##VIDEO ID:laxzeD8eXek## [Music] afternoon everyone today is Wednesday November 6 2024 at 400 p.m. this a meeting of the acris board of Selectmen is there a motion to call the meeting to order so moved second all those in favor this meeting will be audio and video recorded please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance pled allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for all got a couple of executive sessions to start off with got executive session under Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to bargaining Town accountant United Ste workers assessor senior clerk ask me if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body the chair so declares and the board will return to public session at inclusion of the executive session an executive session under Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel Police Department second in command and the chair so declares and the board will return to public session at the conclusion of the executive session is there a motion so moved second all those in favor roll call vote Mr wner yes Mr G Gasper yes I a yes or an executive session motion to return to open session so moved second all those in favor roll call vote Mr Warner yes Mr Gasper yes I yes we are now in Open session all right gentlemen um we are in new business here we got a couple of resignation letters um you all have copies I'm not going to read through through these but I will mention them uh we have a letter of resignation from conservation Conservation Commission member ever Fela um Everett has served this town in great capacity for a very long time um I think he was a true asset and but I also understand that he's uh he wants to spend some more time relaxing so is there a motion to accept average letter of representation with regret so move Mr chair all those in favor all and good luck to uh Everett and once again we appreciate everything you've done for this town we also have a letter of resignation as you know um we now have a new town accountant so our inter room has offered a resignation uh I am submitting this letter as formal notification of my resignation for my position as the interim town of accountant my last day with the town of kushit will be November 15 2024 though I thoroughly enjoyed my time working for the town and enjoyed working with such wonderful people it's time for me to move on especially with the hiring of a new permanent time accountant thank you for the opportunity I wish you all the best uh thank you Judy and is there a letter is there a motion to accept the letter of resignation of the interim Town accountant Judith Mooney with regret so move second all those in favor okay uh Mr Kelly I'm going to turn the school roof band over to you so you can explain uh as you know we have paid part of it off in the town meeting and so this is the refinance the rest it's 57,000 you have the information in front of you uh there's a motion that has to be uh read provided the motion to you m Mr Mr chairman yes Mr can you can you explain the amount Mr C The 570 yeah I know we've been paying roughly 63,000 right and that was for the previous ban but our responsibility is like 1.2 what what was the total for the town side because the numbers don't match with that's what I've seen all right total amount of loan authorized 2.57 we didn't borrow that much that's what uh was that was the total amount of loan authorized and it's my understanding that you had msba money mhm that paid portion of it roughly 52% of it and so that brought it down uh pay Downs the amount of this issue after all the pay Downs Town Clark uh Town treasury collector has at 570 and it's just rolling it over to pay it out was that given the 550 we just got approved that town meeting from the solar Revenue fun mhm so the remaining amount that we need to band is 570 correct that's what the figures that came from Hill talk unfortunately the interest rate seems to be very high five and a gone up from last year huh it's gone 5 and a qu% is pretty high for a minutes fell don't you think it was 4 and a qu last year for the BAM does this need to be done today ASAP as most things are around here or does this this something that we can hold off on for two weeks the authorization was for November 14th we can have Hilltop redo the figures but uh that's that's not if we need to approve it tonight the date of issue is November 22nd that's when the previous Runs Out so can we add this to the 19th no because you just said the other dates pass the earlier than that so we'd have to have Hilltop redo it okay okay it see just didn't get this see any of the other paperwork as we've gone through the last couple of years so whatever this is what it is Jennifer's already signed off on it so all right all right paid down the 550 then Mr Kelly on that previous ban because I know the band was good till November right november2 last year so we went to town meeting for 550 out of the solar Revenue fund to pay this off so we're going to go back on the taxpayers right right and then and this this 570s what's left on the band it's just reissu in the ban that's all this is right right so this is one year the ban uh I believe it's 6 months let me look for sure back again 6 months November 22nd May 23rd to 2025 yeah so that dat questionable because we don't have another opportunity to go to town meeting and read and do what we've just previously did right so we're going to end up getting kicked in the face and we're going to have to ban for another 6 months but we don't have an opportunity because we might not make town meeting by the May 20s something date get approval for a bigger package to pay