November 15, 2016, Finance Committee Meeting - joint meeting with BOS. Minutes

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Town of Canton Finance Committee                   Minutes Voted on: ~~~v~— I,L~j
                                      Meeting Minutes                           vote:
                                Tuesday, November 15, 2016                              ~~~~

Members Present:
Barbara Saint Andre, Dianne Gustafson, Stephanie Leach, Tim McKenna, Gerald Dorfman,
Cindy Thomas.

Members Absent:
Rob Barker, Nichola Gallagher Sepp Bergschneider, Cynthia Holcombe.

Opening: A meeting of the Canton Finance Committee was called to order by Chair Saint
Andre at 7:20 on Tuesday, November 14, 2016 in the Salah Meeting Room of the Canton Town
Hall. This was a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen.


Chair ofthe Board of Selectman Burr welcomed the members ofthe Finance Committee to the
Board of Selectmen's meeting. Selectman Porter explained that the Board wanted to open a
dialogue with the Finance Committee in advance of the budget process as to the level of reserves
that the town should consider maintaining now that the town is at or near the 15%goal that it had
set some years ago.

Chair Saint Andre stated that the Finance Committee had discussed this at its last meeting and
the consensus was that the 15% of expenditures was a good target and the town had managed its
resources wisely and put money into stabilization and other reserves to reach that point. The
Committee's consensus was that, rather than putting further monies into reserves, the town could
put available funds toward one-time capital projects, OPEB liability, or tax payer relief by not
"taxing to the max." There was discussion that some of the reserves are in the Overlay Reserve
account, and therefore are not available and may be needed for tax abatements.

Ms. Gustafson stated that the Town should continue to be conservative in its spending, and riot
use one-time funds for additional recurring costs.

Selectman Porter agreed that one-time items such as OPEB liability, road repair, and capital
improvements are appropriate uses for available funds rather than large operating budget
increases; there is no point in hiring too many people and then have to lay them off when times
get tough. This seemed to be the consensus.

The Board voted to adjourn at 7:39 pm.


   s ectfully s bmitted,


Barb a Saint Andre
Chair, Canton Finance Committee



20161115 FINCOM MINUTES.DOCX