welcome everyone this is the finance committee meeting this is Tuesday March 11th 2025 it's 6:33 and I'd like to call the meeting to order with a pledge of allegiance I pledge allegian Al the United States of
America to The Republic stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all under Mass General Law chapter 30 chapter 30A section 20f this meeting is
being recorded this meeting is being held remotely in accordance with the governor of Massachusetts March 12 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law GLC 30A section 20 and on March 29th 2023 Governor hilly
signed a supplemental 2023 budget Bill allowing for remote and hybrid meeting options for public bodies through March 31st 2025 all right well welcome everyone thank you for coming um the first item
on our agenda tonight is we're starting to talk about the Warren articles and uh it is warrant Article 13 as far as I know in the most recent and final draft but it's the community preservation
article which I believe is Article 13 um it is it still is I think in the final warrant but um so I'd like to welcome Betty Slade here and Betty's going to talk talk to us about uh the article that's uh in the warrant hi
Benny hi so to see you thank you nice to see you too thank you for inviting me I thought you forgot me no never glad you did because then I had to review the article and I found an era
I'm glad it I was really happy that I found it before 3 o' yesterday anyway um so every year people come uh usually uh nonprofits or the Town come to the CP see the community
preservation Committee in order to get recommendations uh by the CPC to town meetings for projects which they would like to carry out this year we have had six applications uh and all were recommended
to town meeting and that's what appears uh on the paper here some of you are new I don't know if everybody knows how CPC works but we do have um three basic categories one is like a joint One open space and
recreation community housing and historic preservation so if a person or group rer Town comes into the CPC and um we determine if their project uh fits into
the the various categories and then they give details they come before the CPC and we ask questions and then we have um a public hearing and at that time we recommend uh we recommend the projects
um so this year under open space and Recreation they're all Recreation uh the first like last year we had the um Annex uh Park which was submitted by the Recreation Commission
and that is completed and that's a beautiful playground and now they're going up to the playground near the mumber school which is called the Bicentennial Park playground and they want to do VAR
improvements to that um which they will detail and which I also will put into the handout which goes to town meeting because that handout has the the is is the law and we have to follow what's in
that handout when we approve the funding so that is 250,000 and that's being financed by FY 26 estimated fund revenues the second project is another W
project some of you know that we have been financing this the W since 2002 three when CPA was first uh adopted by Westport uh they had finished the
project but they had someone come in and ask if they could put in a Senior League Baseball Field and the good thing about this area on American Legion is there's quite a bit of room and it's been cleared so
when new um fields are put in it's much more reasonable this one's going to cost about 250,000 but um it will be they've asked uh what the CPA funding of
150,000 so it's a new baseball field with the chain link fence and the dugouts and all of that which can be used by most anybody and also could be helpful for the schools the schools could also
use this as a baseball field the third is there has been for quite a while uh work on what we call the Westport bking and walking path it's a South Coast Northern Scenic Greenway feasibility
study that they're still working on several towns are involved their cpcs are involved olved and we've given them a bit of money but not much to this I mean the town has given them money but not much to date but they ask for 12,000
more in order to complete the feasibility study um as you know they have a mass Trails Grant which is supporting them mainly and other towns are supporting them and they've asked for 12,000 for that so that's open space
and Recreation commity community housing is the what we do now we've been doing for years is to basically Finance the Westport affordable housing trust I think everyone knows there is one in
Westport uh their main achievement was a nooke village uh they recently um had a Habitat for Humanity uh duplex and they are um they've put out an RFP trying to
uh get land to do a 24 to 30 uh unit um something in Westport which is larger than the one or two um it's very hard to find the land
to do that and once you find it it has to have certain uh requirements so they've asked for 300,000 this year and 200,000 of it is basically for a reserve for land acquisition I
think it'll bring them up to 800,000 that they have will have so that they can buy land um 60,000 is for rehab and that's rehab of uh restricted housing for affordable
housing to help people maintain their houses so that the affordable housing stock doesn't get depleted and fall apart um and then 40,000 is for the housing office which includes the housing
officer um who un because of the regulations and the difficulties of housing needs to have somebody specialized uh also it legal help and restrictions and various things like
that so that's community housing the third category is historic preser ation we have two one small one large um some of you like Al would know the Westport grain um its history is important in
Westport and if you go into the grain you'll see on the walls all these plaques from 1880 1898 and so forth and for years I've been saying you've got to do something with those plaques so they uh
they have new um leadership Barbara Smith and Cindy wi Cindy Wilson Smith and they have gone through and looked at all of their records and the they have a lot of books there and the records are not anywhere else so going through that
theyve decided that they um uh want to get a better place for them to be they're in they're just in closets in the kitchen and so they want to find better places for them and also to put them into proper types of um archival boxes and for the things on the wall to
put them in much better categories of archival paper again and proper uh lights and proper um mirror uh windows I should say or um so that they they aren't hurt by the the light and VAR
things like that so they're they're asking for 8,225 they plan to do a lot of digitization of their accounts but they're going to be doing that with volunteers and uh I have asked the the Mormon Church um who has done a lot of
our digitation who's presently doing digitation of the records in the town vaults um and they do that free and they give us all of the information we sign contracts with them the town signs contracts with them so they may do the
Grange work also for them the last cut the last project is a large project it's the from the uh Westport Point United Methodist Church uh they want to preserve and rehabilitate Howen Hall
Community Center the community center was um built in 1967 so it is not old but it is over 50 years old which is helpful makes it more historic um and it's been used by the
public almost completely by the public people from all over Westport including as a school for third grade third and fifth grade in 1973 when there were problems with the school system so they have several
phases that they are going to do and they're asking for uh CPA funding for the first phase and the first phase is the exterior is to uh restore um um the the exterior which of course is the
sighing and the windows and all of that and the second part of phase one is for handicapped accessibility um CPA funding can be used for rehabilitation um for historic buildings
uh and one of them is of course uh handicapped accessibility so that there are two two um parts to phase one and that's all they're going to ask from CPA the rest they're planning on raising
funds um getting grants and so forth and they've already begun to do that so that's 298,000 um and if you notice that's being funded by both um the estimated fund revenues
and historic preservation reserves that's where my mistake was before I put it all as and I I wrote it as his estimated fund reserves which was absolutely wrong but this is now correct and yesterday I I went over it again
with Nicole and she passed it so I was happy um we asked for 40,000 for administrative funds it can't be over 5% of the estimated fund revenues um but we never use that much we but we keep we do
it because um sometimes we have to do things like um um have restrictions looked at to see if they're correct uh sometimes audits sometimes we hire Specialists to help us if a project is
um something that we don't have the the a capability to do it to do it we're very lucky on CPC that we have a lot of um capability and each project has a liaison so there's someone who oversees
the whole projects um and in order to get paid that person had that in order to for the project to be paid for that person has to approve um Hugh is one of those
liaison and then budgeted reserves is a interesting um category all it means that we haven't used up all the estimated fund revenues and but in order to utilize during the year
um we we need to reserve it so budget reserves is kind of part of the leftover that we haven't used for projects during the year um we don't use all of what's left over
because we're not sure for sure that we'll get the um estimated fund revenues that we expected so we're a little cautious so they are the projects for this year which we will submit to town meeting we will do a um a we for the
private projects we're going to be asking for um they have to do Grant agreements so that the projects are are protected um and for other project that have special categories we we do um as I
said surveys or we do analysis um and that will all be put into the uh hand out town meeting so that's this year thank you for that Betty um I was gonna turn it over to Hugh if he had any
comments but it looks like Hugh already had his hand up so go ahead for thank you not a great deal but I'm just gonna add to the WWA Pro probably everybody in the committee knows but it's still the Bears res saying the guys who were working on
this started working a baseball place for their children they're now working for their grandchildren and but it's done and it's beautiful you ever go out there it's still somewhat closed off from the public for fear of vandalism that sort
