##VIDEO ID:bXMoMaC05Nc## yeah no I didn't do anything with the energy subcommittee so okay so do they need the link too okay all right thanks bye hey hey I see announcement but there's no I got it Dave I'm on screen yep I was slow sorry guys no worries Ron so Susie I got to talk to you sometime offline about the treasury job for the friends you do I don't know talk me out of it now she's not gonna talk you out of it yeah I know because that gets her out of it yes I understand how this works yeah Maran asked me today when I went by the library oh well I know Brad and I talked to work St some stuff out so um there's some stuff well there you go so I really need to talk to you then yeah some point I'll reach out to you I'm traveling on Thursday so maybe um next week okay hey AJ I'm looking at your email it says here's the zoom link but there's nothing there you're on mute AJ sorry I hit enter too quickly and so I sent another email with the actual link because all we yeah I'm sorry because I could have just fored the one that had already popped up no worries no worries okay uh so I think Jim is the only one let me just make sure he got it April yeah oh in April too right yep but it's there I mean they shouldn't have any issues yeah they don't need the link if they go the regular route right let see so was April's report uh temp she was working off of AJ's and I didn't see the updated one there's no up right so there was a little confusion she she sent a version that in pages so I don't know if everybody could I I was able to review that one okay and then I think she tried to send a new one in case people couldn't access that okay in PDF but that was mistakenly okay I think the previous template that I had written but now I think she's resent it just in the last few minutes so okay yeah life really well I April must use um is she using um an Apple product um Macintosh yeah PES yeah because my phone's an iPhone so my phone had no problem reading it but my PC right same hi Jim sorry about the late start and oh sorry what happened to the link on the calendar uh it's it's up now it was I know just got earlier yeah yeah I got it up at um 6:31 Jim I'm well that well that a c for why it's 624 it didn't no problem hi April okay so I think this is everybody for tonight uh Bob be here Bob is out right Bob is out yeah yeah all right so I'll call the finance committee to order at 6:35 and uh we'll start with um uh I think there there are a couple of items that weren't in the posted agenda that I'll just mention now and then we'll um you know we'll go to our first item so we're going to review minutes from September 5th we're going to review um and hopefully approve April's text for the upcoming town newsletter in this order yeah okay and then uh we'll do a little followup on our budget request letter and forms um and then we'll prep for for towns meeting on September 28th and then any other announcements or business that's what I have any anybody else have any uh topics they need to oh we have an expense report that um if we have time we should take a look at that as well so I'll put that at the end okay anything else that folks needed to cover tonight I think that's it okay uh so first up uh this is a great first set of minutes George yeah right yeah well you're welcome um yeah actually before we start I have four edits we can just get out of the way real quick Susie um reached out to me the the very second line I had Tuesday down and it's a th it was Thursday right and then if you go to four um Kathy novik's title or actually Tracy novic well right Tracy novic so I had Tracy's name spelled wrong I fixed that and then um she's the field director of mass Association of school committees so yes I replaced what I had there I I thought she was desie I just assumed she was desie which is a bad thing to do um and then if we go down to on number six the um school track it's amoris on Regional Public Schools not amoris public Regional Schools so Arps and then 138,000 should be 136 so those are changes I've already made I went back and looked at the meeting and indeed Susie was right not that I doubted you all right terrific did anyone else have questions or suggestions for the minutes I don't have any no okay I'll make a motion to approve uh the minutes as amended by George no second okay great George my ey cashew ey moer I Salvador I and Stein I right all right um Becky can you make me or give me sharing privileges I'm gonna pull up the draft article for the newsletter oops okay bigger that's it all right uh okay um so just to did you BL remind everybody yeah good sorry Zoom it up a little more yes yes please yeah that better that's good that's good okay all right um so just for context here this is um we've done this at least once before I think that was two years ago not last year um which is right an article for from the fincom for um our Town's um newsletter called our town uh and and and so and it's meant to be kind of a recap of the prior Year's budget process uh Becky um I was I was was going to say that the first sentence um it was our first indoor annual town meeting because we'd already had that's right special Town meetings yeah good point indoor okay um all right so that's the the context here I had a couple of suggestions really more just kind of nothing substantive just language thing um so just to go through those uh I was going to suggest getting rid of this comma here after September uh I think that's dramatically correct um and then I was going to suggest for this sentence over the year we met with each department head instead of we were able to meet just felt like we might read a a little bit better and then next sentence we also worked with the Department I guess that should be plural right with the Departments to look at any uh all right um and shouldn't Capital be cap with an a not Capital like yes oh yes good catch all right there's another Capital yeah the ne there's another Capital yeah the very last okay uh next suggestion I had was down here did anybody else have anything up until this point oh yeah I had quite I had a few things okay why don't we why don't we finish yours and then I'm probably then we we'll come back around okay that sounds good all right so on this bullet I thought um I thought it might read better to say uh raises for Town employees amounted to an increase of $36,000 yeah just what was a readability thing okay let's see do I have anything else oh I think this should be permanent right free cast sorry I didn't it in here uh [Music] wait per now I'm having trouble spelling it okay non per yeah n not M there you go all right um I think that's it I had uh George did you wanna yeah well a general comment um well first of all April nice work I mean wow yes there's a lot of work really appreciate it April yeah um so I noticed you rounding everything to thousands I think anybody who reads this is going to realize that everything's rounded to thousands just wondering why you didn't just use the actual numbers is it because of on you were using the report for some of it and reports all rounded right yes I mean everybody's okay the fact that we're not using actuals I mean I I have no problem with it I think actuals are are distracting because it's not about the hundred it's about the right and we don't want to replace all the comma z00 zos with K's right that's I think we could do that that's our language that's that would be the more appropriate way to do it because these numbers just to give an example so this would be like 309k okay if you did a if you did a control h uh maybe it doesn't work in the app you're using but what I would do is I would replace all comma z00 zos with a K right yeah so if you can do that at some point I would suggest doing that yeah the only one I wouldn't do it on is the um first statement it's the total budget of 7,28 th000 yeah I agree and then the rest can go to k yeah well if that's the case why don't we just put the actual number there 7 million 207 whatever it is so the uh right because this is this is not I've got it it's two million 28,8 yep and that's after sorry it's 7208 what was it 7207 878 and Becky that's after the amendment on the on the town floor for the school line right no so I