommendations started getting ignored at town meeting. I have some thoughts about why that started happening and and hopefully it's going to stop happening. But um the reason that people don't accept your recommendations is either they don't
understand it, they don't agree, or there's a a more political reason where it's because you're making the recommendation, I'm not going to I'm not going to agree with it. But I'm I'm not I'm not daunted by that at all. I think as I said it it's the quality of the
work that we do and how we educate people and I think I'm I'm still of the belief that most people are reasonable and and are open to a reasonable argument and discussion and if you make that you can persuade them. So, I I
would say I'm not worried about whether um our recommendations will be ignored because we should put the time in and and the building groundwork to make sure that when when we speak people listen, but that's going to be based on the
quality of the work that we do. >> Yeah. I just want to say I think the warm committee would probably welcome any input. My suspicion, right, Jay? Would you agree with that? I mean, as a general as a general statement, yes. But also, if Miss Hagerty said, "We don't want to encroach on the warrant
committee's purview, and I'm I I resisted from saying hallelujah." Um, I Yeah. I also want to make sure that, you know, the warrant committee keeps its job, and this group >> helps the warrant committee. >> Yeah. >> I think that's just going to be a tension with this group. How are we
stepping over into the bounds of the war committee or the select board or school committee or the town admin like what the town administrator does >> or or it may ease some tensions if the select board finance committee was doing things that the warrant committee thinks are our job. Well, here we can come
together and and pull in the same direction. So that that may ease tensions. So, I think I think we're ready to go to item number four, which is future meeting dates and agenda items. Um,
so we got everybody together for Friday 8 a.m. Um, how how does this feel? What is this the first This is the first Friday.
Do do folks like this time or >> Fridays aren't the best for me. If we do Friday morning like 7 o'clock, like I open at 9. Um, so Friday mornings it is not the best.
>> Well, yeah. I mean, it's a it's a constant question of am I taking time away from my boss or am I taking time away from my family? So, daytime or nighttime. Um, but as far as, you know, for my job, it's not the busiest at Friday morning. I'm rarely going to have
Friday morning work meetings that are going to conflict with this. So, I apologize, but if we're taking time away from my job, this is a good time to take away. Or maybe that's first question. Daytime or night time?
>> I Yeah, just share mine. this time generally works really well for me. Similar reasons, >> I would think most people here have a job. I I'm flexible. I don't. But, you know, um I would think 7 a.m. I'm not I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. So,
um but most people would probably rather do it at 7, I would think, just so they can go to their job. I run. >> No. >> So, school drop off. School drop off >> just kids unless the town can provide daycare. Never mind withdrawing to appreciate the
thought, but okay. >> I could consider 7:30. >> Yeah. >> A different day that's not Friday. >> 7:30. >> Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. >> Doesn't matter. >> Let's try Let's
>> in hybrid. Yeah. Um, >> so let's try 7:30 on Friday. >> Be October 7:30 workable for people with kids before school. So 7:30 is better than
>> Yeah. Not as good as eight. >> Not as good as eight. >> Eight's a sweet spot. >> Can we do eight? >> What if we do hybrid? Can Maggie be or >> just hybrid? >> I prefer I mean that's good, but I prefer coming in person. So,
>> we like having you in person. >> I get lost in hybrid. >> Yeah. >> But I I appreciate that. But yeah, >> let's let's try 7:30. If 7:30 doesn't work next month, then then we'll find a different solution.
