Clarksburg Finance Committee Leery of Spending Items
.JPG)
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Finance Committee is leery of the town's ability cover funding items in Wednesday's special town meeting warrant.
Voters are expected to decide on a number of items in the 12-article warrant, including raising and appropriating for several outstanding bills and a $7,400 increase in town's electrical bill.
The special town meeting was set on the assumption the town was well under its levy limit and had recently certified free cash that could be used from the Sewer Enterprise Fund.
However, committee Chairman Mark Denault said he had received an email from Town Administrator Carl McKinney stating that the town was only $1,900 under levy limit, rather than $35,000.
Denault said he understood the sewer funds for Articles 8 and 9 had to be used by the end of the year and noted those had been built into the 2015 budget. But he did not think the town could pay the old bills out of this year's budget.
"I cannot find anywhere where we could pay 2013 bills with 2015 money," he said.
And raising more than $1,900 could trigger the need for a Proposition 2 1/2 override.
The Finance Committee has also strongly opposed dipping into free cash at this point. The town is flush at the moment — with several years worth of free cash certified — but its auditors have cautioned to used it conservatively.
Their recommendations was to use no more than 20 percent for recurring expenses, and use no more than about $95,000 a year since that's how much the town generates.
Committee member Lori Anne Aubin repeated her concerns expressed at a joint meeting a few weeks ago about an estimated $50,000 increase in health insurance premiums.
With the assumption snow & ice will go over $30,000 again, "That's almost the $95,000," she said.
Denault agreed: "We should not be entertaining anything related to that free cash."
"We still have not done a five- or 10-year plan," he said. "There are a lot of things that are going to come up with this budget plan and we have to be careful."
The special town meeting is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Clarksburg School.
The committee hopes to begin the budget process next month and has asked for department heads to get their information in by the first week in January.
Aubin was worried that they were getting fluctuating numbers again that would make budgeting difficult.
They did determine they should not be dealing with the day-to-day finances or the 2015 budget, or security issues related to employee credentials with the state. The former town accountant had apparently been emailed about a change made by someone using her credentials.
The two members of the committee were also frustrated with the failure to appoint a third person. Rebecca Buck had left the committee earlier in the summer.
Denault said there had been some interest and planned to speak with the town moderator, who appoints the committee.
Tags: fiscal 2016, special town meeting,