took it right up here you're right I have it that's the wrong number that's not the budet 2000 yeah it's about $2,000 more $2,000 less less actually I think this might be the right number um back no it's straight off the budget sheet though George that we sent out ahead of town me meeting right this number is yeah okay then then right so I see your point so your point is then it went down yeah I don't have the update the most up to dat because I wasn't there so wouldn't it be um 2,000 less yeah two it's not an even 2000 it's like some crazy thing let's say approximately yeah just just leave that number because if anybody saw their old budget that's what well all right that's fine it's just not accurate I mean well $2,000 if you in that case I would argue make it 275k well I'll tell you what can can we do we think that as a followup to the meeting we can actually the exact number I have the number somewhere because I yeah know I do too yeah I I made a correction to it I I just can't find it because and actually we should probably find out if this will still go in in time I don't know what Janice Gray's schedule is oh it's gonna be the first one in yeah just leave it that looks great that's a record yeah because you've got till October 1 terrif oh my God all right that looks great that looks really so maybe we maybe I can double check tomorrow and see what the real number is and um Bounce It Off you Becky you can confirm it and we can send it to Susie okay and I'll look for it now while you guys are talking okay so maybe we'll get so um so the first thing that there's one I I went back and double checked all the numbers because they're right at my fingertips and the the on the bulleted items item number three the wpat sector betterment that's 20 thou it should be 20,000 not 70 oh right right right right right I it should be 20k that's right it should be 20K yes it should be 20K and then um um minor points very minor but the shoots Berry increase wherever that is Elementary School increase we say yeah five it's 5 point it should be 5.9 not 5.8 because it was 5.88 what about with the $2,000 down oh okay leave it I don't know right you're right I don't know we yeah it's fine and then on the APR the Arps we have 5.9 it was really six because it was 599 does it matter probably not yeah but let's but but that that number of 6% has been talked about a lot so it might it might just confuse people so me find it that's here right uh yeah so does it I think it makes s that change that to 6% yeah and then more importantly if we go down to where we work with the um so that the regional school budget bullet about two or three bullets down um we talk about none of so the third from the bottom sentence aside for the year in order that none of the four towns have an unreasonably High increase all right put in order side for the year in order that another towns would hav't so that unreasonably how about just actually I think that's actually I think that's fine I'm sorry I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this I'm taking it back but does this read better so that instead of in order that yeah okay that's probably what confused me in the sentence above it uh compromise was found with the modified statutory method I think for most people so many people understand but not necessarily really understand what those three words combined mean and I wonder if we should say compromise was found in um the regional school budget assessment um the the the established Regional School budget assessment was put aside you know what I mean I just I understand that lab we all understand that label um but I'm not sure the average reader is going to know what that really means could we just put the word assessment between statutory and Method we could I just again I you know what does that mean to people to me the the real message is we put aside the me the the agreed upon method that we've been using year-over-year that's I guess right I guess it could be compromise was found with the assessment methodology being put aside for the year so that not yeah if you wanted to if you wanted to make it more kind of general and or you could leave out methodology and call it agreement although it's really not clear to me right to me that's why I like the word established we a compromise was found which required us to um use an assessment method other than the established method what about oh minute compromise I mean if you don't agree with me we don't have to go through this exercise yeah I think to simplify that makes a lot of sense um put in L comom was F by not using the established method for assessing the budget to the towns yes they already established or the i f like that so uh sorry can you say that one more time compromise was found where is it compromise using by not was found by not using the established the established I would say a modified statutary assessment method oh actually no well we can put that in Brackets so why don't we say compromise respon by not using the established um method and then do modifi BU assessment method and then in Brackets yeah so we can still identify for for the people who do understand it and know it okay found by not using the established assessment methodology brackets modified statutory yeah is that yeah yeah I think that's good it's really I think a modified statutory is is fine general term compromise was found by not using the established assessment method modifi stat for the year so that none of them okay people will understand it better that way all right I'm almost done um I got two more and I wonder what I'm saying here um so um we make a comment about talking to Z um about if we can find where that is and I didn't have this so I couldn't have bottom of that parag here begin yeah so Herman to begin to bring our Town's concern forward the very last part the four towns in the region meet together in September October I I I'd like to put wording in there where we tell everybody we're meeting earlier than typical than we typically I think Advocate about to advocate for having the four towns begin begin the budget negotiation process earlier in the year yeah perf yeah in September rather than December and then I one last thing and then um I'll be done Dees that look right okay yeah and then the second to last button the 70,000 from free cash was used for non-permanent School costs um I I think we should put something in there about the operating budget so and you do at the end but it's not is clear $770,000 from free cash was used um was uh 70 $70,000 from free cash was used to balance the budget or used um to operating budget I think it's important what we what you're saying is we use $70,000 of cash on the operating budget so it's that's not clear even though the last part kind of alludes to it it doesn't really say it so $70,000 from free cash was used to fund the operating budget yeah specifically right for nonpermanent school costs yeah yeah that yeah I think that's a little more clear as to why we're saying that and I don't think we need this last part right into the operating budget right okay ,000 the fing operating budget specifically for non um I have the correct number hey right hold on hold on hold on I want to write it down because I want to have it so the amount that was it was reduced by was $2,064 so the new number is 7, 25,8 14 oh right Justice and aside Becky you're gon to want that in the annual report that you're going to publish next year right it's in the annual report I in the minutes it's in the minutes of the meeting right right but is it an annual report the finance committee's annual report is going to be a modified version of the annual report we presented at town meeting so you're going to want me to modify that to decrease expenses Revenue by $2,064 and adjust all your charts yeah I can do it that's not a problem but do you agree is that what you want to put in the annual report or do you want to keep it with what we presented I think I think presented what you presented I I done I've already done it by the way I just that's what I was looking for earlier but okay so just leave so you'll just use the one you have from the town meeting if you change your mind let me know okay all right just updating