Right. Good evening. Welcome to the warrant committee meeting of December 15, 2025. Uh Karen, if you're online, can you call roll so we can start the meeting? >> I cannot hear anyone speak.
Okay, I see you halfway there. >> We're sorry. Um, I'm going to call the role because I haven't seen everybody in the room. Yeah. Okay. >> But I know I know we have Jay. Uh, Macy.
>> Macy. No. >> Nicole. >> Yes. >> No. Not Elaine. >> Nope. >> Lorraine. >> Yes. >> Grace. >> Yes. >> Larry.
>> Larry's not here. Andrew >> here. >> Julia >> here. >> I apologize. Andrew's online. >> And I think we have Julia and Brian. >> Yeah. >> Yes.
>> Lee, Michael, Ron, Nick, >> Cecil, >> you have a quorum. >> Okay. Great. So, the first thing on the agenda will be uh the second thing on
the agenda is minutes because, as requested, move minutes up to the early part of the agenda. But before that, we're going to have uh Mr. Milano, our town administrator, come speak with us about where the budget stands for the moment. >> Wherever you're comfortable, Good evening. Thank you uh for having me
and taking the time. Um I will provide a brief update with some slides just to show where we are um in pulling together the fiscal 27 budget um in my notebook in the office. So if there are any questions, I'll take notes on this
and transcribe them later. Uh just give me a minute and I will um turn on the zoom so I can share the screen. I was not ready in the moment. Um so just to share generally where things stand is that we have
received um departmental requests from um all the town departments. we have um provided those as well to the warrant committee through a shared folder with um all of those requests um in an Excel format. If there's any additional information or additional background
information that would be helpful um feel free to reach out to myself, to Amy Dexter, to the departments you're working with. I know most of you, if not all of you have had at least initial conversations or reached out um to begin those conversations on a department by department basis. So, um obviously
whatever you we can do to make um our folks available, we will do that. >> Is there information in each of the folders? Cuz I went in I think last week and see >> some of the larger like shared budgets may not be in there. Um so if you don't see something you're looking for if you
ping myself or Amy, we will get you that information. Okay. Yeah. So she can run through that. >> All right. So when I was here in August, September when the committee had its summit, um I talked at a greater length and in in
more detail about um in particular the revenue that we use on an annual basis as part of the operating budget. Uh so I'm not going to go into as much specific line by line detail. Um but I'll provide an overview. I'm happy to take questions about any of these um as
we go through. Um a couple of them are estimates at this point that we will look to refine as we get additional information over the next couple of months. Um by the end of January, we will arrive at what we view as pretty final estimates for each of these revenue categories that aren't final at
this point. the largest line share of our revenue obviously is t property taxes um and our property tax levy for fiscal 27. So everything is we're talking about the 27 budget. So in fiscal 27 we're assuming a
um that will increase the levy as to the greatest capacity that we're supposed to or able to under prop 2 and a half which is a 2 and a half% levy increase. That comes out to about $2.8 million in new tax revenue. In addition to that, we're able to capture um new growth that
occurs in the prior year um as part of the fiscal 27 levy. Um so that will get us and as of right now, we're holding that as an estimate at $1 million. Each of the past four years, we've we've surpassed um that $1 million figure. In fiscal 26, new growth was measured
measured at 1.499 million, which is the highest it's been um ever. And that's largely due just to the to the developments that are going up around town. Number 40B and other projects are being built as we speak. So we're as the buildings go up, we're able to capture
value there um and tax them. Um so as they come online, we'll capture it as new growth and then they'll remain on the levy as part of the base moving forward. So the total increase on property taxes, which again is the line share of our revenue, is $3.8 million from fiscal 26. So So that's $3.8 8
million in quote unquote new funding available for the 27 budget. The other categories are somewhat smaller local receipts. We budget at a 1% increase right now. That's about a $10 million budget. So, we're budgeting a 1% increase which translates to about $100,000. Again, this one is we're
diving a little bit more in depth into to try to refine that um for fiscal 27. This is a place and I we discussed this at the summit meeting where we've had um revenue over and above our budget um through motor vehicle excise taxes through interest income on money that
the town is earning on its savings um building permit fees like I just mentioned with new growth as we have large developments um we're generating a significant amount of building permit revenue 582 Lab which is a new 40B project 84 units which started site
clearance in the last couple of weeks and has a building permit and its building permit fee was over $400,000. So that'll contribute to these um significant income in fiscal 26, our current year. Our challenge is to try to forecast what the next fiscal year will
bring in. Uh for indirect cost from enterprise funds, I flagged this because this is about an $80,000 item year-over-year. So um I can explain this more detail if I need to, but we operate three enterprise funds, water, sewer, and storm water. They pay for their expenses in the individuals that or
share of the individuals that work for them and then we charge back to those enterprise funds for fringe benefits for employees, health insurance, retirement, etc. That's where um this payment comes back to the general fund. State aid is second biggest category.
This is about $17 million overall um for fiscal 27. Again, in keeping it conservative at this point in the year, we're anticipating 1% increase for chapter 70 education aid, which is the largest of these categories. Um, and 2% for unrestricted general government aid,
which is the second largest. The general government unrest general unrestricted general government aid, UGGA is the acronym, um, is about 3.83.9 million. So, um, it's not a huge amount on a year-over-year basis. the chapter 78 70
um education aid is larger. So we're estimating about a 1% increase or about $130,000. Um these numbers will be updated when we the governor releases her state budget which comes in the middle of January. So they're placeholders for now and then
what we'll use in the budget moving forward is what Governor Healey announces when she releases the state budget. That typically happens in mid January. The other key data point to that is that um the state will set its consensus revenue forecast for fiscal 27. That will happen likely tomorrow um
at the state level. Um House Ways and Means and Senate Ways and Means are meeting tomorrow to to set that consensus revenue number. So that will give us a little bit of insight where we expect that state aid. Uh I will note that there are um increasing pressures on that state budget especially as there
have been policy changes at the federal government level that um are impacting how the state is looking at its budget. So state aid has been um okay for Milton the last several years and it's one we're hoping it'll remain so but um we're waiting to see what that budget
will look like when it comes out in January. So the bottom line is if you take all of that together in terms of what is new revenue for fiscal 27 from last year to this year it's a total of $4.2 million just shy of a 3% increase of which 3.8 million is is property
taxes. So you know as we are if we're hopefully able to adjust some of these upwards I I just do so noting that that doesn't mean there's going to be another $3.8 million um of revenue. It will be even where we're able to make some adjustments. It's not going to be um on
the scale of millions. It'll be more on the scale of hundreds of thousands. Um so overall right now as things stand, we're looking at a $4.2 million increase in new funding or a 3% increase over year. There are other revenue sources that we have, but they haven't been rolled into the math that we're looking
at here. Free cash is um certified at $4.5 million. That money is available to be appropriated. Um, our new financial policy that select board recently um, looked at is that we won't use free cash, which is largely onetime money for
recurring budget expenses. So, we wouldn't look to inject that into the budget to fund recurring expenses, but there might be one-time expenses within our budget that we could fund with free cash as well as make contributions to stabilization funds, to reserves, and
uh, fund our capital budget. The other um revenue source I want to flag is the operating budget stabilization fund which was voted in as part of the override in fiscal 26. Um so there's a recurring um additional component of that override which is $700,000. So the
override was $9.5 million in total. 700,000 of which was dedicated to an operating budget stabilization fund. That number can increase up to two and a half% each year if the select board so votes. Um, so that's a recurring um, source that's going right now directly into that operating budget stabilization
fund, but Town Me can appropriate money from that fund with a two-thirds vote. Um, that fund was also capitalized with a $2 million appropriation from free cash. So, um, at the beginning of the year, the balance was $2.7 million and then in fiscal 27, if there was money put into it or money taken out of it,
that would affect that balance. But where we where the numbers that you're looking at and when we provide a summary overview of where things stand, it doesn't assume any injection of that into the budget. Um, as of today, >> question. Um, we put $2 million in the
stabilization fund, right? Free cash. Does that mean the free cash was 6.5 million or was it or was it did it go from four and a half? >> It was the prior year's free cash. Yeah. So, it was about $4 million last year of of which $2 million was put into this
fund. So, there's the free cash, the $4.5 million number that I mentioned was certified as of June 30, 2025. So, that is what's available to be appropriated and not 60,000 of it has been appropriated for the election, but otherwise it hasn't been touched. >> So, did we have So, there was 2 million
from the year before this. >> There was four and then you took two out. Yeah. There was two from two years ago and then there's four and a half from this past year. Correct. >> So it's total six and a half million total if you cash. >> Uh no if we're combining the years. >> So there's about 4 million the pri
there's about 4 million at the end of fiscal 24 the exact number is escaping me now. Um but that is the free cash certificate certified amount that 2 million of which was used for the operating budget stabilization fund. It was about 4 million.
>> Yes. Then we appropriated all of it. Then at the end of fiscal 25 a new free cash amount was certified at 4.5 million and that's what is >> appropriated. >> So we had you know four and a half appropriate all went to zero certified again at around four and a half and now
we're talking about how to spend that money in fiscal 27 >> and now that we're MBTA compliant we could do grants. Right. >> Correct. >> So that's also >> Oh yes. No, exactly. The where we would have been um
ineligible for unlikely to receive significant grants um were back available and we've um started to receive grants that we hadn't receive before. Those those typically aren't supporting operating budgets so much as discrete most of the grants that we go
after are funding like discrete capital projects or discrete studies that are more like one-time things. um the schools there's there's more opportunities there for the schools to support services through um grants.
