How much is enough?

I have been thinking lately about the town's Stabilization and Reserve Funds. One of the recommendations in the DOR report was for the Select Board and Finance Committee to have a policy on what our reserves should be and how we will maintain that.
From the DOR report,

Recommendation 3: Develop New Reserve Policy
We recommend that Dartmouth modify its free cash guidelines and adopt a formal reserve policy that defines adequate reserve levels based on the community’s needs...

...Reserves in a municipal context typically include free cash and stabilization fund balances. A formal reserve policy should reflect a consensus among select board and finance committee members that defines target reserve levels in the context of a broader financial plan.

Putting aside for a moment the "broader financial plan", I have heard it posited that 10% of the budget is needed in reserves. I felt that was high. I thought more like 4-6% would be a good number to shoot for. Using just the $2.2 million in Stab fund, we have 3.2% of the total $68 million budget. I thought that we should try to keep 4% in the Stab fund, which means we need to fund it with an additional $500K this year.
Others have pointed out to me that the first order of business is to define what sort of eventualities we are putting this money aside to cover. Hurricane damage, blizzards, collapse of town buildings, power disruption, public water supply contamination, and other scenarios have been mentioned. In that context, a Stab Fund of $3-4 million dollars is woefully inadequate. I am not sure now what the Stab fund amount should be and that is part of what we need to decide.
Another aspect of having a larger Stab Fund balance is that the deposited money would generate revenue in dividends and interest which could then be applied to town expenses. My thought right now is that Stab Fund interest revenue could be used for capital outlays if they are in excess of what is needed to keep up the Stab Fund balance percentage.
Returning now to the "broader financial plan" that I skipped over above, it is imperative that we formulate a multi year fiscal forecast and a plan for expenditure allocation so that we can make the kinds of judgments required to form a sensible reserve policy. That forecast and plan is needed sooner than later and our administrators need to produce it for comment and review at the earliest opportunity.
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Select Board meetings this week

I see that the meeting schedule didn't make the town website again. (Sigh) The Select Board will meet tonight with an executive session starting at 5:30 followed by our normal publicly televised meeting at 6:30PM at the Town Hall. Items beyond the various permits, licenses and street blockages are the reappointment of Mr Savastano as Town Counsel. He will give a presentation and I expect he will be reappointed.
The Select Board, School Committee and Finance Committee will meet jointly ...

...at the Media Center in the high school on Bakerville Road at 6PM on Tuesday. The topics for discussion are uses for the shuttered school buildings, school funding, union contracts and privatization of services.
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Cornell Farm preservation seeks funding

I received an email from a reader about efforts to preserve the Cornell Farm on Smith Neck. I thought I would pass it on to you. This is a beautiful property and a treausre that is well worth saving.

The DNRT's publication "MILESTONES" is out and the front page describes the Cornell Farm deal. According to the publication " the Cornell farm features 15 acres of agricultural fields and over 110 acres of woodlands, forested wetlands and salt marsh." "The Trustees of Reservations recently entered into an agreement that allows them until September 2008 to commit to a purchase of the property for $2million in Jan 2009." ... more below

..."DNRT and The Trustees are seeking funding for the $2,120,000 project from a variety of public sources. The partnership has applied for a $689,000 grant provided through the federal North American Wetlands Conservation Act and will seek $750,000 from the Dartmouth Community Preservation Fund. The goal is to raise gifts and pledges for the remaining $681,000 from foundations and individual donors by this fall."
"The Trustees plan to have a network of nature trails open to the public as well as a sustainable farming operation that supports agriculture in Dartmouth and provides opportunities to educate youth about farming."

If you are interested in pledging funds for this or other conservation work, you can find the Dartmouth Nartural Resources Trust (DNRT) at this website or by mail at Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust,PO Box P17, 404 Elm Street,Dartmouth, MA 02748

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Bristol Aggie funding slashed.

The county has voted to reduce their contribution to Bristol Agricultural High by $1.78 million citing budgetary restraints. This amount represents a 44% reduction in the contribution by the county. I received a letter from the school stating that they are allowed to make up the difference by increasing the tuition to both in and out of district students. This may mean in increase in Dartmouth's contribution to the school.
Part of the funding provided by the town shows ...