these yeah so in the minutes of the annual town meeting it under article two it references an amendment and maybe that's what you could do somehow in say that there was an amendment to the budget just so people are clear that you know if they find the original documents and it's not the same as the final so it can say in that second sentence at the meeting the voters pass an amended budget for FY 25 totaling block right voters passed and amended budget yeah does this increase of 30 is it 309 or is it 307 must be 307 it's no it we're probably being it picky right and that that uh total budget figures starts the highlights in the first well it's whatever it was you want to subtract $2,000 from it yeah yeah just subtract 2,000 make it 307 yes and I wouldn't worry about the 4.5 I think it's yeah okay all right anybody else have okay so Jim I know you've had your hand up for a while so yeah uh go ahead well yes I think it's a great um it's a great a piece very detailed very comprehensive but are the folks at the Our Town newsletter willing to publish something that is this this big this long this detailed did the last time and it was this you know with this much detail and length I I'm just you know usually they try to condense things into very small sort of bite-sized pieces which of course this this article is not I'm I'm just well she she prints what she receives Jim okay well they're willing to do it that's fine I mean you know I think it's great yeah I mean if they come back to us and say shorten it we can we can have a conversation I doubt they will I doubt I doubt Janice will ask you to do that okay well let's hope so Kathy just a really minor little thing in the highlights bulleted items just align the third one with the rest of the bullets the residential taxes uh oh this this one residential tax right yeah okay there you go there you go all right great Al righty all right so so just want ask April about that April was that exercise excruciating or no no no it it's actually really interesting I just you know sort of shut my mind and pulled it out and and uh no was trying to find an order and how to talking about the the region the school and the Regional School was the challenging part yes you know yeah I find it really um informative when I do these projects um to go over the information in my own mind to organize it so I appreciate you got to do that and you did a good job yes really appreciate it April and it really does it it It prepares you for the new year because now you got it all this fresh in your mind I know I can test test me on it well all of I'm still learning but I'm really impressed for what it's worth yeah it's a great article well I also was able to use the framework that AJ had used before so this wasn't coming out of total uh in there you know it that framework from the previous one was very helpful to to work around but it is it yeah it was fun in a strange sort of way so should we sign it love from the finance committee right um in terms of next steps April I I'll send you just this version that I've been editing on the Fly you may have been doing it yourself on your end but so but if it's helpful I'll send you this one and then yeah I'll clean it up and I'll send it off to Janice all right sounds good okay okay great um all right so um on uh next up on the agenda is any follow-ups on the budget request um forms and letters that are going to be going out to department heads I know Susie you have at least one issue that you wanted to discuss with the committee as you were working on this um you know if you've had others come up but you want to you want to um share that one I need another hint okay this was the fire department and and as soon as you mentioned it yeah about whether to include the training and call wages which has been which is a little bit in this kind of gray area right because it's it's a salary line which we generally don't put in the in these operating budget forms we kind of we sort of distinguish between kind of salary um which are often determined by you know the cola calculations and so we don't even bother putting those on the bud operating budget forms versus other nonary or non-personnel expenses um but I think this one was one that I think you might have had an instinct that should be on the budget form um you want to talk a little bit about that yeah because that number um for the training wages um we he came back to us and we did it in two sections to boost it but um I just wanted to sort of see the historical piece of that and let people um let Lenny think about it too um I don't want it to be a point of attack because it hasn't been on the budget before um and I don't know if it falls under um wages in terms of what the amount per hour will be changing but um I just feel like if we have a upfront discussion about it it might help clarify it and strengthen it as a line uh Becky I'm sorry I I I'm unclear did you say the training and call wages are not in the budget no they're not on the budget request form they've never been on the budget request form right because we don't put in the salar because it could be just called salaries and not go in there and you know it's I it's sort of this is this is the same kind of education thing that happens when you start taking something apart to look at it um so we have um the assistant Treasurer um that's a I guess that'd be called a contract I don't know so so I just didn't know where it fell are you the one who's going to be emailing these forms to everyone yeah so could you put in the body of your email when you send the fire department one could you ALS um dear dear Lenny please also um include details or information pertaining to the call lines in the what's the other one training line we have those details we have what was spent we have what was proposed those those things stay the same and I was wondering if if I'm the liais on to fire um so I could have a discussion with him doesn't have to be on the form I could say here's here's some information we're thinking about looking at what do you think or we could put it on there and then the explanation part say this is a new item to look at um from previous budgets but you're my sorry sorry go ahead Becky so you're only asking him in reference to whether they're staying within budget you're not talking about pay rates or anything you're just focusing in on the use of those two different lines right and I I think he's got some other things to talk to us about that because I think in the end he um he may want to say I underspent the call wages and I over and I had to spend more on training so I so I'm looking at that I mean it's just a conversation and there's no conversation point right now that's not where we had a conversation in the last few years except for did with Lenny brought forward yeah when it when it's when he when he's watching his budget so this could just conversation earlier well so my my instinct is that and but I might be there might be a rationale that I'm not clear on but that the reason we typically don't be or even put Personnel lines on those budget forms that we sent to department heads is because it's they're they're sort of not discretionary items right they're they're determined they're not in control of by of the department head their their their changes from one year to the next are determined by um Cola calculations that are you know a function of the work of the Personnel Board and are approved by you know col board and so that's the reason we leave those off but I think in the case of the fire department right this really is kind of like this is not like the fire chief's salary line right this this is this is an expense that he has to manage um and has actually right there have been there have been a couple of times where he's needed to um come to us to talk about um how he sort of distributes funds across these lines so my so my instinct is that we ought to include those kinds of items on our budget request forms because they're they're within the control of the department head and um it's and so we want them to be thinking about those lines and managing them in the context of the rest of you know his or her operating budget so that that's my rationale for saying