this thing off that's my problem with time frames now un well if you get town meeting before the 23rd of May if remember that what I've taught you about the word if it's the biggest word in the dictionary you know why right I won't say it on camera but if is a big word problematic I it's just be nice to get rid of this debt right and be able to figure that out and if there's going to be some free cash and some solo Revenue available I think we could just get it and kill it be done with that school roof and this Daye puts us in Jeopardy of having that done because of the be expires May 20th or 23rd May 23rd so let me ask you this Mr Kelly if we push this off you talk the hilltop and see if they could rewrite this yeah well the bit the problem is the band expires the other band expires when November 27 second the B we're in now just it's been 6 month we've been rolling it every six months I know but we've also never did what we've just did we were just paying a $63,000 in interest to stay up on the ban right and staying good on that commitment yeah uh why don't I uh if you want to vote this and subject to information and we should find out from Hilltop if they not so much can not issue this B but at what point the expiration of the term the right the next term right so it's only a six-month term I mean we can ask Hilltop if there's a such thing as a seven-month term right or or or midterm we we can kick it Up 3 months which I've done well we need town meeting to approval to expend money no I just I I've extended a ban midterm in a ban yeah see what we can do I mean I'm fine making motion to or you need a big motion you need all of this red please I move on November 6 2024 a meeting of the board of Select with a town of a Krush in mass of which meeting all members of the board were duely notified in at which a quum was present that the following votes be taken vote the voter select when by determines in accordance with General Law chapter 70b at the cost of the aush elementary school partial roof replacement project authorized by vote of the Town pass on November 14 2020 Article 1 being financed with the proceeds of a portion of the notes defined below together with all of bonds and notes of the Town previously issued to pay cost of this project does not exceed the portion of the total cost of the project that is not being paid by the school facilities Grant and the bard of selectman hereby approves the issuance of notes and bonds to finance this project in the general La chapter 70b further the board of selectman votes to approve the sale of $570,000 5 and a qu% general obligation Bond anticipation notes the notes of the Town dated November 22nd 2024 and payable May 23rd 2025 to the Fidelity Capital markets a division of National Financial Services LLC at par and AC roved interest of any plus any premium due further the board of selectman votes that the town Treasury and the bard of selectman be and hereby are authorized to execute and deliver a significant events disclosure undertaking in compliance with the SEC rule 15c 2-12 in such form as may be approved by Bor Council to the town which undertaking shall be incorporated by reference in the notes for the benefit of the holders of the notes from time to time further the board of selectman votes to authorize and direct the town treasur to establish a post insuance federal tax compliant procedures and continueing disclosure procedures in such forms as Town Treasury and born Council deem sufficient or if such procedures are currently in place to review and update said procedures in order to Monitor and maintain the tax exempt status of the notes and to comply with relevant security laws further the voter select when votes than any certificates or documents relating to the notes collectively the documents May be executed in several counterparts Each of which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one of the same document delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in a PDF file or by other electronic transmission shall be as effective as delivery of a m manually executed counterpart signature page to such document and electronic signatures on any of the documents shall be deemed originally signatures for the purposes of do documents and all matters related there to having the same legal effect as original signatures further the board of Select votes that each member of the board of Select and the Town Clerk and the town Treasurer be and hereby are authorized to take any and all such actions and execute delivery of such certificates receipts and other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to be necessary or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the fargoing votes dated November 6 2024 is there a second second all those in favor all right I would just ask Mr Kelly to check with bond councel to see if there's a way if there's anything that we could do to kick that date give us a little bit more time preparation for town meeting we remember what happened last year in town meeting I had to kick that out to June 17th right so that's the scary part I'd like to get this debt paid off on behalf of the taxpayers of a cushan yep absolutely uh uh next item uh maintenance vehicle gentlemen I put a uh a sheet somewhere in your paperwork here that just shows what our red truck that maintenance has been using it's getting to the point where things keep breaking and there's some rot that is making it very difficult to repair without extreme excess um not necessarily asking for any votes today but I would like you to look through that list and see it and I just wanted to put it on the radar are um I told Matt