... up as charges against our state aid on the so called cherry sheet. The Town Meeting also appropriates $12,000 for the school each year in Schedule A. I believe it is this Schedule A charge that would be increased. Whether added to charges against state aid or assessed against the General Fund, this represents an added cost to our taxpayers.
The total amount that the school needs to raise from in district students is $980,000 according to the information provided to the County Advisory Board. The amount of the increase to Dartmouth will be determined by the number of students we have attending. I have not been able to find that information as yet.
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West Nile found

Mosquitos captured at Route 6 and Brownell tested positive for West Nile virus. Residents should avoid being out at the peak times for mosquitos, dawn and dusk, apply a repellent if they must be out, fix holes in window screens, and drain areas of standing water to avoid providing a place for mosquito breeding. The Board of Health has issued a ...

... press release with more details. You can read it here.
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Judge Jacobs resigns, Mr Roth appointed to Finance

Update I had Mr Roth's first name as Philip, it is Patrick and I have corrected it below. My apologies for the mistake.

Curt Brown has news on his blog that Mr Jacobs has stepped down and Mr Patrick Roth has been reappointed to the Finance Committee.

Thanks to both for their service. I am sad to see Judge Jacobs leave. I thought his contributions where especially insightful on the committee.
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Select Board Executive Session on Wednesday

THe Select Board will meet on Wednesday at 4PM. Since the topic is ongoing discussion of contracts, the Board will go into executive session for these discussions. The Personnel Board will also meet with the Board at 5PM. I don't know if that will also be in executive session or open to the public.

I've nothing else about this now.
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Enterprise funds

I was asked how enterprise funds work in comments to another post. I thought I would bring my answer up to this level.
Enterprise funds are allowed by Mass General Law Chapter 44, section 53F1/2. A utility, health care, recreation or transportation facility in the town is set up with a separate account into which all revenues generated by that entity are paid.
An example is the the town's Water Enterprise fund. All receipts from water bills are ...

... placed in an account separate from the town's General Fund and these Water Enterprise funds are used to run the Water department.
One advantage of this arrangement is that those citizens who use and benefit from the operation of the enterprise bear the cost of providing the service. In the example of the Water Enterprise fund, those who use town water pay for the Water department and those who are on wells do not.
One provision of note is that the enterprise fund cannot be used to generate revenue for the General Fund. Any excess earnings must be placed in a separate account for future use by the enterprise fund and for the purposes that the fund was created, or used to reduce fees. Shortfalls must be made up from the tax levy.
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Budgets, plans and overrides

We had a bit of discussion on Monday at the Select Board Meeting about overrides and department budgets. I expressed my desire that the town and school departments prepare a financial forecast and plan that sets out what our likely revenue and expenses will be and how we plan to reconcile revenue and expenses. Until such a plan exists, I will not vote for any override request. We have data which tells us the rate at which our expenses and revenue have grown historically. Therefore we can make a few assumptions and ...

...predict what our fiscal situation will be over the next few years. Once we have those numbers, our administrators must formulate a plan on how the town and schools are going to provide services within the revenue available. Our forecast is likely to show that we are going to have shortfalls in our revenue. From that point, we must set priorities and decide what will be cut and what will be kept. If they feel an override will be necessary to sustain operations, we should know about that now. What amount of override will be needed and when. Rather than going from one crisis to the other, we need to get a forward looking plan together and manage rather than react. I have posted previously about overrides and plans here and here. So what do you think, have you had enough of the continuing crisis mode? Leave your thoughts in comments below.
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Miscellaneous notes

The Commonwealth has a new process for applying for so called "pothole" funding. Our state representatives were able to get wording into the bill that allows Dartmouth to get money because we host UMass Dartmouth in the town. We will not qualify as in past years for money due to the increase in Voke assessment as that increase has leveled off.
A police cruiser was damaged in an accident and is beyond repair. There is a car available for only $14,000 that was left over from the Commonwealth's purchases of FY08. The town will ask the Finance Committee for a transfer of funds from the FY09 Reserve Fund to buy the car.
Wednesday, August 6 is the deadline for getting any questions on the November ballot.


Like sands though the hourglass, thus are the days of our lives. Therefore, be excellent to each other.
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