I think we should include them I other folks have a sp opinion about this I definitely agree I think that's I think that's wise Becky do you do you feel like that Mak sense yeah okay and this is not God's law this is just a form that we D drafted right and and I think it's really important to see it as a discussion tool so you know I I want to go into that with this feeling we did may not have done it in the past because we didn't see it I somehow that jumped out at me this time yeah yeah and I think you can Tee It Up for for Lenny when you since you're the liais on you can talk to him like you know the you may notice there's a new line on the for and this is why you know we just we we thought it'd be useful for discussion purposes to hear your thoughts about it um okay so let's do that um I feel like there's an analogous issue with the Police Department as well isn't there like is it the overtime wages or no they're they're is that they're not set separately at all okay got it okay so that I'm wrong about that it's only Highway where over and it's the snow removal over time right okay which is something we see on the highway budget so yeah um okay so forget what I just said about the police department all right so let's do that were there any other um follow-up issues as you began to to work on this and think about this Susie that you wanted to no I kind of went down a rabbit hole I'm coming back up air and I will have them ready by um Friday yeah did you have and so I I print them and put them in their boxes I email them and I think that's about it great thank you okay Susie just a reminder please uh include me in the emails because I need them too thank you you want me to put a printed copy of each one in your box or that's too Lite for you that's fine but I'll still need the digital one so okay and I don't have a scanner so okay um Susie when you when you do the email version for folks M can you just maybe add a sentence in there that just um makes it clear that their the instruction is for them to email the completed form back to Becky okay I'll put that as a PS once or twice there was I think some confusion and people sent it to the fincom inbox instead of be and so I just want to make sure that okay and that should probably be on the budget request form itself not the you're right yeah okay yeah because that's what they're going to be looking at like on their screen yeah people yeah you need it on both or they're not going to get it okay yeah so don't read the most place the more places you put it the more likely it's gonna happen great all right thanks Suzy y I think we're in good good shape um timing wise um okay so I think we're ready for our next item which is to prep for the four towns meeting I sent around I'm sorry to have sent that email invitation late I didn't realize it was I I don't check the fincom inbox as often as I should and it was sitting in there I was like wondering why um we hadn't gotten an invite and and then I called um nabe and um and and I was informed that it was sent to the sheets veryy pong uh so um here's the deal I um regretfully I hate to say this but I have a conflict on September 28th and will not be able to be there in person I'm pretty sure they're G to be um uh broadcasting it but I don't um but I don't think the the zoom uh functionality is going to be used for people to actually participate and speak in the meeting I think it's really going to be just for for people to kind of passively view it unfortunately I I do have this conflict I can't get out of and I'm gonna be out of town um I I won't be able to watch it but I can't be there in person um which uh which is disappointing because it's important and um wish wish this was the case but it's just something I can't get out of uh um so I the only update I have is um I I I have to watch the uh recording of the school committee's meeting from I think it was September 10th um there uh I saw in the superintendent um update um which was posted the slides her slides were posted on the agenda agenda it it indicated that they are going to re they're going to present four budget scenarios um I don't know what those scenarios are and or if there was any discussion I will watch that recording in the next day or so and I'll I'll share if there's any important info information um I'll share it but that that's the that's the limit of what I was able to figure out from just the handouts for the for their meeting is that they're going to they're going to review actually there was another thing they're going to review um let me just read it exactly uh budget process set for September 28th 9:00 am at the middle school library the team is currently running scenarios for presentation each highlighting a different deficit we hope that the upcoming four towns meeting will guide us in determining the most effective scario to pursue in our process moving forward so I'm curious about what that what that means um and I'm sorry I just minutes right highlighting for highlighting a a different deficit that's what is written in her okay thank you um yeah just for for those of you that are um uh that kind of follow along on these Regional school committee meetings one of the interesting things things that Dr G is doing is you know her superintendent update that she gives at every meeting she has a prepared slide deck which is uh which wasn't the case previously um which is just a useful thing to look at it's posted on board dos um if you ever want to see like what um what the superintendent is kind of communicating to to the committee anyway so that that's where I got that from um so I think this is um I'm not sure that there's a lot for us to do in preparation for this first four town I mean I think right it's clear that this is going to be the first of a series of meetings that the four towns are going to have throughout the fall I think our job is to really kind of listen and absorb these four scenarios I I am curious I'm not sure if they're going to be looking for a lot of feedback in that meeting um to the extent that like if if they are um you know and they haven't shared those scenarios in advance of the meeting you know it's going to be a little bit tricky for us to sort of like discuss them as a group um what our response to these scenarios are so but you know so maybe they will post these um these budget scenarios before the actual meeting if that's the case um I'll I'll certainly share it with you um let's see I don't think we have we're not going to have a meeting schedule right before the 28th so um I think the only like if there's something really controversial or like really I think critical for us to discuss and we have time to post like an emergency meeting before I guess we could do that but Becky um I I think I should just post all three committees for the 28th for the so you're not worried about that it's all set and if there's discussion that needs to happen you're good okay so one possibility we've done this before I don't know if it's necessary for this first meeting but we could host a fincom meeting that starts at 8:30 say um and uh you know if if there's a little bit of time we feel like we need to discuss you know budget do related documents that are shared in advance of of the meeting I don't know is that does that feel like it might be useful or Susie I'm feeling like we don't want to encourage people to start taking stands and so so I feel like that your first sentence that our job is to listen is important because we don't want anybody to be running down that road it's only September and so I would I would want to show that we're there to listen um and we might see something that inflames us but it's too too too soon to get up in arms and so I encourage that yeah that's my instinct too the the only thing the only thing that was I was ahead in my mind is what if they actually ask directly for feedback in the meeting I mean that you know um but you know I think it's probably unlikely that they will right I mean I think it's it's the first you think so yeah but we can say we don't have enough information to that reaction and encourage people to think that way yeah and right and assure them that this is going to be front and center at our next fincom