Published in the December 16, 2015 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD — It’s an annual rite of passage – the town’s budget summit – falling on the first Wednesday night of each December.

Last Wednesday, the town’s department heads came together in a round-table format at the Senior Center to get a sense of the town’s overall financial picture as they enter the five-month budget cycle to plan for the upcoming fiscal year. It is a process that will continue to gather steam at workshops, board meetings and public hearings through the start of the new year until its culmination at the annual Town Meeting on the last Monday in April, which falls on April 25.

It also marked the first budget summit for Town Administrator Jim Boudreau, whose predecessor, Bill Gustus, retired in January after 12 years. Boudreau said FY’16 revenues are “about on target” but there are a couple of FY’16 expenditures that he continues to keep an eye on.

Boudreau opened the financial discussion by reviewing preliminary FY’17 projected revenues for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2016. He emphasized the preliminary aspect of these projections and also advised the department heads that, “the parameters for this year’s budget will generally not allow for any new positions and will be reviewed by the Board of Selectmen on a case-by-case basis.” He recommended that department heads “level-fund” their expenses “wherever possible.”

New growth “down sharply”

Boudreau said there are “three major components” to the town’s revenue. “The first is our property taxes, and the Prop. 2½ increase will bring in about $955,000. New growth we are estimating to be down sharply.”

A precipitous decline of 67.5 percent in new growth is projected, based on a conservative estimate of $500,000. This figure would be $619,769 below last year’s final new growth total of $1,119,769. All told, if these preliminary figures hold true, the town would raise $39,654,509 in total property taxes for FY’17.

“MarketStreet is getting built out. There’s no major construction going on there, so most of our new growth for FY’17 we are estimating will be coming from the residential side of the ledger. That’s about $1.4M in additional revenue from taxes,” Boudreau said.

Boudreau estimates that the town’s levy limit will reach $38,199,521, which is a gain of $2,024,153 over the final FY’16 levy limit of $36,175,368 or a 6.50 percent increase. This would mean the town is also projected to realize an increase in the levy limit of $954,988, or about $50,603 more than FY’16 when the Prop. 2½ increase is applied to that preliminary figure.

The town’s total revenue for FY’17 would increase to $52,911,785 when all other projected revenue sources are added into the equation such as: state funds, which Boudreau conservatively level funds at $5,207,806; debt exclusion/tax offsets of $2,722,688; projected local receipts of $4,673,151; free cash of $600,000; $20,000 in cemetery funds; $32,641 in reserve for the septic fund program; and $990 for the American Legion fund.

In total, Boudreau predicts revenues will increase by 4.42 percent or $1,985,284 over the final FY’16 budget.

Boudreau said salaries in FY’17 will be based on 261 working days. In addition, all union salaries are to be based on the approved union contracts plus any pending step increases that will be due to employees while non-union salaries are to be level-funded pending a determination by the Board of Selectmen on what salary levels will be for FY’17. All union contracts are up for renewal in FY’17.

Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford said as they enter the budget season they realize that “the budget obviously is a moving object for a while. We’ll go over every department’s request.”

Crawford explained that there is a difference between a town’s operating budget and capital budget. “Anything you put into the operating budget affects your taxes,” Crawford said, adding, “As you increase your operating budget, that is your base for the next year.”

With that in mind, Crawford advised the department heads to make requests for known large expenses in their departments, such as road improvements “and other things we should be improving” in the capital budget “because that’s the money that you know you have.”

FY’17 budget calendar

The town’s calendar for establishing the FY’17 budget has been set from now through April 25. At last Wednesday’s summit, all department heads were informed that their departmental budgets are due on Monday, Dec. 28, which is the date they must be entered into the MUNIS system (smaller departments such, as the dog officer, Historical Commission and Finance Committee are allowed to submit their budgets manually).

This schedule gives Boudreau and the new Town Accountant, Colleen Tam, about a week to review the figures provided prior to submitting each department’s budget to the Finance Committee on Monday, Jan. 4.

Subsequently, each department’s capital budgets are due to be submitted by Monday, Jan. 11. Capital budgets will be reviewed by Boudreau and Tam and provided to the Finance Committee on Monday, Jan. 25.

The School Department’s budget is due to be submitted to the town on Monday, Feb. 1. The School Department will also hold its own set of public hearings on the budget proposals for each school.

The Board of Selectmen will hold four public budget sessions during their regular twice monthly Monday night meeting cycle on Jan. 4, Jan. 25, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22. Various department heads will present their budgets to the board at these meetings and justify their spending requests.

At the Monday, Feb. 22 selectmen’s meeting, the town administrator will also present his recommended operating budget and capital plan budget to the Board of Selectmen.

At their Monday, March 7 meeting, the Board of Selectmen will vote on their final recommended budget.

Throughout this process, the Finance Committee will also meet with specific department heads, boards and commissions at its public meetings to formulate its recommendations.

The FinCom will hold its public budget hearing and issue its final recommendations on the entire town and school budget in mid-March prior to the printing of the Town Meeting warrant. The date had not been set at press time.

Town Meeting will be held on Monday, April 25 in the auditorium at Lynnfield Middle School.

The departments involved in the budget summit included DPW, Schools, Police and Fire, Library, Council on Aging and Recreation, Planning Board and the Board of Health as well as the Finance Committee.

Transparency

In an effort to improve transparency in town spending, Crawford said there are two programs available now that could serve as an aid to both department heads and taxpayers – a software program called ClearGov and a free state program called Community Compact.

Crawford explained that ClearGov is a new platform for towns “to put out all of your own financial information on your own website. It’s tailor-made for your town. It can have graphs, pie charts, statistical information as far back as you want to give. They use all the DOR information, our annual report information.”

Crawford said the first town to use the program is Easton and anyone can log into that town’s website to see what this operating platform looks like. About two dozen other towns in the state are in the process of setting up their sites, he added. He has invited ClearGov’s creator to a selectmen’s meeting in January to explain how it works and see if the town is interested in this investment.

“We certainly want to make sure the information that is being put out (to the public) is correct and up-to-date statistical information for the town on the website. I know the Finance Committee has asked for more information and residents have asked for more information,” he said.

Crawford said Gov. Charlie Baker has launched a free program called Community Compact which he believes would be “advantageous” to the town “because it gives the town the ability to apply for grants at the state level that we wouldn’t normally be able to apply for.”

He said the site lists 35 to 40 categories, such as education, technology, finances and infrastructure, and towns can select up to three categories of grants that fit their needs.