of thing but over time it will be in operation and it it the place is just gorgeous when you go out there it's a real resource for the town the only other comment I'd make was in connection with the Point Church is there was
something we had to investigate to see whether it was possible or not it the rules have changed in the last 10 years and more recently there was a court case that said you can't use
CPC money for religious properties well that doesn't really answer the question because there's a very big uh distinction or classification of what is religious and what is not in this case it's basically a meeting Hall and we
concluded and with I believe a cons consultation with Town Council that it's okay we think it's okay somebody May challenge it there may be a difference of opinion but we did consider the question and came to the conclusion we
could go ahead with it could I add to that is that um in 2018 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts uh looked at one particular uh uh project uh it had uh it was
stained glass windows with religious symbols on them and um they invoked the anti-a amendment and said that this was not eligible and people immediately jump to the conclusion oh dear you can't you
can't do anything with churches however since then over 200 projects and churches uh have been um passed by town meeting and have been done and there hasn't been any uh question about them
I'd like to say in this particular case we were asked to do specific things you as you know uh we were asked first of all that we would have to do a grant agreement we always do a grant agreement
secondly we had to have special letters from the historical commission saying that this project was significant in their Viewpoint we have two such letters we also um are in the historic district
this is in the historic district so they're already quite restricted as to what they can do so the historical commission will keep uh track of that and this was these were recommendations
by uh Mr Smur the lawyer and um he said if you had the these things that you were in in pretty good shape thank you both um anything else from you Hugh no but I think Al has something a question absolutely just
wanted to make sure you're all set go ahead Al Al you're muted here let's try that that that that that sounds better um two one comment and one question uh and and neither are are
negative in any any sense of the word I I happen to be around when Dick Dean who was the minister at the time uh got together and um a group together to to build the Howland Hall it was never a religious site if you will it
was attached to the Church of course but it was it was a Community Hall it has a kitchen it had yes I I I will admit that there were there were offices and some Sunday school that morphed out of the
underside of the main church and whatever but the primary focus was was not that so you know I'm not a lawyer but I don't believe in any sense of the word that it violates the church and state you know issue at all so so uh you
know that would be great the the the comment that I have Betty and and Karen or anybody else Hugh or Karen the housing there was there was a uh help me with it $440,000 or so for operating
expenses I'll call it is that really the purview of CPC to fund operating expenses I just I just want more clarification on that that question has been asked a lot um within the CPA
communities and the answer is yes it can for for um Housing Trust um but in our uh Grant agreement we have to have a housing Grant agreement with them by the way although
they're sort of town they're autonomous so they have to and we can specify what they can and cannot do with that but a housing officer is considered as you know affordable housing is very
complicated and even to put out the RFP is very complicated because of all the regulations involved state regulations as well as Federal but use both federal and state money so the answer is yes Al
it can okay that's that's fine I wasn't pushing back on it I just it it just it just jumped out at me yeah it's it did it does us to it does us too and so we I I became
the liaison with the affordable housing trust in order to see what they were doing and to I've attended meetings and I'm comfortable with with what they're doing I mean they're careful all
right if El through I'm just going to add there was another project which I won't name but we concluded was too religious and decided that it could not go ahead it was a perfectly good idea but because of the circumstances we didn't think it would
qualify but you know even in that case as we've talked about about you is we we um if they if if they came in with a a better application which we've been trying to work with them on it's a
church um and emphasize the right things because they just answered the question so wrong at the meeting that it was just well there is another year next year but they they've they're adjusting
and we'll see if they ever come back but remember the only real question I've ever seen at C at at the town meeting was about I don't if you remember Al excuse me through Karen um there at the
um Meeting House the there was a project to paint it and two people stood up and said that is a against the uh separation of church and state and that was the only time I had ever seen uh really a
question on that issue and but it again wasn't challenged after that great go ahead Cindy uh just I think for purposes of our audience as well as my own um edification how much uh in total
do you collect per year and and just to give our audience that may be listening which which I hope they are uh they'll tune into this at some point just to to remind everyone the source of the funding this is the amount that's attached to your tax bill but just so
people realize that this is not tax funds per se but this is the assessment that comes on your tax bill and this is how it's utilized I mean you know I think all of us here understand that but I think it'd be good for the yes um well
there's a 2% sirch charge on on people's tax bill so it's 2% of your bill not 2% of your the value of your house um so that is the estimated F by 26 real
estate tax revenues there's also a state match uh in the beginning the match was 100% um but so many large cities joined like Boston and Fall River and New Bedford and so and so on that our
matches come lower so that's the second category uh the third is interest um the the the funds remain available if you don't use them for for the next year so
we have reserves right now we have reserves of a million dollars I'm utilizing some of them this year but our total estimated our total available funds for FY 26 are 2
2, 33,00 33,6 54 so you collect about a million dollars a year well it's beginning to get that way as it's going it depends it's grown as revenues have grown but
it's about a million dollars a year and this year we're allocating about 1.2 billion and so we're using reserves okay and the reserves are allocated too if you you I I don't know if you look at it but there's open space reserves
community housing reserves Etc because every year 10% of the estimated revenues have to go to to those three categories so 30% you know and if they don't if you notice in the previous years we have
historic preservation reserves Etc this don't because we've used all revenues as a project so if you don't put it in a project it has to be accumulated plus many people don't many projects don't
use the full funding and so they we call it sweeping we sweep it back into the category from which it was taken so we have actually five different categories of reserves including budgeted
reserves and and unlike most other items from town meeting floor that get voted on any that's voted out of the reserves is available immediately is that correct correct right so they don't have to wait until July 1 no available
immediately if it comes it is it takes a little while before we can get it but theoretically and I used to really be careful when I I did this that I I knew projects had to serious they need to do
them right away because it's a summer they're ready you know um but it's they still couldn't get them right away so we don't do it that way anymore yeah okay thank you Betty thank you thank you I
just wanted to add to what Betty said the state contributes from registry fees and also from Appropriations from the legislature and reg fees depend upon the
real estate market as you would guess and the amount from the legislature depends upon their mood of the moment but that's the where the matching funds come from as those sources in addition to the sir tax on our local tax bills
right right and you all know that we had a vote uh Karen in town on whether or not to retain it was just a question of getting people's opinion rather than you know it had to happen and and
CPA um prevailed at the at a at a at a vote at a ballot so the second time okay so thank you when when was that Benny um 214 2014 2015 something like that yeah
okay yeah great thank you it was after the handy house okay oh okay okay um Christopher you have your hand up yes thank you madam chair uh my question is just I just want to clarify the total amount of of
reserves that is uh that is available on combining all the categories um 1 million 34,848 you know I could give you this I have a table here that I prepare every year I
don't give it to anybody with CPC but I could give it to you so you can I would be curious I really I guess I'm also curious of the uh the year-to-year fluctuation of that Reserve that if that Reserve has been that robust for a while
I'm just a little curious about that we have it all I have all those data you know where if you go to the community preservation Coalition website everything and more than what you want to know is there for every single town every project project every
penny so that you could get that and goes all the way back for us to when we started CPA in Westport all right thank you thank you Al you have your hand up I I just I just wanted to give a shout out to CPC
there's a lot of people that that question the the the need for the money the the need for the for the takeout and and where does it go and on and on there are a lot of of projects in the town the roof at the ear School uh it's
just one example of many we're not talking about private organizations here but things that don't need to come out of the budget of the operating budget that that are funding these things and so I don't want to blor the point I just
want to put it on the record that this as far as I'm concerned is a valuable resource for not only the the the in the the U character and and the fabric of the town uh in general but also from the
specific uh needs of the town that that eases the budget a little bit so enough said just want to make that point I mean just think about the playground I mean you know if if the town had to pay for the playground for example I mean 500
