Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
February 13, 2018, Finance Committee Meeting. Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 2/26/18
Meeting Minutes Vote: 4-0-1
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Members Present:
Rob Barker, Nichola Gallagher, Cynthia Holcombe, Tim McKenna and Barbara Saint Andre.
Members Absent:
Dianne Gustafson and Cindy Thomas.
Guests Present:
Mark Lague, Library Director
Jim Murgia, Finance Director
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary
Opening: A meeting of the Canton Finance Committee was called to order by Chairman Barker at 7:04 pm. on
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 in the Salah Meeting Room of Town Hall.
A. Approval of Agenda
Chairman Barker reviewed the items on the agenda which included a discussion regarding the Library FY19 budget
request, the Annual Town Meeting warrant and an ongoing review of FY19 budgets.
B. Announcements
Chairman Barker announced that there were two vacancies on the Finance Committee and that interested parties
should reach out to the Town Moderator.
C. New Business
FY19 Library Operating Budget Request- Mr. Lague thanked the Finance Committee for accommodating him
d uring their busy meeting schedule. Mr. Lague provided the following information with regard to the FY19 Library
Budget requests:
• Service Contracts — Mr. Lague is seeking a $5,500 budget increase from $8,000 to $13,500 for service
contracts. The $13,500 represents the lowest estimated bid received. Mr. Lague met with Mr. Aspinwall
and Mr. Murgia regarding his requests. Mr. Lague stated that this request is necessary to cover
maintenance contracts for the Library's HVAC systems.
• Ebooks —The Library is seeking a $2,000 budget increase from $5,000 to $7,000 for Ebooks. This increase
is being requested in order to meet demand and to maintain a level of service required by the state.
There is a state formula to maintain a 15% ratio to loan that is required by the state.
• Library Supplies, Work Shoes and Other Charges/Expenditures —There are a few increases to
miscellaneous budget line items.
• Passports and State Aid Revenue —The Library is increasing the revenue source for Fees/Passports by
$10,000 from $25,000 to $35,000 and State Aid by $1,000 from $22,000 to $23,000.
I n response to Ms. Saint Andre's inquiry about the $10,000 increase to the Passports revenue, Mr. Murgia stated
that the fees collected from passports as well as other miscellaneous fees such as late fees collected by the Library
are held in a revolving fund that carries over from year to year. Currently there is a $23,000 balance in this
revolving fund. The Library collects a $25.00 portion of the total fee charged for a passport as well as $10.00 for
passport photos, which is a new service the Library is offering. Mr. Lague is anticipating an increased need for
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passports if Massachusetts adopts a requirement of passports for domestic flights. Currently Massachusetts has
not adopted the revision from driver's license to passports for identification as many other states have adopted.
Last year the Library staff processed 1,342 passports.
• Increased Library hours to provide Sunday hours — Mr. Lague stated that the Library is requesting for
FY19 an increase in Library hours so that the Library could be open on Sundays. Staff had been opposed
to this change in the past but is now more open to it.
• The Library conducted a survey for which they received 821 responses with 64% of the respondents
willing to seek additional funding for Sunday hours. With Sunday hours the Library would be able to offer
the meeting room space for lecture services, concerts or author talks.
• As a trial basis the Library would offer hours on Sunday from 1-4 p.m. for 31 Sundays beginning after
Labor Day and ending before Memorial Day.
• The additional hours may have to be negotiated with the unions. The HR Director and Town
Administrator are on board to negotiate with the union representatives.
• $20,000 would be needed to get the additional hours started. Mr. Lague has proposed using State Aid
funds to get through the first year of the trial basis.
• Ideally, Sunday hours would require a staff of four to cover three departments with one floater, but if the
Library had to they could be able to function with three employees, however, the level of service could
be affected.
• Mr. Lague stated that they have not decided yet to offer passports on Sundays. This would depend upon
staffing. Passport processing does cause a drain on other services and puts additional pressure on staff.
Processing passport applications can take from 15 minutes to one hour, depending upon the size of the
family. Applicants are provided with information at the time of booking the appointment. Passport
a ppointments are scheduled according to availability of staff.
• The Canton Public Library has had an increase in passport processing since the Stoughton post office no
longer processes passports.
I n response to Ms. Saint Andre's inquiry as to the lack of Saturday hours during the summer, Mr. Lague stated that
the Library had tried offering Saturday hours but that it had not worked out because it was difficult to staff during
the summer due to conflicts with vacations and that the few customers they did have on Saturdays were
non-residents.
FY19 Enterprise Funds' Operating Budgets — Mr. Murgia provided an update to the FY19 Enterprise Fund's
operating budgets. He recently received preliminary MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority)
assessments for FY19.
M r. Murgia reported the good news that the water assessment is down 25%from the FY18 budget of $2.5 million
to an FY19 budget request of $1.8 million. The reason for this decrease is due primarily to less water being used
d uring the prior year. Assessments usually lag a year behind water usage. The overall Water Enterprise Fund
budget for FY19 is expected to have a $364,000 supplement from cash reserves (retained earnings) which will be
used for FY19 water capital requests. The overall Sewer Enterprise Fund budget for FY19 is expected to have a
$200,000 supplement from cash reserves (retained earnings) which will be used for FY19 sewer capital requests.
The FY19 Rink Enterprise Fund budget will have no revenue for FY19 and is expected to have a deficit of $15,430
for debt service payments and other expenses to be funded from Rink's cash reserves.
M r. Murgia is hoping to not have to increase the water and sewer rates for FY19.
D. Other Business/Open Issues
FY19 Municipal Operating Budgets — Mr. Murgia stated that the Board of Selectmen were scheduled to meet with
department managers on February 20 regarding their FY19 budget requests and that March 6 is the target date for
the BOS to vote on the budgets for FY19.
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Last Year's Town Meeting Warrant —A Finance Committee member requested the Committee Secretary to
forward to the members the Word document for last year's Town Meeting warrant.
E. Approval of Minutes
The minutes for October 10, 2017, January 22, 2018 and January 29, 2018 were being reviewed by the Committee
and the secretary and would, therefore, be voted on at a future date.
F. Next Meeting Date. The next meeting date will be Monday, February 26, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the Salah
Meeting Room of Town Hall. Various municipal department managers are scheduled to present their FY19 budget
requests to the Finance Committee.
Adjournment: A motion made by Mr. McKenna to adjourn the meeting at 8:15 p.m. was seconded by
Ms. Holcombe. Vote: 5-0-0
Minutes reviewed by: Rob Barker
Res ctfully submitted, \
_~
Rob Barker
Chairman, Canton Finance Committee
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Canton Finance Committee Meeting
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Meeting Documents
Please note: These meeting documents may also be found on the Town's website under the Posted Minutes
section (Laser Fiche).
Some of the budget or Annual Town Meeting documents referred to in meetings may be found on the Finance
Committee page of the Town's website.
Agenda (1 page).
FY19 Library Operating Budget Request dated 2/13/18(10 pages).
Enterprise Funds' Operating Budgets (revised on 2/13/18) provided by Jim Murgia, Finance Director (1 page).
Historical Commission FY19 Budget Request, dated 1/30/18(1 page).
2018 ATM Warrant dated 2/6/18 (47 pages).
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