Um Okay. And um for next month, we'll how about we start to take a look at the um the current forecast. We'll or we can also discuss this offline too, but uh maybe think about
cracking open the five-year forecast and starting there. Um I totally agree. I think the five-year forecast is intertwined with the new reserve fund we set up with the um with
override and how that's going to be used. >> So chicken and the egg. Do we figure out how that's going to be used first? I guess start looking at the five-year forecast and start figuring things out. But >> yeah. >> Yeah. I assume within a five-year
forecast that town has can share what they're currently their current plan is. >> Yeah. So we can we can bring the five-year forecast in the reserves the new reserves policies to the table and that can be our starting point
just getting everybody just doing a primer on it and having a having a discussion and then we can set from there. I just note in terms of already brought up our new growth forecast and we're going to be at closer to 1.35
million. So now that's 1.2 million over the next four years that we weren't counting on. So already our >> I didn't follow that math. >> So our our new growth was 350 grand above our forecast and then that every year in perpetuity that that 350 grand
is new. So now we've already got $1.2 million more in the next four years than we anticipated. five months ago. So now the flip side could happen where new growth plummets. We don't necessarily expect that, but that's an example of even since we uh refined that forecast in the spring
for the annual budget. There's good news there. Obviously, there's bad news elsewhere, but I think to your point, it's it's an inter forecast. Thinking about the reserve policy together is is a helpful exercise. So, one piece of information that I
think would be helpful and would inform both what we think we should be working on and also how frequently we should meet is the timelines for budget preparation. So, schools I know
used to have a calendar. Um, I know has a calendar. Uh the Lauren committee I I think has a calendar, but I I I'd be interested in seeing or helping create um budget timelines so that we understand what the um schedule is we're
working with because we won't know if we're off schedule or on schedule. We don't have a schedule. So, I'm happy to try to gather that information because I think I think we still have a bylaw, Nick, that says budgets have to
be submitted by December 1st. Is that correct? >> And that that's what we're working. We'll we'll we will need that. Let me >> good. So, um, seems to me this is this is the crunch period between now and December 1st that a lot of activity
should be occurring and it' be helpful to know if again we're on schedule off schedule. So, I'll try to gather some information and be ready with that. It may be the case that during this um relatively compressed period, we might
need to meet uh a little more frequent can figure that out the schedules. I mean, that's a great point. I think that also my mind may maybe the five-year forecast less of a priority than the next year's
revenue project like the some of the stuff that we were doing when finance and super meeting I think we're trying to do here. >> I would absolutely agree. >> Yeah. >> If you think think about sequencing decision making um preparation of next year's budget comes ahead of the five-year forecast. They're not they're
they're related. And the exciting thing about the five-year forecast is, and we've we've done one, John and I, at least um years ago, we did a three-year plan. And the exercise that was most helpful was what are your assumptions about revenue and what are your assumptions about expenses? What are
your uh and how those expenses might change or grow? So it it really forces you to think about in a way with some structure what's what's going to happen and and
that helps to inform people about so we've we've done a pretty thorough analysis and what uh our conclusion is that at this year two years three years five years we're going to need another override that's much better than kind of surprise >> yes
>> need an override next year so I think it'll It'll be a helpful exercise if we can do it. >> And um again, if I may, there's um there's a couple things that were on this agenda that I'm curious if this committee is curious about. Right. So
the the FY25 year and close out the where we are for FY26 and then thinking about FY27 too, right? So if you want to delve into specific years like that, I think that will help. I'm speaking for Amy on her behalf here.
But but that would help like inform some prep materials that we could get this committee in advance of that. So >> um so I think that that would be helpful, right? Like so we know what >> and I have time. So if folks want to stay and go through those quickly just as a brief update, we can do that or we
can call the meeting and I can we can report on the next meeting. >> Yeah. Um, how about I mean I have I have some time um for us to for us to go through those, but may maybe we can call it for we'll call the
meeting now. >> Will that still be an open meeting if a bunch of us are sitting around chatting about >> Yeah, >> it's got to be less than a quarter. >> It'll be if it's less than a We can still record it. >> We can still We can still record it. But yeah, if folks just being sensitive to the fact that it is 9:00 a.m. um and
folks folks have day jobs um myself included, but I I would like to hear really quickly the the updates on that. But if there are any materials for folks to be able to read. >> Yep.
>> Um this may also be a reason to start the meeting earlier than aid since we have such good dialogue. goes by very quickly. >> It does. It does. Um, so yeah, >> I think you're saying um you might stay,
some of us might stay and get an update, but >> we can keep the meeting open. >> Send the information out to everyone. >> Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, >> who will have to leave? Will we have a quarum or not? I got to go. I got to go. >> Yeah, >> I can stay.