So partly I'm asking, partly I'm sharing for free cash. The town of Milton, at least in recent years, has I'll say spent down every penny of it. Spent some of it is putting money into our savings account. We zero that out. Now, I
believe that you working with the select board have a new policy that you and a lot of other towns leave money in the free cash account from year to year. And I think you and the select board have adopted a new policy that you're going to leave some money in the free cash account every year. Is that correct? >> Yes.
>> Yep. Um and so that starting so we know, knock on wood, we're starting the next year with the with the balance already. It's another way to call it a reserve. So it it just sets it aside. There have been years where that free cash has been very low. Um this gives us a little so if something were to come up and we
needed um to make an appropriation, that source was there. You keeping it a percentage or how is you deciding? >> Yeah, it was 10%. >> Oh, 10% over cash it's going to stay. Okay. >> So, if it goes into this account, it's not earning interest. So, difference?
>> No. uh it would be considered as it will be shown on our balance sheet as free cash but it will be considered as part of our overall cash flow purposes of which the treasur will manage and put into accounts and out of accounts to incur earnings. If that money was for
example appropriated to stabilization fund that is managed separately and apart and though any of those earnings in a stabilization fund stay with the stabilization fund. So the interest income that we talk about when it's local receipts, that's just general earnings on all of the town's money.
Save except for stabilization funds and other like dedicated trust funds. All right. So in terms of expenses, I didn't run through um an overview. I'll I'll just speak to them kind of generally. Um you have the department by department budget. Um, a couple of the
other key um, larger expenses are health insurance. Health insurance right now is budgeted um, and I'll speak at greater length about health insurance in a moment, but health insurance right now is budgeted at a 7% year-over-year. Um, our pension system is fully funded. So,
um, in fiscal 27, our projection includes under shared, the shared column includes our, um, appropriation to the pension system, which is in accordance with the 2-year funding schedule set out by the retirement board. Um, other post-employment benefits. So, there's a,
um, about a 1.6 million appropriation to the other post-employment benefits trust, Yope Trust, um, in accordance with our financial policy. So, that's incorporated in the shared um, amount under fiscal 27. The other large kind of nondep departmental um appropriation at
the top of my head would be general insurance which is um property um automobile just our general liability insurance as well as our workers comp coverage that's budgeted at an 8% year-over-year that's about a um a million dollar budget um overall
slightly more um that's also um covered here in the shared category. Otherwise, um the requests that we've received from department heads, um on the town side have been totaled here under town. Um so in the aggregate, it's about a 3.6% year-over-year increase.
Some departments are going up slightly more, some slightly less. Our collective bargaining contracts all expired on June 30 of 2025. Um so the fiscal 27 doesn't have any appropriations for those contracts within each departmental budget. in the
terms of any cost of living adjustment or other um new wage and otherwise benefit that is awarded. The town budgets those as an entirely separate budget account called the collective bargaining wage set aside. So that um account has been close to doubled from
last year, not quite but close to doubled from last year to account for um potentially two years of a collective bargaining agreement uh when and if we reach agreements with with our unions, our seven unions on the town side. Um so a few departments have um have had
requests over and above um a slight increase but that's just due to contractual changes. So we have worked on a level service budget on the town departmental side. Um we haven't finished going through and consolidating and and identifying from my perspective
um any tweaks we would make to those departmental budgets. So we'll do that and provide an update as in terms of what my recommendation is for all those budgets. But what right what I'm showing right here is those requests as received. Um >> have to go down once you go through it a
little bit to maybe >> is that the hope >> down or up I guess. Yeah. But um right now we're looking at down based on >> the budget balance. >> And what um what we've done for the schools is again just this is all kind of ear still early stages is that 5.2%
2% increase that we're showing has been a number that they've talked about with their um finance subcommittee um at meetings. So that's what we're showing here is a 5.2% year-over-year schools. Um Blue Hill Regional, I carve that out just because it's not quite a school's expense, not quite a shared expense. So
we have students who go to Blue Hills Regional Vocational and Technical High School. So we get an annual appropriation for that. This appropriation has been all over the place the last few years just based on school population. So we budgeted increase. It could go up more than that or it could go down significantly. Um
we'll get final numbers on that in um February March time frame. Um and I I mentioned the shared expenses. The other shared expenses I I just want to flag is debt service. Um so we haven't quite finalized our debt service budget. That's a place where um we've had significant growth as anticipated in
fiscal 27. I know I've talked about this a few different times whether with the firewall committee um but a lot several large projects that in a normal cycle would have been appropriate or would have been borrowed in the last few years
are all kind of coming together at once in fiscal 27 in terms of what we expect to borrow for. So in June of 22 at town meeting town meeting approved a $1.6 million ladder truck. They take four years to arrive now. So we're expecting arrival of that in June, July. So
whereas you might typically have borrowed that in 22 23 and already started making payments on it. We're going to make an initial payment if we receive it as expected um in fiscal 27. Uh the lower turf field project which is $2 million in borrowing authorization
also approved I believe in 2022 has been held up through conservation and other and now been appealed by Butters. Um so that project's been delayed. um it's been heard um through an appeals process through Mass D. So, we expect a hearing
at uh an answer at some point in the coming months. We don't know quite when, but again, that's a $2 million project that if we get a hearing or um a ruling in the town's favor in the next several months, that could be built next construction season. So, again, um that's a significant cost that would be
we would first be paying the debt for in fiscal 27. Um, and then lastly, we did the Cunningham renovation, which was um a larger than typical borrowing project that we would fund. Um, and I know this one is another fire engine that's due to
arrive um next year that al was ordered in 2023 that hasn't arrived yet that we expect in the new year or uh in like March, April time frame. So, um that is another factor in the in the shared budget um that I wanted to to
speak about. So the bottom line is where things stand today with the town departmental requests as submitted by department heads with our shared costs as we anticipate them today with the schools kind of initial number that we're using just to to show where things
are at. Um we're at a $2.5 million um $2.5 million in expenses more than we have in revenue. Um you know we have a large school budget and as you can see that increase is almost $3.8 million. And if we go back to the property tax
increase, that increase year-over-year is almost $3.8 million. So that eats up almost all of our Prop 2 and a half um available revenue. Um and as we're seeing on the town side, and I know schools see it too, is the cost of doing business doesn't keep up with quite with
Prop 2 and a half. So it's the challenge we face. Um so the work that we need to do is to identify ways to adjust these um expenses where where possible and maintaining level service where possible and then look at ways to where our
revenue finalize our revenue projection so we have a better handle on where this all stands. Um you know I'm talking more than showing so I don't if there's any questions in what I've just discussed here. >> So question for the deficit. So, does that come out of free cash to pay for that or are we covering that extra?
>> In theory, yes, it could, but then we're paying $2.5 million with onetime money for a cost that we will also have in fiscal 28. We might not have a revenue source for that. So, um the short answer is yes, sure. But the long answer is really that's that wouldn't be a sustainable way.
>> All right. Okay. Um so a combination hopefully of finding places where expenses we have them today can come down where if we feel comfortable with increasing our revenue production projection great um but you know the town departmental budgets increasing at
3 and a half% year that's also not really sustainable when we look at a revenue increase of about 3% a year. Um so it's it's a matter of trying to work through these things as much as possible. I'll just note that in fiscal 28, our trash collection contract comes
up, our trash disposal contract comes up, and our recyclables disposal contract all comes up. So, those are three large contracts that are signed and under agreement through fiscal 27, but then they come out in 28. You know, recyclables market, maybe that'll be in
better shape than it is today. But it's just one of those kind of unknown factors that we're not even talking about for 27. So, um I >> think I have two questions. Sure. The the um >> the trash stickers that you just talked about, does that come through is that
local receipts? I don't know where that is on the revenues. >> Yes. Uh trash sticker fee revenue comes in under local receipts. Um it's about 1.5 1.6 million. >> Perfect. And then that one um issue one that we just voted on for the property
tax one time is that that was spent I get I'm never quite sure where that is. Or is that part of the >> the which override? >> The override. Yeah. The over is the override. >> This is 700,000 that's going to >> So there's Yeah, there's $700,000 in the overrid that is recurring. Got it.
>> That we have not >> it's not showing up in the revenue column. >> Okay. I just want to make total sure of that. Is that And that is that the 700 from a couple slides ago. Correct. in the stabilization. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Got it. Got it. So I sorry I was just not quite sure where that fell in. >> So the way that works is the $700,000
that is recurring revenue, it flows directly into the operating budget stabilization fund. Perfect. >> So then to to use any money within that fund, you have to appropriate it out as part of the budget. So in that could be a revenue source that's used to help offset,
>> right? because that's the other possible way of paying for the considered operation. >> And and the rest of the override, the eight and a halfish million dollars that's in the property tax, which is if you go back one slide is the property tax and that's increasing by two and a
half% per year, but it's built in that bottom number that this is 2 and a half percentile. Is that that stabilization is that over I mean that override is that over a couple years or does it >> So the the amount of the override is 9.5 million and that was all built into um
so what the override does is allows us to increase what we are allowed to levy on all property owners. So that went up by $9.5 million. Um and so that increase was included in the tax bills that will be going out this month. So all that would be collected in this next coming
year, not like over a series of years. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> It's actually a challenge within Prop Two and a half that you're not allowed to say in fiscal 26 we want $8 million in revenue. In fiscal 29 we want $10 million. You can't like phase it in.
