1998-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the Looking forward, we anticipate an extraordinarily large amount of free cash to be certified this coming Finance Committee fall and recommend that these funds be used to replen- ish our depleted Stabilization Fund and reduce taxes. The integrity of this Stabilization Fund is essential to To the Board of Selectmen and both our ability to obtain favorable bond ratings as the Cititzens of the Town of Mashpee: well as to meet extraordinary and unforeseeable capi- tal needs. It is not to be considered a source of oper- The Finance Committee's mandate is to act as the ating funds. fiscal watchdog of the community and, as such, has the responsibility to make recommendations to the It is up to each one of us to dedicate ourselves to a town on issues which impact the town's financial careful examination of each and every financial health. Our deliberations reflect an overriding concern expenditure that comes before Town Meeting. To to live within our means. make that careful examination, though, the taxpayer must be provided with the information necessary to The guiding policy of the Finance Committee is to make informed decisions. The voters at the May 1998 ensure that the Town lives within Proposition 2-1/2. Annual Town Meeting appropriated funds to the Most Departments have successfully submitted bud- Finance Committee so that the Committee could real- gets which have stayed within this guideline. Those ize our mandate to provide an analysis of warrant arti- Departments whose proposed budgets exceed the cles, and disseminate that analysis to the voters prior 1 Town's "Proposition 2-1/2 Policy" must be required to the Town Meeting. We have continued to mail out by the voters of our Town to exercise fiscal responsi- the analysis before each Town Meeting with the hopes bility and scrupulously justify any excess increase. of keeping the voters fully informed. However, this is the last year in which we expect Sincerely, large school budget increases: the high school will be fully occupied through grade 12 and, so, we will Nancy Jo Goulart, Chairman expect the schools to be able to live within Proposition Sidney Golub, Vice Chairman 2-1/2 thereafter. Dean Arden, Clerk Stephen Cashman The year of 1999 continues to present significant Myron Kumin challenges to the town as our school age population J. Alexander Watt continues to increase and our new high school contin- ues to phase in new classes. While general govern- ment expenditures were kept to moderate increases, significant increases in the school budget required the town to deplete its "Rainy Day Fund" — in other words, its Stabilization Fund, in the amount of 400,000 dollars. This use of a non-recurring revenue �T source to fund operational budgets, while offering temporary relief, only serves to exacerbate funding shortfalls in ensuing years. The reason is simple: Ira , while operational budgets will continue to grow, non- i recurring revenues shrink and ultimately disappear. Thus, the gap between expenditures and available d recurring revenues grows ever more deep. Mashpee faces significant financing needs and challenges in the coming years: new fire station, library addition,new elementary school,rising costs in solid waste disposal and road maintenance to name fi � le just a few. These large capital expenditures are neces- sary to the efficient operation of our government. Accordingly, it is more than essential that operating budgets are held in check to allow our overall tax bur- den to remain stable while allowing for moderate expansion and maintenance of our capital facilities. 11