>> This is pretty. >> I can stay. I can stay for like three more minutes. >> Is it okay if we have a quorum and continue the meeting? >> The other members are okay with that. >> We'll get the recording going.
>> Let us know what you sign up for. >> Everything. >> Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I failed to print this. >> Thank you. >> Copy. You got it.
So in terms of fiscal 25 and this is the report uh the select board would have seen we reported at finance committee and um a select board meeting. So 25 is closed. Uh we're rolling through year and closeout processes. Auditors have already been in and working towards certifying free cash over the next uh
several weeks. Um right now you're looking at where our revenue came in over against budget. So the revised budget and the first budget they're the same amount. Um but property taxes um in excess of
expectation. Uh I'll just fly a couple of high points. Motor vehicle excise nearly 900 grand over budget. Uh penalties and interest uh about um almost $600,000 over budget. That's largely due to some uh pressure on the collections front um from the treasur's
office. Um that is just targeting some kind of longerterm delinquent taxpayers. Building permits. We had a couple of larger projects permitted last year. Um but permits have stayed steady and active and and busy. That department remains very busy. And then lastly,
investment income, interest income, which is um you know due to the money management of the treasur um fortunate times in terms of where interest rates are. Um but at the bottom the bottom line is we're uh 3.685 million over
budget. So as you think about how does free cash get calculated, this is one of the building blocks of that which is where did our revenue compare against our budget. So um on the good side is it's high uh we're over budget. Um you know obviously that interest income
there's certainly an amount that we should be able to count on year-over-year but it's not going to be $1.4 million um year-over-year. So as we think about our budget forecast and revenue forecast for 27 and beyond um keeping that in mind and then um just the broader macroeconomic conditions
that you know if building permits slow down, new growth will slow down and that kind of cascading effect. If folks are buying fewer new cars um we'll see those. So there's certainly um good news this year. Uh we'll continue to monitor and report back as we progress through
uh fiscal 26. Can I ask a question? Sure. Oh, maybe a point, but like um if I I it's like there's some big variances to the budget and you're explaining it. Thank you. But if you could see the history like what was it last year? >> Yeah, we have distribute.
>> If it was part of this, it would be you could tell you if you were something was wacky or >> and we're purposely concerned. We're we're trying to not raise these local receipts because if we get used to local receipts being high when they drop now
whereas operating budgets will have to drop it as well. So we try to keep it conservative. Uh so the our our forecasts are conservative. Um like interest income are never going to increase that to a million dollars. It's always going to be low. Um so but we'll we'll get that history. Uh we have a
report that shows up. And can I I'm just gonna hop on that on what Nick mentioned as like tax leans like to the extent that we're collecting those right now. That's a one-time situation right now that's in the tax >> outstanding taxes that are owed.
