Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text

July 30, 2015, Finance Committee Meeting. Minutes

Finance Committee · Record date 2015-07-30 · Record 4d0205814db74ac190

Saved text from 6 source pages. Transcription and OCR may contain errors; verify figures and wording against the original. Retrieved 2026-10-15.

Town of Canton Finance Committee                     Minutes Voted on: 8/1 1/l~
                                         Meeting Minutes                             vote: g-o-o
                                      Thursday, July 30, 2015


Members Present:
Rob Barker, Sepp Bergschneider, Jim Casamento, Jerry Dorfman, Nichols Gallagher, Dianne Gustafson,
Stephanie Leach, Tim McKenna, Barbara Saint Andre and Jim Sims.

Members Absent:
All members were present for the meeting.

Guests Present:
John Connolly, Board of Selectmen (BOS)
Paul DeRensis, Town Counsel
William Friel, Town Administrator
Tracy Kenney, Town Clerk
Jim Murgia, Director
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary

Opening: A meeting of the Canton Finance Committee was called to order at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday,
J uly 30, 2015 in the Salah Meeting Room of Town Hall.

A.        Approval of Agenda

Acting Chairman Saint Andre reviewed the items on the agenda.

B.        Announcements

There were no announcements at the meeting.

C.        New Business

Elect Chairman of the Finance Committee

A nomination made by Mr. Barker to elect Ms. Saint Andre as Chairman of the Finance Committee
was seconded by Sepp Bergschneider. Vote: 8-0-0. Ms. Gustafson and Ms. Leach were not present
for the vote for Chairman.

Elect Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee

Motion #1: A nomination made by Mr. Dorfman to elect Mr. Sims as Vice Chairman of the Finance
Committee was seconded by Mr. Barker.

Motion #2: A nomination made by Mr. Bergschneider to elect Mr. Barker as Vice Chairman of the
Finance Committee was seconded by Ms. Saint Andre.

Chairman Saint Andre asked that the motions be voted on in the order that they were made.

Motion #1: Vote 3-5-0. Motion #1 failed.

Motion #2: Vote 5-3-0. Motion #2 passed with Mr. Barker being elected as the new Vice Chairman.

Ms. Gustafson and Ms. Leach were not present for the vote for Vice Chairman.




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Reserve Fund Transfer Request FY15 — Assessing - $12,500 (see meeting handout) — Mr. Murgia
stated that Karen Zukauskas, Assessing Director, was unable to attend the Finance Committee due to a
family obligation.

Mr. Murgia explained that the reason for the reserve fund transfer request was to cover a salary shortfall
in the Assessor's budget due to Karen Zukauskas' hours being increased from 35 hours to 40 hours per
week. This increase in hours caused a budget shortfall for FY15. When Ms. Zukauskas assumed the
role of Assessing Director she was not receiving the stipend that her predecessor had been receiving for
doing building permits. Ms. Zukauskas is being paid for 40 hours. Mr. Murgia confirmed that the salary
for FY16 has budgeted for 40 hours.

Mr. Casamento inquired as to the implications if this Reserve Fund request were not approved. Mr.
M urgia stated that if any of the four Reserve Fund transfer requests were not approved by the Finance
Committee, the amount of the deficit would be deducted from the Town's free cash and the amount would
have to be raised once the tax rate is set in the fall.

A few Finance Committee members voiced their concern that the increase to 40 hours had been
approved after the Annual Town Meeting in May 2014 had already approved a budget for 35 hours for
FY15.

Mr. Connolly and Mr. Friel spoke in support of the Reserve Fund transfer request stating that the timing of
the increase in hours had been held up due to compensation issues.

M r. Sims reminded the members that the BOS had met with departments on or around February 11~h and
the Finance Committee had met with departments on February 18th at which time an increase in hours for
all three Assessing Department employees had been requested in the budget. The BOS had decided to
cut $26,000 from the Assessing Departments budget requests.

Ms. Gustafson stated that for salaried employees, they need to set standards for the budget and live
within these means.

A motion made by Mr. Barker to transfer $12,500 from the Finance Committee Reserve Fund
budget to the Assessing Department budget was seconded by Ms. Gallagher. Vote: 9-0-1.
Mr. Sims abstained from this vote.

Reserve Fund Transfer Request FY15 —Town Clerk - $20,000 (see meeting handout)

Ms. Kenney explained that the reason for this transfer request was due to the budget not being enough to
cover the increased number of elections for FY15. FY15 had an extra special election on June 23, 2015
concerning a debt exclusion vote for the Hansen School. The same budget shortfall occurred in FY13
when there were three elections budgeted for but five on the schedule. Because there are three elections
scheduled for FY17, Ms. Kenney stated that she would be asking for a budget increase.

A motion made by Ms. Gallagher to transfer $20,000 from the Finance Committee Reserve Fund
budget to the Town Clerk budget was seconded by Mr. Barker. Vote: 10-0-0.