meeting we will we will make sure to have a thorough discussion of that and and get them feedback um in whatever form Forum that you know they need whether it's the next four towns meeting or we could we could even draft feedback and and and share it with them uh George yeah and and and let them yeah let them know we're going to need time to digest those four scenarios that they're going to share with us the um uh there was some else I wanted to say oh boy if I could only remember what it was um oh yeah in regard to your question should we meet earlier I think we should because if there's new information especially because AJ you've been watching a lot of what's going on there might be something you want to share with us or something we all receive and we just want to look it over to you know share our thoughts about before the meeting I think would be helpful I agree with Susie we should really bite our tongues there's no point in getting into deep Dives on anything at this point but you never know it might be helpful to have that meeting okay Becky I guess the the only scenario I think we'd really want to have a conversation about is if we get those four scenarios and two of them have eliminated the alter alternative method yeah yes okay one reason I think but right and that we're very prepared to right I mean like we've been we've been discussing and talking about this for we've got sort of talking points on on assessment method so I think yeah I I agree with you in that scenario I think we we wanna um yeah I think we we're able to to share feedback about if if we see scenarios that eliminate you know modified statutory method you know as any component of the assessment methodology then I think we do want to communicate there there is the challenge though I'm not going to be there so I I I I and I I don't think I I don't think it's going to be super convenient for me to speak via Zoom to a a large in-person meeting I was gonna suggest knowing that I have this conflict that um that if Susie you're comfortable kind of sharing the kind of consensus position on assessment method again if it comes up in the context of those scenarios um you're you know you you know the issues as well as anybody um on the committee that so that was going to be my my suggestion uh Susie not I don't think we should do it in the context of one of those four scenarios I think we need to do it on the context of the principle this is a principle of a I was going to say hard fought but that's not the words I want to use this is a place we've gotten to because it has the um recognition of the different um income and eqv especially after watching Tracy novik's presentation that's one of the things I don't know if she did it particularly for us but it's clearly there and it's clearly also the difference in Municipal Revenue growth so there are some key factors in how you figure out um what matters and um our guard rails and all that are kind of added on top but I feel just like as a principal we shuberry wants this to be a starting point so doesn't sort of matter what the four scenarios are we're looking for this to be in there yeah so I'm gonna actually just really quickly just share some talking points that we kind of collectively wrote together back in 2023 when we were negotia like preparing for a four towns meeting and I I think this is a kind of precise position that reflects how the community views right we look at this last paragraph the you know the the Massachusetts created the statutory method as the fairest most Equitable method of allocating assessments for member towns it has advantages it achieves a reasonable balance of per pupil and wealth-based factors it's more stable than other models because it's built on this fiveyear rolling average um the last time we checked over 70% of Massachusetts Regional districts utilize the statutory method which is obviously you know slightly different than ours but it's a component of it and and our region arrived at this method over years of collaborative work and multiple working groups dating you know over 10 years so um I think you know the last time we discussed this right like I I think there was strong consensus around B being the kind of key points for us to articulate in terms of our you know our position on assessment method George um you answered my question I was curious what we were going to say but that's it thank you and will you send that to us please yes yes I'm gonna put that in the minutes too okay um AG one quick question what we used to do ahead of these meetings and and um ahead of this one might not be U the place to do it but we would bring the um school committee select board and finance committee we'd have like a a meeting ahead of a pre meeting right um I don't I don't know what you guys think about doing that on the 21st is wait no the 24th is the select board meeting this coming Tuesday um right ahead of Saturday I I don't even know if what we probably won't even have materials um but I didn't I want you guys to be thinking that way in upcoming meetings and I'd like to know if you think you should um communicate with the other committees ahead of this one or not so I guess my my just my thinking on that is that's a super useful thing for us to do in those meetings where we know we're going to have to share feedback on a budget model right or budget proposal um so I certainly think we should we should build in that process for future four towns meetings I'm not sure if it's essential for this one just because you know we're we're again we're I'm assuming we're not even going to see these budget scenarios until we till you know people show up um that's my Susie and in some of those fourtown meetings it's structured to have a break in it where people could caucus so I I think they're probably not headed that way yet but if we think it's getting more specific we would ask for that to be in the agenda that we have time to caucus right there's also a little bit again sorry to do this to everybody but there is the there's a sort of logistics a practical challenge which is going to be if if we are going to do a pre- meeting right it's going to be it's probably gonna be an inperson meeting since since you all will be attending the meeting in person at at the middle school I'm not sure how I will unless one of you zooms on um you know a laptop I'm not sure how I'll be able to to participate which doesn't mean that it's not worth doing but um but that would be something we'd have to figure out they have internet how about how about scheduling a meeting for Thursday the 26th oh um yeah I could do that yeah um the only thing like so I so here's my thought about that George is that I think we could post meeting for the 26th if we don't get um anything from the region I think we cancel that meeting because I I don't think there's anything for us to discuss but in the event that we do have something to look at and we think it's useful to that that Thursday then you know if we if we're posted for that night then I think you know I think 8:30 before Town meet before the meeting if we all have to be en Amorous at 8:30 we might have trouble getting ourselves together and we just it a half an hour um I I that could go badly especially if the doors aren't unlocked until quarter or nine and of course we're all going to be talking together table with no other you know other towns walking around and maybe even want to talk to us that's a good point yeah and again it's conent on whether there's information or not we don't have to have it right yeah you're yeah you're right so let's let's scrap the idea a free meeting on this on Saturday the question is do we do we think there's any value to posting a meeting for Thursday uh the 26 uh Susie couple of things one that was the purpose of it was to was that the purpose to have joint meeting with SB and and school committee or just for us to look over what is on the proposal and the other thing is that those key points that you're going to send us we should just send those to the select board and to the school committee and that's kind of our starting point and and I don't want to get too far down the road on this so I don't think I think it would be adequate just to send