>> Um but it's a good question because the Mass Municipal Association which represents cities and towns is talking about Proposition 2 and a half. And that's one of the things that they floated out there as possible ideas. give cities and towns the option or ability to like have phased and um overrides to account for cost of
>> higher base. >> You're increasing your taxes every year. You're starting from a higher number. >> Correct. >> So the override is permanent. So that 8 8.8 the budget is permanent as part of the levy forever set >> and we're allowed to then increase that by two and a half% for so for 20 fiscal
26 the amount that went into the operating budget is the 8.8 in fiscal 27 it's 8.8 plus 2 and a half% of people >> unless somehow we fall into a huge amount of money we decide to lower taxes. That's correct. >> That's always >> and for fiscal 26 as an example because
new growth came in so high we actually didn't tax to the max that we're allowed to. Typically Milton in a in a prop 2 and a half community will go up to, you know, within $100,000 of what our levy limit is. But because new growth came in
well above our expectation, um we didn't tax it. We the town could have said, "All right, let's make some additional appropriations to take advantage of this unexpected revenue, but it wasn't taxed because it was unexpected." >> So are we forever more at a lower level? >> No, it it's this assumes
>> fiscal 27 assumes we then tax all of that. >> Okay. So is there a point at which we I mean two three four years out where we get to a point where we just can't sustain this like this model breaks >> even though the override >> so that's the only way we can do this is
through override there's no way any solution sure but you know other solutions whether it's seeking different kinds of growth that might um be more sustainable that's another solution right >> um reducing expenses >> I know but there's a point where you can only do that so much I mean this isn't a
huge I run a division that's bigger than your budget. So, it's not a huge budget. You know what I mean? So, um >> Oh, go on. >> Okay. Um do you know why the school's going up 5.2%.
>> I've had conversations with the superintendent. Um just to debrief on where their budget is. A a large portion of that is is where they estimate their cost of maintaining the um education educators that they have today
just with cost of collective bargain a new potential collective bargaining agreement steps that they're able to earn each year as part of their collective bargaining agreement the lanes that they move in. So they I I don't want to speak for them, but uh their information that they'll they'll share and they'll they'll debrief with this committee on I think the lion share
of that is um just where they expect teacher salaries or educator salaries to be for fiscal. >> So go ahead count salaries of the existing >> I thought they said it was like 91% was salaries when we they came here. >> How much it was 91 91% of the budget was
salaries when we looked at Yeah, that right. Their budget is like $60 million in salaries and then $10 millionish in expenses. And there is they displayed in the finance committee meeting like a one page that said how they got to where
their number is and the first um row was just salary expenses keeping the same head. >> Oh, so this >> it's a level service keeping the same FTE code >> and collective bargaining is paid into that 5.2. Again, I I don't want to stray
beyond what my area of control and expertise is. So, my understanding is that they've accounted for where they expect a new contract to be. Their contract is they signed one-year agreements with each of their units. They're supposed to be up um this year as well, but they signed one-year
agreement. So, they're under contract today, but it expires. I think their their cycle is August of 26. It would be up. >> Is that usual to have a one-year contract collective bargaining agreement? Um some communities will do it occasionally if the parties just think they're not ready to kind of go
into a full negotiations on a threeyear um can you go to the um your expense slide um projections the budget uh 2026 budget do you have a feeling if you're on budget
is that like a good projection? Uh yeah, I think so we and we look at it on a regular basis to where the town departmental budgets will be. I think we feel comfortable where things are where we winter has started.
So like our biggest variable on a year-to-year basis in terms of the departmental budgets really is what is snow and ice going to look like? Um and you know an not a very major snowstorm yesterday, but that meant salt crews were out on a Sunday earning double
time. So, it's an expensive um small storm. Um so, it's those kinds of that's the variable on a year-to-year basis for the town to punch, which is the hardest to kind of nail down. Um we have vacancies in some of our larger departments, public works, police, fire.
So, there's naturally some savings there. Um we incur op overtime expenses to to cover when there are vacancies, but generally that's not as expensive as necessarily having a full person there. Um there's been vacancies in my office and a few other offices in town hall. So
we feel good in terms of fiscal 26 from a departmental budget as pre-winter. We'll see what it looks like postwinter. Um and then for shared expenses, those are largely on target. Um the biggest
variable would be health insurance. Um if for example we had a a big spike in enrollment that we didn't quite anticipate, but that hasn't um been the case. Our enrollment has been flat for the last several months. There's been some migration from individual plans to family plans, which cost us more than
originally anticipated, but overall enrollment has been pretty flat. So, um, in terms of cost centers, that might be concerning for us on an annual basis, it's usually what are, you know, police and fire expenses and then snow and ice. And then what does health insurance look
like? Can I heard the Cunningham project came in 100? >> Yes. Uh yeah, we I think we were a little over conservative in anticipating what that project was going to cost. We had budgeted $5.5 million and have
appropriation for 5.5 million. Um the bids and the construction contract were closer to to the $3 million range. And so we expect we expect it'll be below 4 million. Um the more challenging part of
the project is the next phase which is renovating the old uh fourth floor area. Um just because there's some unknowns with that ceiling. So once we get through that we should have a better line of sight as to what that number will finally be. But that that includes like below four million includes using
all of the contingency which we don't expect. So, um, no, it was we had a great contractor, a good, um, architect and project manager that worked out really well so far. So, one phase done. So, we're not counting any chickens yet, but counting eggs.
Thank you. >> Health insurance benefits, how much do we cover for employees? Is it 100%. >> Uh, how do you >> like like for benefits? Like, do they have to pay a certain percentage and then we do? >> Uh, yeah. So the I have several slides on health insurance. So I'll just kick
that to that just like because I wanted to cover that in greater detail and so I'll move into that if um so health insurance last year went up um the premium increase was 14%. The budget itself went up by more than that because
we had to account adjust for higher enrollment that we historically had. So we were hit with um kind of a two factor increase from fiscal 26 which was both a jump in enrollment um plus a dramatic
increase in claims in medical costs. So um it consumed a lot of conversation in last year's budget and I'm providing a little bit more of a in the weeds conversation on health insurance this year because it'll that will be the same this year. Um we're not seeing any slowdown in medical costs. Um, and there
have been a number of conversations about how cities and towns are grappling with health insurance costs. So, um, it's a large cost center for us. Um, every 1% increase on a premium is about $140,000. So, just a few percentage points above where we expect it is drive
costs. But, yep. Um, so in terms of just kind of how this works, Milton is self-insured. Um, so we we offer a Blue Cross plan and a Harvard Pilgrim plan. Um but then we pay the claims based on the rates that the insurers um negotiate with the medical providers. Um so we're
so so we're self-insured both employees and retirees. Um once you're Medicare eligible you have to transfer onto Medicare at that point. Um for premiums we pay 76% the town pays 76% employees pay 24%. Um there are other retirey benefits for
health insurance including we offer supplemental Medicare plans and we split the premiums on those at 50/50 with the retiree town and then we're also reimbursing 50% of the part B cost on a monthly basis. Um so there are additional benefits um from retirees. So
that's just health insurance at large. um premiums. The the budget amount what we see is the amount that we expect that the town's premiums are going to cost for the employees and retirees. Those are paid into the health trust fund. So the health trust fund gets the premium payments from both the employees and
from the town. As I mentioned, the medical claims are then paid out of that trust. Because we're self-insured and because we're paying for the claims expenses, we then buy stop-loss insurance. So um that's on a per claim per fiscal year basis. So, if there's somebody who has an illness and their
claim costs half a million dollars over the course of a fiscal year, our liability is is stopped at $175,000. Then we get reimbursed for those costes over costs over and above that. So, we pay um for that insurance coverage as a protection and then our premium is adjusted
annually to account for expect claims to be what our experience has been in the past year where a trust is generally. Um, so again, the bottom line is that the health insurance budget funds the premium, the town share of premiums. The health trust fund actually pays the
claims out. And so when we're setting that premium increase, we're keeping an eye on where that health trust fund is. Um, overall, if you if you zoom out, go back >> just on the um if you go to the slide before that. So we're at 7624. Is that
dictated by policy or is it something with flexibility on pay? That's in an agreement with the unions. To to change that would require bargaining with all of the units across the town and the schools. >> Okay. >> So, it's kind of dictated that's flat. That's not going to go anywhere unless it's changed by the whole contract.