Reserve Fund Transfer Request FY15 —Trash Collection - $115,000 (see meeting handout)

M r. Friel provided a background as to why a Reserve Fund transfer was requested to cover the $115,000
budget shortfall for FY15. Mr. Friel provided at the time of the meeting a handout from 2011 through June
2015 with information on the tons of trash collected in comparison to the tons of trash recycled. A
number of factors contributed to the trash collection budget shortfall: Republic's base contract increased,
bulk items being collected at Pine Street, yard waste facility costs increased and the landfill monitoring
costs were higher than budgeted.

A motion made by Mr. Barker to transfer $115,000 from the Finance Committee Reserve Fund
budget to the Trash Collection budget was seconded by Mr. Bergschneider. Vote: 10-0-0.



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Reserve Fund Transfer Request FY15 —Executive Area - $90,000 (see meeting handout)

Chairman Saint Andre recused herself from the discussion of the legal expenses for the Executive Area
budget.

The Reserve Fund transfer request form stated that the reason for this transfer included: unbudgeted
legal expenses for Plymouth Rubber development amounted to $155,000 with University Station legal
bills costing another $62,000. The budgets had been supplemented by surpluses in Planning and in
Employee Contract Benefits (Dept. 910).

 Mr. Friel introduced Town Counsel, Paul DeRensis, to the Finance Committee. Mr. Friel explained that
the Town not only utilizes Paul DeRensis for legal consultation but also uses the services of other
attorneys such as Collins &Loughran (labor), Mark Bobrowski (land issues), Esq., Peter Epstein, Esq.
(cable license) and Feeley &Brown. Attorney DeRensis' firm is on retainer for $62,500 per year.

Mr. Casamento requested further detail from Mr. Friel with regard to the $145,000 legal expenses
incurred. Mr. Casamento also requested that the Finance Committee be alerted earlier in the fiscal year
as to possible budget issues, such as in March.

Attorney DeRensis stated that the legal expense budget had been running within the budget for the first
few months of FY15 but that four lawyers had been assigned to the Plymouth Rubber project which took
over four to five months.

Mr. Sims stated that the legal expense budget has been routinely overspent over the past few years and
that going forward the budget should be increased.

A motion made by Mr. Bergschneider to transfer $90,000 from the Finance Committee Reserve
Fund budget to the Executive Area budget was seconded by Mr. Sims. Vote: 9-0-0.

OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) —Reporting in Accordance with GASB45 — FY15
(prepared by Aquarius Capital Solutions Group, LLC)(see meeting handout)

Mr. Murgia provided a summary of the most recent OPEB report:

    •     An OPEB study is usually done every two years.
    •     The accrued liability at 7/1/14 was $90 million as compared to $140 million from the prior study
          done in 2013.
    •     The Town recently did a plan design change effective 7/1/15 with regard to the Medex plan
          offered to retirees. All Medex subscribers going forward will be enrolled in Medicare Part D for
          their prescription coverage, for which the federal government will pay the prescriptions. The
          Town will no longer be receiving a $200,000 annual subsidy from Medicare.
    •     In response to Chairman Saint Andre's inquiry as to the progress of any state reforms on
          controlling OPEB costs for municipalities, Mr. Murgia explained that an OPEB Commission had
          recommended legislation for a requirement that retirees have a minimum of 20 years of service
          instead of 10 years of service in order to continue on the retiree's health insurance. The
          legislation had never been acted on by the legislature.
    •     Ms. Gustafson inquired about the Annual Required Contribution (ARC)of $4.9 million. Ms.
          Gustafson also stated that the Town would have to be contributing approximately $1.5 million per
          year to make any progress toward the Town's OPEB obligation.
    •     In response to Mr. Casamento's inquiry about the decrease in the number of retirees (116) over
          the prior OPEB report, Mr. Murgia explained that the prior actuary assumed that the number of
          subscribers in the retired group was equal to the number of retirees. Because spouses of retirees
          are enrolled in individual plans, the number of plans does not necessarily mean the number of
          retirees.
    •     The next report will be valued as of July 1, 2016.
    •     For the OPEB report the actuary was made aware that the rates for the health insurance plans
          did not change and remained the same for FY15 and FY16.


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•    With regard to the Cadillac Tax, the Town reserved the right to reopen the three-year agreement
          recently made with the PEC group in order to make changes to plan design in order to address
          the Cadillac Tax.

Management Letter — FY14 and Single Audit Report Pursuant to OMB Circular A-133 June 30, 2014
prepared by Roselli, Clark &Associates (see meeting handout)

Mr. Murgia stated that the Auditors were scheduled to meet with the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday,
August 11 and that the Auditors had offered to meet separately with the Finance Committee the same
night to continue the discussion in more detail. The Community Meeting Room of the Library has been
reserved for the Finance Committee from 8-9 p.m.

Fraud Policy and Employee Reimbursement Policy — Mr. Murgia stated that the BOS would be asked
to endorse a Fraud Policy and an Employee Reimbursement Policy (drafted by Ms. Butters, the Town
Accountant) at their next meeting on August 11.

