FM #1281 - Joint Budget Subcmte Mtg - 09/11/24

Franklin Matters Radio

This session shares the Franklin (MA) Joint Budget Subcmte meeting held on Wednesday, Sep 11, 2024. 11 members participated, 9 in chambers, 2 were remote (Frongillo, Griffith).

Quick recap:

• Chair Tom Mercer opened the session with a review of the committee charge (linked to below), and a round of introductions, as well as explanation of why only 3 members of the School Committee vs. 4 each of Finance Cmte and Town Council. Finance and Council have 9 on the full body, hence 4 is the most to avoid a quorum; Schools have only 7, hence the 3 keeps within the quorum rules
• Town Administrator Jamie Hellen in his opening remarks said this budget situation is not unique to Franklin, Jamie using his time at Mass Municipal Assoc (MMA) to advocate for state funding at local levels esp. for schools, Lt Gov hearing this message not just from Franklin; this is the norm not the exception
• Supt Lucas Giguere in his intro remarks wants us all to learn from last year, getting together and starting early is good, how do we work together to solve this. Redistricting planning is underway, the reorganization is not going to solve the budget issues, it will make us more sustainable... Think about big picture of town and schools together
• Hellen continued to walk the group through the revenue projects as shared in the agenda (link below)
• Budget timeline overview (linked below) Capital budget due Dec 1, Ops budget first pass due Dec 20. They do get refined as the process works along
• Dr Dutch explains revolving account usage for schools, akin to the enterprise funds on the town side; money collected by the specific area is used to pay for the costs incurred by that area. If any excess within, can not be used elsewhere, only within that space. Transportation for transportation, etc.
• Q - on grants and where it might be in the projections as shown? A - we do get grants but they are not shown in this. Grants are special revenue and are not in the operational budgets, there are a couple of exceptions with reoccurring grants for Senior Center, Board of Health
• Q - Will the same level of budget document be shared with the folks? A - yes, last year's docs are posted, this year's will be when available. Go to and click the Budget button to get last year's budget details https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget
• Q - on turnover for school district A - 56 resignations and 8 since the Aug 27 meeting. HR status report for the SchCmte meeting yesterday. The report can be found -> https://coredocs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/4780/FPSD/4824938/September_10__2024_HR_Staffing_Report.pdf
• Items not explicitly covered in this first pass of the budget
• Contract negotiations also with all the unions (9 or so) are not factored in (other than the automated 2.5 already in the forecast)
• Savings or cost regarding redistricting
• health care (as mentioned) numbers usually ready in March
• inflation not explicitly covered
• There is no anticipated relief on the expense side. With expense increase coming, modeling to see where we can get to stabilize the budget or we end up cutting additional services and staff. We are already starting at a deficit ($3m) and we need to work together to solve it
• Per Chief Lynch - No one (municipal side) will sign a contract until the teachers are signed. He goes further to clarify the situation that happened 3 years ago when former Supt Ahern approved the 4-4-4 for teachers
• Q - Raises the possibility of getting some tax assistance, or subsidy, what is the legal ramifications, other Towns do it, we need to look at it. A - We already do most of the state tax abatements. Take discussion offline to get more details on the proposal

The recording runs about 2 hours & 35 minutes, so let’s listen in.

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Franklin TV video is available for replay -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR7RPb5Q66Q

1. Committee Charge

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/uploads/joint_budget_subcommittee_charge.pdf

2. Annual Budget Calendar for Town Departments

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/uploads/2._fy26_budget_calendar_-_google_docs.pdf

3. Town Administrator Budget Memo & Five Year Fiscal Forecast packet https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/uploads/3_0.pdf

a. Sample borrowing schedules for Remington-Jefferson and Horace Mann capital projects. https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif10036/f/uploads/estimates.pdf

4. Next Steps/Meetings

a. October 23, 2024 - JBSC

My notes in one PDF -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-PKZkOitZwrzJ31d1F4ygeuQzJoFjWGv/view?usp=drive_link

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The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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