those out as um our starting points and let the meeting open up um okay and and I guess if the meeting starts to go you know pelman and Leverett and ammer starts taking strong positions I think our position is to back that down a little bit just slow down yeah okay so maybe what I'll do is if if you think this makes sense is I will email the select board and the school committee and basically say Hey you know in advance of the four towns meeting on on the 28th um the fincom phone would be helpful to share the following talking points related to the assessment methodology in case that becomes a topic that's relevant for the meeting thought it' be useful for you to look at this and then I'll maybe just add a sentence that says um you know our understanding is that they're going to share some budget scenarios for us to review We felt strongly that rather than comment on those scenarios in the media we'll take it up for discussion something along those lines just just um just so it makes it clear that the reason I'm sending them talk you know these talking points on assessment method is that that's really the only issue where we feel like we should be prepared to WR some feedback if again if it's relevant something like that make sense much less wordy version that okay got it all right I'll do that then okay so so the night is off the table right it sounds like it yeah yeah yeah that I don't think for this first four towns meeting that we're going to need a pre meeting certainly would be a good thing for us to keep in mind for future ones though and I think your point Becky is well taken that we we we're going to need toate those with the select board and the school committee um where they're are sort of important decisions to important feedback for us to provide okay a number of new members on the school committee so it's education is really important yeah okay um one question I have for you all is do you think there's any value to me um touching Bass with Anna before the four towns meeting and if so are there any any other points other than just kind of summarizing this discussion that we've just had that um I ought to share with her no I don't think so uh but I think if you're gonna have that conversation with her ask her if there's anything we should be aware of that's going on yeah isn't you for sure okay all right then I think that is sufficient to prep for for that meaning again my apologies for not being there in person hopefully um there won't be be able to make the future ones yes exactly will be the future one's gon be if I have to miss one I feel like this is the one to to miss yeah um okay um I think looking at uh what was it uh all right uh so why don't I pull up the expense report that Becky shared I think that was was it yesterday or I can't today I think oh was it today so I had a crazy day I did not get a chance to time on this but we can kind of go through it together right now all right um so this is our latest expense report this is through uh this was run on when uh so today [Music] um and I think what I'll do is is just do kind of a page by Page sh on the screen and then see if folks have questions or comments about any line items I I I know this is always a little tricky early in the fiscal year not sure what to be what to be looking for uh well there's some things that would stand out yeah so legal is still in doing okay yeah what's going on with that something it's about ready to go downhill I think great okay nothing big there no is is this the page with the emergency um Management on it let's see no no oh I thought it was maybe at the bottom fire next one know oh yeah all right it's the next page okay yeah I'm having trouble seeing it it's a little and it be a little bigger AJ yeah help okay all right so no this police maintenance Cruiser maintenance line has has been a problem in the past right um looks like we're okay so far she I'm sure we'll hear more about that when we meet I think you're gonna be seeing some expenses shortly okay yeah looks it looks like we overspent the Emergency Management phone line the phone yeah this one here pH just yeah what's a phone nut it's like an astronaut but different okay very good I have a feeling their rates went up and they didn't tell us ahead of time okay is that a one-time charge yes okay yeah so that's good it's not gonna get worse think we can we can handle we can handle the 81 yeah I think we're good just for Kathy's um information a lot of times Kathy when you look at the salary lines typically the salary lines will tell you what percentage of the Year we're through I'm not sure there's actually a good example of that on this page but oh yeah the highway superintendent superintendent yeah 2.64 most salary lines are 2164 so we're at 21% of the way through the year because those lines usually spend right on the budget amount okay because Becky knows what they are when she puts the budget together so that's how we know so like any line that's higher than that is spending a little ahead of the pace of time and any lower is doing better kind of a guide that everybody's learned to use good thank you all right uh fire station mitigation still getting put in the right category or is that a new exciting expense yeah um real exciting there was a trans there was a carry forward she had not all the carry forwards are here ah okay excellent hopefully it's more than $9,000 I hope it's at least 16 so you got more coming huh a little bit we just put we're we just put in a um the LSP just submitted a report that is arguing for us be returned to a temporary solution which um hopefully hopefully they'll accept his argument that would be helpful and then we're back to where we were and that's the D he submits it to yeah yeah is this the line This Gravel Road upgrade is is that the line now that was a capital item right that we did last year to give the high rate Department some funds to correct do so that's not this one right this is the regular line he as it originally but um it's a capital line and he has been spending out of that good yeah on a lot of gravel yeah I think we I think it would be um helpful to kind of hear about when we when we meet with Steve about kind of how that works going what he's learned about you know how we might be doing this in the future what kinds of additional upgrades for the roads we might see in the future all right so let's get to this page um yeah okay yeah the veterans the veterans section looks funky um we're g to be um that's going to be our first big problem of the year we have um yeah we have quite a bit of activity and we don't have enough in the budget for it interesting okay and of course we budgeted to what they told us and the next month it all changed yeah isn't that one is that one of the lines where the treasurer and us are always always kind of the treasur is always trying to be conservative and we always say Hey you know you're going way too far overboard is that one of those lines he has you know he's we get a requested amount from the VA um no he doesn't push as hard there because it's been zero for a number of years okay yeah but when something comes and depending how long it's there it can go it can be there you know for months and months or or go couple years sometimes usually it it stops it's supposed to be the short term before they get um but it can go for a year and and then the VA reimburses us some of it or no they oop you froze Becky oh mid sentence all right you had something to say too yeah she might have to back in all right I'll keep going um and we can let her know if we've got other questions yeah the last one I had was in regards to um the retirement I don't know where that is right here yeah it looks like um they may have we're done with the the retirement so I'm thinking we might have a $16,000 pickup I think it's a one time charge that's another question for Becky okay all right so let's ask her about that so this line you think you think this gets build once a year yeah okay yes um Jim is the vet you know the veterans line which we were just discussing is that yeah is is that really Sky High because a v a veteran has appeared out of nowhere and moved into town uh do do we know what's going on there I think that is