Finance Committee MOB file 1/15/09

UPDATE I deleted this version of the file from the server. The latest can be found at this link
BillT 1/27/09

Mr. Lynam of the Finance Committee puts together a town financial spreadsheet, which he calls the MOB file, from numbers given him by the Budget Director, Mr. Iacaponi. It is unfortunate that we don't get this sort of clear information from the Finance Department. In fact, that DOR recommended that in their July 2007 report on Dartmouth's finances. From that report, Page 9:

Whatever form such a plan takes, it should contain the following core elements:
1. Multi-year outlook (3-5 fiscal years)
2. Inventory of revenue sources and projected increases/decreases
3. Expenditure projections that reflect labor, expenses and planned service levels
4. Impact of financial goals/policies are assigned a specific dollar value
5. Integration of infrastructure investment based on approved capital plan
6. Current-year revenue and expenditure monitoring
7. Presentation format that facilitates meaningful communication to the public

Mr. Lynam has trouble at times getting the information to compile and getting the numbers to add up, but overall this is the clearest picture of our financial situation available. The MOB file goes out to many people in the town,...

... the Finance Committee, the Select Board, administrators, and interested citizens (the cast of Ben Hur in Mr. Lynam's words).
A couple of caveats are in order about this file. These are unofficial numbers, only the Budget Director can publish official financial information for the town. The tabs in the spreadsheet which have all lower case titles are analysis done from the underlying data which is on the tabs with upper case titles.
There are several macros which Mr. Lynam has included in this Microsoft Office Excel format file. When prompted to enable macros, select disable. When prompted to update select No.
You will need to have Excel or Open Office to open the file. Open Office is freeware and can be found here.
The information presented in this spreadsheet, the MOB file, is comprehensive and taking a number out of it here or there is not indicative of the overall picture in most cases. When you look it over at first don't get hung up on the percentage changes or details, it is best to get a broad overview and then go back and look at the specific items of interest. As always, leave your comments below.