Isabelle Andersson

Wow, you have to hear this girl sing. Isabelle Andersson


I was bowled over when I read her bio. 17 years old! Listen to her rendition of Joe Hill. I was looking for Joan Baez singing Joe Hill when I found this. Not Joan Baez, but pretty good.
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Chapter 90 Road Funding explained

Mr. Lynam of the Finance Committee has sent me his primer on Chapter 90 road repair funding. Here it is:

On Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 the Fin Com meet with DPW officials. During this meeting the Chapter 90 Highway funding was explained.

As I understand it :
Chapter 90 qualified roads are any public roads greater than 500 ft in length.

Chapter 90 funding comes from “State funds derived from periodic transportation bond authorizations and apportioned to communities for highway projects based on a formula under the provisions of MGL Ch. 90 §34. “

In Dartmouth’s case, this amounts to about $700K annually in the form of a Revolving Grant “ that is cumulative from year to year. Whatever funding is not used this year can be carried over to the next. This allows for larger projects to be done.

How does a project become reimbursable under Chapter 90 ?
The project, or collections of smaller projects, are identified and the engineering done at Town expense. The application is then made to the State and the project(s) approved for Chapter 90 funding. The Town then completes the project at it’s own expense, either in-house or by outside contractor(s). The final bills are then presented to the State and reimbursed, debiting the Chapter 90 “Capital Projects Funds” account : [ shown under “Capital Projects Funds” at the following URL :] http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dls/mdmstuf/MunicipalActualExpenditures/srfrevolvingfunds06.xls

In some instances, the town will be required to ‘invest’ it’s own resources in a project whereby the State will pick up a large percentage of the project ...

...and the town a smaller percentage. The funding portion attributable to the Town is budgeted in the “Highway -Chapter 90 “ line item of our Town Budget.

How is the money accounted for ?
The monies paid back to the Town through this sort of “Revolving Grant” are accounted for in the “Town of Dartmouth 2005 Annual Report” [ the latest available at this time ] under “Revenue Received ~ Special Revenue ~ Revenue from State “ [ Note: For FY05, it totaled $ 611,701 Page #25 ]

The Questions is ?
When the DPW is budgeted, the amounts shown as expended for road repair, et. el. are not true insofar as those monies are actually returned to the General Fund by the State. Therefore an overall budget showing as ‘balanced’ ( or in deficit ) may actually be positive by some portion of the value of the Chapter 90 funds reimbursable. Since these are considerable in size [ $ 1,064,188.00 in FY06 ] and for the most part known ahead of time, it might behoove us to keep a closer eye on these funds in order to ascertain exactly what our ‘cash’ position is at any one time ; especially as it pertains to potential ‘free cash’ at the fiscal years end and leading into the fall.

As far as I can tell, these monies are not shown to us on the '‘Revenue Re-cap” that we are given. I suspect that they are simply booked as received [as are fees and other misc income ] , used as a slush fund of sorts to balance out shortfalls in other expected revenues, the balance then certified as free cash at the start of the next FY. This might account for why the sale of the Smith Neck school not materializing is not being heralded as such a big deal. [ Just speculation on my part ]

The Problem :
Because the numbers are so large, it leaves an unusually cloudy picture of the actual cost of operating the DPW.

Greg




Massachusetts Department of Revenue Chapter 90 Highway Funds page
Chapter 90 Funds :

State funds derived from periodic transportation bond authorizations and apportioned to communities for highway projects based on a formula under the provisions of MGL MGL Ch. 90 §34. The Chapter 90 formula comprises three variables: local road mileage (58.33 percent) as certified by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD), local employment level (20.83 percent) derived the Department of Employment and Training (DET)(now called Department of Labor and Workforce Development, BillT), and population estimates (20.83 percent) from the US Census Bureau. Local highway projects are approved in advance, then later on the submission of certified expenditure reports to MHD, communities receive cost reimbursements to the limit of the grant. Under the formula, communities with a larger number of road miles receive proportionately more aid than those with fewer road miles.

That's it in a nutshell. Thank you, Mr. Lynam
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Quincy Patriot Ledger on regional services

The Patriot Ledger had an opinion piece here about regional services. Some of the services which they mention as having been regionalized are 911 dispatch, health inspections, ...

...and fire departments. They end by advocating for increased regionalization.
As the budgets tighten around the state, more voices will call for regional services. We have an opportunity here to cut costs and increase efficiency. I think that animal control, conservation and other departments might also be a good candidate of regional efforts.
The state is also looking to have school districts regionalize to cut administrative costs. Another idea whose time may have come. One incentive for regional schools is that teh state picks up a large portion of the busing. That could save our town about $2million dollars and reduce admin costs. Something to think about. What do you think?
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Michaud proposes interim Executive Administrator

Select Board Chair Joe Michaud is quoted on Curt Brown's blog (see here) as seeking to hire an interim Executive Administrator at the end of next moth when the contract of the current Executive Administrator ends. The search for a new administrator is underway ...