>> It could be it could be changed if we entered into negotiations on health insurance and that was one place where the parties met agreement. It's not likely necessarily a place where folks would go. So we are allowed the town cities and towns are allowed to do plan design changes
um and to a point. So the state employer is the group insurance commission we can >> we can negotiate plan design changes to an extent um >> not quite unilaterally but with um conversation with the unions but they don't hold a veto on that. So there's
limited plan design changes. That's how it could make. Um but negotiating something like that would be true collective bargaining. Um so again just to step back so health insurance has grown at about 6% a year. If you go back to fiscal 2017 um it's
not 6% a year linear linearly. It's been you know it'll jump and then kind of settle down for a couple years and then and then it might jump again. So there have been a few years where costs spike um and then we'll be stable thereafter for a bit. So the pressure is put on us
if we have more than typical claims whether we have um bad luckier with health generally for employees. Um growth in medical costs just generally um everybody's feeling that pressure. So if um the same amount of care costs more
then we need to raise those premiums. Um there's also been significant increase in pharmaceutical costs and the one that's gotten a lot of headlines are the GLP1s in terms of the coverage is there for diabetes and weight loss. Um so that eats up a significant portion of our cost as well. Um so again um
where we saw the need for a significant premium increase for this fiscal year is because our experience last year that we were tracking throughout the year um was tracking well above where we had been in history and and you can see that from the balances of the health trust here.
So the health trust was $6.6 million then we spent um almost three million of it um in fiscal 25. So premiums were being paid into the trust, but our costs were so high that we spent all the additional premium plus almost $3
million in addition to that. Um so that put that health trust more generally at a um lower balance than it's been historically. Um here you can see it just again just to kind of tie out how the health insurance appropriation typically looks
like. So you see a couple years steady and then it jumped in fiscal 20 and then steady for a couple years jumped again in 21 and then and then flat for several years and jumped in 26. And then by the flip side you can see how our medical expenses out of the trust have looked again where
every employer, every insurer saw drastic drops in utilization in that first COVID year. Um how much that's contributing to costs that we're seeing today. Um, it's something folks talk about that delayed delayed treatments, delayed medical care
probably is compounding some of the issues that we're seeing today, but that 2025 claims experience was just so far beyond what we had seen um in recent years, which is why as we look at 27, while we had budgeted a 7% increase, where we think based on a conversation
with Orange Health Public Consultant on Friday afternoon is that that should really be in the 14% ballpark. um which would be 900 to a million a million dollar increase to that budget expense that isn't shown on that prior slide. So while we budgeted health
insurance at 7% or our initial budget was thinking 7%. Um right now we're thinking we need to adjust that upwards close to where we were last year which would be at 14%. There are a couple of things in play that might change that. um as I as I alluded to some of the
coverage around um certain um pharmaceuticals or Blue Cross and Harvard Pilgrim and others are changing how they're treating some of these coverages which might have then an impact on us and our medical costs but for now um we're going to have to revise that health insurance forecast up um
pretty significantly from a 7% increase to a 14% and that should add about a million dollars in expense to the budget beyond what I showed previously. Um, which is why I wanted to do probably a deeper dive into health insurance than anybody wanted to hear this evening. But I thought the context was important because
>> that's not true. >> And a few folks may have wanted to hear, but I I just I thought it was important because we're going to be talking a lot about that and how to make this budget work in the context of a year where we've not had a year like this where we've had to deal with two substantial
increases to our health insurance. As I mentioned, there have been years where that's happened and then things, you know, you you raise the premiums and then you catch up to where the costs are. Um, which is why we felt okay with that 7% number, thinking, okay, we raised, we've significantly raised the
premiums, we're going to catch up to the cost and then we'll be able to relax that for a year or two. Um, unfortunately, that's not played out. Um, and I just wanted to share that this has not been something we're talking about in Milton. the Mass Municipal Association held a forum on healthcare
costs in October that I attended. Um, representatives from Blue Cross are there. The group insurance commission at the state level. Um, the health policy commission I think which is a state agency. Our advisor Hill Group held a
roundt event that I went to in November. And then I just flagged a couple of the Boston Globe headlines that um the health insurance premiums just keep going up headline was about I think Fall River and New Bedford and and the cost that they're experiencing for that community and then um as I mentioned in
terms of pharmaceuticals and the drugs that are that we're seeing costs. So uh this is present we're all talking about it. Uh nobody's come up with a solution yet. Um but we've been engaged on the issue.
The Mass Municipal Association was talking about possible remedies. >> Yes. >> Um any any anything that's not fictional and imaginary like is there a realistic idea of I don't know the state government giving all the if all the towns are facing this misery loves
company state increase state aid to help us all out. Well, the in addition to their conversations and health costs, as I mentioned earlier, math mass municipal association has been talking about Proposition 2 and a half and they've released two reports. One was an
assessment of Proposition 2 and a half and then last week they released um a bunch of recommendations coming out of that and while they want to keep talking about Prop 2 and a half, they know it was a very challenging political subject to come up. So they focused a lot of
that uh follow-up report on uh how state aid has declined when you compare it against inflation and other costs. So um there are drastic reductions to the unrestricted general government aid category in the wake of the great recession um and while they've
increased it a few percent every year when you make a new floor and only go up a little bit each year you never get back to where it should have been. Um, so I would say their their biggest push right now is focused around the tagline is $351 million in 351 cities and towns
to get that unrestricted general government aid at least kind of rightsize it a little bit. That might help. Um, but that's that's one potential source and that's going into a state budget that has its own to wrestle with. So we'll see how that shakes out.
But um it's going to be a tricky conversation uh for the town to have and um I just wanted to be kind of candied with where we're at right now. >> Um our other town's at 14% too. I know
going up to that extent. >> Um so last year I think um we were at 14. We we have a pretty good uh group of managers in Northfor County that get together on a monthly basis and we had done a survey. So last year I would say the range was there are a few
communities in single digits. Um a couple of them were in like larger consortiums. Um a bunch of communities in North County are in the group insurance commission like we can go into the GIC if we negotiate with the unions. Um the GIC increase was 12%. Um my
former I worked in Medfield for several years their increase was 19. Um, so it's it's I would say we were not quite middle of the road. We were probably a little bit higher than average, but we weren't >> about double digits. >> Well, yeah, for the most part, there
were a couple one or two communities that were in single digits, but the rest were above double digits. >> There were, if I heard your correct, you said there were two things that had contributed to the health insurance. And so, one was the big increase this year. Is that because the second one, the
next, you think there's going to be a big increase? So the next year or is there something? >> Oh no, that's right. That's a good point. Uh so the two things that I mentioned were enrollment and then cost. So on the enrollment side, we experienced steadily increasing enrollment for the past several fiscal
years in fiscal 25. >> So that means more employees of >> employees on the plan >> or more like uh family members and employees or both. >> It's really combination. So, um, hard to kind of pinpoint an exact reason. There were more people on our plans over the
past several years than there had been historically. Um, when people have children, you know, they're picking whose spouse's plan are they going to go on. We have generally municipal health plans are generally good plans. They're expensive plans, but they're they're good plans. Um, we find people typically come over to our plan like they're not
high deductible plans are they are deductibles, but for an individual it's 400. For a family, it's 800. It's not, you know, an HSA eligible high deductible plan where the deductible is $400, $4,000 or not on a scale of those. So, on the enrollment front, higher FTE
count, higher enrollment overall. Um, this year, as I mentioned, enrollment's been fairly consistent. Um, and actually, I think even declined a little bit in our last census that we get it on a monthly basis. Um but what we did see
is that um the enrollment on the individual plans has gone down but the family plans has gone up. So a family plan will cost us 20 upwards of $20,000 the town to cover. Um so every every one individual plan versus a family plan
that's a significant cost cost increase. Um but overall enrollment has been flat. So we're not as worried about enrollment as we were last year. It's more on the the cost side that we're seeing experiencing the pressures. So the two things are higher enrollment and higher cost. >> Just overall higher cost >> combined together make it a challen more
challenging than normal. >> Yeah. So yes at least in 27 we're just talking about >> not headc count so much but in 26 for this year we're talking about both pieces of that both sides of that coin. >> Okay. Thank you. Was that the end of your presentation? >> That's all I had. And obviously I'm
happy to take any further questions um you may have. Uh I guess sort of a big picture question. You know, we've started discussing some of the larger budgets. We've had some questions to go back to the department heads with. We've had some thoughts. What's the best way for
the warrant committee and you to work together? I mean, in the past, it's, you know, Mr. Malone comes down like Moses from the mountain and the budget is on the tablets and we look at it. Is there a is there a better way to go back and forth in your mind? >> No. I I mean I think having eyes on any
all of these budgets is always helpful if there are um ideas and and thoughts that department heads have brought to you that the war committee is particularly interested in in in you know suggesting hey this would be great to try to include in the budget. I'll be happy to hear that. If you see places
where you're like wow maybe this is a place where um we're over budgeting and and this budget is um that's that's an analysis we try to do. But if that's something um you see as well, we're we're eager to for that feedback and then that it goes into kind
of how we try to pull together a final budget um before we hand it over to to this. >> Okay. So maybe that goes back to us. I don't know if we've hammered out like are we going to have suggestions from Mr. Milano before? So you're going to
present your budget to us late January. >> That's our that's the timeline we're working on now. >> Yeah. And if we've, and I guess the finger should be pointed at me, if we've figured out how we're going to come to a consensus, if we have feedback for you before late January, how we present that, uh, maybe we'll think about it over the
holidays. >> I'm sorry. You should we do it before or after? I mean, we we can do it before or after, but uh you know, it just might flow a little more smoothly if we have some if we know we have some suggestions and if we give them to him before he
puts his budget together, it might flow a little more smoothly than if we make them after he puts his budget to us. >> We can do either. >> A lot of the suggestions are based on information we're gathering from the department heads. I assume the
department heads are according to you. I think there could be things that we think are worthwhile as as you know residents that share. >> Yeah. >> Does anyone look at revenue or is anyone task side? >> Um oh you're asking when I made
assignments I can't remember. I think >> to help you >> I think I assign people to like sort of look into what is new growth you know like doing a little digging. It's a little iffy because you know we are the final say in setting the expenditure
budget that presents to town meeting. We're not the final say in the revenue part of that budget. Uh all that is to say I believe I did assign people to >> I know you said you wanted to talk about it at some point. We you and I have connected. >> Okay. Were you the new growth person?
