Quick, tell me all I
need to know about my town's finance
committee
Douglas
J. Swatski
CHAIRMAN, N.A. FINANCE COMMITTEE
You asked, so heres
the short answer.
What is the mission of the Finance
Committee?
The Finance Committees mission is
to make objective and concise
recommendations to Town Meeting on the
annual budget and any other
finance-related warrant articles. To
achieve this mission, the Committee
reviews and considers any matter which
may have a long- or short-term fiscal
impact on the town and communicates with
other Town boards, departments,
employees, and members of the public for
the purpose of gathering relevant and
accurate information for evaluation,
debate and the formulation of a
recommendation.
Where does the Finance Committee fit with
respect to the towns government?
Three boards have significant
responsibilities associated with Town
Meeting: the Board of Selectmen, the
School Board, and the Finance Committee.
Town citizens elect the selectmen and the
school board members, and the Town
Moderator chooses the members of the
Finance Committee. Members of the Board
of Selectmen set policy for a majority of
the Municipal departments, except for the
School Department.
The Town Manager reports directly to the
Board of Selectmen and oversees the
day-to-day operations of all municipal
departments. The Town Accountant, also
reports to the Board of Selectmen, and is
responsible for maintaining accurate
accounting for the whole Town. All other
municipal departments report to the Town
Manager.
By state law, the public school system is
somewhat independent of the town
government. While the towns
legislative body (you) controls the level
of funding the school department
receives, the day-to-day operational
control of the school falls to the
Superintendent, who reports directly to
the School Committee.
Similar to the Board of Selectmen, the
School Committees role is to set
policy for the schools only.The Finance
Committee, or FinCom, is a committee
which has no authority over setting
policy. All nine members are volunteers
and receive no compensation for their
services.
What does the towns Finance
Committee do?
Our number one responsibility is to make
a recommendation to you, the citizen, on
any warrant article which has a financial
impact to the Town. In doing so, The
FinCom does two key things: we review and
modify the budget to be presented to the
town at the annual Town Meeting, which is
typically in May, and second, we write
brief explanations of any warrant
articles that have a financial aspect to
them.
These explanations are inplain English
and are meant to explain the warrant
articles to our towns citizens. We
then distribute the budget and the
warrant articles in a booklet to each
household in town prior to the annual
Town Meeting. At this meeting, every
North Andover citizen of legal age can
vote to accept, modify or reject our towns
budget.
How does the Financial Committee put
together the final budget recommended at
Town Meeting?
First, all department heads prepare a
budget and submit it to the Town Manager
for review. The School Department
prepares their budget, submits it to the
School Committee for approval, and then
submits it to the Town Manager.
The Town Manager then prepares the
initial budget and submits this to the
Board of Selectmen. The Board of
Selectmen, after review and any changes,
will vote to send the budget to the
FinCom.
The budget has two parts: the operational
budget, and the Capital Improvement Plan
(CIP). The operational budget is the
money that runs the town day-to-day
(including salaries). The CIP contains
all items funded with debt, such as
buildings, equipment, and vehicles.The
FinCom reviews each item in the
operational budget, line by line.
The FinCom has the authority to change
the amount of money listed for a given
department in the operational budget, but
not at the line item level. That means,
for example, that we can increase or
reduce the total amount of money listed
for schools or for public health and
safety.
At a town meeting, we also have the
authority to recommend modifications of
items in the CIP. For example, if a
capital project to construct a building
is in the CIP, the FinCom can vote to
recommend to leave it in the budget,
remove it, or modify the amount of money
specified for it.The FinCom spends months
reviewing and deliberating on the
budgets.
We talk with the Town Manager, the Town
Accountant, department heads, members of
other committees, and anyone else that
can provide insight on town operations to
help us make informed decisions on the
finances.
Our job is to put together a budget that
best represents the needs and desires of
the entire town, not just one select
group or individual.
How can you have a say in our towns
budget?
So, what? you may say. If we
town citizens dont like the budget,
we can just change it on the spot at the
Town Meeting. This is true, but if you
have ever attended one of these meetings,
you probably realize that this is not the
best forum for carefully considering all
the issues in detail.
Well-meaning citizens often present
emotionally-charged argumentsand the
crowds sentiment may tip in one
direction or the other as each speaker
talks.
Changes to individual line items may be
put to a vote, but it is often difficult
to garner enough support to make a
change. A much better approach would be
to talk to the FinCom or one of the
Boards as they are considering the
budget. All town committees and boards
have public hearings.
You can attend these and ask questions.
The FinCom is required, by law, to hold a
public hearing once a year. We typically
do this in February or March, after we
have received the Town Managers
recommended budget.Town citizens may
submit a warrant article which is voted
on at the annual Town Meeting. Articles
that have a financial impact are reviewed
by the FinCom.
The chair of the FinCom may ask the
authors of these articles to attend a
committee meeting and present on their
article. Also, any citizen may contact
the chair prior to a meeting and ask to
speak on an issue. There is a link for
the chairs email on the towns
Web site.
If you have specific information that the
committee needs to hear, the chair may
then ask you to present at a meeting. As
the chair of the FinCom, I invite you to
talk to members of the FinCom any time
you have information on an issue, so that
we can make informed decisions. The best
time to have your say about the budget is
well before the annual Town Meeting.
How can you stay informed?
You can read the local papers to stay
informed on the issues. Another option is
attend the Fincom meetings, which are
open to the public. We rarely have even
one or two people join us, so there
should be room to sit. At least two days
prior to a meeting, we officially post
the meeting date and time at Town Hall
with the Town Clerk.
We try to post the meetings agenda
on the town Web site a few days prior to
a meeting. We post our meeting minutes on
the town Web site following the next
meeting (after theyve been
officially approved), and also post them
officially with the Town Clerk.
When does the Financial Committee meet?
From June to October, we meet once a
month at the Town Hall. In November, we
start meeting twice a month. As the
budget deliberations get more intense, we
add more meetings. In January, we may
meet weekly.
In February, March, and April, we meet
twice a week if needed. Our normal
meeting day is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. If
we have to meet twice a week, we add
Tuesdays.
Thank you for taking the time to read
this article. Our committee foresees
making some difficult choices to reach
our recommendations, and your voice is
important.
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