Mr. Murgia also stated that the Auditors had audited the Student Activity Account


D.        Other Business/Open Issues

Review of Annual Town Meeting 2015 —Chairman Saint Andre had requested that this item be placed
on the agenda so that the Committee could discuss improvements to the Annual Town Meeting process.

Of concern to the members was the Consent Agenda. Chairman Saint Andre spoke in support of having
copies available of any changes to the Consent Agenda for residents. Ms. Gustafson spoke against the
Consent Agenda for the reason that originally the Consent Agenda had been established for efficiency,
but that because so many changes were being made to it and that many of the articles being included in
the Consent Agenda were of routine nature that they could be handled through the lottery process in a
q uicker manner.

Mr. Casamento spoke in support of spending less time on Planning Board/Zoning articles and more time
on reviewing departmental budgets. Mr. Barker spoke in support of reviewing Planning Board/Zoning
articles if there was a financial impact to the Town.

Ms. Gustafson spoke in support of spending more time earlier in the process meeting with departments
about their budgets, and in particular meeting with the School Business Administrator, Superintendent,
Special Education Director and School Committee with regard to the School department budget.

Chairman Saint Andre asked the members to email her with regard to issues they would like to review in
future Finance Committee meetings so that the Committee could agree upon these at their meeting on
August 11.

Public Comment — Mr. Braconi spoke in support of more transparency and periodic updates with regard
to the Town's mitigation accounts. Mr. Braconi stated that the primary objective of offering full-day
kindergarten to all of those in the lottery had been accomplished prior to Annual Town Meeting,

Mr. Dorfman requested further description with regard to the mitigation accounts, such as the purpose for
the account being established and the intended use of the funds.

Liaisons — (see meeting handout) Chairman Saint Andre asked the members to email her with any
changes or interest in the liaison assignments.

Chairman Saint Andre asked the members to email the Finance Committee Secretary if they were
interested in attending the "WhaYs New in Municipal Law" on October 8 in Randolph (see meeting
handout).




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E.        Approval of Minutes

A motion made by Mr. McKenna to approve the minutes for May 13, 2015 as written was seconded
by Ms. Leach. Vote: 10-0-0.


F.       Next Meeting Date: The next Finance Committee meeting would take place on Tuesday, August
1 1, 2015 in the Community Meeting Room of the Library.

Adjournment: A motion made by Mr. Bergschneider to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m. was
seconded by Ms. Gustafson. Vote: 10-0-0.

Minutes reviewed by: Dianne Gustafson

R       ctfully submitted,


 t
 J
Barba     ain Andre
Chair, Canton Finance Committee




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Town of Canton
                               Finance Committee Meeting —Thursday, July 30, 2015

                                            List of Meeting Handouts


Please note: These meeting handouts may also be found on the Town's website under the Posted
Minutes section (Laser Fiche).

Agenda (1 page).

Fiscal 2015 Reserve Fund Transfers —Summary Sheet (1 page).
Reserve Fund Transfer Request —Assessing - $12,500(2 pages).
Reserve Fund Transfer Request —Town Clerk - $20,000(2 pages).
Reserve Fund Transfer Request —Trash Collection -- $115,000(2 pages).
Meeting Handout from William Friel —Solid Waste Picked/Trash(tons)/Recyle(tons)(1 page).
Reserve Fund Transfer Request —Executive Area - $90,000(4 pages).

Operating Expenses by Voting Category as of June 30 for FY 2014-2015(4 pages).

M unicipal Departments' Operating Budgets, FY06 thru FY16 (2 pages).

Email from Jim Murgia to Jim Casamento, dated July 29, 2015(3 pages).

Email from Jim Murgia to Jim Sims &Kathy Butters regarding Police Details budget, Assessors Overlay,
Recreation Revolving (3 pages).

Overlay Balances by fiscal year, as of 7/30/15 (1 page).
Appellate Tax Board Cases Pending, as of 7/30/15 (2 pages).

Special Town Election Expenses —June 23, 2015 (1 page).

Police Special Details Fund as of 6/30/15(3 pages).

Recreation Revolving Fund #130 as of 7/30/15.(3 pages).

Youth Services &Recreation Year to Date Budget Report(2 pages).

Other Post-Employment Benefits(OPEB) —Reporting in Accordance with GASB45 FY15, Prepared by
Aquarius Capital Solutions Group, LLC, dated June 2, 2015 (23 pages).

Management Letter Year Ended June 30, 2014, prepared by Roselli, Clark &Associates (11 pages).

Single Audit Reports Pursuant to OMB Circular A-133 June 30, 2014, prepared by Roselli, Clark &
Associates (12 pages).

I nformation regarding "What's New in Municipal Law"(3 pages).

Finance Committee Liaison List (1 page).

Cost of Finance Committee Recommendations/Warrant (1 page).




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