>> Yeah. Talk about it. >> Yeah. New growth, state aid, local receipts >> for for Grace specifically. >> Grace was uh new growth in local receipts. State >> a state aid, >> huh?
>> Yeah, I know. I know. >> And it's it's partly to educate like state aid. If you're the state aid person, you're not going to influence it, but you might understand it. You know what what's what's what's coming towards us. >> So, did you want me to meet with you to find out where we can look at that? I wasn't able to show what you wanted to
do because you and I didn't connect much on that. >> Yeah. Um short answer is yes. >> Okay, that's fine. >> Long answer is I don't I'll figure that out. >> Yeah. No, no, that's fine. I just want to know where you want me to. >> We've been having um the vice chair of the built-in budget coordination committee. We've been
having um pretty detailed conversations about some of those revenue um both and in terms of as we work towards a long-term forecast and a and a consensus long-term forecast diving deep more deeply into some of those revenue categories um our meeting which we held
this morning and we we talked about those in great depth. So that that recording will be up from Milton TV. >> What is it? It's which >> the Milton budget coordination >> coordination. Okay. So maybe I should watch >> and I have some data which we can get to that just >> any other questions for Mr. Milano.
>> I think I heard about that budget coordination committee for the first time last week. Can you tell me a little bit about what that is? >> Sure. >> You know I'm cur I'm curious like you know I'm just curious. >> Yes. I think um best way to kind of describe it is in the wake of
um some of the issues that we experienced with the school budget um in fiscal 25 going into the override um we had had conversation about establishing a new committee to to meet on a regular basis as a as a means
to share information and um critique and and come up with ideas on how to better manage the flow of information. some of the assumptions we're working off of. Um so there's two representatives from this committee, two representatives from the select board, two representatives from the school committee,
um a member of the planning board, and then two um residents who are on the committee as well as student a little bit more than monthly at this point to to go through a few of the things. We have lengthy conversations about financial policies, financial forecast, and just trying to get information to each of the three groups
as to so everybody's on the on the same page as to information at least. >> So Brian and I your are your representatives on that committee. And uh Mr. Walker, if you're Mr. Walker is the vice chair of that committee. Would you like to do you have anything to add
to what Mr. Milano said? You are recognized if you have anything to add. >> Thanks. Uh the only thing I would add is that we I think the charge is to in the short term try to make sure that
coordination between no surprises approach to budget last time surprised does happen again and in the longer term and in the longer term
the objective is to create a format for an irregularly occurring uh financial forecast that is both looking at the coming budget year and looking approximately five years out and uh providing both the public and uh town
officials with a much more informed view of uh what the coming years look like so that um on a regular basis if there's a need for an override uh it will be clear to people why and that they understand it when it's coming and why it's coming.
So those are the two we got a short-term objective and a longterm objective. Thank you. >> You guys have talked about that before. I just didn't put all that together. I apologize. >> Totally fine. Thank you, Mr. Walker. Anything else from Mr. Milano?
>> Okay. Thank you for coming to visit us. Of >> course. We'll see you more in the spring. >> Yes. And um obviously open door. Any questions that come up um if you have any issues with department heads, please let me know. Um any information for we're happy to provide it. Um thank you
and appreciate your ongoing work. And we will have additional war articles for the annual town meeting um hopefully finalized in January, early part of January. So give you a better line of sight as to what uh in addition to the
budget will be on your docket for the new year. >> Is that something you want to speak to? Right. I hesitate to even ask because I'm not trying to put you on the spot. >> No. Um no. I think you know we the I would expect planning board to try to finalize
the sign review stuff. Um we are looking at a couple of um special acts that we might want to adopt just on financial operations. So with that um there's a new newish um property tax exemptions for veterans. A lot of the categories
are changed and increased. It's called the heroaxo. We're working with people or assesses on on a recommendation on that. Um that's it for the moment. And then the big one would be fire station building committee and their recommendation on next steps of the
Athens projects. Um they meet again next Monday and again in January. So they're preparing a recommendation. There will be a warrant article. exactly what that article will be for and about in terms of the Atheertton station to be determined, but that will be coming uh for the annual town.
>> That's actually specifically the one I didn't want to put you on the spot though. >> I do want to talk about that. Maybe we can talk about that now. Um that to my mind that's going to be the biggest non-budget one this spring. Maybe we'll see. Uh so yeah, we've
rebuilt this fire station. Obviously, we're in the process of rebuilding the East Milton one and now there's the Athetherton Street fire station. And I went to one of the fire station building committee meetings last month and they're discussing
do they tear it down? Do they add on to what's currently there? What's needed? And then what money are they going to ask from the town this spring to sort of start the planning process, pay for architects, etc. We will want somebody
from the warrant committee onto that. I think Macy's going to be involved. Macy wants to be involved. I think she'd be great. I think I want to be involved because I'm interested. >> Uh we may want someone else. So, uh >> I might join because Nick and I talked a bit about that when we were talking
about um capital projects and that sort of thing. So, I have like >> this much this much >> related to but not the same thing as what I asked you to look into, which is the uh the so-called early amendment. Mhm. >> Okay. >> Exactly. Yeah, it's related. So, I'm happy to get involved with that.
>> Is that station being decommissioned? >> I think that's the sort of the question. >> Which one? The one in these smells or the >> as >> that sort of the question is do we take what's there and refurb it and add on to it or do they level it to the ground or
something in between? And I sort of honestly the last meeting I visited I walked in halfway through and I I need to get up to speed. My expectation for the article for May will be design appropriation.
Quite what that design is. More to come. Um the project the full project appropriation to build the project would come at a at a subsequent town meeting. Um so the the May article will be about the money necessary to to finish and do
a design to get to a point where they can come to voters with we need X million dollars to to build the station, to renovate the station. Um, so that'll be it'll be like a two-step process. >> You call the contractor hunting.
>> They are aware. We've made sure. But even for the first of those two steps, you want to have a good story for the town meeting and therefore a story for us. >> What's going on? You know, do we even if they don't know, are they going to rebuild it or renovate it? What do they think's going to happen? What are they
considering? Mr. Walker also is a member of the fire station building committee. I'll resist calling on you again unless you want me to. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good one.
>> Okay. So, next on the agenda, Karen, I hope you can help us out with this minutes. Uh you sent around a handful of minutes last week. Did people get enough of a chance to review the minutes that you're
comfortable voting on them? >> Karen, can I ask for your guidance for what minutes we're remind us what minutes we're voting on, etc. I sent around uh May 6 and May 8th, 2024.
And then from 2025 uh we have February 24th, February 25th, March 3rd, March 10th, May 21st, May 29th, June 4, 2nd, June 4th, August
25th, and September 15th. >> Okay. So, some of those are in this fiscal year with this group. the rest of them are with the previous group or are some of them with even the previous group to that? >> The first two um I I went through and
looked uh of the current members Jay, Julia, and Ron Okay. were on the committee. >> That sounds like that would be probably the meeting the night of town meeting. >> Absolutely. Yep. >> And as a reminder, all of you are warrant committee members. All of you are allowed to vote. You don't have to
abstain just because you weren't at the meeting or even a member of the warrant committee at that meeting. It is your choice to abstain or not. Um would people like them split up by cohort year or people find or
>> I just feel weird voting on something that I wasn't there for. But >> voting on the ones that I was in >> Let's let's at least take votes by cohort. Maybe the first vote could be for the two in May of 2024. Again, people, every member of the warrant
committee is free to vote yes, no, or abstain on this. >> I'm trying to remember. They're all a blur. >> Uh, so do I have a motion about I'm sorry. Can you remind me the two dates in May 2024, Karen?
>> May 6 and May 8th. >> We have a motion to approve those minutes. >> Ron makes the motion. I will second it. Can you do a roll call vote, Karen? >> Sure. Uh Nicole have a stain.
>> Yes. >> Lorraine. >> Grace. Andrew. >> Yes. >> Julia, >> yes. Brian >> abstain.
>> Ron, >> yes. >> Nick, >> abstain. >> Cecile. >> Jay, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Now, do we want a motion? And I
don't know if we I I'd prefer not to read all the dates again, but all the ones up to let's say June 30th of 2025. >> Uh, eight sets. >> Eight sets. Okay. >> Do we have a motion for those eight sets of minutes?
Ron again. >> Second. >> Brian seconded. >> Can you do a roll call vote, Karen? >> Callain, please. James. >> Yes. Lorraine
>> abstain. >> Grace abstain. >> Andrew, >> yes. >> Julia, >> yes. >> Brian, >> yes. >> Ron, >> yes. >> Nick,
>> abstain. >> Cecile. >> Abstain. >> Jay, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay, that leaves us with was it two in this fiscal year? August 25th and September 15.
