Now that the annual town meeting is over it is time to examine the current operation of the meeting and see if perhaps a few small changes may be appropriate going forward.
This is the beginning of my second year in the moderator's position and I now feel a bit more at ease in the operation of the meeting. Even though I held the position for three years previously, that was over 20 years ago and much has changed and I felt that it might be a bit presumptuous to be offering suggestions as to the more efficient and informative conduct of the meeting.
Of course it is common sense to acknowledge that this position is elected annually so I will preface my remarks by saying If I run again and if elected I would propose the following change in the meeting.
It is not a radical change to something new but more a return to what was always done at the meeting. During the many years that Pat Mullin was the town accountant the opening of the annual budget meeting always contained a presentation by the town financial management team. That presentation essentially addressed the fiscal health of the community and included a variety of what if scenarios regarding town income, expenditures and other variables such as state aid (the Cherry sheet)and what impact those things would have on the tax levy and the residential and commercial tax rate.
Other contributors to this presentation included the town treasurer who would discuss the condition of revenue sources such as residential property taxes, personal property, and water and sewer revenues.
The Ways and Means Committee also took on a key role as the chairman would present the rationale that was used in the preparation of the next fiscal years budget that would be on the warrant for discussion subsequent to the financial discussion taking place.
In recent years the town administrator's office which is under the direction of the Board of Selectmen has taken on a greater role in providing this over view to the town meeting. This year they also led the way with the adoption of the town wide budget guidelines. Ways and Means members actually appeared at a board of selectmen meeting agreeing to these guidelines before the committee had even taken up the subject.
Having the selectmen take over this role is not appropriate for two very important reasons. First and foremost is that not all the town budget comes under the direction of the selectmen. In fact less than half the town's budget is under the selectmen's control. The schools department as well as the other independent elected boards all have supervisory authority over their budgets.
The second reason is that the Ways and Means committee is the chief advisory body to the town meeting membership. The town meeting is the legislative branch of the government and as such is completely independent of the executive (selectmen). In order for the legislative body to fill its role it requires input from sources which are solely responsible to it.
The following is the exact wording from the town bylaws regarding the committee's principal role;
2.1.1 The Committee shall make written recommendations to the Town Meeting on all articles contained in any warrant which involve the appropriation, transfer, expenditure, raising and borrowing of money and may make recommendations on any and all questions involving Town affairs.
As you can see, there is not much ambiguity as to the importance of the committee. It is a very broad and very specific responsibility. A recent example of a passive role taken by the committee was the Town Center Overlay proposal passed last year. Despite the fact that this legislation had enormous implications over a wide range of areas including finances, the committee chose not to examine the article nor report a recommendation to the meeting.
In the future it is my goal to encourage the committee take a more aggressive posture in this legislative advisory and financial over sight role.
