FINCOM 20200402 Minutes

Source page 1

Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 7-30-20 
801 Washington Street Vote: 6-0-1 
Canton, MA 02021 
Meeting Minutes 
April 2, 2020 
Finance Committee Members Present: David Clough, Dan Cole, Emilio Mauro, Tim McKenna, Barbara Saint 
Andr6, Cindy Thomas and Wai Wong. 
Finance Committee Members Absent: Christos Arsoniadis and Rob Barker. 
Guests Present: 
Charles Aspinwall, Town Administrator 
Chris Connelly, Chair, Board of Selectmen 
Dave Emhardt, Chair, Capital Planning Committee 
Alan Hines, Current Moderator and Resident 
Mike Loughran, Board of Selectmen 
Bob Panico, Capital Planning Committee 
Mark Porter, Board of Selectmen 
Randy Scollins, Finance Director 
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary 
Opening: Chair McKenna called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. via Zoom virtual meeting. 
Approval of Agenda: Chair McKenna reviewed the agenda. 
New Business: 
Discussion FY21 Budget — Potential Risks 
There was no formal budget presentation by the School Committee or Board of Selectmen. No School Committee 
members were present at the meeting. Chair McKenna suggested that Mr. Scollins present his timeline/schedule. 
Because the draft timeline is relevant to any budget actions that might be taken, Mr. Scollins presented his opinions 
to the Finance Committee "Potential Risks for FY 2021 General Fund Funding Sources — An Early ReAssessment — 
March 27, 2020". This included the following four primary components of funding sources: 
Property Tax Revenue(80.3%) - Mr. Scollins is not anticipating any budgetary impact for next year. The 
Finance Director stated that new growth taxes is the only item that may pose some risk but that new growth 
was conservatively forecasted and that the Board of Assessors are still confident in achieving the $800,000 
being forecasted. Mr. Scollins stated that a 1 % drop in property tax collections could impact cash flow by 
$600,000. In response to a Committee member's concern about the scenario if taxpayers were unable to 
pay taxes, Mr. Scollins further stated that he is confident that the Town has enough cash on hand to manage 
a lower collection rate even if the uncollected taxes were $2-3 million. 
In response to a Board of Selectman's inquiry about the tax due date, Mr. Scollins stated that the legislature 
was considering a tax grace period to June 1. Mr. Scollins is not concerned at the collectability of business 
taxes because of the method in which they are assessed. There could be downward valuations for business 
properties but because the way Prop. 2 '/z works, the tax levy is still levyable and would be spread out over 
all taxpayers. 
There was a difference of opinion on the budget impact with regard to revenue. Mr. Emhardt and Mr. Panico 
expressed their personal opinions (not the opinions of the Capital Planning Committee) that there will be an 
impact given the current economic conditions. Mr. Scollins stated that the Assessors Overlay Reserve was 
healthy enough to cover any increase in tax abatements and until the Town had further information it is 
difficult to predict the impact. 
Chair McKenna requested Mr. Scollins to continue with his presentation, open the discussion with questions from the 
Finance Committee and address comments and questions from the public at the end. 
• Staid Aid (9.4%) — Mr. Scollins is predicting a minimal impact to the Town's state aid for next year. The 
state's revenue committee was reconvening and would be reviewing state aid. There is no indication that 
they would be reducing state aid. 
FINCOM 201200402 Minutes Page I of 6 5/30/2020