>> I'll entertain a motion. >> Ron, everybody's looking at you. >> Second. >> Okay. Ron again. Second. >> Okay. >> Nicole, >> yes. >> Jamesley, >> yes.
>> Lorraine, >> yes. >> Grace, >> yes. >> Andrew, >> yes. >> Julia, >> yes. Brian, >> yes. >> Ron, >> yes. >> Nick, >> yes.
>> Cecile, >> yes. >> Jay, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Thank you very much, team. Okay, so next we're going to continue with presentations about uh some of the larger budget items in town. On the
agenda, there were four things listed. One was police. Macy can't be here with us tonight, so she's going to be presenting on that in January. Also, capital. I think Lorraine said the capital committees just started their work there this year. >> Yeah, I think um Nick was saying he
hopes to have his recommended approval budget by probably mid January. >> Okay. >> Uh so that leaves us with parks and DPW. Uh, Cecilio, I asked you before the meeting started because I didn't know
when Nick was coming if you wanted to go first. Do you still want to go first? >> Sure, if you don't mind. >> Sure. >> Um, usually do you share the presentation? >> Oh, um, yes, I will share the presentation. I have I opened it just
for that purpose. >> Thank you. Let's see if screen sharing is enabled. Uh sorry, let me um start the slideshow so it looks slightly better. >> Great.
>> Um so I was able to meet with the parks department a few weeks ago. They entertained my very basic questions. Um, and so I put it all in a presentation for you all. So the team consists of about seven full-time um, workers on
salary and one part-time staff on salary. There's also some additional part-time help that they get that they get through uh, funding from other places which I'll talk about a little bit later. Um, so we have a parks director, recck director, and a principal clerk. Um, but the budget
itself is for parks. Recreation doesn't have its own budget. And so they have a lot of responsibilities as I learned which I didn't know anything about parks beforehand. Um so parks is responsible for maintaining the 121 acres of town
land around Milton. The breakdown is on the right and it is a lot as you can see. So it includes a lot of fields, parks. Um there's also like little community areas like Pagota Circle that aren't official parks, but a lot of people use it for community gatherings.
Um they're also responsible for lining and grooming all of the fields and courts um for sports and events. And so, as you can imagine, during the spring it gets very, very busy. And for reference, it takes two people a full day to get a
softball or a baseball field ready. So, it's quite a bit of work that they have to do when they're four full-time workers. >> Is that each field or all the fields? >> Each field is what he told me. >> I don't play sports, so I I don't know, but I I trust them.
>> I'm going to guess it's all the fields. >> But it's not every game. It's just for the spring. >> I know, but they It's not two people all day to do one field. There's no way. It's got to be all the fields. They beat all the fields.
If you want, I can get clarification. >> That's great. There's no way. >> All right. Uh, so in addition to the fields and lands around Milton, they also have a huge selection of activities
that they are responsible for. The full list is on the left. And the one that I thought was interesting and that we talked about for quite a bit was the Wildcat Den, which used to be called after the bell. Um, so this is where the part-time staffer from the salary and
wages page um, spends their time. But in addition to Sean, who is the coordinator who's the part-time staff, they also have a rotation of other part-time staffers, I think some of them are students to oversee the Wildcat TED. And so they are paid through the recreation
revolving account, um, which is basically the funds that we get from these various recreation programs. We can then reuse for um other recreation events. And so this den is open um basically like after school hours and
kids can go there to play games, hang out, do their homework. Um basically a place to go if their parents aren't home, if they just need a place to go. Um and this year they apparently had a huge increase in traffic. So they're seeing like 25 kids a day compared to
eight or nine in previous years. And I asked why and he says it's usually based on the cohort of kids. So this year they just really all like hang out together and so they're making good use of use of the wildcat. Okay. And so recreation revolving was a
new concept to me. Um so I asked them a little bit about it. Um it's basically money that they get from different activities um and uh other recreation fees that they can use. um in other areas for for other recreation purposes.
Um so they spend about 40,000 a year to seasonal staff um in the summer months. So you won't see that in salary and wages um and it pays from some of the other uh recreational staffing programs. There is also a special needs gift that
um Bonnie the clerk called out. It is um used to pay for gym buddies which meets every other week um to basically like give some kids with special needs a gym buddy to um get some physical exercise
and it's free to the participants. Um the other thing that is outside of the budget that we talked about was the community preservation act. So, the parks and recck department does benefit greatly from the CPA funds. And so, this is just a list of the currently approved
CPA projects. Um, I don't think they're all done or like started, but these are on their radar. >> Um, I don't think I need to read through them. Um, but yeah, there's some pretty exciting things happening, I think. >> And does the park department push those
through or do other entities push those through working with the park? What do you mean like push them through? >> Somebody has to apply to the um that oversees the CPA funds and submit a grant request and then um I don't know.
I don't think the park department submits all of those. I think sometimes it's the entities that submit those. >> From what I understand >> with the park department for the implementation. I think once it gets funded, I think the park department might take over the implementation of it, but I'm not sure they submit the applications to all. Yeah, I think the
parks department does take an active role in at least these. I don't know if they submit every single one. I can I can ask and find out for you. >> Does the budget come out of those CPA or is it part of parks? >> It's not part of parks. This is
>> it's also I think budget for yet. These are like approved to get CPA funds. Like I know the lights and the dugouts was a joint thing between softball and baseball to submit the applications and um and I think then the park department
implements the funding that gets uh approved by the CPA funds. Do >> you have a question Brian? >> Well it's I don't know the answer but the walkway around turn. What does that mean? Do you know walkway? >> I I don't know. So, I run I run around
the walkway and it's pretty some parts of it I'm like I could sprain my ankle really easily. I don't know. That's my assumption, but it gets really over there. >> Yeah, a lot of it is now divots and so like I was trying to pull my push my son
in a wheelchair and we almost fell over because it all these divots. So, they started doing something but it definitely needs >> Yeah. And then once it starts freezing the a lot of the paths is like just ice
>> and they have done some work but yeah I couldn't quite tell if they were finished and there's some drainage like it's a really tough place to I think try to build a walkway >> but I can ask and see like what specifically >> I just curious >> smart Alec comment I met before right if
it if it's the annual like spring cleanup for those fields I can see that takes two people holding but it's a weekly maintenance and that's that's I would be surprised if it takes that much time so I was probably >> are you rescending your snark now >> yes >> I expect that to be in the minutes
>> snark recision >> okay >> um and then getting into the budget it's pretty um pretty similar to FY26 they're basically going for level service funding there's no notable increases the line items that did increase is
basically cost of living increases. Um, and yeah, we can just probably take a look at that. If you can go to the next slide. >> Yeah. So, I just took some screenshots. This is um screenshots of the Excel spreadsheet that's available in the
shared folder. Um, if you progress one, >> Sure. >> I basically took the differences. Um, so there are some slight increases in salary and wages and in the total general expenses totaling a little less than $6,000 and this is the total parks
budget. Um, so it's changing not a lot compared to I think some of the other budgets that we're looking at. If you can go to the next >> that's like less than 1%. >> It's pretty small. They Yeah, they said there were some um things that they wanted but they were told they couldn't
apply for it. like they wanted to get some of the payments for the Wildcat Den going to the salaries section instead of recrevolving but Nick asked them not to apply for it this year. Yeah. And so this is the breakdown for general expenses. If you go to one next um I
just basically highlighted the three things that actually changed. Um so water, sewer, electricity and fuel and oil and those are all cost of living increases or sorry browns and building maintenance >> on the water like um it's going up 58%
from what the actual was in 25. That's what I'm showing right. >> Oh yeah, I see it. >> Um that seems like a lot. I don't know if you know why. Yeah, that's >> go from 24 to 38. >> I mean, as good a question might be, why
did actual come in so much lower than both? >> Well, that's probably an example where they're using the budget they were appropriating based on the previous year's budget based on >> the actual that's the problem. >> I I don't know anything about parks, but
if it was a rainy year, maybe they didn't need to water the fields. >> Yes. And >> that's what I was thinking. >> That's a good question, though. There was an issue last year where the school was overcharged for was it water? >> It was water. >> $60,000 or something or 80,000.
>> Yeah. >> Something like that. >> I don't remember if it was a >> they discovered it. It was a flaw in the billing, but I don't know. >> Yeah. I don't know if it was like a specific meter or something. >> I assume that if it was something widespread, they would have then looked
at other departments. >> Brian's right though. I think we should know because the same thing with electricity >> electricity >> what they had for the budget. >> Huh. >> That doesn't make sense. Usually >> electricity on >> that's an interesting point. >> No, the electricity should be half of
what you would think pretty >> manageable. Yeah. >> Rain might decrease your water budget, but I don't know what's going to affect your electricity is the other budget. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And that might be Yeah, that might be every year we budget. Well, last year
was budgeted, but you know. >> So, one question you can ask them or you can Yeah, maybe I can try to find old ones of these to show you like, is this something that happens every year? >> So, where did they end up in their actuals? 150. They were
>> 150 versus 190. >> They were 40 almost 40,000. >> So, what did they do with that money that goes back or what? >> It goes to free cash. >> It goes to free cash. I just think we should work at actually budgeting closer to what we expect to
spend. That money needs to go somewhere else. >> Get the project right. That's >> Yeah. Or if they need it for somewhere else in their budget, let's put it in the right place. >> Yeah. I'll find out and get back to you. >> Good cash team. And one other one is the
miscellaneous. What do you know what's in the 9,000? I don't >> spend it. >> Project might say they wanted to fund one of the part-time people. >> Yeah, they wanted to get one of the
part-time people onto salary, >> right? But they have almost 40,000 they could fund it. But if you're going to use everything in there Yeah. If you have ever going to use everything in there, not that you have to, but >> well, it's being paid for that part-time
person is being paid for from somewhere, >> right? >> Where the Oh, from the revolving fund, >> right? But if >> Well, maybe the revolving fund is the appropriate place to pay it from. If that's appropriate, then keep it there. Take that 40,000 and put it in the somewhere else, >> snowplow budget or somewhere.