today that we're going to try to get through plow season with it and to get some extra ratchet straps just in case but uh keep in mind there might be a situation where we're going to have to start looking for a maintenance vehicle because this one may not make it through the winter Mr Chay Mr Gasper in the past I worked with a director of EMA Jerry berson it was somewhere around 2018 and they needed a pickup truck as well and I went with them because I was actually in the business of repair auto repair and stuff and we ended up buying one a used vehicle for a very good price an F250 pickup and we still have it today um I'm not so sure that we need a brand new pickup truck 100% um and there's a web page called minb bid.com where anybody and everybody including us in the private sector could go on and bid on equipment and it's from all municipalities throughout the United States and I was on it today zipping through some pages and there's quite a few decent trucks out there um that are up for bid um you know the $15,000 range you know you know some have 60,000 some have 80,000 but I'm not saying that these are the ones that we're going to go after but I think that that's something that the board should keep in mind instead of spending $60,000 which is a brand new pickup truck nowadays um even a single cab one's $50,000 right for something that you know it gets a lot of use but it doesn't get a lot of use right correct and it doesn't put on a lot of miles so I think that that's something that we need to look at and explore and keep our eyes open for yeah absolutely I wasn't even thinking about a new vehicle at all I mean this truck's actually lasted quite a decent amount of time so I I agree finding something with decent mile is my main concern is just do our due diligence make sure it's not rotted and uh find the best bang for the buck I think that truck you got from meain it's now came from Bo of Health actually okay I think that's where it came from so you know it is something I've talked to um this the trip I've dealt with the young boys that were working fars in the summer youth program and went and picked them up off the side of the road and the truck broke down right so it is something that we need to look at and address um hopefully we'll make it through the winter season but I'll keep my eyes open for che the sheriff's office too sometimes they have Surplus stuff over the sheriff's department so there's a few ways that we can go you know trying to get a a good deal on something right yep Mr Kelly if that if that's the case and we were to find something that was a really good deal um would we necessarily have to go to town meeting or and wait for town meeting or could we just do something out of the reserve fund you could do it out of the reserve fund with your vote and the vote of the finom very good I'll keep my eyes pled acent all right all right uh last under a new business notes on timekeeping and payroll policy uh gentlemen we had talked about this a couple of weeks ago um this is ultimately if you guys have any notes on the policy that we discussed please make the changes and give it to Jamie um I believe you are just waiting on our notes correct correct and then I then I forward it for comment to council and the Union Perfect all right so he drafted this up it is in your books if you have any changes or anything like that just forward them over to Jamie and we'll get that punch through all right it is 5:00 p.m. we have an appointment here uh attack classification hearing uh let's see here there's nothing else on all right is there a motion to open the tax classification hearing so move to Second all those in favor I hi Kelly hi hello everybody hi Bob hi guys Mr Brown how are you very good everybody how are you good uh just to open up the board of assessors recommendation was voted on today and uh their vote was for a 120 Shi for FY 2025 um so let me open up with classification hearing basically we this is the breakdown of what we're looking at for the levy limit or maximum allowable Levy uh the numbers I'm going to present today are of the for better choice awards worst scenario or highest taxable Levy that we would have to uh warrant for a fiscal 2025 so going over it so the first one Levy base of 21, 697 450 with a prop 2 and a half increase of the 542 436 uh New Growth that is not estimated that is actually certified at 190,220 sorry that here we are so for New Growth for single family the new growth value value was 6,1 187,00 uh vacant land 34,500 other residential classes 58,000 nothing in open space commercial 8,700 industrial 6413 300 personal property growth value 6, 38,6 5 for the total growth value of the town of 13, 75415 resulting in the 19,826 uh then the debt exclusion I have estimated due to the fact that um the this data was not available to me through the recap as of yet leaving the maximum allowable Levy of the town at 22 million $858,000 again this is the breakdown of class and value by percentage for fiscal 2025 uh as in past years uh the town of aush predominantly is composed of Residential Properties which is the 89% the other three classes commercial industrial personal property make up the 10.9 to make the full 100 for the full value of the Town 2 bill 20, 58,800 so in this scenario if we were going with a single tax rate with the maximum allowable Levy of the 22 mil 858 743 with the value of the town at the 2 billion plus the single tax rate would be 1131 per th000 so basically this just shows how the uh the tax rate is actually calculated you take the total Levy the total value of the town and divide it and that's how you get your s basically classification