yeah exactly I might say to follow up Al um on the the web page of the town website the CPC I've got three tables one of them shows all of the everything
that CPA has done with the land trust or privately etc for um purchase of uh restrictions on land either for Farms or just for con a so all the details are
there how much State help there was Etc that's one table the other table I have got all of the projects allocated by categories like Town Projects you know
or Farms or historic preservation Etc so all the details are there right uh of everything that CPC has done and it's amazing I mean that people really benefit from I
mean I believe W is one huge one but I also believe saving the six Farms is great you know and things like that so there's a lot and the town we've allocated quite a bit of funding to the town um the the roof of the um Town Hall
as you know is slate and that was a major undertaking in the sense that we didn't know what we were doing people so we had to hire someone a professional to come in and a
really great project that how CPA can save money this to me was fascinating um that there was problems opening the doors of the safes in town hall yeah
they couldn't open it so they called somebody to come in and he gave an estimates of hundreds of thousands of dollars to redo all of those and so I said wait a minute and we went to the
North Bennett School North Bennett School has a section that's locksmithing I don't know if you know about it but look it up if you don't the north Benet school in Boston a man came down he looked around
and he said I think it'll cost you $1,500 and he said there's nothing wrong with the saves the problem is the floor it's right risen up Etc and he said all the things he needed to do and he did it
and it saved that much and he also said to me I don't know if it should say in public but I will um he was in the basement and he looked at that safe that's sitting there do you know there's a green safe standing he said that's
very valuable if you ever want to sell it so you get a lot of um you know a lot of people that we we have brought in to look at this look at the for example to look at the um the say the vault in the town hall there's one in the basement
and there all of the papers are there I mean that's where I got the 1770 1787 um for first books of the the town and um so we we measured the humidity in
there and it's really good by the way but we also learn that the paper that is on some of those early books is old wallpaper and it's very so I mean just just interesting things that you find
when you try to do these projects and how helpful people can be volunteers We call we call this the stop we put in the seed and then people come with the volunteers so much work is volunteer
work in town yeah Karen flatter me for for two seconds Betty I just wanted to give to you that Russ Hart's father-in-law was the clerk of the works on the town hall if you didn't know that back in the in the
30s yes uh okay I we can do this offline I just I just his name was Jensen he was the foreman and that was a c h Hansen Hansen CCC project yes C he was from Denmark so we don't need to deal with
this right now but I just wanted to to toss that out at you I want to add a commercial for the North Bennett Street School what his name is and because it is basically a vocational uh high school for artist if
you will locksmiths ersland makers Julie makers all kinds of fascinating things so if you have something strange that you need some help with they are very good and very
helpful believe it or not I worked there in my my younger I lived in the North End and that was my voting district too so really famar with that it's a wonderful place you may guess with my other hat we've had some
dealings with very pleas well anyway I think we need to wrap up our our CPC so um thank you Betty and thank you all your volunteers for everything you do so thank you so much you're welcome and thank you all right take care bye
bye all right okay so um our next item on the agenda was to to discuss the town warrant um at last night's select board meeting I believe they did um close the warrant
um I don't I don't have the final warrant so we're still working on the draft from two weeks ago but I do not believe they added any additional articles um Cindy I think you watched the meeting last night did I don't think they added anything right they did not
um they closed the warrant and the select board reserved some time uh excuse me in future meetings for them to go through the articles for their recommendations themselves so they it's
pretty much done yeah okay there were no petition there were no petition articles other than a couple of the streets right so uh everyone should have a draft the draft was dated February 24th was
the it was distributed for last week's meeting that we all have that and I wanted us to to just um talk about any other presentations that we feel that we uh may need to line up um it's that does
not appear to be uh an extensive warrant this year with a lot of financial things um so we of course we just did uh the C I can share the screen if I need to does anyone want me to do
that to go through it really quick or does everyone have have it handle on it I have my copy we good okay good um so um the the
earlier articles are the ones that are have financial interest so article one was and I'm reading off the index because that's quicker and easier um article one was Prior year year bills so of course we'll um once that's filled in
we'll we'll approve that probably don't need a separate presentation from that I think Jim we can invite the Town Administrator and he can walk us through any questions on many of these um article two was the yearend
transfers article three are salaries and compensation for eled officers article four is the town budget which we'll talk about later Article Five is capital expenditures uh the Town Administrator
at the last meeting uh gave us the presentation on that uh article six is another standard uh to authorize the treasurer to borrow article seven8 and nine are the
budgets for the Enterprise funds um the three in town article 10 is the community television budget article 11 is to increase the fire department revolving fund by 5,000 article 12 is to
reauthorize all of the revolving accounts Article 13 is the community preservation which we just had the presentation today uh article 14 is one that we should um
again miss Jim hartnet can probably talk talk us through this so this is to the article is to increase the room occupancy tax from 4% to 6% so we can certainly get more information and what the financial impact is on
that uh articles I think I in the memo is 200,000 I believe you're right I believe he did indicate that so yes absolutely uh thank you Hugh uh Article 15 is 27,000 so it's
transferring using 27,000 from the municipal waterways fund to purchase an a new outboard motor article 16 is to transfer 60,000 from a 2021 article to use for cessor
software article 17 is 500,000 for financing the water pollution facility project and that's coming through the septic revolving [Music] fund article 18 is $155,000 to do a hazardous waste
collection and that's coming from free cash uh Article 19 is $25,000 from the receipts reserved for a rolloff container and light duty equipment and then article 20 tax title
revolving fund to amend the treasurer so then articles continue to go on and it does not appear I think we've hit the um article 23 is to resend some borrowings so I
think I think we can handle um invite the Town Administrator and maybe um our treasure collector to come in and and we could go through all of these articles in a in a pretty good swoop um does
anyone feel like they need more information from any other articles or uh have any level of significant questions on those Al go ahead I I just have a question about the rooms tax and I
understand that it is not specifically uh relating to a local business or businesses plural but I wanted I'd like more information is how it compares to other um uh room taxes in in the
area yep absolutely so we'll make sure um I believe Jim will be able to uh we'll invite Jim and he'll be able to talk us through okay great no that's fine great question Hugh go ahead I just have the usual question about 30 and 31
which are road acceptances we know they they supposedly been filed on the town and and qualified by the town highway department so forth and so on but we usually look at them and don't
know whether or not a Jim will probably know just that can be added to the list of to confirm where it stands yes we'll add those to the the list as well so right there petition articles and we don't know if they're in dispute or if there's any issues with
with the roads and if the if they've been but yes we'll add those along too and then of course the Articles at the end are funding stabilization account the capital stabilization and then the special education Special Reserve account so
those are also uh and the Town Administrator has made recommendations and how he was proposing to use free cash so we have those numbers from the Town Administrator so I think we can do this
in a one swoop and most of them are nothing that really affect anything we Haven any connection with I mean they may indirectly but they're not real fincom questions right and then it doesn't appear that there's anything extremely controversial in them
so um so it seems like uh this this will be uh we'll be able to get through those quick does anyone else have any other thoughts or comments on that so we can do that I'm not sure whether this is relevant or not but I did check with remember last year we had a zoning article involving the intensified
building around it was around um white fat neck of the woods there's no such article this year and that was driven by the mpta mandates Etc the answer I got I
acquired was basically it wasn't Overlook that isn't pending at this point we just Wai and see what happens I think also the only other article that may draw a crowd although I think the planning board has been very
good about trying to um advertise the fact that they've been working on this and that's the um shortterm short-term rental so um it seems to be a pretty watered down version of it it's kind of like what we
have now it's uh self self-monitoring uh you know they they they need to get a permit um per se but there are very few rules about uh other than complaints I mean if PE if neighbors complain about it you could
have your permit uh resend it uh but those are some of the things that the Town Administrator is trying to work out that that's probably what his biggest concern is is the enforcement and policing of such uh that it ends up in
the select board's office and it's um it's not something that they really have the manpower to be able to enforce to a large degree so um I'll be interested to hear what he what else he has to say about that asy I skipped over that on
