Advisory Update

[Al Hamilton]

The Advisory Committee has met for the last 2 weeks and the broad outlines of a budget are now solidifying.

 

The bottom line at this point is that the Advisory budget would reflect a 2.9% tax increase for next year.

 

Almost all municipal departments are experiencing budget reductions on the order of 1-4%. Advisory cut the money under it’s control (Reserve Fund) by 25%

 

The K-8 Schools including benefits will increase 2.5%. However, this reflects a loss of about $460,000 in state funding for special ed which we are obliged to pick up. The actual operating budget net of the Commonwealth stiffing us is down about $200,000 or -1.2%. There will be layoffs in the K-8 schools. The k-8 school population is down about 100 students from its 2004 peak.

 

Algonquin is up about 5%. The total Algonquin budget, as proposed, is almost flat owing to the use of the regional equivalent of the stabilization fund. The increase comes from a dramatic increase in the % of students from Southborough. In the past about 70%-75% of Southborough 8^th graders moved to 9^th grade in Algonquin, this year, perhaps because of the economy, that number is over 90%. That swings the percentage of students toward us and obliges us to pick up a greater percentage of the costs. Advisory has voted a sum that is $50,000 less than requested by the Regional School Committee.

 

Warrant articles have been sharply curtailed

 

K-8 Technology has been reduced by about $40,000

DPW Equipment has been reduced by about $98,000 – The suggestion was to hire a private contractor for the sanding and salting instead of spending this sum on a truck with a sander.

Police Crusiers have been eliminated and it was suggested that we plan on getting 125k miles out of our existing fleet instead of less than 100k

Senior Center Renovations have been reduced to about $119k (there is no budget impact on this item)

The capital maintenance fund will be replenished at a slightly lower rate.

The Overlay Reserve has been reduced by $200,000 – We are investigating if we have the authority to actually recommend this change.

 

This budget also takes about $490,000 out of stabilization leaving about $400,000 in the stabilization which the Advisory Committee feels is the minimum amount that should be left in that fund.

 

This budget does not deal with some of the larger issues that drive costs in town including the inefficient occupancy pattern, inefficient staffing, benefits costs, and services that perhaps we should no longer offer at public expense.

 

At this point, while the current increase is 2.9% with some upside risk, the maximum allowed before we hit the Prop 2.5 cap is about 4.7%. There will be organized support for the restoration of some of the cuts that have been suggested and if history is followed some of this money will be restored on the floor of town meeting unless there is an organized constituency that says no!

 

There are still several opportunities for cuts we are investigating. I believe that the Advisory will be making an attempt to offer a path to a 0% budget if residents are interested but it may well be that we will have to offer our own alternative. The spreadsheets are available to do this.

 

Al Hamilton

 

[Al Hamilton]

Notes from the Advisory Meeting

 

1. It appears that one of the cuts made was not within the power of the Advisory Committee, or Town meeting to make. The proposed $200,000 cut in the Overlay Reserve fund has been reversed. This item is entirely under the control of the Board of Assessors
2. After some discussion Advisory reduced the Benefits line by $100,000
3. No action was take on the Legal Budget
4. There was substantial discussion about how to package the recommended transfer from the Stabilzation Fund (approx $490,000). The issue is does Advisory recommend a single vote after all the budgets have been voted to use the money to reduce taxes or do we assign some or all of the stabilization funds to specific budgets. It was decided to wait to decide the approach until the revenue picture was a little clearer and the Selectmen vote on a budget.
5. The Advisory Budget, at this point, without the use of Stabilization Fund monies is slightly over the levy limit and would require an approximate 4.7% tax increase including a small prop 2.5 override. With the use of Stabilization the increase would be about 3.5% (I don’t have the updated spreadsheet with exact numbers yet)
6. Advisory voted on a number non money and several non budget money articles (10 and the CPA articles) of warrant articles as follows.

Article #	Description	Vote (Yes – No)
1	Hear Reports	Support 7-0
2	Donations	Support 7-0
3	Borrowing	Support 7-0
4	Capital Budget Report	Support 7-0
5	Salary Plan	Support 4-2
6	Recreation Revolving Fund	Support 7-0
10	Senior Center – Change to wording in Warrant, Increase to $133k from $119k	Support 7-0
12	Bus Contract	Support 7-0
18	Vehicles and Traffic	Oppose 1-6
19	Disposal of Property	Support 7-0
20	Community Preservation	Support 7-0
21	Affordable Housing	Support 6-1
22	Chestnut Hill	Support 6-1
23	Stony Brook Museum	At ATM – Request 3/29 meeting with advocates
24	Triangle	Support 4-3
25	Wells Lane	Support 7-0 – Contingent on approval by Planning Board
26	Revolving Fund	Support 7-0
Special 1	Police Station Schematic	At ATM – Request 3/29 meeting with advocates
Special 2	Return funds to Water Reserve	Support 7-0
Special 3	Sewer Easement	Oppose 0-7
Special 4	Lincoln Lane Easement	Support 7-0
Special 5	New York Ave Easement	At ATM

 

 

Al Hamilton

President

SignalFire Telemetry, Inc.

Tel: 978 212 2868

Cell: 508 527 3952

email: al.ha...@signal-fire.com

www.signal-fire.com