is done for the fact of allocation of tax burden by classes U I mentioned this because in the town of ausnet as I mentioned before the 89% of that tax uh Levy or the tax value belongs to the residential class the uh by Statute the 10150 as I write on this slide is what's uh permissible um if any communities go above that I believe it's by um some type of special Vote or off option I've never that's never happened here then the next is the uh fiscal 2025 tax shift possibilities the breakdown of the shared percentage of value by class Levy amounts by class and then estimated tax rates um if we were to go with the 135 shift as was ratified in fiscal 24 the tax rates would differ by the fiscal 2024 ratified uh rate at 35% 1141 per th000 would decrease to 1083 per th000 a 58 C decrease and the commercial industrial personal property rates would decrease from 1613 per th000 to 1527 per th000 and 86 C decrease per th000 value um this change in value in comparison is basically on average by class for um the residential class it's an average of 9% commercial class an average of seven industrial class an average of eight and personal property an average of of four and over here I'm just giving comparisons of value so uh for fiscal 2024 residential property that was valued at $371,900 uh if with a 9% uh increase of value would have a taxable value of $48,700 with a difference of $36,900 and then with commercial the scenario is the same uh value in 2024 31 19,100 actually that say 2025 on the second line I apologize for the 2025 value $341,500 with a difference of $22,400 and a 7% change in this scenario I basically left a tandem comparison with a 35 uh rate since that was the ratification of fiscal 2024 so this is looking at averages not median values so for fiscal 2024 the average SLE family home is $427,900 um so the single family tax bill with be 1141 per th000 would have been $4,888 to. 34 now if we were to use the same data with a 35% tax shift for fiscal 2025 the average single family home value is now 47173500853 1832 and a difference of annual taxes of $226 52 a percent increase of value of 11% now as I mentioned before it said 9% but you got to keep in mind for the residential class in aush as it takes up about 89% of the value the there's a buffer of basically for better choice words margin of the era for calculation now the next slide is a comparison of commercial as we are a split rate town will historically have been again using the 135 for the tandem comparison FY 2024 the average commercial real estate was 46 46 $466,000 the average bill $715 a20 using the same scenario for fiscal 202 fiscal 2025 data the value of $59,800 and the bill $792 19 obvious the value difference of $53,900 and the difference of annual tax of $ 7699 I did something a little different this year with median values as the median value usually is lesser than the average value as median is middle and since the class of res uh the residential class is the largest class uh in town the median value for a single value uh single family home in fiscal 2024 was $391,500 that would make the tax bill 400 $4,400 $4,463 again using the same comparison for median value median value for fiscal 2025 is now $63,800 making the median tax bill $522 195 with a difference of annual tax of $553 65 again that percent increase of 18% when I gave the the percent increase by class um it's a little it varies in percentage because we're looking at the whole class we're not looking at one particular scenario of value and again uh for fiscal 2020 4 and 2025 for commercials the commercial median value of$ 49 $459,900 with a median tax bill from 24 7,41 $ 7,465 and again with for the 35% shift for median values you're only looking at basically a 7% decrease and a 97 79 increase of annual tax what was the last one Kelly that you showed with the that one uh nope that one commercial one this is commercial for average not median big difference between average and median because again it's a smaller class compared to a smaller number you're talking uh allocation of on commercial it's a smaller class correct but not residential correct right correct and uh of course that's all brought about when I go back to the slide that disperses is the percent of value by class again you're looking at um the commercial class is only 2% of the two billion of value where the residential is 89% so that's why you see uh that shift of value per class it's 9% but if you look at one particular taxpayer it's not all 9% across the board for increase we saw in the example I believe it was um 11% not the [Music] nine so that's what I have to present for you today gentlemen do you have any questions for me again I'm going to reiterate the board of assessor recommendation is uh the 120 uh and do you want to intervene have questions on on why for that but um if you would like to know Mr Mr Brown Can answer those questions for the rationale of their uh recommendation Mr chairman Mr gas so you know it's it's kind of screwy how this works so I have from fiscal 22 to fiscal 23 and then 23 to 24 now 24 to 25 and the median home price has escalated through suban right substantially not no fault of of yours are the assessors just no just give a background to that Kevin if you don't mind basically everybody knows values are set by market sales market sales sales willing sellers willing buyers they set they set the market they set the trend and what's happening now in my opinion if you look at the data is the more modest homes are the ones seeing the biggest increase of value and that's because they're more desirable and people are paying more money to get them because they can afford