Theory we usually don't Pine on zoning articles right you're quite right it's it will be a matter of some interest I just didn't think it was in our so much right exactly exactly uh Christopher you've got your
hand up yes so uh when the when the shortterm rental question came up last year I I you know did feel that the the finance committee should have an opinion on this article and I really and I I still feel the same I understand I'm not going to win that argument uh but I will
say I I appreciate there are certain things the way this this article has been developed that I appreciate but there are a couple of of what I fear are going to be fatal flaws um there's one particular that basically it the the sentence reads in
this regard the select board May impose conditions uh applicable to each individual permit meaning basically the every single permit is going to have to go through the select board and every single permit is subject to any kind of random condition that's I I I anticipate
that there's going to be significant push Backs from that um but I also am curious as to the cost of enforcement versus the uh the costs uh or the fees and revenues coming in for from the Perman process so these are these are
two questions I do have relative to the numbers on this article yeah I I I guess they have likened it to some degree similar to what happens at East Beach so each year the the uh tenants at East East Beach or the or the uh trailer
holders each East Beach must get a permit that's issued by the select board and depending on the lot and the condition of the lot they impose certain restrictions or certain things that have to be met before that permit is granted
after that I mean yeah they don't really do much you know policing they collect a fee for the permit um and it is what it is I think short-term rental would have a little bit of a different impact depending on yeah where you know what's
going on at that short-term rental right so um I agree with you Chris I mean I think that there will be um you you know issues involving enforcement and whether or not there's a cost associated with that enforcement so
uh it'll be interesting to hear what the town administ has to say about that I don't think he's fan right I agree when Jim uh when the Town Administrator when we invite the Town Administrator to talk about the Warren articles will certainly
um Christopher discuss your exact question um and then we can still get an answer to that and then then the finance committee can determine if we feel there's enough financial implication that we would need to recommend or not recommend the article but we certainly
should ask your questions that you have absolutely oh Al go ahead I I'm gonna pull back my question because the three of you have have pretty much outlined what what my concerns are you know and it's enforcement it's is the building
inspector who is over you way over U reached in in terms of of the needs as the zoning agent uh uh capable of of doing uh you know the kind of things uh
enforcement if you will so I'm I I'll just leave it on the table that the three of you uh have hit my uh my hot buttons yeah okay all right well it sounds like I'll talk to the Town Administrator see if we can get um the
next available date and um we'll we really would need the final warrant so we would have a a good base that we could get the presentation and potentially even make the recommendations uh the same day and be
and be done uh if we can so I think we're still we're still in good shape I don't have the the schedule in front of me where I know the warrant has to be finalized with our recommendations by some certain date so um so we're closing
in on it but we still have some time so we're not at the Urgent Point yet but in two or three weeks we will be so we don't have an endless amount of time um all right so moving on from the war the warrant so the next item on the
agenda is the fiscal 26 budget and I want to try to [Music] share that presentation all right does everybody see the sharing of the budget of yes
okay so just to give um or so the select board made its recommendation of of their version of the budget and passed it along to the finance committee and we uh did receive that at the last meeting Jim did
mentioned that there were a couple of things that were still pending that he was hoping to have resolved soon and hopefully soon uh and so they have come through as being resolved uh in a favorable in a good way to the budget
which is is always a plus when it happens that way uh and Jim did a great job in highlighting everything in the memo which I have up here so subsequent to the select board budget being finalized um The Diamond it
the diamond it uh charge did come in and it was 234,000 lower than what was the placeholder in the budget so expenses are being reduced uh in the in really in our version of the budget the again the
select board already finalized their budget so we can roll these sort of changes into the finance committee recommended budget Jim also heard from uh health insurance and it looks like that was able to be reduced by
$100,000 and then Jim also took a look at local receipts revenue and increased the revenue by 200,000 and in the budget that uh you all have there's a t for the revenue and you can and that will I can
put that on the screen and you can see where uh all of the different line items got changed by 200,000 so so that means the budget has $534,000 more uh to to share with both
the town and school on its expenses so uh that's a very positive thing for from where we left off uh these the notes so the finance committee at the last meeting had discussed a couple of
potential changes which would be helping fund the Animal control officer and the building department and so factoring the things that we talked about uh as potential at the last meeting in bringing into uh all the additional
Revenue Jim did a great job and he reran the whole budget for us and and we have that so this is the summary that does everything and I'm going to close that out does anyone have any questions before I share the next thing uh I just
wanted to say I assume this I believe this do not include an estimate the 200,000 for the uh room tax increase that's correct it does not assume that that will have passed and so those that
is not in there so if if it did pass a town meeting then in theory those increased revenues would would be part of next year's Surplus and right but they are not budgeted because they're not not certain at this
point um okay so if I [Music] share the screen okay can everybody see so the operating Revenue so this First Column here is where the
select board voted uh on the budget and column s is the changes and so scrolling down here are where the extra $200,000 of local receipts Revenue came from so
$35,000 in excise uh and just moving down through so everyone can and see where that came from so I'll just Express I I have a a little concern on this
um I think we so in Jim's memo he's pushed it up to 85% of Revenue so we're we're we're kind of at the a a little approaching the aggressive end of budgeting so we're
still within a a tolerable range but we're really up against the limit of it so if something if something doesn't go as planned that you just don't have a lot of wiggle room and what this means is in theory that will generate less free cash
next year and but anyway so that's that's um I'm not overly concerned on on my opinion on it but I think it's a little it's a little on the aggressive side of that um okay so moving over to
the can you see my the summary tab now yes so local receipts were increased by 200,000 by the results of all the changes free cash went from 54,000 down to 400,000 and that was
really eliminating the need to use free cash to pay off the C uh the campground debt um I see a hand is I heard a hand is up yeah Karen just just quickly yeah local receipts of an increase of
$200,000 is that in fact the potential for uh rooms tax or is that something else that's not so that was the exact that was what H uh Hugh asked a moment ago right does not assume that that room
tax would would be increased from 46 that that's that's fine I heard what Hugh said but I just wanted to double check no absolutely y thank you absolutely I think it's reflected a little bit more in Auto excise tax was bumped up a little bit right uh as well
as maybe some rooms tax but that was really based on the existing rooms tax that we collect currently and um he felt that maybe he was a little bit a little bit light there but it does not include
Revenue no that's fine no no no need to go any further yeah thank you very much I just sure thing I just wanted to check yeah thing um so free cash so the 400,000 is the the same supplement to the school Department's budget so that's the that's
the free cash use um we had talked about increasing our Reserve fund this was kind of a plug to kind of get things to balance a little bit so that can be changed uh as we need to but so that was increasing
our Reserve fund Jim had suggested increasing property insurance because it looked like that was coming in a little bit higher than he anticipated then the two changes that were we highlighted was a $330,000 for the building department and $30,000 for the
animal Control Department and then um so then um the Regional Schools was decreased by 234,000 so that's the assessment coming in lower and then taking the 54% split on
all of these things that that came in has increased the additional funds to the school by 100 12,000 which brings it to 23654 943 and then I think that is it oh and then health insurance decreased by the
100,000 is all I all identified in the memo I heard a question go ahead Al you're on mute L you're on mute there sorry y there we go I'm sorry to be a nudj could you go
back to the U to the school assessment uh for a second sure thing so my question is that if we are down 234 is that money coming from and I hate
to use these words but it's the way it is the town side versus the school side and would it be prudent if it if a portion or all of it comes from the school side to reallocate those
funds to the school well I don't know the answer I'm just asking the question yeah um we we traditionally have done the 54% split and um that's a tab in here as well and
so so we we the town shares the revenue and shares the common expenses equally so that's always been part of the calculation not right wrong or indifferent but that's maintaining consistency that's the way that it's been okay right you get into you get
into the nuances if if you say well this should be 100% to the school then there could be other things to say well then this should be zero% to the school well of course I mean we we all we know about all of all of the ancillary expenses