>> That's not normal. Each year you collect >> No. Well, it hasn't been historically, >> but but once it's collected, it's not collectible next year again, right? So, so we want to make sure that that we're not budgeting for that, >> right? >> Like that that would tell me that. I'd
say, "Oh, yeah, you forgot to budget for that." >> Well, that's like call it somebody's behind on their taxes for 10 years and we catch them up and that's in that number now they're current. >> Nice to catch up. Yeah. >> Okay, that's good to know. Thank you. >> So, we maybe we earned $200,000 because they caught up, but for the next 10 years, they're going to pay us 10 grand
a year. So, it's um >> and then just transitioning uh to expenditures. I won't go through these in detail, but um I'll distribute this report so folks can see it. Um at the end of the day, I'll just scroll down to the bottom. Um we had turnbacks of about
a million dollars um across all the departments. Um that is largely due to a couple of larger departments having some vacancies, police in particular. >> Good direction or the bad direction? >> A million dollar under spent. So good direction. So again, the building blocks
for free cash, $3.6 million over budget as a positive and a million dollar underbudget. So that building block is about that one $4.6 million range. Don't say we're going to have that free cash. We won't, but it's kind of the foundation that we're building upon. Um
we in the spring we put a freeze on on purchasing and we put a PO freeze in place just as the schools did as the schools were facing their budgetary um issues that we were working through. We had the same we had a huge snow and ice year um you know $811,000 snow and ice
budget against $ 160,000 appropriation. So we had um halted a lot of spending which um contributed to some of the turnback here. Um a lot of it was really just vacancies. um we weren't sure um where the schools would land. We weren't sure where our DPW budget would land. So
we had um halted some spending. Um so at the end of the day, again, a million-doll turnback. Um and as we do with any kind of budget process, we'll be taking a look um as we build the fiscal 27 budgets to say, all right, if you underspent, why? If you came in over
budget, why? If you spent exactly your appropriation magically, how did you get there? in um just to make sure we're we're budgeting appropriately. Department heads are spending their dollars correctly. Um >> obviously I'd love to dig into that health insurance number, but I won't make everybody suffer through that. I
thought it was going to be a big negative >> there. This is our health insurance budget, which is based on premiums and charges from that we pay. The health insurance trust was a big negative. Okay. >> So that's >> So um
>> yeah. So Nick, did you say that doesn't become free cash? >> This is the starting points, right? I'm loathed to say. >> Yeah, I was I was wondering, are you saying don't hold me to this, which is fine? Are you saying this is totally, you know, there's a $3 million bad guy out there that we aren't showing,
>> right? That's >> okay. You're just saying don't hold you to this. >> This the building blocks are the revenue and expense of bud and and above budget and the expense turnback, which gets you to the 4.7 million >> round number for now. And then we'll go through the free cash um certification
process and there will be deficits in various accounts that will erode that and assumptions that DLS will make us make that will tweak that. So we're it's a great starting point needless to say in terms of >> cash certification by the end of October.
>> We're hoping for sooner than that. Um but that's our target. We have a town meeting October 27th. We have a proposed appropriation out of free cash for the special election. So we if we don't have reach by then that uh throws that um off. So our we're very much working
towards that. >> Okay. >> So that's 25 and I'll distribute this um and then we can kind of dig into things if folks want to. Um I don't >> Can I ask a question? I'm sorry. But like so we had just had a $9.5 million override, right?
>> Is that saying that we could have had like a four and a half >> if we had less? >> Yeah. If we magically knew exactly what our local receipts were going to be, sure. But then that means when investment income is not $1.4 million, but it's $300,000, now you have a $1.1
million hole you didn't have. So >> that I wouldn't look at it that way, >> but maybe there's some But theoretically, >> motor vehicle X has the same thing. Like values of cars have been skyrocketing, but if folks stop buying cars, it's that's where the variability the variability in our budget in terms of
revenue is really in local receipts. everything else is kind of set. So I am loathed to be too aggressive on any of that um because of the spectre of getting it wrong. >> Also about a million in free cash every year is spent on capital which if we
didn't have that free cash we wouldn't buy capital that year but that's >> so that's take a million dollars out of that if you're >> um I don't have any presentation for 26 and 27. I'll just talk about a couple of points high level. Um so for 26 um
obviously we're going to be watching health insurance um and how those costs trend very closely. Um it's so early in the year it's hard to get a good read on much. We've had a number of vac excuse me still um Milton Fire is hiring five
firefighters to fill vacancies. They won't go to the academy until December. So those positions will be open for a while. Milton Police again um working through some vacancies and getting candidates ready into the academy and then working as officers. DPW we have a number of vacancies including the town
engineer um which remains a pressure point in terms of operational um management but also just that's a it's a higher salary. So that that's good in the sense that we're not spending it but bad in the sense of we need a town engineer. Um >> what would you say for around police?
