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July 13, 2022, Finance Committee Meeting - Virtual Meeting. Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 9/19/22
801 Washington Street Vote: 6-0-0
Canton, MA 02021
Meeting Minutes
July 13, 2022
Finance Committee Members Present: Dan Cole, Tom Emery, Emilio Mauro, Tim McKenna, and Cindy Thomas.
Finance Committee Members Absent: Dave Clough, Karen Foley, and Reuki Schutt.
Guests Present:
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Recording Secretary
Randy Scollins, Finance Director
Call Meeting to Order: Chair McKenna called the virtual meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Reorganization of the Finance Committee – Election of Chair and Vice Chair
A motion made by Mr. McKenna to nominate Ms. Thomas as the Finance Committee Chair was seconded by
Mr. Mauro.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Mauro Aye Mr. McKenna Aye
Mr. Emery Aye Ms. Thomas Aye
Mr. Cole Aye
The motion to elect Ms. Thomas as the Finance Committee Chair passed 5-0-0.
A motion made by Ms. Thomas to nominate Mr. Mauro as the Finance Committee Vice Chair was seconded by
Mr. McKenna.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Emery Aye
Ms. Thomas Aye Mr. Mauro Aye
Mr. Cole Aye
The motion to elect Mr. Mauro as the Finance Committee Vice Chair passed 5-0-0.
FY 2022 – Budget Deficits – End of Year Budget Transfer Requests – Mr. Scollins reported to the Committee that
there were seven budget transfer requests to consider that included a few Fiscal Year End 2022 appropriation deficits,
a capital project, and a grant deficit. The Finance Committee Reserve Fund was budgeted at $600,000 for FY22 and
fully available for unforeseen or extraordinary expenses. They were presented to the Select Board who voted to
unanimously support all of these requests. Mr. Scollins summarized the requests as follows:
Snow & Ice (Dept. 423) - $133,000 Reserve Fund Transfer – The Snow and Ice budget was in the deficit
by approximately $235,600. The Town is scheduled to receive $102,600 of FEMA funds leaving a deficit
balance of $133,000 being requested through a Reserve Fund Transfer.
2019 Title V Grant - $22,456.06 Reserve Fund Transfer – The Department of Public Works (DPW) applied
for a grant of $147,000 which required a Town match of approximately $97,000. This grant was to address
a storm water issue where snow was being placed in the Pequit Brook and Beaver Meadow Brook area.
This was a storm water issue that needed to be addressed in order to protect the area from the polluted
snow. The Town did fulfill its obligation with the $97,000 match but for some reason the account needed to
be trued up to the match. For an unknown reason, $22,456.06 was never moved into the account to true up
the match. Traditionally, the $22,456.06 would have come from the DPW budget but over the past few
years there was not a surplus in the DPW budget to complete the transfer. After consultation with the Town
Accountant, an agreement was made to resolve this deficit once and for all so it would not be a reduction to
the Town’s free cash certification.
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Angela/Pleasant/Sherman Streets Intersection - $150,000 Reserve Fund Transfer – The
Angela/Pleasant/Sherman Street intersection capital project (with a traffic light to be placed at the
intersection) was budgeted for $750,000. Bids recently received for this project came in at $150,000 above
the $750,000. In order to sign contracts for the project, funding is required. A 12% contingency is built into
the project. The DPW Superintendent has estimated that at a minimum the project would need an additional
$130,000. Mr. Scollins consulted with the Town Administrator and they were in agreement that it would be
prudent to increase the additional amount needed for the project to $150,000. The DPW Superintendent
has stated that $900,000 should be sufficient for completion of the project.
Elder & Human Services Building Maintenance (Dept. 541) - $13,000 Reserve Fund Transfer – Building
and maintenance costs for the Elder and Human Service building exceeded the budget by $13,000. There
were two unanticipated costs - $6,900 for HVAC duct and vent cleaning and $10,600 for a camera
installation to address security concerns with the building.
Parks & Recreation Budget (Dept. 630) - $46,000 Reserve Fund Transfer – Parks and Recreation
needed $46,000 to resolve their budget deficit due to several reasons - $12,500 for necessary roof and
chimney repairs and a new $6,000 boiler at the Armando Center, $6,600 in electricity overages due to new
field lights and power requirements for the Pool Splash Pad, $11,700 for pool supplies due to new systems
and the first full year of utilization, and lastly $19,800 for a deficit in the Playground Program salaries due to
a higher demand for programs.
Street Lighting (Dept. 422) - $2,500 Reserve Fund Transfer – The $2,500 deficit in the Street Lighting
budget was caused mainly by maintenance and repair costs being higher than budgeted.