from the school that are put in on the budget on on the town side I I I I get that I was just I was just curious where that um that negative or credit if you will was was uh was was it direct
expenses or and again it's not a credit it's not a credit it's just a credit from the last version of the budget because Jim had to estimate and he estimated a certain amount so it's just a change from where we left off it's not okay it's not a savings it's it's an
estimate that was it's it's a it's it's an estimated savings or whatever yeah okay decreased the original estimate perfect thank you sure uh Hugh go ahead I just wanted to say how nice it is to have found an extra $500,000 in the
cushions it sure was it sure was I'm not I'm not sure there's going to be as much much Pocket Change falling in those cushions in in the in the future years I mean you know we've got the the police department is going to
play a big role in this because you know they have been funded in the past years for you know 28 to 31 officers and up until this past year they were carrying 25 or 26 so every year they had a significant turnback as you know you so
they've had a significant turnback every year and we're not going to see that because they're fully you know they're going to be fully stocked uh as soon as this Academy class is done and um so some of those turn backs are not going to be flowing down to the bottom line in
um in uh excess net income out for your purposes yep no that's inad of free cash right thank you very much yeah I appreciate you're absolutely right I also point out that last year's excess took s some Capital needs for a couple
of years right so you're right there won't be but it was used I think very productively in last year yeah yeah right so just um just finishing up where the changes are so right now um
the the budget showing a surplus of 118,000 and so Jim is suggesting um he's recommending to put 40,000 back into add 40,000 to the assessor overlay and then put the balance into the health insurance
account um that I think kind of negatively would impact the 54% split to the school number but at some point we've got to just let it roll um but that that would impact that a little bit but say say that health
insurance is one of the things that needs to cover both sides of the equation right so that's the um that's the changes so far so I'm going to unshare my screen so I can see all of you again and you all have this was emailed
to all of you too so you have all of that y okay um Karen do you have a recap of how the uh school budget fares in this I don't know if you were going to get to that but I know you show the number in
in in the budget there but given where how much additional fund funds were added to the budget given what the school budget was originally um submitted
for using the free cash how close does this come to it's my understanding W with we were about a million dollar short prior to this and now it's it's about 400,000 or
so short but I may be I'm I'm using I don't have my paper here in front of me I I don't have it unless Jim has it in in his memo but the select board budget um there the the initial using
the 54% split in its uh normal fashion as compared to the school committee's request was over a million dollar difference and then with the combination of free cash and
the select board had had allocated some Revenue 100% rather than using the 54% split that left about a $500,000 gap between the select board's number and what the school committee's
number is and so now an extra 112,000 has come to there so 380 390 somewhere in that range okay okay but that's still maintaining the 54 correct split Jim so in this
version um we went back to the pure 54% split so right um so we corrected that that um that so it's it's it's it's still at the 54% The increased Revenue took a uh the burden off of increased
free cash yeah yes so it makes the the burden about 200,000 lower of using free cash so yeah it keeps it in line with our goal to try to bring that down so that at some point it can be self-
sustaining right right good okay so questions comments observations I'm amazed how well it seems to have balanced out over more short 400 on the schools wish Etc but
that was a forego conclusion that it was not sustainable to begin with not in their minds maybe but everybody else's so almost a magic wand has been has been waved somewhere it is Hugh and you know the
concerning part is all it's it's it's helpful that this year that it seems to a a mini magic wand is I mean it's not perfect because the school number isn't you know what what they had requested um
and nor our other department uh on the town's side um is is also lacking a lot as well but um but working within what is available to now it could be a little bit mess uh
optimistic the future things may be a lot tougher because Metts is not on the good list as far as the feds are concerned we don't have Boston or the the U Sanctuary City kinds of problems
but Massachusetts is not going to be a favored nation well you know manufacturing crises where there aren't there they aren't there yet we're not being political here on a national not looking ahead or next time we go this time let
see where we are right so so without being political on a national level but thinking about our economics right so if if we're heading towards increased
prices um all all around that very potentially will impact the turn Backs from next year so more likely instead of departments under spending and turning money back they may in fact need to
spend all their money because their costs are going up so you may have less turn backs which will result in less free cash and also I'm sorry but best buying of new cars which makes a difference absolutely so less buying
less excise tax and all of that could impact Revenue as well um and in this budget we've tweaked up the local receipts to be at that 85% so we're we're kind of at the upper end of that
too so that can could impact free cash next year too so this year so right they're not affecting it this year but next year could you know all hands could be moving in a direction of um next year
being less free cash and being a more difficult year but that's the way budgeting goes so we're trying to deal with this here and trying to accommodate as much as we can but we need to keep an eye on um the
future too go ahead Al one of the things that I think that we or a subcommittee or another committee should be looking at uh is the three to five year uh aging
of accounts and the accounts happen to be the people that are working in all departments at the Town Hall at the U uh school department and what are they getting paid what are
what are their what's their total package and what do we need to be competitive because within the next three to five years there's there are going to be a lot of people cycling out of their job they're going to retire
they're gonna have a life oh my God they're gonna have a life right and and what do we need to be looking at to replace the you know that type of person
at that type of of pay uh it's not a discussion for tonight but I do think it's something that we need to to uh to to really consider it's almost like cipc in in a way and rather than Machinery let's look at probably our
most important asset which are the people so yeah absolutely Al and you know that's that's another component too right so it's it's it's probably pretty fair to say that when someone retires that it's probably going to be
more expensive to replace that positions right so that's so there will be future budget demands just by the the natural turnover and so that's another element that that factors into future years um don't know next year or the year after but that that definitely is going to
impact the budgets so what I'd like to do with this budget um we all have it I I want to know if anybody has any suggestions of changes I don't want us to approve the budget tonight but I'd like us to be in
a position at our next meeting that um we should probably get this budget um reviewed and approved so we can get that behind us so I want to talk through if anybody has any concerns or comments on anything here that we're addressing
those I just make that it looks to me that it does the best it can with what we have available and things that we talked about like the uh anal control officer like the Board of Health those were dealt with in this process I don't
think there's no lot more that we can do with what we've got but Others May differ obviously I think you're right you I mean as my father used to say you play the cards you dealt and
yeah right Christopher you've got your hand up thank you I have a just a quick question regarding some of the uh cipc uh funds um
specifically this this C expansion I was under the impression that there was a it was it was not an expansion so much as it was just uh more of a more of a maintenance thing am I am I I guess I I direct this question
through you madam chair to to uh Mr Lee what what exactly was the the cemetery uh cipc going towards Karen do you want do you want me to so so so so my understanding at the meeting
is that we we have X amount of space available in in in the current location and there there needs to be a capital expenditure to prep and get everything
ready we don't know how much uh land area it is cuz you know I had to be you know graphic about it but it's it among other things it's a water table issue Chris yeah and so that it it wasn't
about is in my understanding it wasn't about going out and looking for another location it was about taking the balance of the property that behind the police department and the um uh the fire
station and you know be able to prep and get ready for expansion there it was not a capital expense to look for another um piece of property if you will to um um you know add another Cemetery that's
going to that's G to come right it's not a maintenance issue this is plotting a new this is engineering and and surveying a new surveying exactly that expansion right so so let me ask you so it it's not just to repeat here it is
not a capital expense for a new piece of property it would be dealing with property that's currently owned by the town um with the Revelation that there is about a million dollars or so uh in reserves for Community preservation wouldn't this maybe be a
better candidate for that type of Grant as opposed to a cipc grant that's beyond my pay grade it it it's a fair question and it's a question that needs to be asked but um I'm certainly not prepared
to you know you know expound to that tonight Chris and it's nothing against what your your question I just I just uh oh no and and I certainly wasn't wasn't didn't mean to direct that towards that particular question it was more more rhetorical certainly not going directly