one of those lines that's right that's that's um you can't predict that is determined by a headcount like yeah number of people um so yeah it's been zero for a number of years right because we haven't had any veterans but I guess do we now have a veteran in town that we didn't have last year or whatever I I I I don't know I'm just curious I thought Becky might might have sure she she'll have something to say about that um and then so we want to ask her about that and then the retirement okay she's on the screen but she's muted oh okay sorry I couldn't I finally got the icon up to unmute so I could hear you okay yeah so we've got two questions one was go going back to this veterans programs uh sorry benefits so is uh Jim asked is is this an indication that we have a new veteran veteran that has moved into the community eligible for these Services okay so what what's no okay so people don't have to move in to become eligible okay people living here can become eligible oh on occasion like there was one occasion I recall um a veteran doctor moved into town and was uh renting a property and was instantly qualified so it can happen but that's not the situation these are the the last few people we've had have all been people living in town whose life situations fluctuate and then right they're eligible for benefits okay okay and can we go back to the original question before Becky froze and that is will be reimbursed and that was we get some reimbursement it's a 75% reimbursement um and it goes you know when we get it up to 18 months two years later yeah oh so it's not going to be reflected in the budget yeah in the EXP it'll go into the general fund it'll yeah got it okay uh George had a another question about the retirement line and the question was is this uh just build once a year and if so does that mean we've we're picking up $116,000 do we do we will we see any future activity on this line uh it's an annual assessment I believe okay I'm so so so yeah so we might save 16k so we can feel good about that then can turn it over to the vets let's keep going I think that's all right um revolving accounts yeah these are all revolving accounts okay the title of the account is um where under the First full solid line where it says group one segment one then it's titled the account is titled so you can see this one is Town special Revenue Green community Grant what's that about we're closing out the grant that we had from the Elementary School that was lighting yeah yep but none of it was expended oh it's a negative balance never mind yeah we're waiting to receive the money we had it's a reimbursable grant so we submit the invoices and they pay got it got it is that the same thing with these stadi Your Mark Grant uh yeah that's um where are the um as we go through these Becky where are the expenses related to I assume they're on here somewhere related to p um what are they P 30 I here there it is p contamination all right running a little behind on that good I assume that a lot of that is going to get spent though right well see the issue is that's the new she put in the new 150 ah got it that we have you know it's she does it theoretically but we haven't finished right so there was roughly 13 left yeah there was yeah 13 plus the 4,000 spent so there was 17 left okay all right and then there's the library can we just scroll back to that for a second yeah yeah looks like there's more than $ thousand doll worth of work been done out there yeah yes that's great news actually so actually some of the money we spent is in that 130 too I see 130 as well yeah this is like these are the grant funds that we spent right yeah that's probably where the all the spending is going to happen in the beginning right right because this is largely going to be used our our allocated the funds that the town allocated are probably going to be used for those categories of expenses that were not reimbursable by the grant right yeah yeah the capital the capital stabilization free cash right and we won't borrow I assume we won't borrow until all those things have been instructed yeah right all right quite a project yeah yeah I'll tell you what I'm hopeful that um you know the de's going come below what we uh what was presented at a town meeting two years ago so to that point Becky do things sound like they're moving along okay no big OS on the library a construction um so far great I did notice that the opep num is at 941 we're approaching a million dollars on yeah I was thinking maybe we' think about popping it to a million because things change at that point yeah I Becky I assume this reflects what was in our budget for fy2 or do you think it's possible that this is too soon actually I should know the I know the answer to this question I saw some trust I saw some um transfers at the end of our budget for like aund and something 160 so actually I'm going to go to the opep analysis spreadsheet because I think I had 930 so that does not reflect another 50,000 she hasn't updated that yet yeah yeah so right so we're we're close we're very close we're at 991 plus whatever we're gonna be over a million oh because the interest comes in too right that's what right right yeah yeah wow I remember when it was Zero hoay for that took a lot of a lot of work yeah well it's an analysis we're definitely going have to do yeah when when is what what's the schedule that for the the Actuarial reports that we get is it every couple years three years three years okay uh Kathy can you tell me what that is yeah oh sorry 25 words or less who wants to do the honors other post employment benefits go Susie well that's good enough we've been putting away $50,000 once we got on a steady course to help pay for other post-employment benefits um for former employes I Kathy I would liken it to corporations having to fund their pensions their future obligations we're funding future obligations to retirees um because we pay a portion of their health insurance mostly so it's the same concept okay and we have sorry go ahead Becky um so it's mostly for health insurance basically but it's similar to the concept for retirement but it's to make sure towns um can afford to pay the promised um medical benefits when people retire yeah pay paying the current value of the future benefits having it saved that right so this number that we've been discussing is the amount of funds that we've accumulated in our fund by by funding this trust every year and that's that's one of the elements of our operating budget is you know we've been for a while now we've been putting in we've been contributing 50k to that trust every year um and uh yeah and there the only other thing to mention about that is that there is a um an accounting firm that does um an Actuarial study every three years that is kind of an important tool for us to make decisions about sort of planning you know what how how do we want to contribute to this in the future and actually there's one other point if I may yeah go ahead in our health insurance line in these expenses a portion of those are paying for health insurance for retired individuals and at some point in the future as that number grows and we have to increase that line item we're going to be able to use the funds in this account to offset some of that that's really the account where this account is going to come into play at this point we pay all the health insurance out of the operating budget but at some point in the future we can pay a portion of the health insurance out of this fund and it won't affect the property taxes okay hope we confused you no that was good I get it and I have a question um because it's always learning um what does the retirement line in our operating budget um how is that figure into anything and our operating budget is like 200,000 27 suy are you asking so our retirement agency the you know the Franklin Regional retirement board mhm is I I think we are already vested so so all we're so we pay the assessments that they um they calculate to maintain their system but they're so basically it's like what if they had gotten to that opep limit so uh so I'm not sure what your question is you just are asking I think she's asking Becky yeah if I may I think she's asking do we are we build