2010 Hancock Advisory Committee

Meeting

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

 

The July meeting of the Hancock Advisory Committee (HAC) was called to order at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 6 at the Town Office meeting room. Advisory Committee members present were Rich LeFebvre (Chairman), Ben Billings, Don Klug and Marsha Kono. Also attending were Barbara Caverly, Town Administrator; Gail Hoffman, town bookkeeper, and Kurt Grassett, Director of Public Works, invited by HAC to get an early reading on how 2010 is shaping up financially.

 

Minutes of the June 1 HAC meeting were accepted with no changes.

 

Gail Hoffman updated the Committee on the Town's conversion to the QuickBooks system (done), making it much easier to produce year-to-date reports of Actual vs. Budgeted Expenses, as well as Actual vs. Anticipated Revenues, on a monthly basis. Copies of the May 31 Expense Report were distributed. Rich asked members to review them for discussion at the next meeting – he will e-mail us the corresponding revenue report when he receives it from Gail. In the future, she will e-mail the monthly reports to Rich as soon as they are available, hopefully in time for HAC's monthly meeting.

 

Gail and Barbara Caverly noted the 2009 Audit is not yet complete, so final statements for 2009 (including the Unreserved Fund Balance) are not yet available.

 

Rich noted he plans to spend some time in July reviewing the list of Special Funds identified for potential "sunsetting" by the Select Board, and will share his thoughts at the next HAC meeting.

 

Rich's opening question to Barbara, Gail and Kurt was "Any surprises for 2010?"

 

Kurt Grassett, Department of Public Works director, reported that spending under his jurisdiction is within a percent or two of what he expected/budgeted. The contract for #2 fuel oil came in a bit higher than expected, but he expects somewhat lower usage due to weatherization being done this year. He said various road projects are proceeding as expected, with both Main Street and Antrim Rd. to be completed by the end of the summer.

 

Kurt said his greatest ongoing challenge is that the Highway Block Grant formula hasn't changed since 1990/91 – it is based on a fixed cents-per-gallon gas tax, while labor/material costs for road work have risen dramatically. He said we've managed to get by in part due to state/federal FEMA and stimulus dollars, but the Town has put off some maintenance over the last 3 years "hoping for better times," while he sees no evidence that state/federal road aid will be increased in the foreseeable future.

 

He is trying to figure out and lay out the most cost-effective alternatives for a number of road projects that must be addressed in the next few years, e.g., 1) "pulverizing," versus 2) "shim & seal," or even, 3) putting some roads back to gravel. (He said that prices for project materials are about 70% higher than four years ago, even though the price of oil has decreased from its spike.) New federal requirements on lead removal will also increase the cost of building maintenance and renovation projects. The number and size of these projects will require the Town to make some hard decisions in terms of setting priorities and coming up with the funds to tackle projects while they are still "maintenance" rather than allowing deterioration to the point that total re-do's are the only alternative.

 

Don Klug observed that capital planning needs seem to get "lost in the shuffle" during the annual budget process. Rich LeFebvre agreed with both Kurt and Don and reiterated his personal preference for the kind of financial body that could work with the Select Board to try to project the Town's financial situation 10 to 20 years down the road and do some serious prioritizing over the shorter term.

 

Rich suggested that HAC meet with the Capital Improvements Program Committee since HAC's long range financial planning and priority-setting concerns tie in with CIPC's role. He thinks HAC can help both the Select Board and the CIPC build more resident awareness of "must do" infrastructure projects, and the pros and cons of using Capital Reserve Funds for prefunding all or part of costs versus borrowing/bonding (i.e., current low interest rates earned on Capital Reserve Funds vs. current low interest rates paid on bonds and short-term notes.)

 

Those present agreed we need a better understanding of the rules and guidelines for Warrant Articles versus inclusion of project costs in the regular Operating Budgets – since it appears that voters continue to have a hard time understanding how Warrant Article spending affects the Town portion of the tax rate. We also think there's a similar lack of understanding of both the timing and the process for calculating the final, official Town Tax Rate.

 

We discussed the ongoing challenge of trying to increase resident understanding of the Town Budget and attendance/participation at Town Meeting (typically about 140 voters). One suggestion was the sharing of more information via Hancock Happenings, and perhaps, informational meetings. We could also ask residents to share their concerns and questions with HAC via phone or e-mail which could help us understand better what kind of information is lacking/needed.

 

We also acknowledged that any efforts we put forth which could affect the Town portion of the Tax Rate are dwarfed by the relative size/impact of the ConVal budget. It was noted that Bob Martin is the new Hancock member of the ConVal School Board and John Jordan (Select Board Chair) is our representative to the Select Board Advisory Committee to the ConVal Board.

 

Rich LeFebvre asked the Town government members present if there is anything that HAC can do that would help them.

 

Kurt Grassett said he'd welcome more clarity – ideally, written guidelines -- on A) what should be in operating budgets vs. warrant articles, and B) clearer establishment of priorities among infrastructure projects. He noted that he's a big fan of "user fees" when feasible, because they make the cost of services transparent to all and have the actual users bear the brunt of costs. He said he will continue to advocate for "pay-per-throw" for trash put in the compactor, since disposal of compacted waste is the dump's biggest cost ($42,000 per year) and he believes much more of the Town's waste could be recycled, directly lowering that $42K figure. He said Peterborough's experience has been very positive, with fears of increased illegal dumping not borne out.

 

The next regular meeting of the Advisory Committee will be on Tuesday, August 3 at 6:30 p.m. Rich will confirm by e-mail and also try to schedule a meeting before then with the CIP Committee. He will also continue to press Ric Haskins to appoint the 6^th HAC member. Those present agreed that while "diversity" is important, "we need the body."

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Marsha Kono, HAC Secretary

 

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