After welcoming new associate member Bruce Nickerson, the Finance Committee continued its review of the budgets submitted by town departments. First up was the ambulance squad.
Ambulance department asked to resubmit budget
Reacting to the budget submitted by the ambulance department earlier this month, the Finance Committee told Lorraine Leonard, Finance Director to reject the document submitted by the ambulance department and to request that the department submit an actual budget that accounts for its revenues as well as its expenses. The department is asking for $157,000 for the fiscal year but Chairwoman Alice von Loesecke noted that there are other revenue sources that will contribute to that amount.
Employee insurance not yet known
The biggest budget item is employee health insurance. The town will not know the actual premium cost until January, but Leonard stated that premium increases have been trending down. Nonetheless, she budgeted a 2 percent increase to be conservative.
Free cash increase explained
Leonard explained that the free cash amount of more than $800,000 was boosted primarily because the state was so late in paying out various FEMA reimbursements. Normally, one FEMA event occurs every year or two, but recently the town was hit with six FEMA events in a short period, which led to numerous reimbursement payments.
Leonard urges move to capital exclusions
Leonard is recommending that the town move to capital exclusions rather than debt exclusions to reduce the number of years the town must continue payments for a capital project. A capital exclusion is an appropriation for a capital item, whereas a debt exclusion is authorization to raise money to pay the debt service for a loan for a capital item. With voter approval, the town is allowed to exclude certain debts from the limits imposed by Proposition 2½. The vote to raise money to pay the debt service for an excluded debt is referred to as a debt exclusion. A capital exclusion would mean that the project is paid for within one fiscal year, thereby avoiding interest costs, as well as the expenses associated with a borrowing. She is looking to reduce debt service by having at least one project each year funded by a capital exclusion rather than borrowing money to pay for it.
