1994-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the We encourage the voters to use the Long Range ep Plan as their spending blueprint for town meet- Finance Committee ings. Televised Meetings To the Board of Selectmen In the spring, the Finance Committee produced a and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: half-hour video about the budget process and it aired . on cable TV repeatedly prior to May town meeting. It The Finance Committee has accepted the challenge also introduced the Finance Committee and explained of the times. We continue to make financial recom- p how it works, and included interesting information mendations to the town so as to about union contracts and town vehicles. LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS Since the fall,we have been taping our meetings for Our short term goal is to recommend budgets that cable TV. We hope that this will make it possible for g g voters to be better informed about the financial work- will fund a superior education process without sacri- ficin g other municipal services. Our intermediate Ings of the government. goal is to avoid a tax override vote. Our long term goal is to follow the state De The Future g Department of Revenue rec- ommendation ommendation to build the Stabilization Fund to 10% of revenues. This will be needed to stabilize the tax The Finance Committee will be recommending t The in budgeting" for next year so that town meet- rate as new capital bdnding projects arise. in voters will know the ton term casts of new spend- ing. g 1994 Achievements We will cotninue to press for adequate capital and infrastructure funding in the financial planning of the Departments returned $500,000 to the General town. We will attempt to budget for our sick day and vacation buyback liability, as recommended Fund,for which the should be commended.The town �' y� in the y transferred $754,390 of free cash to the Stabilization Annual Audit Report. Fund, which brought the Fund balance to $923,335. The Finance Committee has included in The town funded education substantial) above the this report �' a number of tables and graphs depicting our fiscal con- demonstrating Reform Act requirement, once again dition Coda and over the past five demonstrating its generous support of the schools. y, P years. We also f pp include a comparison with other Cape Cod towns using data from the Mass. Dept.. of Revenue. The Lon Ran a Plan }, In response to the planned FY98 opening of our Sincerely, first junior/senior high school, the Education Reform Dan Goggin, Chairman Act, and capital projects facing Mashpee, the Finance Marcia King, Vice chairman Committee updated the 1991 Long Range Plan and Denise Sullivan, Clerk presented it to the Board of Selectmen prior to the Juan Bacigalupi budget process for FY95. John Ferriday Tony Gallo We planned expenditures based on anticipted rev- Sidney Golub enues and evaluated the long term consequences of spending patterns. If the town adheres to the Long Range Plan, no override will be necessary to open the new junior/senior high school.Planning and dis- cipline are essential. Accordingly: ■ We encourage the elected boards which raise non- tax revenues through fees to enhance those rev- enues wherever feasible. ■ We encourage the Board of Selectmen to use the Long Range Plan when making all their financial decisions gra 1 I I 8