...but is unlikely to be completed by March 1. Mr. Michaud and the Select Board have not discussed the hiring of an interim. I think the decision will come down to the time needed to find a replacement. If it is a few weeks. I wouldn't go with an interim. If the time frame is more than that I would support Mr. Michaud's proposal for an interim administrator.
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Blowin in the Wind

Day by day, good people are working to find the answer.
Justice, peace, community with others



This organization can help you take action for peace. Click here. Make your voice heard.
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Finance Committee meets with town department heads

Last night, the Finance Committee met with the heads of the town departments to kick off their review of the town's FY10 budget. The evening began with the presentation of the budget numbers agreed upon by the Finance Committee and Select Board at a meeting on Tuesday. See my post here. The goal is that each department will go back and prepare their 2010 budget based upon the amounts presented. Mr Lynam went over the prioritized budget amounts. Nearly all departments will see a substantial reduction in funding.
Mr. Friedman asked the department heads to come to their session with the committee...

... prepared to discuss the impacts of the proposed budget, a five year outlook for the funding of their departmental budget and a capital needs list for the next five years. Mr. Friedman proposed that the budget impacts be presented as a bullet list. Mr. Friedman also suggested that capital items which provide long term savings, either through increased efficiencies or cost avoidance, would be given precedence.
Mr. Iacaponi spoke about the need for department heads to closely control spending for this fiscal year. He also gave a summary of the anticipated FY10 revenues.
Mr Gagne asked those in attendance to write to our state representatives in support of the Municipal Partnership act which will provide alternative means of revenue by taxing telecommunications property and providing a local option for a meals tax.
Mr Friedman asked for questions and comments from the department heads and getting none, adjourned the meeting.
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Roy Orbison

Off to a FinCom meeting tonight, enjoy!
When I was 10 or 12, I wanted to be Roy Orbison. Turns out I can' sing a lick but I think I still look good in the Orbison shades.
You Tube embed after the jump


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Voke assessment numbers. Implications for budget

One hand gives, the other takes away. I posted here yesterday about a smaller than expected Required Net School Spending (RNSS) number for the Dartmouth School Department in FY 2010. That number was more than $1.2 million below the budget projection.
Now it appears that our Greater New Bedford Voke Tech (GNBVT) assessment is up by $377,680 for FY 2010. The budget estimate for that increase was $91,246, a difference of $286,434. One reason for the Voke jump is ...

... that Dartmouth has 22 more students attending than we did a year ago.
The net result for our budgeting process is that we have over-estimated our school spending requirements by around $900K.
The question now is what to do with the money that we are not required to spend for the schools. I think that an equitable way to divide it up is by the percentage of the school spending to the overall budget. In other words, school spending is about 52% of the total town budget. We allocate 52% of the $900K to the schools and the remainder to the non school departments. In round numbers then, $468K would go to the school department and be provided above the RNSS amount. The remaining $432K goes to the non-school town budget.
My reasoning here is that even though the attendance numbers are down at the school department, the cost is not exactly proportional to the student population. We must still heat, light and maintain the same number of buildings and, in most cases, have the same number of classroom teachers despite having 140 fewer students. Providing some level of spending above RNSS softens the blow to the school budget while the School Committee and administrators work out the new budget realities based on their reduced student census.
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Preliminary school budget numbers. Surprising!

The state has issued their preliminary FY2010 required net school spending (RNSS) amounts and the result for Dartmouth is quite surprising. The total increase over last year is only $215,373. The FY2009 appropriation was at RNSS and totaled $33.011 million. FY2010 RNSS is $33.227 million. The town has budgeted for $34.458 million as the FY2010 school appropriation.
I have not been able to analyze the underlying numbers yet,...
...but I think that the lower than expected increase is due to the decrease in student population. Dartmouth schools had 140 fewer students enrolled. 140 students times roughly $9,000 per student comes to 1.26 million. That is about the difference between the budgeted amount and the RNSS projection [1,260,000(student decrease)+215,000(RNSS increase)=1,475,000, 34,458,000(FY10 estimate)-33,011,000(FY09budget)=1,447,000]
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Seek and ye shall find. SRPEDD!!!

Mr. Michaud sends this email.

All,
Looks like SRRPD can help us in working toward regionalizing certain services. My thought is to have them attend the regional summit to provide technical and practical assistance.
The first meeting is set for February 10th at Apponequet HS at 6:00 to kick things off. We anticipate involvement from the majority of communities in southcoast.
Can you respond if you intend on attending as I would like to forward a number to them for accommodation.

Joseph L. Michaud, Esq

This Microsoft Word information from Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) is in regard to the District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) program to assist the cities and towns. The DLTA program is ...

... funded by the state according to the bulletin. The areas where assistance is available are sustainable development and municipal partnerships such as cooperative agreements/collaboration among communities, regional 911 service, joint purchasing, operating budget management (energy cost control, staffing, benefits) and other municipal activities that can be delivered more efficiently at a regional level.
Great work by Mr. Michaud and we have a meeting on February 10th already.
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