Um, are we at the end of the slides? >> Uh, I think >> let's find out. Yes, I think we are. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thanks. >> Any other parks and parks and recck
discussion? Well, I just said we might take some of that extra money and put in a snowplow budget, which is a good segue to the DPW. >> Yes. So, after my snarky behavior, I'm not as prepared as Cecilio. Um, so hopefully don't all take that out
against me. I did talk to Reena Fernandez, who's the new DPW director on uh this past Friday, and she's on the job as the DPW director for about a year. She's been at MF uh MFS. She's been at Milton for about five years. Uh she was a town engineer before she
became the head of the DPW. Um and if I I have a bunch of questions. I still haven't quite figured out in my own mind about how all this works together. Um but their increase in the budget is about 7 and a half%. Um which is a level
service in their mind. Um, and they think it's all due to the cost of operations, whether it's because of increased uh labor costs, due to the union contracts, or because of the supplies and the like that they have to put through on their budget. Um, I
thought there were two interesting things that three interesting things that she really talked about in the budget process. So, one was snow and ice. Exactly as Jay kind of prefer prefaced um they have historically put $160,000 aside for snow and ice which is
historically way below what they actually spend. They spend typically closer to $500,000 in snow and ice and snow and ice is the one place under uh I think the regulations that they're able to kind of true up over the course of the year somehow. Uh but they've decided since their you know historical spending
of snow and ice is substantially above the 160 that they typical typically budget they've increased that budget from 160 to 250 and their idea is to gradually increase that to get to the 500 to have a little more realistic budget assumption as to what they spend on snow and ice.
>> So why do they if they know they're spending that on a regular basis I don't understand what the incremental budgeting is. What are they trying to do? I think they're trying to have what they budget be more aligned with what they actually spend on an annual change based on amounts.
>> Yeah. So, good take it all the way up in one year because it would be too big of a change. >> I'm guessing it's realistic. I'm guessing the town manager would be like, "What the heck? This is a 34." >> But it's a realistic expense though. It's not >> It may be, but my guess is that that would >> I think it's about moving the money from
the other places. It's not like they're increasing their budget to reflect this. Um, so they're taking it out of other parts of the budget to gradually increase that. If you took one from 160 to 500, it would be meaningfully detrimental to other parts of it. So they plan to change
>> the expense is the expense. So that's where I'm not understanding why they would do that right away. >> There are I'm sorry. There are also two wrinkles in Massachusetts law. One of them I know about and the other one I've heard and I'm not sure about. The one I know about is for every other budget
besides snow and ice on June 30th or within a few weeks of June 30th, you could better get that budget settled somehow. Snow and ice is >> you have to commit to it in June. Basically, >> uh, sorry, at the end of the year when snow and ice is the only budget where at
the end of the year if you don't have enough to cover what you spent, you can, and I'm I'm flailing a little bit because I don't know the details, but state law gives you some leeway. If you spent too much on snow and ice, you can carry it over to the next year. >> The other carrying over the expense or
the >> I'm I'm not entirely sure. I'm sorry. I just I just know you have more flexibility than other budgets. >> Okay. >> That is the reason why it's been underfunded or under budgeted over time because they do have that flexibility. I don't understand. >> So, they want to use the money up front for other things and then cover it at the back end if there's an additional
>> they're going to change that process to get something to be overtime closer to what they actually typically spend in a year. The other one that I've heard discussed around this table, but I've never seen it in writing or anything is something like once you set your snow and ice
budget, you can't set it lower later. >> So if we set it at 500,000 and then we started having more efficiencies. >> I don't know that for for a fact. I've just heard that discussed around this table >> dictated by the state or >> Yeah. something some sort of state law. So >> interesting. Okay. Um, that's a reason
to always set a little bit under because it's, you know, it varies. You know, if we had, you know, like Nick said, this weekend, how many Sundays are we going to have a dusting of snow this year? Maybe two, maybe 20. I don't know, >> right? >> Maybe not 20, but
>> so the second thing I asked her like, you know, what has been her biggest surprise as the DPW director? And one of the things she said was the um you know kind of attracting and retaining staff is a challenge for them. And I kind of asked her to elaborate on that and and
she she thinks that they're they they seek to pay competitively to other DPW departments u but they are paying a discount to private contractors that provide similar services. and uh you know if you look at the benefits for
being a long-term employee in the town of Milton and getting a pension um that maybe over time it would work out to be competitive but a lot of the people that they're trying to recruit and retain are younger people who want the cash today and so they're they're not going to compete with those folks from a
compensation perspective. They are trying to do other things to try to compete with those people. So, one thing that they put a program in place where they're training and sponsoring people to get their commercial driver's license, which allows them to drive like the snowplow vehicles, and that's a
valuable commodity for uh for for folks that will give them the ability to go work in other places as well. So, that's been a recruiting tool that they've used um to try to attract people and they can do that within uh um the the the the operations that they have available to
them. Um so, that's been helpful. Um, I think the third thing that is noteworthy about the DPW budget is something that Nick Milano uh referred to earlier today, which is that, you know, their union budget, their their union uh contract is up and the solid waste
contract is up at the end of this year. And so, as they look to renegotiate those things for future years, uh that could be significantly impactful to the DPW budget going forward. Um, not as much in the fiscal year coming up. So those are my big highlights to share. I
have some more work to do and hope to come back with something that is similarly skillful to what Cecil did in the new year. If I can say one other interesting thing about the DPW budget is only part of the DPW is funded by the DPW line item
budget on our budget. So for example the uh director of the DPW if we decide that or not we but if it is decided that onethird of her time is dedicated to water one third is dedicated to sewer and one third is everything else then
onethird of her salary is going to come from the town budget that is labeled DPW the other third is going to come from our pillar bills that all of we pay and the another third is from the water bills and that flows through the uh flows through the warrant on a different line item.
Um, same with her health insurance benefits, >> right? >> One-third will come from that. So, when Mr. Milano said briefly, you know, one source of revenue is indirect costs from I forget uh from revolving funds or
maybe said something different. That's what he meant. You know, onethird of the DPW director's health insurance comes from the sewer bills. Onethird of her health insurance comes from the water bills. Maybe it's just more of a note of interest than anything else, but it's
>> No, for sure. And that's one of the things I want to try to learn a little bit more about. Like in the summary that they have, they have seven different budgets. Four funded from the municipal tax levy and three from the separate and distinct enterprise funds. And solid waste I thought was one of those enterprise funds, but it's included in
the DPW general budget. So, I'm not sure which ones are the enterprise funds or which ones are the general budget. So that's one thing I need to kind of learn more about and kind of have some of those details to share with folks a little more. And >> I believe it's water, sewer, and storm water. >> Could be. >> Yeah.
>> Jay, can I ask a question? This is something related to what Brian said earlier about charging for water and electricity by department. You just allocating this like activity based costing kind of is that what's happening across across departments? Like why
would each of them have its own electricity bill and water? You know what I mean? Like you're saying why would one department have a a bill versus like isn't the same provider providing it for the whole town and is that what we're just allocating it by usage? Is that like facilities?
>> Those they're different bill. >> Obviously the schools are the schools, >> right? But like the DPW has an electric bill, park has electric bill like I don't understand like more. That's one of my questions as I was going through them like the the vehicle maintenance is carved out as a separate budget in the
DPW and they have their own uh water and they have their own electricity tied to that. So they have in the DPW contracts >> they have they have a building in the yard that has its own meters for those services and so that's broken out separately. And what's interesting is
that they provide uh vehicle maintenance for 225 vehicles in the town. So, they're they're servicing all the police cars and all the fire equipment and the town cars as well in that one building and yet it's all part of the DPW budget. Um, and so I thought that was
interesting as well. I don't know if some of that then gets put into other budgets also, but the operations of that one building and the people that work in that one building are all in DPW, >> which I guess so I guess my question is like so is a line item for water is a line item
for electricity, right? Like that's for budget budget right >> and then parks and DPW has their own electricity and water like are you >> they have separate contracts for different >> I don't know what you mean by contract I mean we do have a uh you know electricity provider but that's
negotiated by probably is it consolidated facilities do you think >> right so that so so we're saying that we have one provider and then we're just allocating it by department is that >> it's not really allocated each of >> each facility should have a meter so they're responsible for the Okay. So, they're putting it in that budget like
basically to see what the operation of that particular division. So, it's not like they have their own separate contracts because you were saying something about >> there was a water bill that was bigger. >> Oh, yeah. Right. Uh that was for parks and recreation. >> Oh, that's okay. School departments that
they're separate because they manage their stuff separately than the rest of the the town. >> I was I think it's Yeah, by building like the the different groups that live in town hall don't separate up the electricity bill, I don't think. No, I'm talking about like like she presented hers and it's like okay, I wanted to make sure that we weren't like they're
not going and getting their own contracts. It's like being allocated by okay parks and wreck and then like the usage that they're using or another division. It's not like they have their own separate contracts like when you mentioned it was the school building the two school system that you're talking about that's different because I know
they operate separately. So if they're getting bills that are higher than us again contracts >> well no I'm saying the provider is the provider right >> one water provider >> right so why would they be charged more in one division versus another that's
what I was thinking about >> because they have the usage >> the meter >> it's the meter that's causing >> like this building >> this building definitely has a water meter >> okay >> and I don't know if this building belongs to the town or the fire department at this point >> so it's okay so it's a like a
utilization meter issue, not like a cond >> because you're thinking about the problem that was there and was that problem townwide problem. There was like a leaky faucet somewhere or something, >> right? Yeah, that's what I was trying to figure out like are we separate negotiating contracts differently for different departments and it shouldn't be. Okay.