it in the for today's economy if you look at the higher end homes you're not seeing that big influx of change or value because you have less people or less of the population due to economy that can afford the higher end home so that's what you see okay so we'll stick on we'll stick with that piece of the conversation because I can follow along pretty well with you Kelly because you and I have talked about this a number of times yeah that's that's 100% correct the problem with that philosophy that we keep using in municipalities is we're being fold by the Federal Reserve right manipulating interest rates right and that's all that this is is a game of manipulating interest rates interest rates go up people can't afford the big expensive homes they brought interest rates down people afford the big interest rates but that only stood so long now they're back to what I would say more normal interest rate environment right and and it's exploded um home values right and it's just a game of chicken is all this is right the more the Federal Reserve screws with interest rates the more fluctuations people are going to have in their tax bills right and it's an attack on them so over the years I always look because the majority of our homes are set at the median single family home price so I always pay attention to that number so if you look at fiscal year 22 to 23 the median own price went up 133% if you look at 23 to 24 the median home price went up 18% and now this year the median home price has gone up 16% so in 3 years the people that can afford it the lease have seen their values go up 47% right and the reason why I say that is it's all great everybody thinks hey great my house is worth more money I'm I'm I'm house rich but that's not true right it's it's it's it's just a manipulation of finances all it is right we can we can all know it and for some reason that class is getting slammed and the majority of our people in that class I would have to say a lower income median income people in seniors and those are the exact people that are getting slammed on their tax bills so I in a scenario this year based on my value from last year and I said okay so if it's up 16% let me tag 16% onto my current value right because I'm in that median home price thing so I just did that and based on that assumption my tax bill was going to go up $367 in one year on top of what the increase was last year and what I think is very unfair in this manipulation from the Federal Reserve and I do bring up the Federal Reserve with manipulate an interest rates is because there were a people out there I did a study two years ago when everybody said go to 150 on the tax split and I did a study and I looked at a bunch of different homes in the town because of the Patriot Properties I can see all the previous assessments and I ran a study and what I think is very unfair is the people that are getting slammed the median income people they're seeing the biggest increases in their tax bills right and other people are seeing a decrease in their tax bills I don't really think see how there's any kind of equity there right I I I don't believe anybody's tax bill should go down in any fiscal year U maybe it stays flat but it would help if that that person's tax bill didn't go down 200 the median income person wouldn't have to go up $350 or $400 right so and it's just these gyration to make people feel good and then the next year that same class that went down got slotted the following year and that was like the $500,000 range price of a home right some people's tax bills went up over $1,000 even though the prev year it went down 160 mhm I mean that's the kind of gyration that I don't I think there's got to be a better conversation on how this is all calculated this has been the norm for I I don't know how long right and it's just we're we're dependent on interest rates the interest rate envirment is dictating home values right and I think this should be a cap quite honestly I I don't really think somebody's house should be able to go up the value more than 10% just call it 10% for right now not to 16% 3 years in a row it's out of control the problem is is the value of their home does raise that much the fact that they don't want to sell it or want to sell it is too different things but the value does go up your your fair market value is your fair market value and they do Rise by that the the houses that were worth $300,000 5 years ago are selling for $600,000 that is where it's at that so I I don't take away from anything you're saying it's all factual it's just really doesn't have anything to do with tax shift or any of that stuff I get that I'm trying to strike a different conversation though right it's more of how do we get more Equitable instead of seeing these gyration where somebody's not paying as much this year in taxes and the other person's getting slotted I I don't know if there's any mechanism that's out there that a municipality can use where we just say this is the maximum cap and I think if you if we actually did that instead of being dictated to by interest rates or where some people are just willing to buy a house you know cuz they can't cuz they have two incomes and they say all right so that shoe box is worth $500,000 to me let me take it right and that's what's bringing the values up right not saying everybody's spotting their home purchases we've seen that happen in 2008 Mr Brown right just want to say Financial PR doesn't doesn't do this it's not one I understand but interest rate environment does right so when you when you have an interest rate environment that goes up right people can't afford the big expensive home so