police. We currently have one candidate in the academy and two vacancies right now. Fire has five candidates lined up um to go tomies this year. >> And is police filling those vacancies or
>> Yes. Yeah. No, where they're working towards the there's a new civil service list that just got um certified in the last few weeks. >> And then um >> and if anyone knows an assistant treasurer, >> I was just going to say treasur's office is short a person uh
>> full time >> full time full time >> we've hired >> we've hired a planning director who won't start till October 1st um the assistant planning directors um position is vacant uh so we have a few vacancies in our office um otherwise departments
are in are in decent shape but Milton police and fire DPW with some vacancies collective bargaining agreements all expired on June 30th of 25 we're at various stages of negotiations with those um different groups. Um snow and ice obviously it's a
pressure point every year. Um it's an unknown. Um last year was high. The year before that was was manageable. Um so we'll we'll see what the year brings us. As DPW has those vacancies, it means we're relying more on outside help which is more expensive. So um it all kind of
cascades together. Um that's the sh I don't know John if you have anything that you want. Yeah, we uh just so everybody knows we have uh paid great attention to the budget uh looking back at FY 2425 and how it influences 26 and obviously really eager to get into FY27
always looking back a couple of years as we experience a year and look forward one year. Um we have uh benefited greatly by the override funds. We're very thankful. Uh but in doing so, in reflecting on the analysis of what are we projected for budgeting and what are
we actually spending across those three years, we saw a lot of holes that were developed over the course of the last few fiscal years and um and also some of our revolving accounts that have been at lower balances that had to be utilized in order to get out of previous fiscal years that have drained those accounts
that are super important to be stabilizers in our in our budget. So, uh, with those concerns, even with an override, I reduced about $920,000 of personnel for this year in order to make sure that FY26 is, um, going to end in an appropriate
way. Um, and we will, uh, continue to look at as a policy, I mean, as a finance subcommittee, our revolving account structure and talk about policies for minimal minimum balances that we think should be in place or working towards minimum balances. uh because some of those shock absorbers
are very uh important in order to make the whole budget work. And one of those circuit breakers could be our facilities account. Um the uh community schools account um the circuit breaker uh and stabilization fund for special education
as an example should be around $3.1 million and we have $8,741 in it. So we are absolutely uh on this on the surface we're looking like the pond is good and the duck is just going like this but the legs are really churning underneath it to make sure it
works right. Uh so we want to set some expectations around what those uh revolving accounts should have in balances and then incrementally work there year to year. We're not going to get 3 million from anybody to make that account full and whole. But what we can do is set goals over the next 3 to 5
years to to accumulate money into those accounts. So the the entire budget is stabilized because when there's any interruption in our day-to-day work with children, uh those revolving accounts allow that pressure to go up and down a little bit and relieve the pressure on
the traditional budget. Uh which is pretty stagnant. Expenses are pretty, you know, we have a good handle on those. So we're we're in a good shape. So we'll set policy around revolving accounts. We set the year off. We examined every part of our payroll versus our staff count in every
building. We made we had our principal sign off on every staff member in their building. And then we compared that to payroll and we compared that to our actual budget to make sure that we were starting on the right, you know, the tile, the first tile that we put down on the kitchen floor of straight. So the rest of the tiles will work for the rest
of the year. So, uh, we think that we've set ourselves up for success this year and we plan on um having a very in-depth conversation with the budgeting process this year. Uh I'm not going to call it a full zerobased budgeting exercise, but it's going to be something similar where
everybody uh every principal and every department head will have to demonstrate the need that they have in order to provide the positions and the resources in order to meet those needs versus rolling everything over automatically. So, we're really going to challenge that uh a little bit this year uh in order to
make sure that whatever we're providing uh for staffing and supplies and resources and professional development is going towards the direction that we feel the district needs to go uh and create a foundational budget for FY27 that the next superintendent can come in and you know feel comfortable that
they're on a square solid foundation moving forward. So that'll be a lot of discussion on our side and I would like to match up with whatever the town budget calendar is should be the school budget calendar. It should be a town budget calendar. So whatever timelines that you all have we will uh overlap and
in and be parallel with. Absolutely. So we can work in um in partnership with this budget being available for everybody in the same timeline the next budget is available. >> That's great news. >> Yeah. Thanks John. And just briefly looking ahead at 27 in
terms of some pressure points. Um obviously the collective bargain agreements um for both county and schools health insurance we had a 14% premium increase there. Um we'll be meeting with our consultant to evaluate our options in terms of as we move forward to 27 um
more broadly as to um health insurance benefit um that we offer. uh debt service um we did a short-term note issuance um that got sold yesterday um but we're waiting to issue long-term
bonds next year uh which will this time next year which will coincide with the completion of the East Milton Fire Station project. So just strategically going to line up a longerterm issuance then. So, um, our debt service budget incorporates, um, this forecast, but
we'll just have to refine it with what, um, with borrowing conditions at that time and exactly what we're putting out. Um, utility costs. So, our current electric and gas rates are effective, um, through midpoint, fiscal 27.