to you Mr Le on that um but I I am I am curious that that and and and frankly I think there's even a good argument that the uh the mcber playground expenditure would also really might be better served coming from the uh Community
preservation uh reserves I I I I admit that number the the amount of of funds that are in reserve for that program considering the uh the sech charge rate that we we currently have in town um I I feel like that should be we should
really look towards those uh towards those funds before allocating uh free cash to things that that would fall under that purview so just to um expand on that I think that was a very recent conversation uh
when Betty Slade had seen the warrant and had seen the the school playground it was a thought that that why hadn't it been brought to the CPC as a as a as a recreation
um and I think um it's too late this year so that's not happening this year because it's too late but that was a an observation that was made and from what I understand through that exchange the any CPC funds would
mean that the it would need to be be able to be used by the public as well um so that would have to be worked out as well and but Hugh you're an expert on CPC you can respond right yeah
I going to say if we're talking about the cemetery I'm not all sure that falls on the the perie of CPC basically it's housing a public space preservation and Recreation none of those seem to fit now maybe there's some interpretation somewhere that makes a difference but I
would think that was not not possible but we'll find out and again it's not this year's decision is next year and we'll if somebody brings it up we'll deal with it great thank you Duncan you have your
hand yeah I just wanted to say that you know it's it's good to see the the budget move in the right direction from where we were and I think uh Christopher's questions are very interesting and particularly if we're going to have um potential potentially
more trouble next year if we had some uh we had some uh leverage in C C funds or somewhere else to to to help the uh you know the ongoing U school budget I think that would be certainly worth pursuing
aggressively uh Duncan I don't I wouldn't go down that road very far CPC is only for specified categories which are basically not operating fun things right I was going to clarify that too so the playground is not part of the
operating budget so that would be separate and distinct I say there's there I think it's three maybe it Overlook something but specified areas that are the only things that can be used for schools is not one of
them great so um just back to the budget so so if we were to and I'm not this is a hypothetical so if we were putting the vote to the budget today or we would be would we be prepared to approve this or
does anyone have suggestions of changes at this point I would like to um wait until next week's meeting and and look at it in detail uh this is my issue not yours this is my third finance
committee meeting today for different organizations and and so what I would like to do is is is have a time to be able to just obsorb it and wait until whenever next week's meeting uh to be able to to to you know
to say that yeah and and and I tried to phrase it as hypothetically because I'm not asking us to vote on I think um I think and you know I always like to see information and then have time to kind
of absorb it and think through and did did did you think of everything and so I don't think it's fair would be fair to ask the committee to do it but what what I'm trying to get to is in the past uh whether it's Warren articles on this
committee or the previous committees not not you all necessarily right where and I I've been part of the committee where we've talked about a Warren article and and we had conver deliberations we had
conversations and it seemed like the conversations were favorable and then a vot got taken and a couple of certain people were an emphatic no on the article and it was a surprise to me to hear somebody say no
when there was nothing in the deliberation that even discussed the opinion that would be a no because afterwards I had asked the person to say hey why why did what was what was your no and then they this was after the meeting and they explained all of their
reasons and I thought well that should have been part of the deliberations I would have loved to have heard the other side of something and so I I always get taken back when when everyone when someone's silent and then it it's a no
and then there's no discussion of well I didn't know you were opposed what could we have done to have made it a yes right so that's what I'm just trying to um kind of that's my my thought process on that whether it's the budget or all the articles I think it's important that we deliberate and discuss
what what opinions are and so we're not surprised Y and that thing I would say my ability to attend next these meeting is is very questionable but if this were a vote I would be in favor thank you h yeah I wasn't I wasn't
but I appreciate that I wasn't necessarily trying to I'm just trying to if if there's an opposition I would like to know what that might be and what then what could we do to accommodate an opposition to make it so that uh it ask
for a STW vote which is not binding and subject of reconsideration with new information oh I've never done that before Christopher go ahead yes thank you madam chair so as one of the individuals who who did vote uh no on
the budget last year um you know I I will say that I I think uh you know that's certainly any individual's right as a member of of of the the finop um I will also say that you know there are certain things in this budget that I am
uh opposed to uh quite quite frankly I will say right now spending $200,000 in free Cas on uh a a potential for a cemetery expansion does not strike me as as a real priority that really needs to be funded this year um but I also
understand and I think uh I I know that from other uh at least from one other member there's been similar frustrations there's one thing it's one thing to deliberate and offer arguments against it's another thing to beat your head against a wall and sometimes you
know uh people's uh people have made have uh made their stances clear and you know one might not want to waste any more hot air so that's just that's just a another side another perspective I guess going forward to
think about when it comes to these things um I I'm just going to take a little opposition to both of those comments um I think if if there of course any member is allowed to vote Yes
or no on the on any budget so ideally it would be optimal if the finance committee were to present a budget that all members supported but that may or may not be the
case and that's perfectly acceptable that if not every member supports it but what I'm trying to get to is if a member isn't of support it'd be important to know what that might be so that we could
try to remedy that so that's the purpose of my conversation and and and regards the 200,000 in free cash for the cemetery that's not part of this operating budget so that's a separate article uh and that's a separate article that you could
vote no on if you didn't feel that that was uh something that you supported but that's not part of the operating budget Christopher how old are you probably older than you think uh I'm Pro maybe but I'll tell you
what the old the older you get the more the semetery makes makes makes sense so that's all I wanted to to just toss into into that now I tell you I'm not planning to use it well neither am I although I have
my plot ready it's right across from 10 cousins and and the you know the the joke is that when I buy stuff I keep the points uh and I never use them because when I finally die we can have the the uh the
party across the street and have it already paid for I'm sure your buy you you know and I just want to go back to the budget I appreciate that um that that com in the
cemetery sorry you know we had Department we've had our budget meetings from December 4th right not all of us have been able to attend every meeting and so I hope that those meetings that someone wasn't able to attend that they
watch the meeting so they're familiar with the budgets um when a person's not at the meeting it doesn't offer that ability of that person if they had a concern about a particular budget to have voiced it at that meeting um so if
there is opposition to a department budget I didn't hear a lot of opposition in the meetings that we held at the finance committee meetings so those should be brought forth if there are any so we can try to address
and accommodate them so that's my that's my comments let's have a tie on so um okay so I think that's um any other suggested changes to the budget so I'll do one more revision
incorporating Jim's comments that he had uh at the bottom that he had highlighted suggesting the overlay reserve and putting it to there and so uh that will be the I guess my question is uh do you
intend to have Jim present at our next meeting I'm so that any of these so that any of these questions could be addressed yeah so we can so we can nail it down well I'd like and I'd like to know if there are questions we should know about
them in advance so that we could give Jim Advance time to ask the questions I don't think it's fair for him to take to come to a meeting and just be asked questions out of the blue so if there are concerns they should be brought forth as questions now so that we can
ask them to address them so so Karen to to to save you Jim and all of us within the next pick a number 72 hours if we have any questions email them to you so
you can forward them to to Jim and after that if you know pick a number I Thursday night at midnight I I don't really care and then after that sure just deal you know you know just deal with what's on the table and and and
then make the decision at the next Point sure yeah absolutely and anybody can ask a question you know next Tuesday you could think of it at the as he's there and I'm not restricting you sorry you can't ask the question but if you have known
questions that we should exactly I mean at some point you just got to shut all of us down and and just just just move forward yes uh Christopher go ahead well I will uh I will now email I
a specific question that actually relates to something that was on the uh the audit uh was it was at the audit committee uh regarding the uh abatement uh accounts and the the uh there's a
there a u section of the management letter that notes that the town's allowance for abatement accounts exceeds exceeded 1.2 million in the current year despite only about 25,000 of estimated law that's one particular thing I would would uh like to get uh like to ask of