for our act Actuarial responsibility for our future benefit is that what that is or are we loading a fund like we're doing with okay opep but not based on any calculations right now we they they did are the they did that part they've already done their they've made their Investments and they're they're as a financial unit they're all they do is assess Us in all the other towns annually and they assess us for our future liability based on for our liability for the current fiscal year for the current fiscal year only yeah and so OPB money is only health insurance and this is the retire actual retirement dollars yes pension dollar this is an operating expense and the other one is um in our operating budget and it goes into the OPB for the health which is the post employment benefit right okay okay all right I think that's it on expense report that's it for our agenda are there any other topics or any other updates that folks wanted to share with the committee I I just wanted to ask Becky um how you doing on getting signatures oh I think I got some you got is the letter done you didn't get mine on the uh yeah on the um open meeting law letter we don't need everybody's do we I thought it was just a maity I um April could still sign yeah just AUM yes yes so you still needed one one signature it sounds like yeah well Bob signed the original but there was a typo on it so I give Bob credit for signing but I think the typo is a pretty big one I can't remember what it was I can swing by tomorrow inside you and I will as well all right it'll be in the fincom Box okay and I have one more thing um yep I went through that um presentation by Tracy novic and what helped me was to run a side by side the slide deck and her talking because the projection in the meeting you couldn't read the slides well that was not helpful so figured that out um it still is a huge load of information for me to really get it um but I found it to be interesting and I ended up contacting her by email because she says to if you have a question and the question I had is for the municipal Revenue growth does our rural Aid end up raising that factor for us and therefore counting against us when they do the thing and she um looked it up and she said oh no that that doesn't go in that so um so she answered me the same day I sent the question um I didn't have to be a genius to ask the question when she figured out what I was asking and I think that it it'd be good to keep doing a dialogue because I found the presentation really hard to struggle through until I got the slides beside each other and I'd probably have to do it four more times to start yeah you know to really internalize it but it gave some IDE we're doing yeah and and there's so many layers right to the process and it's like okay once you sort of okay I got understand the foundation budget but then it's like yet another layer and layer and layer to get to our actual but I think it highlights some of the issues that we're talking about very clearly and I can't believe that ammer um Municipal Revenue Factor isn't significant so I'm shocked and that's shock to me yeah and so that that slide it just leads to more and also she when she did a comparison with grandby Northampton blah blah blah none of those are Regional Schools it's like I don't think that's the best one and so she talked about how to go ahead and get another comparison out of there um and I don't know if she'd be willing to do that for me but I can make a stab at the DLS site and see if I can do figure that out but um there there are points that we can be talking about when we're really in a fourtown discussion I was concerned about the the growth factor because um our new growth this year is going to be more than double what we thought it was going to be I heard this in assessor board meeting and also um the state is coming up with more pilot money and we're going to have Revenue growth there so our spending requirement it sounds like right Susie um correct me if I'm wrong our spending requirements are going to go up and it's interesting concept to me that I I need to I I'm not done with it so but I want to fully understand we've never talked about we need to spend a certain amount but she was talking about how there's a minimum amount we have to spend and I never really think about that but when we we've never compared what we're presenting for a budget to what we're required to pay and we could find ourselves in a position if revenue is going up that even if we cut our budgets we have to spend a certain amount right you know what I mean yep that's just never been in my thinking right the the right there's that there's this required local contribution right that uh we're responsible for yeah we're pretty low compared to it now but if that grows our growth factor is climbing right then we could cross a threshold right Becky we used to be double the minimum growth numbers um I know we're they're getting closer but I I would really look closely at the projections because we've normally been way above them above our other the other towns in the region no no I'm saying our spending has traditionally been way above the minimum required contri in every analysis so I can't imagine even with changes in our growth you know we did have a massive change in our you know our new growth is uh once in a decade this year but I I don't think it's gonna I don't think it's going to be something that will get bring us into jeopardy with what we have to spend great and there are some things that are contributing to the growth that the um the supply chain is straightening out people are trying to build the state supporting housing building things are happening but it's happening for four towns and probably not that much more in shutesbury than anywhere else because um there's all sorts of different growth going on in ammer so I I that's why whatever they present on what on H Saturday the 28th I want to slow it because these things matter and and it takes us a while to figure it out also to note that the the bulk of the new growth was the work that they uh that um the electric company did National Grid did that's that was the the bulk of our new growth and that's not gonna happen yeah well there might be there might be some at the substation um that's right going there but we just don't know to what extent um the other thing I guess I'm coming out of the blue about the Regional School again one thing I was thinking about was this conversation about whether we should have feedback or not and I apologize for going back to it but you know they're going to present those scenarios and the community is going to be digesting it and there's going to be a lot of winds blowing down in the valley so for me it's like put on my winter coat and just sit back and watch the cold winds blow and see where it goes because I think when a lot of people in the community see the extent of those cuts there is going to be an upro [Music] I know we all know there's tremendous support and Amorous for the school budget at the um citizen level yeah all righty okay any other updates Becky um I'm hopefully gonna H I just I'm just excited that we have um a candidate for the admin secretary position nice and for the land use clerk um and I've had I've already um Rita's going to interview so the person will have a second interview tomorrow on Saturday uh the chairs are interviewing for the land use clerk um so those are just positive things for the town it's the assistant secretary you said yeah admin secretary admin that's the word okay that's huge and as well as the and's clerk so we've got two um two interviews happening one this coming week by the end of the week so hopefully by next week so hope you're good candidates oh she good night she's ready she's ready to wrap up all right um well we'll take that as our cue uh so I'll make a motion to uh to adjourn our meeting oh wait we should just verify our next meeting right so October one October right October one okay great all right uh so yeah go ahead George no no you haven't you make the motion all right I'll make a motion to adjourn our meeting I'll second that arvan II casu I mo i Salvador I Stein I thank you all right thanks everyone good night good night night