now they're going to go and say they're going to bid up that 300 it's happening right now I I've seen it a million times they they bid up something that's on the market for 350 and it's going for 400 right it it's that mentality of whatever generation going on right now and whatever mentality people have in their heads to just they can make it work by that number we've seen this financial crisis before in 2008 the derivatives Market blew up right and we're worse off now with home values than what we were in 2008 that tells me something's really wrong in the system well that that's why you have these a adus being push down me Thro because nobody can afford to live so I it with on all that just classification is what would what would be all I'm trying to do is strike a different it's everything's everything we've been doing the same thing year over year Bob I get that but I'm just trying to think outside the box and say is there a different way we can do it to to normalize tax bills instead of having these massive gyration and you know I just named the categories that were hurting the most right the town spends a million million and a half that money is going to be made up here in that tax shift in that tax rate right and who's facing the biggest burden the people that can at least afford it the most that's my problem it's not so much about who's buying my house for $450 or $500,000 it's about the people that are paid for their house and uh technically maybe they don't have mortgages anymore but they just can't afford to see these kind of three $400 increases on their tax bills anymore that's the unfortunate part right we've had this conversation before you and I in private people are making decisions on groceries or medicine and here we go we're going to slam you with a $350 $400 tax bill may I interject uh in regards to taxation we have to realize the budget of the Town not all of it is taxation so if the other side in some way increased obviously what they'd have to make up in taxes would decrease which would have the domino effect of lessening the burden I don't know if uh there are other possibilities where the miscellaneous receipts or other sources of income can be used to to to take away from the tax levy to get that bottom line for what the operational budget of the Town needs to be that's another scenario I don't know if it's out there or if there are things that that can be done to that side we did go through that exercise this past year for the budget right we did raise revenues in certain okay lines on the recap sheet okay um just to balance a budget because of the insanity that we were at right okay the problem with that is it if this if the state aid came in more that would reduce the the amount that we have to put right the problem with that equation is the state is really just saying we don't really care about that anymore we're going to get you further down so they're going to put more of a burden on our taxpayers it's not going to go on our favor and they're going to go oh here here's another million dollars they're trying to go the other way on us right nobody wants to say that publicly except for me and I have no problem saying it about the state which way they're going they're taking away Aid so the more Aid they take away the more we pay in taxation well that's why you see all of the communities getting a little bit more Innovative with they well the town of aishna accepted a meals tax that will help on the revenue side once those monies start coming in I'm one I mean a lot of the communities are making money on the receipt side or the Cannabis other ways of Revenue to help the taxpayer I'm not saying to propose that here but there are other ways cannabis is backfired on a lot of municipalities I'm just throwing out the scenario no but it was great when it first came out right and then so they budgeted for that Revenue that they were getting in cannabis and now the states turned around and said no no no no we're getting that money now you're not getting it so imagine what's happened in those communities that did that stuff right it was a great short-term solution but it's not a long-term solution right I'm I'm trying to if we if the budget's going to go up which the budget has gone up roughly $1.5 million year-over-year right what I'm trying to do is figure out a better amount shop if there's another way that we could do it and be acceptable by do we figure that out and say how do normalize so that we're not having those massive gyration on certain classes of people right I know the town is moving forward for a master plan are they going to consider uh growth in other classes commercial industrial classes again that would take that percentage of what needs to of value of the Town taking lessening the residential and giving it to the other classes by value so the shifts would be would happen accordingly as well it would take a lot of money Comm real estate you and I have done that math too Kelly it would take massive amounts hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial real estate to even Dent the tax rate for the residents so we all know that that's not going to happen no way had no time soon hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial just to get the tax rate down a qu on that that's why as a classification hearing that this is the the split rate doesn't do that much it only really whacks one side while helping the other side bu peanuts because of this town is 90% residents so to shift burden off the residence you've got to shift a ton to make a difference that's why it doesn't make sense and the more you do it the more like we said last year