Selectmen Set Sights on New Fiscal Year

With fiscal year 2010 drawing to a close, the Board of Selectmen held a four-hour meeting yesterday morning with town staff members to discuss a work plan and goals and priorities for the coming fiscal year and budget season.

Town Manager Carl Valente spoke about the fiscal 2010 goals set last year by selectmen, and reviewed the status of those projects. He called crafting the fiscal 2011 budget a tough thing to do given the economy, and said the town is not out of "this mess in terms of the recession."

"The revenue situation for us has not stabilized yet," he said.

Town Meeting's approval last year of a local option tax on meals and hotels brought a needed $400,000 of revenue into the town's coffers, while Valente said the final state budget numbers would likely mean an additional $80,000 reduction in local aid, with the town left to cover the shortfall.

Valente called revenue "stagnant at best" and said the town just made its fiscal 2010 revenue predictions, and those predictions tend to be made conservatively.

Discussion items surrounding crafting the fiscal 2012 budget – a process which will begin in fall – were broached by selectmen, including whether to dip into the town's "rainy day" stabilization fund in the coming years. That fund did not need to be tapped during this fiscal year, and members had varying viewpoints on how to treat that fund in future. Use of it requires a 2/3 vote at Town Meeting.

Selectmen agreed that a level -ervices budget should be strived for when developing the fiscal 2012 budget, instead of a level-funded budget.

In terms of economic development, board chairman Hank Manz said residents need to be informed about the importance of economic opportunities that may arise for the town near residential areas.

Another item topping the selectmen's list of topics to address in the coming year include a discussion on Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and policies. Selectmen said the goal should be to establish a summit with themselves and the community preservation, appropriations and capital expenditures committees to discuss CPA project guidelines, plan for future expenditures and discuss debt financing, by Sept. 30.

"We need to give people direction by Sept. 30, and meanwhile we can start a conversation of our own," said member George Burnell.

Another topic high on the board's priority list is capital planning, including prioritizing capital projects and developing a plan to carry those projects out, including through a master plan.

"I think the overriding issue is the number of capital projects on our dance card in the next five years," Valente said.

Potential capital projects that could come forth in the future include addressing school (Bridge and Bowman) and public safety building needs. The board also discussed the White House and Leary House, and the need for a utilization plan for those historic buildings.

Selectmen also looked at a variety of other topics it wants to tackle in the coming year, including considering ownership of the Munroe School, streamlining board operations, looking at re-use options for the Lexington Composting Facility on Hartwell Avenue, evaluating human services needs and whether the town is meeting those needs and Department of Public Works operations.

The board next meets on Monday, July 12.