Planning Board (Dept. 175) - $3,000 – The Planning Board needed a $3,000 transfer to cover the deficit in
their legal advertisement budget. This deficit was caused by the legal advertisement cost of $13,200 for the
May 2022 Annual Town Meeting against a line item budget of $1,000.
The total requested transfers was $366,956.06, leaving a turn back to the general fund of $233,043.04 and
ultimately free cash.
In response to Mr. Mauro’s question regarding whether there was a routine cycle for town wide public building
maintenance, Mr. Scollins stated that the Town may want to consider a move towards a centralized maintenance
department to handle items like the HVAC work necessary for the Elder and Human Services building and HVAC at
the Library. The DPW maintenance department is not charged with handling all municipal buildings leaving
department managers in the various buildings responsible for handling any maintenance issues and for reaching out
to vendors. He further stated that consolidating maintenance and custodial needs for the buildings should be
centralized under a Director of Maintenance. There could be short-term costs in establishing a centralized
department but there would be long-term savings for the Town.
With regard to the reason for the high newspaper advertisement costs associated with the Annual Town Meeting, Mr.
Scollins reported that there were so many zoning-related articles. In order to be readable to the public, they were
advertised in a larger font size for the voters to be able to read them. He also stated that it could be a policy decision
not to advertise in the newspaper or perhaps the posting of the warrant on the Town’s website could be sufficient to
meet the legal requirements. A Committee member stated that it could be more transparent to the voters to have the
advertisements in the newspaper. Mr. Mauro added that members of the public receive information through different
and diverse media today and that having notifications through more than one method would be best for getting these
announcements reliably to the public. Mr. Scollins stated that for the Town Meeting warrant articles, the legal
requirement is to post the warrant in several locations around Town and that if the warrant is not put in the newspaper
the Town is allowed to put the warrant on the Town’s website.
Mr. Scollins confirmed that the Parks and Recreation budget has been increased by $80,000 for FY23 and should be
able to absorb such costs that were being considered under the Reserve Fund Transfer Requests if these expenses
were to come up again in the future. He noted that the Town Accountant had stated that some of these expenses
could have been charged off to the Recreation Revolving account but that he elected not to go that route for this year
but he would consider this if there is a deficit in next year’s budget.
Chair Thomas stated that a centralized building and maintenance department warrants further discussion in the near
future and that department managers such as the Library Director and Health and Human Services Director are
experts in their fields but do not necessarily have the expertise to handle unforeseen maintenance issues. Mr.
Scollins stated that it may require a policy decision to centralize maintenance and building repairs and to protect the
Town’s building assets and he suggested starting the conversation with the Town Administrator.
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A motion made by Mr. Mauro that the Finance Committee approve FY22 Reserve Fund Transfers totaling
$366,956.06 to cover the following departments:
$133,000.00 Snow & Ice Budget (Dept. 423)
$22,456.06 2019 Title V Grant
$150,000.00 Angela/Pleasant/Sherman Streets Intersection Capital Project
$13,000.00 Elder & Human Services Building Maintenance (Dept. 541)
$46,000.00 Parks & Recreation Budget (Dept. 630)
$2,500.00 Street Lighting (Dept. 422)
$3,000.00 Planning Board (Dept. 175)
was seconded by Mr. McKenna.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Emery Aye
Ms. Thomas Aye Mr. Mauro Aye
Mr. Cole Aye
The motion to approve Reserve Fund Transfer Requests for FY22 totaling $366,956.06 passed 5-0-0.
Auditor’s Report – Shift in the Timing for the Review of the Fiscal Audit – Mr. Scollins recommended this
discussion about the Auditor’s Report. Annually, the Auditor’s report to the Select Board and the Finance Committee
presents the results of the prior year’s audit sometime in May or June for the fiscal year that ended the prior June
(nearly 12 months after the fact). He stated that Canton had a great year financially for Fiscal Year 2021 and that he
had not placed it on the Finance Committee’s schedule due to a hectic spring schedule. Mr. Scollins asked the
Finance Committee to consider shifting the timing of when the Auditors give their report for a time when the primary
audit is completed at the end of December, which is six months after the fiscal year has closed. The Finance
Committee would have some time in January to meet with the Auditors before the budget and Annual Town Meeting
process starts getting busy. At that time, there would still be other items that the Auditors would be completing after
the financial audit has been completed and submitted to the federal database. Those other items include the grant
audit and the Management Letter. These items are not as time sensitive as the reporting of the financial information.
The Finance Committee could still review the other items in June.
Mr. Cole agreed with the timing shift of the Auditor’s report but stated the he has always been concerned about a
statement the Auditors include in their financial report as follows:
“when we issue our management letter we do not express an opinion as to the effectiveness of the Town’s
internal controls”.