you just can't come back from that because now you're shifting it worse so if you keep climbing up every year then you get to the 150 then you end up doing what new bford does and go to the state and say hey can we double that and and you do that the the the business is just out out of here and your businesses support your town you know I the businesses are here for the for the towns people they wouldn't be here without you know acquire cuz I'm the one that stopped it from going to 150 that year two years ago right and we went to we went to 135 and we and then I got criticized for leaving $120,000 $110,000 in excess Levy capacity to lower the rate again 7 cents right so that helped us on the shift differential by doing that and I took some heat for doing that but I was really trying to do it for both business and residential taxpayers we can only save the taxpayers money as long as we're still paying the bills it you know that that's that's the sad part is we all want I I want I mean I pay over 15 grand a year in taxes in this town we all want it to go down but the bills are the bills I just don't want it to have such what I think we're missing the moral of the story what what I'm trying to get to is I just don't want people to get slotted year after year and this med um single family home is the one that's gone slaughtered in the last three years right they're getting they're getting hammered right and I'm just trying to figure out a way to to prevent the massive gyration right and more like even out the slope we all know the slope is going to go right higher on the right than the left right it's going this way what I'm trying to do is is bend that curve and flatten that curve out so it ain't such a dramatic increase especially for our seniors and and our lower income people right cuz they're going to get knocked out of their homes and I don't think that's that's the solution either right they're all they're all basically living paycheck to paycheck right we see that statistic all the time 70% of Americans I'll live it paycheck to paycheck right I agree with everything you say and I think you can agree with me that shift in the tax doesn't change any of that that to Shi to shift another 5% or minus 5% or whatnot it's pennies it's Pennies on the dollar it doesn't the problem is we're spending more and taxes go up by 3 and a half% every year and so going with the 120 that you recommended I hurry up and I did my value again I said I was going up $367 now it goes up another $80 of $445 right instead of that 370 so there I am getting slammed again I so I think the only again reason the assess is and you know this meeting is fresh in my head from 45 minutes ago is so that you have somewhere to go you know as you said it got it was worse a couple of years ago and if it gets worse again and you have to shift it again at least you can make a dent right now with the rate dropping down it it's to to lower to lower it a little bit gives you a place to go I didn't I'm not against the 135 I'm just saying if you go down you got a place to climb if you don't you don't that's why we did it a couple of years ago right that was my rationale a couple years ago but we I didn't put too much effort into going through too many of the numbers that Mrs cost has given us for the simple fact that we can't do anything tonight right because our balance Sheen hasn't been posted a DOI and it was due September 30th so the town's in a real Jam right now with that scenario okay we can't do anything right now we could look at it but we we we we can't set tax rate right or shift so they both coincide with each other right we set shift it determines rate if we do rate it's basically telling you what shift we want right we can't do any of that right now because even if we did we can't send out tax bills because our balance sheet hasn't been posted a do and approved and certified right that's correct so we we're in a we're in a a bad spot right now as a town and we're trying to manage our way through that bad spot as best we can with what we've been given so we're waiting to see when our balance sheet will be posted we're working on that problem right now and hopefully we'll uh we'll have an answer in a couple of weeks hopefully that's what I push for hurry up and get it done it should have been done two months ago to be honest with you but it wasn't so here we are and that's not good news for our taxpayers either right cuz if you don't get any of this done tax bills on going out January 1st that's a problem it's not just a problem for the for the taxpayer the town uh again the collection of how the monies will be received if we went to the worst scenario of a proforma uh recap would change dramatically as well all the deadlines would move up the collection time uh the tax pay would give more of a buffer because it's another estimated Bill things of that nature I know I get it I I don't like where we're at but we're at we're we're there now so we're trying to figure it out and again just uh want to reiterate this scenario is based on the maximum Levy this would probably not be the levy that would be requested to be certified by the state uh because again the number can be manipulated and then be excess Levy capacity as Kevin said and things of that nature this is the worst scenario basically that I'm giving right now thank you thank you Mr Brian thank you guys very much so um with that being said obviously it's going to be continued until the uh recap or more information is available with more uh definite data from the recap is that correct in my assumption correct okay the it's the only way it can be done right oh I understand