FINCOM 03-06-2013

Source page 1

Town of Canton Finance Committee
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 vd
Members Present:
Rob Barker, Sarah Calabria, Mark Porter, Barbara Saint Andre, Jim Sims and Eric Zinc.
Members Absent:
Pat Johnson (attending Capital Planning Committee) and Diane Wolff.
Guests Present:
Karen Zukauskas, Director of Assessing
Tracy Kenney, Town Clerk
Jim Murgia, Finance Director
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary
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Opening:
A meeting of the Canton Finance Committee was called to order at approximately 7:02 p.m. on Wednesday, March
6, 2013 in the Community Meeting Room of the Canton Public Library.
A. Approval of Agenda
Chairman Porter reviewed the agenda items: to discuss the Assessor's Town Meeting Article for the revaluation of
properties, discuss the Police Detail Fund #125 and review the Town Clerk's FYI and FYI budgets. Police Chief
Berkowitz was unable to attend the meeting due to a personal obligation.
Announcements
There were no announcements made.
B. Approval of Minutes
The minutes for the February 28, 2013 meeting and March 4, 2013 meeting would be submitted for approval
at a future meeting.
C. New Business
ATM Article 36 - $120,000 for FY14 Revaluation — Assessing Department — Karen Zukauskas, the Director of
Assessing, presented to the Finance Committee the following information regarding the results of the recent Request
for Proposals (RFP) for the FYI revaluation:
• Revaluations are, by state law, done every three years. The state reshuffled municipalities which placed
Canton on a schedule to have a revaluation done in FYI which was four years from the prior revaluation.
• Paul Kapinos of pkValuation Group responded to the RFP with a price proposal of $120,000. The price
proposals were submitted separately from the technical proposals.
• There will be an article at ATM 2013 requesting $120,000 for the revaluation.
Mr. Murgia suggested that a motion be made under ATM Article 7 (Adjust FYI Accounts) with free cash being
used as the source of funds for the $120,000. If the motion is approved at Town Meeting this would allow the
vendor to start approximately six weeks prior to July 1. The tax rate cannot be set until the revaluation is completed.
The Assessor's Overlay is typically used as a source of fimds for the revaluation, but in this particular year the
Assessor's Overlay balance has been depleted to a low balance of approximately $600,000 which must be used for
abatements and Appellate Tax Board (ATB) cases. The Finance Committee members discussed various options for
funding the revaluation such as setting aside $40,000 every year. Unfortunately, if funds were set aside annually in
the Assessor's budget and were not used by the end of the fiscal year, the excess would fall into free cash.
Chairman Porter made the suggestion to add $40,000 to the Assessor's Overlay every year.
Police Department — Police Detail Fund #125 — Police Chief Ken Berkowitz was unable to attend the Finance
Committee meeting due to a personal obligation.
FINCOM 03062013 MINUTES.doc Page 1 of 3/10/2013