Mr. Scollins explained that it is not within the Auditor’s charge to express an opinion on the comprehensive set of
controls and that the purpose of the Management Letter is to highlight items that should be addressed whether they
be small, medium, or large to tighten up controls. They do report on items that they think need to be addressed in the
internal controls. However, to have a full-blown review of all of the Town’s internal controls would be a consulting
study and would not be a small effort and not within their review. Mr. Scollins stated that even the financial audit is
not a 100% audit of every transaction, every revenue, every expense that the Town has. Rather, it is a sampling audit
that is conducted. There is a misperception as to what the Auditor’s role is. It is a professional review but not a
100% review. It would be a liability risk for any auditor to express an opinion, and they only provide an opinion on the
items that “stuck out” to them, which are included in the Management Letter. It would be a policy matter for the Town
Administrator and Select Board to see if they wanted an audit to focus on a particular department or issue. This type
of special in-depth audit could cost $20,000 to $40,000. The cost of the regular audit is approximately $42,000 per
year with an additional $6,000 cost for auditing the funds the Town has received from the federal government through
the CARES and ARPA programs.
The audit services are exempt from the bid process through Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 30B. The Town is not
required to change or rotate the auditors and it would be a policy matter for the Town Administrator and the Select
Board if they wanted to put it out to bid to seek a change in auditors.
Elected Officials Compensation – Status Update – Ms. Thomas gave a brief summary of this topic for the newer
members of the Committee about the controversy and sensitivity issues with regard to some elected officials who
receive compensation while other elected officials do not, as well as the disparity about the amount of compensation
that is paid. The Select Board, Board of Health, and Board of Assessors receive compensation, while the School
Committee, Planning Board, and Library Trustees do not. There is also the opportunity for elected officials who are
compensated to enroll in health insurance. This issue has been brought up for past Annual Town Meetings but no
one had been ready to make a change to the annual article. The Committee felt it could work on a strategy and come
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up with a plan to address the issue. She also stated that the Select Board should be involved in the process. Mr.
Scollins expressed his personal opinion but wanted to defer to the Finance Committee that given the fact that the
Select Board are one of the elected officials included in the study he would not recommend that the Finance
Committee go to the Select Board, as it could be a conflict of interest. The Finance Committee could come up with a
consensus on how they wanted to approach the subject matter, establish a small sub-committee within the Finance
Committee, gather the facts and the data, and bring it back to the other Committee members for consideration.
At a prior meeting, Ms. Schutt had expressed interest in forming the sub-committee. However, given that Ms. Schutt
has a family member on the Board of Health, she will recuse herself due to a conflict of interest.
Chair Thomas suggested that this be an agenda item for a meeting in the fall to form a sub-committee with the
assistance of Mr. Scollins on the communities that the sub-committee may want to compare with. A sub-committee
could be formed in the fall with the goal of having a recommendation by November to have it in time if the Finance
Committee were to propose an article for the Annual Town Meeting. The sub-committee could follow-up on how
Canton progressed to where it is today with regard to the current elected officials compensation schedule.
Mr. Mauro suggested having an informal hearing or listening session to hear what the elected officials’ opinions are
on the compensation matter.
Ms. Thomas suggested the three key items the Elected Officials Compensation sub-committee could address:
1) Gather background information on how Canton’s elected officials compensation got to where it is today.
2) Gather comparison information from other surrounding Towns.
3) Receive input from elected officials through hearings or listening sessions.
Approval of Minutes – A motion made by Mr. Mauro to approve the May 9, 2022, minutes as written was
seconded by Mr. Cole.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Emery Aye
Ms. Thomas Aye Mr. Mauro Aye
Mr. Cole Aye
The motion to approve the May 9, 2022, minutes passed 5-0-0.
Next Meeting Date: The next meeting date will be determined at a later date.
A motion made by Mr. McKenna to adjourn the meeting at 8:12 p.m. was seconded by Mr. Mauro.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Cole Aye Mr. Mauro Aye
Mr. McKenna Aye Mr. Emery Aye
Ms. Thomas Aye
The motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:12 p.m. passed 5-0-0.
Minutes reviewed by: Emilio Mauro
Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Thomas
Chair, Canton Finance Committee
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Canton Finance Committee Meeting
Meeting Documents
July 13, 2022
Please note: Some meeting documents may be found on the Town’s website under the Posted Minutes
section (Laser Fiche).
Agenda for July 13, 2022 (1 page).
Memorandum from Randy Scollins, Finance Director, to Select Board and Finance Committee Members regarding
FYE 2022 Budget Transfers, dated July 7, 2022 (9 pages).
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