The Finance Committee has the following questions and comments on
the proposed articles for the upcoming Special Town Meeting:
Article
3. To see if the Town will vote to transfer $30,192 from free cash;
and place said sum in the Highway Maintenance Account # 01-5-422-070
to cover the costs of highway garage roof replacement, or take any
other vote or vote relative thereto.
We'd like to ask the Select Board
to talk with us about their thinking on this item. We're interested
in knowing why the whole roof was replaced when the damage was only
to a part of a roof. We're interested in knowing more about the decision
making process - Who was consulted? What did they say? Why wasn't the
Finance Committee included in that decision? We are concerned about
the decision making process for an expense to be authorized and expended
without town budget approval or knowledge of Finance Committee.
Article
4. To see if the Town will vote to transfer $5,600 from free cash;
said sum to be placed in the Highway Maintenance Account # 01-5-422-070
to reimburse said account for unanticipated repairs to the New Holland
Tractor, or take any other vote or votes relative thereto.
What repairs
are needed? Who will do the work (a dealer or local repair shop)?
Article
5. To see if the Town will vote to transfer $950 from free cash; said
sum to be placed in the Highway Maintenance Account #01-5-422-070 to
reimburse said account for tree removal at Highway garage, or take
any other vote or votes relative thereto.
Please remind us why the tree
had to be removed?
Article 6. To see if the Town will vote to transfer
$7,000 from the Housing Trust Account # 26-1-040-000; said sum to used
for final Engineering and Design Specifications for Reconstruction
of Main Street (phase 3), or take any other vote or vote relative thereto.
Can
we get a comprehensive overview of Phase 3? What are the total costs?
How much of that will come from SF taxpayers?
Article 7. To see if the
Town will vote to transfer $10,000 from the Housing Trust 1 Account
# 26-1-040-000; said sum to be used as a local match for Reconstruction
of Main Street (phase 3) if the town is successful in receiving 2009
Community Development Block Grant Funds, or take any other vote or
votes relative thereto.
How are the expenditures in Article 6&7
related?
Article 8. To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum
of $79,947 from free cash; said sum to be placed in the Stabilization
Account # 01-5-950-000, or take any other vote or votes relative thereto.
Are
we putting aside money for the years when our share of the Mohawk budget
increases dramatically? (This has happened to towns from time to time
because of the way the town's budget share is determined each year.)
If we were putting aside money, what account would it go into?
Other
Questions for the Select Board:
How much do we have in uncollected real estate taxes? What's the plan
for addressing this issue? What's the percentage? Is it increasing?
What
are we doing to get involved with the Franklin Regional Council of
Government's energy cost savings program? What are we doing to participate
in the State's energy auditing programs? We feel strongly that these
cost saving programs are important for our town.