of the uh well Christopher uh Nicole is actually with us and we addressed that at the audit committee and so Nicole are you there well she was with us um she did still show she's there yeah she's m I'm
here here I couldn't get the darn thing to turn on you you woke up right um where we have uh looking at it I'm going to do a uh another analysis with the assessor um
because we are they are releasing $450,000 for um this town meeting well actually they've already released it but we're going to use it at this town meeting um for the ambulance or for the fire engine for the fire engine right
yeah yeah right so um but after that we'll take a look at it and we'll uh assess to see what what they need need and what they have and and you know we may have we may release more um we're not sure yet but that's something that I have to have a discussion with Theo uh
regarding you know what we want to do with the EXs I'm not sure what she has like in the works because some of these abatements could take years and we don't know what's what's out there I don't know so that's something I have to talk to her
about right you said four 450,000 is is flown through already so it's already being addressed and being right it's the letter already went from the selectman to the assessors requesting the release of the funds so that's already been
voted on by the assessors so um once it um approved that town meeting then it'll be in an article for the uh fire engine y okay and again similar similar to free
cash right so this is sort of using it's potentially a reserve and now it's being utilized right so it's the similar to free cash where it's a one-time fund and so trying to use it in the them concept of using it for one-time expenses like
Capital would be the preferred way so really isn't something that would come through an operating budget to be used in that way because it's a one-time fund so I it is not really a one it's a reserve it's a continuing fund because
it will be funded from Reserve against Potential abatements from time to time so yes it's a capital Fund in the sense that it's there against potential liabilities but it's not static it gets added to as time goes by and released
when it's decided to be excessive so so so to that point do we know over the last five six seven years what percentage of the uh the abatement
funds have actually been claimed by individuals versus in reserve so yeah what I'm saying is that if we have we have a fund of x amount of dollars do do we only spend or or you know place
in in in in other areas 80% 75% whatever it might be or do we just kind of wing it yeah I think the answer has to come from the assessors but remember this is a baitman on particular properties some are small
some are big so that the amount that's an issue may be not very much or a whole a lot and what you're going to do in terms of getting an adverse decision may be the big ones and not the little ones so I think the accessories are the ones that want to tell us what is an adquate
Reserve against possible uh force rebat all right so maybe that's what we should consider it's a little bit off topic but you know if we're if we're shifting 450 to a fir Tru which I am all for to be
honest with you what is the percentage should we be shifting 300 that Ard just to pick a number out of the air because and and keep a reserve on file for potential abatements now we've done this
over the years I remember several years ago squeezing money out of the overlay for this and that but it comes back to the assessors and you're actually right ask the question what do they think is necessary to retain and for what purpose
I mean they are pending cases not just in terms of Nicole Sky did did the the assessor's office approve the 450 were they comfortable were they in the loop on that and they were so that's that's already been taken care of yes the
mechanism for releasing overlay in in lump sums is that the selectman send a letter to the assessors requesting a certain amount of money to be released from overlay the assessors then vote on it sign the letter and then they give it
to me to make the transfer um during the tax recap session when the tax rate is set so back in November when we set the tax rate a certain percentage is put into overlay for the fy2 uh real estate and personal property
bills for potential uh abatements and refunds okay so that the assessors can you know tell you based on that approximate percentage of what we put in there every year as for the previous years that's where um I I know Theo has
a spreadsheet that says you know what's coming and going so they would determine you know what years have been kept how much has been kept and what's still a potential payment that is still pending
so that's the that's where we have to look and say well you know you know fy21 there's three cases so it might be this amount of money but then anything else left from that year could be released but that's conversation that
we'd have to have with the assessors to determine if there's anything to be released and if it's not released for a certain project that it would be released and fall into free cash it can't it's not just like we don't just put it in a reserve fund or
anywhere else it's either for a project or it would be free cash okay thank you you're welcome good info all right anything else on the budget so okay the the the one other
question that I would have to the town accountant and to the Town Administrator would be um I know that there has been discussions of several item several accounts or or waren articles that are old at this point that have random
amounts of of uh of funds in those uh in those accounts and I was just trying to figure out um I I've asked a couple times to try and get a uh you know as as near the full accounting as
possible I guess to see what um I guess what Old Warren articles are still out there other than what I mean I know there's a couple transfers here on on the draft warrant as it stands right now um but I'm I'm just curious what other uh funds
are have been sequestered away for quite some time now um so to answer that um I have been looking at all uh outstanding accounts whether they're Grant accounts revolving
accounts special Revenue accounts agency accounts articles every single year we the articles that are voted at town meeting that that's one thing and every year in May I send out a memo that says these are your articles do you want to
retain the article or return the article there really isn't a lot in articles because those are usually for specific purposes and they get used right away um some of the other special Revenue accounts that the Auditors are talking about I have been in touch with several
departments to say hey we have this money nobody's used it in five years let me know what it's for if you can use it use it if not we transfer it to miscellaneous Revenue then it'll fall into free cash so some of like older
grants so they get a grant for $5,000 they spend $4,900 so they get $100 sitting there that they forgot about or somebody had it and then they left the position and the new person doesn't know that there's
still this money sitting here so those are the kind of things I'm trying to clean up by going through the accounts find out when was the last time it was used and going out to the department and say hey can we use this um so we're I'm
I'm cleaning up a lot of those accounts to make sure they're all current Nicole I'd like to add just one thing you may recall um last year's Town warrant there were several articles uh regarding even some accounts that were um allocated
toward school projects uh that were either um done in Prior years and there were balances and there were several things that were switched this was the second year that that comment was kind of carried over on the audit and last
year there were probably I'm going to say five articles Nicole that we took care of large balances from previous articles and applied them to current Day projects yes yes right there was uh yeah
I think there were like four and that's what we did we repurposed them for something else sort of like the article that's on there now to repurpose uh an old Assessor's article for uh software right you know so um so we've been making some real head head you know uh
Headway on taking care of a lot of those um um yeah yeah you still have to look up that that $25,000 one Nicole for the cemetery department and let me know whether or not we use that one I no I
did look it up we do still do have that 25,000 for a feasibility study but I'm going to suggest to um Jim that we return that particular article because I don't think we need it right um but
that's that's not under my purview that's the board of Selectmen to whether they want to retain or return the Articles so Nicole of the ones that you're still um you know actively working with with other departments would you say are there any any of
substantial dollar amounts or are they more small nuisance type got to clean them up kind of thing that or can you provide us with the list yes I can provide you with a list but most of them yes they are small
um Cas in point there was one for the fire department that was a um a gift from like a Walmart Foundation or something there's like $135 left in there and it's been sitting there since like 2010 so I called the fire
department I said hey you guys got this this grant if you can find the paperwork that says what you can spend this on spend it and so we can we can get it out of here um police department has a couple of things that again they they
had a grant that they used for um I forgot what it was for but there's a little bit of money left so you know we're gonna we're gonna spend it um art as for articles like the new vehicles so the police go out and buy the new vehicles I want to make sure that they
use the money for the vehicle so if they have to equip anything Electrical uh decals um anything they need for that new car use the money that's in the article because then they're not using it in
their budget which will fall into free cash so there's kind of a a you know two-step process to all of this um and it's also like by my me sending out the memo that says hey you have this money it keeps it on their radar that says hey you know I need to look more closely at
all of these and you know keep track of them more often so you if you could send a a list to send it either to Karen or myself and we will forward it to the committee members that would be helpful sure I can do that great terrific thank you
Nicole L go ahead I just wanted to say a followup to that it would be important Ni Call because candidly and and you use the fire department police department and there's obviously every every Department they've got so many things juggling in their brain
