1999-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

were not sufficient to avoid the necessity for an over- Report of the ride after three difficult years. Finance Committee It appears that another large increase in Chapter 70 aid may be available for FY2001. But past history To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the indicates that this increase may not be repeated in Citizens of the Town of Mashpee future years and should not be used to justify large increases in operating expense level. Large revenue The financial event of major importance in FYI 999 increases should be used to increase the stabilization was the defeat in June of the 2 1/2-override vote that fund and smaller than average revenue increases was necessary to balance the proposed budget for should be supplemented from the stabilization fund. FY2000. This followed three years of large budget increases that required the entire amount of a large sta- Respectfully submitted, bilization fund, the fortunate availability of a large payment of back taxes and the efficient management Dean Arden, Chairman of departments that were able to return unused bud- Stephen Cashman, Vice Chairman getary allotments to the general fund in spite of severe Jeff Arnold, Clerk restrictions to their expense budgets. Sidney Golub Nancy J. Goulart The years of 1997 and 1998 were critical for the James Morgan town. The increase in revenue was smaller than usual Chuck Sheehan in 1997 and it was necessary to cover the expenditure Finance Committee required to hire the faculty and staff required for the Julie Colby, Secretary movement of students into the new high school. In 1998, the town had to provide for the first time about $2 million of debt service for the high school and pro- vide for the second high school class. The third class entered the school in FYI 999 and the payment of debt service continued for the second year. The town receives state aid designated for educa- tion. tion.There are three categories of such aid and two are restricted to specific purposes. However, Chapter 70fA''' aid is unrestricted and has increased from about $220,000 in 1995 to nearly $2,200,000 for FY2000. State aid has risen from 6.7% of total revenue in 1995 to 15% in 2000, largely due to the increase in Chapter 70 aid. But there have been large increases in Chapter 70 aid at unpredictable times and very small increases t at others. From FY1995 to FY1996 the increase wasF: significantly greater than the total increase in the ... school budget but there was very little increase during FY1997 and FY1998. But in spite of a substantial increase in Chapter 70 aid in FY1999 and the use of the remaining reserve funds an override was necessary to fund the school budget in FY2000. The school bud- , get increase was partially restored after the override _ defeat from another large payment of back taxes that ' was not certified until early in FY2000. The large use of reserve funds was the result of an agreement between the Town Manager, the Finance Committee and the Selectmen to avoid large increases in the tax rate during this critical period. Indeed, the average rate of increase in the tax rate has been about 1% per year since FYI 995 - less than half of the rate of inflation. Unfortunately, the available reserve funds 11