They expire December of 26. Um, as anybody who's been watching the news and is looking at your own electric bill, uh, you know, those numbers are are creeping up. We're at 13.5 kilowatt hour for electric for um supply. Um but with all the um pressure
points that folks have seen on electricity, that is um something we're keeping an eye on. We're already working on pricing um with our consultant on utilities. That was a three-year um rate that we had locked in and it expires December of 26.
Um, I mentioned I'll mention pension and OPED. Um, only that we have a new funding schedule for pension um that should be coming out and an evaluation that coming out this month. Um, our oped policy sets $2.5 million aside for those long-term liabilities. So, we don't
expect to need more than that. Um, but I just flag it as >> it's not an unknown, but we should be fine there. So, >> have there been discussion on this? you know, doesn't have to be right now, but I really like to be brought up to speed with the schedule and people are thinking and what the actuar is recommending. >> Yeah, that all it'll come in later this
month, end of the September meeting. >> I'm not behind on anything. >> No, no, you're not. No, we haven't received anything. And then lastly, just in terms of large capital, um I mentioned the East Milton Fire Station project, which is well underway. Cunningham phase one finished this summer. Phase two will be next year.
That's another $1.4 millionish project. Um but the big um other than the school is Athetherton Street Fire Station which um our funding model doesn't quite support the way was anticipated. Um so we'll need to go to town meeting and the
voters on Athens Street Fire Station. Um we're still working with the fire station building committee to start those conversations about timeline um scheduling and what that might look like. Um so it's it doesn't necessarily affect the operating budget because that's excluded debt. that's kind of
outside of um you know taxpayers will be taking that on directly rather than um affecting the operating budget but it is an additional cost potentially um to keep in mind when we're thinking about how we address budgets uh big picture.
So those are kind of the big pressure points that we see for 27 um that we need to work through over the next little bit. Is there doom coming from state aid which might indirectly be federal aid which might be >> it's it's such an unknown. I think it's
it's >> it's an unknown but >> it's an unknown but it's not a positive unknown. I think it's it's more of a it's a concern that we need to keep watching pay close attention how the governor's budget's going to be shaking out and then any additional there's not unlike the school side
there's not a lot on the town side if anything that's really supported by federal dollars directly. It's more kind of the indirect support to the state that trickles down to us. I know the schools benefit more directly than we do. >> Yeah, we're worried about um some of the IDEIDA and education department uh
grants that that may be impacted in the next few fiscal years. Nothing has come about this year. They they pretty much funded um this the funding was stable this year from the federal government. Uh but the worry is moving forward that some of that might be disrupted. I just know if we could already foresee,
oh, the state of Massachusetts is getting cut by a huge amount and obviously it's going to trickle down to us. >> The benefit of chapter 70 is it's a law. It requires minimum funding every year. Um, so to to cut that would be a very significant departure and there'd be a
lot more macroeconomic problems. There'd be a lot of problems at that point. Um, I think, you know, it's kind of the secondary effects of if there are more people without insurance, how does that affect the broader health insurance market? How does that affect our health insurance rates? So, um, all that's intertwined obviously, but nothing
directly that we're aware of at this time. Think with that, that's all I had. >> Thank you >> to meeting. >> Thank you all, Judge.
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