WHITMAN – The Select Board, in a joint budget meeting with the Finance Committee, on Tuesday, Jan. 10 to discuss early financial trends for fiscal 2024 and ways the FinCom has worked to make the budget process more transparent.
“Everything is timely,” interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “We’re going to talk about the budget tonight, but it’s really not a budget, it’s just a whole bunch of numbers put on a spread sheet and saying, ‘What do you think?’”
He said, at this point the figures indicate it’s not going to work the way it’s come in. Department heads submitted their budgets in December, with the town’s budget presentation slated for Feb. 1. The Select Board votes on the town’s appropriation to send to Town Meeting by early March
The budget goals include following the Madden recommendations to use a strategic financial plan and management policies to clearly define the impact to property taxpayers in order to create predictable and moderate increases.
The revenue summary projects a budget at $41,522,749 as of now, with a shortfall of $1,367,980 if those are the numbers the town must work with as the budget process continues. The town’s levy limit is $30,668,912. Total revenue is expected to be $40,699,562.
The figures do not include enterprise funds, which are completely separate, or Cherry Sheet numbers, for which there are only estimates available at this point.
“This is not the budget that we’re going to present and ask people to vote, this is the starting point,” Lynam said as he presented an outline of what the town is looking at now, based on funds coming in. “These numbers aren’t actually accurate, either.”
TheW-H regional school district will meet with both towns on the budget at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 12.
“I think we have a lot of work to do over the next two months, and I’m confident that, if we put our heads together with everyone, we’ll come out with a solution that works,” Lynam said.
Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said he hoped the takeaway from the meeting would be some type of unified consensus of what the town’s message is to give a solid answer to where Whitman is able to provide funding and what would possibly have to be sought through other means, whether by override or the school distirict tailoring back their budget.
Whitman’s funding limit is up to a 5 percent assessment increase, not an overall budget increase.
“I’d like everyone to know the challenges here,” Finance Chair Rick Anderson said, as he described his purpose for the meeting as a review of some policy decisions the committee had entertained through a policy subcommittee over the past summer. He also characterized the numbers presented this week as “significantly preliminary.”
“I don’t think we should overreact to the numbers as much as to focus on what the needs are for each department, and give them an opportunity to present,” he said.
Anderson said the Finance Committee has begun meeting with budget managers from all town departments, and that his committee believes some “difficult decisions” must be made by all stakeholders to ensure that taxpayers can continue to afford living in Whitman.
“I believe that, not only have many members of both boards embraced the new strategic plan, but [have] gone so far as to implement some immediate procedures that get us out of the gate a lot faster than I had envisioned,” Anderson said. “We have the tools, and I’d really like to see us put them to work.”
Finance Committee liaison to the School Committee Kathleen Ottina said the proposed $60 million school budget is almost overwhelming, but she did not want to take away Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak’s spotlight in explaining the areas and reasons for the increases.
“My breath has been taken away, not just by the school requests, but by some of the budget requests we have received from the town side departments,” she said. “I think, if there’s a budget message to be sent to everyone … it’s that the Madden report is the guiding principal.”
She said there is a lot of work to be done before the school budget is accepted by the School Committee.
Leslie DiOrio, of the policy subcommittee, presented an overview of the committee’s work so far this budget cycle.
She noted that one topic of discussion during the policy subcommittee’s work was about how some line items in the budget were “rolled up as something like a miscellaneous category,” which didn’t give much transparency into what those line items meant.
They came up with a mirroring of the format to create an additional column that pops up with a comment such as “please provide additional documentation,” on budget computer worksheets. Another tab would explain what the documentation was.
“The intent wasn’t to add work, it’s really work they were already doing,” DiOrio. It was meant to get out to department groups earlier to help them better develop their budgets.
Anderson said it also helps departments analyze budget trends.
“It really is a simplification process,” Lynam said. “It provides some thought as to why things are being done.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain said he liked the format because it’s organized and helps understand the budget presentations, but he added he would like feedback from department heads to see whether it helps them or if it adds too much work for them.
“Maybe it’s good to have a year to have some discussion and feedback — also, a new town administrator is coming in and I’m sure that person would like to have some feedback about this,” he said. “I really think it’s going to help us in the long run.”
Kain also spoke of the need to focus on budget forecasting to help prevent conflict during the budget process.
LaMattina noted there’s always going to be tension during a budget process.
“We are taking steps to change the way we are doing the beginning of the budget process,” Anderson said.
“I appreciate getting this out to us now,” Select Board member Justin Evans said, seeking clarification on whose role it would be going forward to present a balanced budget back to the board. His assumption that the incoming town administrator would be that person was confirmed by LaMattina.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci commented on schools being largest cost, but emphasized that the onus is not only on the schools.
“It takes all the departments to run this town,” he said.