FY2021 Manager's Proposed Budget

February 25, 2020

From: Bill Giroux

Re:    Town Budget for FY2021

This letter accompanies the Manager’s Proposed Budget for FY2021 for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2020.

This budget recognizes the prior-year financial condition of the Town as reported in the latest audited financial statements. Those documents show a General Fund balance of $4,020,730 on June 30, 2019 which includes an Unassigned General Fund balance of $2,688,624 plus $75,618 Non-spendable, $120,702 in Restricted, $821,506 in Committed Reserves, and $261,960 Assigned for subsequent year’s expenditures which includes $250,000 for use of Fund Balance and $52,320 for unexpended appropriations carried forward. For FY2021 we expect non-tax revenue to rise slightly over the previous year.

This budget proposes a total municipal spending of $10,918,253, a $705,663 increase over last year’s approved budget. The share of the expenditure committed to the property tax would be $4,737,189, an increase of $846,281 over last year’s budget. These numbers reflect the reality of rising costs due to growth and other reasons that need to be addressed to meet the service demands of our residents.

This budget would propose a COLA of 3% and an additional market adjustment of 1% as recommended by the Personnel Committee. This adjustment is an attempt to keep inching forward so that Standish can be somewhat in line with other surrounding communities.

The budget proposes a new full-time appraiser to capture more taxable value that we are not capturing with just one assessing employee. We’re also proposing another driver position at Public Works. This budget also continues to stabilize Public Safety operations by replacing an equivalent amount of per diem hours with four full time employees. These actions reflect the recommendations of the Council’s Committee on Personnel.

This budget also includes proposed capital spending approved by the Council’s Capital Committee. These include pavement maintenance, a used excavator, replacing a plow truck and expanding the yard area at Public Works.

  It also includes replacing the remaining Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, constructing a small addition to allow a code compliant sleeping area to Public Safety, and upgrading our antenna system to correct blind spots in our emergency radio communications.

This budget proposal will receive a Public Hearing in March followed by Council and Budget Committee review actions. The final document will reflect the policy choices of the Council and will be submitted to the voters at the annual Town Meeting in June.

Sincerely,

Bill Giroux,

Town Manager

           FY2021 Town Manager's Proposed Budget