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FINCOM 20250122 Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 1/29/25 801 Washington Street Vote: 6-0-1 Canton, MA 02021 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes January 22, 2025 Virtual Meeting Finance Committee Members Present: Dan Cole, Anne Lang, Emilio Mauro, Maureen Menconi, Kristin Mirliani, Reuki Schutt and Cindy Thomas. Finance Committee Members absent: Dave Clough and John Leonetti. Guests Present: Ellen Jones, Recording Secretary Randy Scollins 111, Finance Director Call Meeting to Order: Mr. Mauro called the virtual meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Mauro introduced the Finance Committee members that were present. New Business: Mr. Scollins reported that the Finance Committee's FY26 Budget Requests binders are available for pick up in the Finance Office. The School Budget was not included in the binders. Statutorily the School Department has until January 31 to finalize their budget requests. Mr. Lynch, Director of Finance and Operations for the School Department, informed Mr. Scollins that the School Department budget would be sent to his office within the next week. Discussion — Draft Warrant Article — Appropriation for Master Plan Update Mr. Mauro, Chair of the Master Plan Implementation Committee, stated that this proposed warrant article was still being reviewed by the Select Board. The Master Plan Update was approved for funding at the ATM 2017, replaced in 2004 and updated and approved by the Planning Board in 2020 with three sections: a baseline (existing conditions), a road map (what could be improved) and the action plan (actual items to reached the goals laid out in the road map). The current Strategic Framework is for 2020-2025 with three focus areas of concentration: 1) Canton Junction, 2) the downtown Canton center and the Route 138 Corridor. Since the creation of the Master Plan it has been a living document and it is time again to review the current action plan. The Town Planner and Mr. Mauro have reached out to the original firm (Horsley Witten Group) who had written the original Master Plan to get an idea of what has to be done and what might be the cost range for the update. This warrant article would be a request for $15,000 to update the Action Plan and because it exceeds $10,000 would have to be handled through the bid process with the Town Planner implementing the process with the support of the Master Plan Implementation Committee. The new Action Plan would be for 2026-2031. Mr. Scollins has this $15,000 request on a list that he is keeping for potential uses of free cash and is waiting for the Select Board to finalize the warrant article. Discussion — 131 — Finance Committee FY26 Budget Request Mr. Scollins shared on the Zoom screen the FY26 budget request for the Finance Committee budget. Increases are being requested for the budget line items for the Board Secretary Salary and the Printing/Mailing of the Warrant. These budget line items were overspent in FY24 because of the additional hours and expenses associated with a fall Special Town Meeting and the Annual Town Meeting. A decrease is being requested to the Meetings budget line item because of lower participation of Finance Committee members in the Association of Town Finance Committee (ATFC) annual meetings. An increase is being requested for the Dues & Memberships budget line to more accurately reflect the annual membership in the ATFC. Discussion - 132 - Reserve Fund The same amount of $600,000 is being requested for the FY26 Reserve Fund Budget. Mr. Scollins stated that this is the same budget amount since FY24 and that the Town has been fortunate not to have to need all of the funds to cover shortfalls in department budgets. If there are funds left in the Reserve Fund at the end of the fiscal year the balance is FINCOM 20250122 Minutes WRS EM RS MM.docx Page 1 of 6 1/25/25
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released to the General Fund and is certified as free cash at the end of the year. In FY24 $159,000 was released back to the General Fund. The bulk of the Reserve Fund is typically used to cover Snow and Ice expenses. Summary Review — FY26 Municipal ODeratinq Budget Requests Mr. Scollins' intent was not to explain every FY26 budget request but to provide a summary. The department managers would attend upcoming Finance Committee meetings to present their FY26 budget requests. The following are some of the increases or decreases from the FY26 Base Budget: Executive Office $29,869 Communications Specialist $20,400. Human Resources 31000 Software maintenance increase. Town Reports 350 Increased costs. Employee Contract Benefit (221,430) Decrease in estimated Contractual Obligations. Treasurer/Col lector 12,574 Increase Asst. Treasurer/Collector from 35 hours to 40 hours. Information Systems 23,804 Software license and maintenance. Town Clerk 27250 Longevity and printing and binding. Elections (9,951) Fewer elections in FY26 — reduction in police details/elec. Sal. Police Department 825$117 4 addl Patrol Positions, training OT, shift OT, new Traffic Sgt., etc. Animal Control 12,500 Increase hours for Asst. to Dept. Head. Fire Department 81,443 EMS Coord. Stipend, military leave, Bldg. lease increase. Dispatch Services 81717 Contractual increases. Ambulance 36,615 OT inc., EMS equip. maint., EMT training, Equipment etc. Building Department 49,211 New 25 hr. PT Building Inspector, related training. Public Buildings 135,649 New Maint. Position, Electricity, Maint. Supplies etc. Pequitside Farm 12,000 Building Maintenance, rental equipment. Engineering (34,867) G IS Tech split out to Enterprise Fund, Near Map software lic. Highway Maintenance (65YI78) Position change savings. Highway Equipment Maintenance 100,054 New Service Tech position, Equipment repairs & maint. Recreation 83,442 Playground Super. moved from Rec. Revolving, Inc. hrs. Lifeguards. Paul Revere Heritage Trust 50,685 New position for actg., programming & social media Act. Software. Sustainability Committee 26,510 New Sustainability Manager — Town's share in support of 167K grant Assessors 144,450 Appraisal Svcs. for Reval Year, CAMA System software maint. incr. Conservation Commission 84,765 Asst. Conservation Agent, Town Pond Maint. Elder & Human Services (COA) 28,119 Increased Social Worker hours, other misc. expense increases. Veterans 19,169 Increase 20 to 32 hours for VSO. Library 132,071 New Asst. Library Director, Inc. page hours, digital info, EBooks. The grand total of requests for the change from the FY26 Base Budget is $1,570,939 or a 5.5% increase over the base budget. The requested FY26 Municipal budget requests would be a 7.85% increase over the FY25 budget. Mr. Scollins stated that a 7.85% increase will not work for the Town and that a 5% increase would be closer to what could be supported. Mr. Cole inquired if there was any increase in the revenue assumptions. Mr. Scollins stated that he is waiting for the Governor's proposed state budget with the Ch. 70 Aid and General Government Aid (GGA). He is hoping to have an updated Cherry Sheet by the end of Thursday, January 23. Ms. Thomas stated for the newer members of the Finance Committee that the Revenue Forecasting Committee is made up of nine voting members: Town Administrator, Finance Director, School Superintendent, Director of Finance and Operations for the School Department, Town Accountant, Assessing Director, Building Commissioner, Finance Committee Chair and the Finance Committee Vice Chair. The Revenue Forecasting Committee will make a recommendation to the Finance Committee regarding the available new revenue for Municipal Departments and the School Department. The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet on February 12 to vote on the FY26 budget target numbers for municipal and school budgets. Mr. Scollins reported that the Town Administrator, the Assistant Town Administrator and himself have begun the budget review process with municipal department heads. The next step will be to review departmental requests with the Select Board on February 4 and February 18. Municipal departments will be "cycled" into the Finance Committee meeting schedule to present their budget requests for FY26. In response to Ms. Lang's inquiry as to who decides on the number of police officers the Town should have or where to cut resources, Mr. Scollins replied that it is ultimately the Finance Committee that makes the final budget recommendation to the voters at Annual Town Meeting, after the Town Administrator, Assistant Town Administrator and Finance Director have made recommendations to the Select Board. The Select Board will make recommendations on what requests they support. FINCOM 20250122 Minutes WRS EM RS MM.docx Page 2 of 6 1/25/25