that so the balance sheet needs to be done and then the schedule a needs to be done it's it's a two-prong approach for finance right corre and neither one of them been done I'll I'll leave you with that okay does anyone want to see the show anymore cuz I'm going to come off and my wallpaper's my cat and dog so Tuesday December 3rd is a Tuesday yeah after our conversation earlier I think it's probably the soon as we can do without you may have to you so you it doesn't have to be determined today or does yes it does so you have to a public he needs to be continue to a date and time certain yes so that's exactly what we're going to try to figure out now and even if we even if we continue to a date and time certain say we did it in two weeks we come we're not ready we just continue it again to another dat and time C right excellent that's the only way that it'll work for us Kell right you've done your part and the assessors have done their part it's fine now it's now it's time for finance to do their part okay and thank you for doing your part too oh thank you welcome anybody from the public that's why I get paid for doing my part great work thank you so I don't know what what the pleasure of the board and based on what we already know what we already discussed Mr chairman it doesn't it doesn't make sense to try to say we can get it back in November correct so December 3rd is the reason why I looked at the first Tuesday in December and said maybe that's the date we go to and we're cutting things close but we'll see where we're at y I say that's good I'll be uh quite Frank in regards to the timeline of the recap I mean in the worst scenario a certified tax rate in order for me to do my process of the billing and the treasure collected you theirs the Dead Heat lasts would probably be December 17th or 18th we did that one year yeah and it needs to be no a certified tax rate that means submission maybe the week before in case there's any quirks that the do needs to iron out but that leaves a very little window of opportunity uh because it's the process is done in-house only the bills the actual bills are outsourced to be printed so so that can be a very tedious laborious task if not given the right time and if something goes right y that too so I I could prob to be honest with you Kelly I mean knowing what I know at this point of stage of the game I can honestly say that it might be a possibility with tax bills are going out two weeks late they can't by law they have to be postmarked December 31st all righty then the actual bills have but that's the law we're town we have to have actual bills with a with the tax rate of the year that we're in Bill dated by December 31st 20124 thanks for letting me know that cuz now that's even a bigger problem okay that's that's why the issue of proforma is being discussed hopefully not even entertained is because of the timeline we got some work to do Kelly yep to be continued yeah I don't want to be here Christmas receive I mean I would if I had to be uh trying to get this done hopefully I mean we have to do what we have to do but that's the timeline we're up against we're going to do our best to try to make this a little smoother and you know it's we've had some good conversations between all of us going back and forth through Mr Kelly and I think we got a decent process in place now which should streamline things I'm not saying it's perfect but I think uh I think we got a plan and an outline to do it now so um um we're just gonna bust our butts and get it done and and do everything we can and like Mr Gasper said earlier you did your job the assessors did their job and we thank you for that and now it's our turn see what happens thank you thank you gentlemen is there a motion to continue the tax classification hearing to December 3rd Tuesday at 5:00 pm in the selectman meeting room so second all those in [Music] favor uh selman's announcements we staff members but this I just want to uh I just want to reach out to the town clerk's office and all our election workers um for yesterday's effort um and all the early voting that they put up with and we had a lot of people a lot of turnout um they did a great job so to Pam La Bonnie Our Town Clerk and all our election workers thank you very much for all the effort that you put in yesterday for election day everything went very smoothly so great job folks agre yeah I won't get into the politics but I do want to recognize uh one of our own uh Jesse K Gil from Acushnet ran State Rep while he didn't cross the finish line really represented the town of a cushion it well I was very proud to see that great turnout and he handled himself like a pro and uh great job Jesse great uh just want to mention just as a reminder uh we have a Veterans Day parade this upcoming Saturday uh kicks off from Russell Street uh we're meeting at 9:30 and we will be marching to p park by 10: and I just want to say thanks again to Brad Fish and everybody that's uh helping him put this together um I hit the ground running when he came to this town and uh I have nothing but great things to say about him along with a lot of the feedback I'm getting from the veterans I don't think we've had a veteran Day Parade in a while uh so this is nice to see come back and I'm looking forward to it haven't had a Veterans Day Parade for decades I believe my dad said the last one he remembers was in 1978 cuz he was in it okay I was 9 years old oh great stuff but Brad's done a phenomenal job he really has all right our next meeting is Tuesday November 19th right in this meeting room here uh is there a motion to adjourn so move second all those in favor all right [Music]