we have Liaisons from finance committee to these different departments and maybe all they need to do is hear from us who whomever it might be and say you got $200 for this spend the damn thing you
know to help them out because they kind of have bigger issues uh but it's important for you and the rest of the town to be able to juggle and and and clean up a lot of this stuff so that's all all I wanted to to just weigh in we
can be we can be helpful with the Departments to uh to help them I will say in in in um in support of of the great job that really Nicole has done and as well as uh Sue braon Has
Done in in turning around the financial situation of the town as far as it's recordkeeping and where we stand and having some idea of of what our our books look like um I would almost coin
um the management letter What Now call something different now but I still call the management letter um is being almost nitpicking because they had nothing negative to say there wasn't a single negative comment of any relevance
whatsoever in their whole report now this is coming off of what three four years ago where there were three pages of oh at least yeah of negative comments of and material weaknesses of material weaknesses I say negative
comments material weaknesses we had no material weaknesses at all uh and they were almost really kind of nitpicking at trying to find things to site as being well you should take a look at this or take a
look at that you know even our um you know payments for opep it that's a comment that's made every year Westport stands well above the state average of what our OPB liability what what we've
paid towards our OPB liability now 20% may not seem like a very large number and in the corporate world it probably is not uh the state average from what I recall is about 11% right and Westport
is at 20% so um it's you know it's it's it's good that we can continue to make payments towards that um but it's um we've done a great job in turning things around and it's great that Nicole and
and uh Sue work so well together they communicate well they both have a good understanding of uh of what the law is and what they can and cannot do with the finances and um it's just it's just
great that it's worked out as well as it has yep thank you for that Cindy that's true absolutely thank you thank you Nicole too yes thank you and and in full disclosure and it's not because Susan is
is my cousin but the two of them have worked out extremely well and and if you look it's not just 11 to 20% that's about you know I'm doing my head maath here a 45%
increase over what the average is I mean that that that that's with with the limited resources that that we we have and are able to expand and still deliver um and in fact one of the items that Jim
used in in one of the of the additions of the budget is that we trim back our our OPB um contribution a little bit because we could this year a little bit because we had a good cushion and you
know it was applied to things that we needed a little bit more so it's not the type of thing that we continue to fund it blindly we continue to fund it because we're supposed to and we continue to fund it if there's a year where we can clip 20,000 off or
whatever he'll choose to do that uh and that was exactly the case this year in order to make some of these other numbers work um he clipped a little bit off of the uh the opep payment that we would normally be making all right so if nothing else on
this we can um any other questions for again as as as El said if there's any additional questions for um for Jim it would be helpful to have it in advance and if in the next couple of days you can send that off if there's
anything else that would be helpful okay um all right so the next item on our agenda is any updates on uh committee or L uson updates is there anything else it sounds we've already talked about the audit
committee quite a bit um Cindy can you send us the audit committee management letter and everything I'm not sure we have that it's still the draft theyve not oh it's still a draft okay is that true Nicole is it still the
draft no no the audit is final oh okay it is final now okay the federal single audit is final and been submitted so everything is done I can forward that to you guys okay that'd be great thank you um Christopher we're having a long-term building committee meeting next week is
that correct the 19th isn't that what the date that yes now I I actually do not have the confirmation from RGB as of yet but I do uh that that is the original uh as the original schedule was laid out it was
the 19th yes okay so that meeting will have to be posted by Monday yes yes so I'm hoping hoping to hear back from them pretty pretty shortly so and we were thinking about changing the venue perhaps you wanted to invite the public
that's actually uh part of the conversation I part the email back and forth here so as soon as I have a a good uh yeah I I believe we're going to have it in uh in a larger venue I don't know if that's going to be a the library or
another venue as of yeah the library is not open on Wednesday evening so um that would be a problem and I think I I don't know if it's a board of appeals meeting night they would have already posted public hearings for the select Board
Room for when they usually have their meetings on Wednesday so I only bring this up and I know this is not a finance committee issue but while I have your attention I'm sorry that they quite often meet on Wednesdays and they're they have public hearings that are posted for that room so they can't
change their room Goa and and actually so that's part of what I why I'm I'm I'm waiting for the confirmation good all right basically they have on their chart uh most of the meetings happening on Thursday but for some reason this has a start date of Wednesday and a close date
of Thursday so oh okay some confusion as to exactly what so I'm trying to get answer okay so just just just as a quick thought the police department has has a wonderful meeting room true yeah they do it's very large so that that that may be
another option oh great think there also the Howland Hall there you go the the one the CPC wants to fund that's right well Christopher is there's something on the topic for the meaning that you anticipate a grander public
participation that you need a different venue so this maybe explain what what your upcoming committee might be doing so there are two uh two meetings scheduled over the course of the next uh next two months uh that are going to be
talking B basically asking for public input on on potential uh potential options reuse options um well not not just reuse options just options in general um they have been working on the uh on on the uh the feasibility study uh
and the last meeting that we had uh discussed the findings of their site visits of the uh the town buildings that they they looked at and looked at some of the the the challenges and and uh and uh you know certain things being in good shape certain things not not and and
seeing where uh seeing where there there would be uh there might there might be some challenges as far as uh either continuing to utilize uh the town hall town annx or uh and the and the uh Council on Aging as opposed to some the
challenges with with trying to do a reuse of the old high school so um these two meetings are going to be uh based are going to be uh very very involved with the public to try and get uh get ideas and and discuss some of their
their their preliminary findings as well so great thank you all right so if no other committee meetings to discuss okay great I will move on to the minutes so my agenda had I was incorrect on one of my dates so
January 7th we'd actually I I'd had on my list to approve the minutes but that those minutes had been previously approved but I also did not include January 2 first on the list that are are meeting
minutes so and I uh you should have SE received a recirculation of the minutes there I condensed them to remove all of the uh conversational uh budget discussions and really make it a little more sleeker
minutes so did everyone have a chance to look at the and everyone okay with uh the redo of those um I think so the minutes so the minutes are January 14th January 21
February 11th and February 25th I think um I'll leave it to uh the experts in the house who might be lawyers um I don't think we're required to list dates on the agenda so I don't know if we should not approve the January 21st
minutes and wait till a future agenda to post the date or if you think we could go ahead and approve that date as well let's live dangerously which is which way had we've had some nitpicking about
unimportant things on the agenda so I think we'd probably be wiser to avoid the nitpick right so not so so so moved okay so we will uh I will take a motion to approve the dates uh so
January 7th was already approved so that's not a date so we can approve um January 14 we can approve February 11th and we can approve February 25th we will not do
January 21 because that's not on the agenda so we'll do that next round do you would you like those dates listed uh each vote separately or can we do them as in I think we can do as one uh okay so I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the finance committee for
January 14th February 11 and February 25 of 2025 second okay any discussion on those okay I'll go for a roll call Cindy
Cindy Brown i l Al Le i q q Mortin I Christopher Christopher ther I Duncan dcan I and Karen Rose I thank you okay uh topics for next agenda uh
that is the warrant that is our next agenda so the warrant all the wall warrant articles which includes the budget and I will do my best to uh invite Jim so this way we can
conclude um do we want to do next week is the meeting this 18th Madam chair I I would uh very much request that the uh the meeting be uh not uh not next Tuesday can be a different day besides
Tuesday or the 25th uh that would be appreciated Mr Morton you're also unavailable next Tuesday cor that's correct yes I am are you available the following week you I think so I'm we just make sure now having said
that yes is's the answer March 25th March 25th does that work for everyone yep okay with me okay so that um um hopefully we'll be able to wrap up a lot everything the
expectation would be that we would um vote on the warrant articles which includes the budget so as many as we can tackle um on on that night then we'll be in pretty terrific shape so we can pass along our recommendations to Jim so we
can get it in the draft of the the warrant for printing and everything so that will be will be in terrific shape okay the 25th thank you uh anything else anyone want to discuss before we call
it motion to adjourn motion toour second thank you all right uh Cindy Cindy Brown i l l i q h marttin i Christopher Christopher threr I terrific
Duncan Duncan and c r i good night everyone everyone thank you so much