>> All right. >> You had a question. >> Yeah. So, >> this is going to be paid back. >> No, no, no. I'm just I I think I'm just curious. Um, I saw there was an opening for the town engineer like a vacancy. Um, so I'm curious like if when you go
talk like >> they have a bunch of vacancies. I think they have six vacancies in total in the DPW at the moment. Uh, and the town engineer is one of them for sure. >> Yes. So, it's something that they're working through. Like I said, uh, Marina, she
was really nice and very open. She offered uh a tour of the DPW yard anytime I wanted it, which was very nice of her. Um she said that the the recruiting of people has been more demanding of her time than she expected it would be.
>> Is it like is the market currently not good for hiring or is it typically >> I think she thought there was the competition for the private uh folks was a big hurdle for them >> in terms of basically the salaries. She didn't Yeah. the salaries in terms of
versus other DPWs she thought they were competitive on. Um and uh um and she hopes that they maintain that with the renegoti of the union contracts. I think she talked about was it COLA um I think was the acronym
that she used which I think is what the the um the salary bands that the town uses. So she thinks those are competitive today. I think that I think that's the right term that I used. I'm not sure about that. Um and it she thought the challenge was really against private providers of similarly similar
services and that the compensation there is a challenge for them and you know and she thinks that that is a function of of the youth of today just to talk about something we talked about in my world. So which I understand.
Do you have any idea if these vacancies can't be filled in FY27? Like what are the impacts? Would you tell me? >> Well, I think it's the overtime that um Nick Milano was talking about earlier today. Um and I don't think she doesn't think she can fill them. Um and I think
it's not like it's been a chronic challenge. I think that you know positions come uh filled and then unfilled. But they have about I think it's six positions in total that are unfilled currently. Are those like CDL drivers mostly? Do you know like are they they having to
pay triple over time because they have to use other people? Does it have enough just one of how cost effective is uh she said in the summary that she has there six field positions that are vacancies. It doesn't describe what those uh field
positions are and one administrative position. Um the town engineer is actually not listed here as an open position in the process today. >> It's listed on row 12 as vacant though. >> I'll check.
>> Yeah, I think Nick mentioned that appearances that there's a cost savings when they have overtime because FTE is maybe more expensive all in. So, I don't think you would see a big, you know, a big cost increase because of overtime. So, it sounds like overtime would maybe
look like we're saving money, but probably not something we want to do. >> But, you know, when it when it comes to like the snow pile drivers, for example, if they don't have them on staff in Milton that have the appropriate licenses to be able to do that, then they hire contractors and that is not saving them money in those instances.
So, they would like to have the the CDL licenses uh in Milton to be able to run the equipment that Milton has. Um, you know, one thing that she talked about was they h have onboarded a new I guess maybe they're piloting a new software program to help manage the sanding and
plowing of the streets. Um, and so that it can tell them which streets have been covered and which streets haven't been covered. uh so that you're not doubling down on some streets from extra treatment on ice and sand or if somebody changes shifts in the middle of the night uh the person that takes over will
know which streets have been plowed and which haven't been plowed. Um and so you know more efficiency, more safety, more cost savings. Uh so I think you know things like that sound like they are actively engaged in trying to maximize
the services that they provide and and you know constrain the cost as much as possible too for someone that's only been on the job for a year. I was really impressed with her command of the details. Wish we can convey that to you here now as well as she commanded to me. >> And you said she had already she had
been working in Milton before, right? >> I think for four years prior. >> Yeah, that's great. Well, it's great that they were able to give her that role because she sounds like she has a lot of institutional knowledge. >> One of the things that came up last year when we talked to her was that we training people for CDL licenses. Once
they finish the training, they would leave, you know, benefit. >> So, um, we had that problem in my company that I worked too. So, what we did was we train them for free, but we make they were getting a benefit of like, you know, $10,000 of training or
something like that. We make them sign a contract that if they left before two years had to pay back the training class. So that was a thought that I had last year. Something like that. >> Didn't you come up with a conversation? Maybe I can ask her about that. >> Discover just be fun.
>> Okay. >> Any other DPW discussion? Okay. Uh the only other thing on the agenda was other budget items, which to my mind means sort of the smaller budget items that didn't have a scheduled presentation in front of us.
What I said earlier like at the beginning of the year and then have repeated a couple times but then have not yet put the rubber to the road is that for the smaller items, I'd sort of like to see something written up like just again what's you know what's going on in this budget? What is it? Is there
any need for more spending in this budget? Is there any room to save? Uh so what I'd like to see is just a small write up that that can then be shared publicly with the um you know not violating open meeting laws, share it publicly somehow so that all the members
of warrant committee can learn what's going on with the fill in the blank the unemployment budget uh without having to take up time around this table. uh now to actually make that happen and I appreciate James Lee reached out to me. He's done he's actually written some up
for the the ones that he's researched and he said okay now what do we do and I that's on me. So I think I will be reaching out to everybody who has smaller budgets assigned sort of remind you you know over the next we're probably not going to meet for another
month or so remind you over the next month or so can you learn about your budget write something up I'll figure out start getting them I think we can have them posted on the warrant committee website then it's public no open meeting violations everybody can see it and then everybody will learn
okay here's what the whatever budget is. So, thank you James Lee for reminding me of that and I will be probably contacting people oneonone. I don't know if there's a better way to say remember you have the this and this try to learn
about it. Write a full summary. >> Should we send that to you? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, do we have time to other stuff to talk about? So, what is the process? We meet again in January. the uh town leadership will kind of finalize the
budget in like February and then >> by the end of January >> by the end of January and then we kind of review some of these discussions again to see if there's been any changes from what has happened over the past two months or so of these preliminary conversations and then we'll make kind
of our recommendations as part of the war process as a result of that. Is that kind of do I have that right? >> Yes, I think so. Yeah, I mean as I discussed with Mr. Milano if we have things if we can already see where we have things that um we might want a little bit different
than it you know business as usual like I'm thinking back to the library presentation people were sort of excited about adding another was it a person and a half to the library that was business as usual maybe they wouldn't add anybody to the library uh maybe that would be I shouldn't say maybe but maybe that would
be something that we can discuss in January like is there any sort of non-b businessiness as usual request to Mr. Milano before he finishes the budget. Say, Mr. Milano, you're you're finalizing the budget. We really would like to see you add a person to library if possible. You know, if we
give him that feedback before he finishes the budget, that's better than giving him the feedback afterwards. And he'll listen or he won't or I'm sure he'll listen. He'll do what we request or he won't. And then give us the finalized budget. So, we'll already have some had some input. And then we can
look at it and say, "Okay, I mean, and and say what we think. If if health insurance is coming in as high as we think, if the school budget request is coming in as high as it sounds like it might, and if expected revenues don't come in higher, something's going to
have to give, and Mr. Milano will have to make decisions about what to give, and maybe we'll have a different opinion about what should give." Uh, that that might be one topic of discussion. Uh, I know I'm hedging a lot, but
>> No, no, that I was just curious if that was that was good. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, Mr. Milano will have to put together a balanced budget by the end of January, meaning the revenue coming in equals the money going out. And as we saw tonight, he's $2 million short of that at the moment. So, I have no doubt
he'll get there. I just don't know how he'll get there. Um, >> I would say in the past we've had no opportunity to give an opinion. It's all covered and it's kind of here's a budget and we just look at it and we talk. At least now we can share some thoughts
that we think these are good investments or these are, you know, kind investments, I guess. >> Yeah. So, I'm looking ahead, assuming we skip the last few weeks of December.
January 5th is a Monday. I'm flying back into the state from Texas. Uh, I'd say maybe the following Monday, January 12th, we get things rolling.
>> Okay? And uh feel free to contact me offline between now and then. And I'll be contacting a lot of you between now and then, any questions, anything we should be doing in the next few months. >> Okay.
>> Oh, I guess um Jay, as we get if we suddenly get some more info on some of these other warrant items, I just like to get ahead of those, especially the one that I might be involved with. So, you know, if Nick is like giving you information or whatever in between there, then, you know, feel free obviously contact any of us that you
think are >> okay. >> Going to be, you know, relevant. I just like to get ahead of that if I can. >> Yeah. Good. >> Cool. >> Okay. Thanks. >> I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> All in favor?
>> Oh, and second, please. >> Thank you very much. Have a good holiday. Happy holidays.