[0:00] due to our own

[0:01] good fortune we've been able to do it in

[0:04] four years plus a little bit of interest

[0:06] what i would like to um

[0:09] just let the town meeting make a note of

[0:12] is that

[0:13] the finncon made a a conclusion on page

[0:15] seven of the warren

[0:17] and i'd like to quote from that it says

[0:19] in conclusion we have taken another step

[0:21] closer to completely exhausting our

[0:22] savings account with no foreseeable

[0:25] means of replenishing them this brings

[0:27] us closer to the inevitable decision of

[0:29] serious reductions in services budget

[0:31] cuts

[0:32] are a general override of proposition

[0:34] two and a half

[0:35] now you spoke earlier mr walsh about

[0:38] putting putting the money towards town

[0:41] services and to reduce taxes

[0:44] if you look at our budget on the

[0:45] following pages

[0:48] we started off

[0:50] on article number 10

[0:52] page number 19.

[0:54] go into the next couple of pages page 21

[0:57] 23

[0:59] up into 25 if you look at the following

[1:01] pages what we're doing is we're not

[1:03] funding the government as it is now

[1:06] we're increasing the size of government

[1:09] look throughout this area and you'll see

[1:11] that we've created four or five new

[1:12] positions

[1:13] some of them are supposedly funded at a

[1:15] new position at thirteen thousand

[1:17] another one of thirty six thousand

[1:19] another one we've made the newspaper

[1:21] approximately forty six to fifty two

[1:23] thousand dollars

[1:25] go back to the beginning of the

[1:28] motor checklist inside the front cover

[1:32] and what it says is

[1:35] this is from the fincom it gives a

[1:37] checklist of what we should be spending

[1:39] money on

[1:40] is it necessary can we afford it what

[1:42] will it ultimately cost

[1:44] how will it affect our basic liberties

[1:47] is it in the best balanced interest of

[1:48] all

[1:49] is it a foot in the door proposition and

[1:51] does it place too much power in the

[1:53] hands of one individual a group and it

[1:56] is based on emotional approach emotional

[1:58] propaganda of facts

[2:01] the point that i try to make about this

[2:02] is that

[2:03] what we're doing with this money if you

[2:05] follow the rest of the articles is we're

[2:07] not funding general government you're

[2:09] not going to save five cents on your

[2:11] taxes

[2:12] what this has done is to expand the size

[2:14] of general government so that we'll have

[2:16] to next year and the following year

[2:18] continue to pay for these increased

[2:20] sizes of government government's not

[2:22] getting smaller and through this

[2:24] enlargement of the town government there

[2:26] is no guarantee of efficiency which will

[2:29] save you tax money

[2:31] this proposal that you see

[2:33] wherever the town meeting decides to put

[2:35] the money and stabilization is fi it

[2:37] doesn't make any difference to me the

[2:39] point is before we spend through the

[2:41] report

[2:43] given to the fincom

[2:45] from free cash stabilization and hill

[2:47] view monies will be used to balance the

[2:49] budget doesn't say increase the size of

[2:51] it but that's what this budget entails

[2:53] and it will continue from that point on

[2:56] to 1994 approximately half a million

[2:58] dollars a year from now on all the money

[3:01] that goes in there won't save you any

[3:02] tax money

[3:03] what we have to do first in my opinion

[3:06] is to stop the size of increasing size

[3:08] of the town government and get your

[3:09] money's worth before you spend any more

[3:11] money we're throwing money at the

[3:13] problem and we're not attacking the

[3:14] problem we need results and we and we

[3:17] don't really need to spend any more

[3:18] money into the town government

[3:21] mr matreri

[3:27] mr moshery

[3:29] i just wanted to point out

[3:31] that the monies that were loaned to the

[3:34] hill view

[3:35] came out of stabilization and it

[3:37] required a two-thirds vote to move the

[3:39] money into their domain

[3:42] mr jervy

[3:48] i have a question for

[3:50] i think the finance committee

[3:52] it was my impression that this was going

[3:54] into stabilization in part so that it

[3:57] would become immediately available to

[4:00] town meeting

[4:02] whereas if it were to go into free cash

[4:04] it would have to wait until it had been

[4:05] certified by the department of revenue

[4:08] and this town meeting would not have

[4:09] access to it

[4:11] mr dodge

[4:16] the answer to state's question

[4:18] we believe is yes

[4:20] right now our belief is the fact that if

[4:23] you transfer it into stabilization

[4:26] we will have access to that money to

[4:29] tonight in this town meeting

[4:31] if we transfer the funds into what's

[4:33] called the general fund

[4:36] it appears that

[4:38] you would have to be certified as free

[4:40] cash at the end of the fiscal year this

[4:42] fiscal year which means that this at the

[4:45] end of each fiscal year the state

[4:46] certifies the amount of funds we have

[4:48] available that means the funds would not

[4:51] be available until october tower meeting

[4:54] now i used a lot of fuzzy words like i

[4:58] believe

[4:59] i should have said i think

[5:01] because believe me this has been a

[5:02] question that we've been chasing for

[5:04] several months

[5:05] we've gone around and around circles

[5:09] we've got different opinions at

[5:10] different times

[5:13] i think that right now as a finance

[5:15] committee member i have to lean towards

[5:17] what the department of revenue told us

[5:19] straight out

[5:20] the department of revenue told us you

[5:22] put it into stabilization you can use it

[5:24] at that town meeting

[5:27] i mean

[5:28] this is this is going to be a question

[5:30] wait till we start talking about the

[5:32] future monies to come out of the hill

[5:33] view it's going to get even more

[5:34] interesting

[5:36] but

[5:37] i believe the best place to put it is

[5:39] it's a stabilization

[5:41] and if you want to change the questions

[5:44] later on and about the two-thirds

[5:46] funding

[5:47] and to put the money into something like

[5:49] pensions and benefit or something to use

[5:50] up or to use the stabilization money

[5:53] into that those areas you can do that as

[5:55] well

[5:56] but my personal belief is the best place

[5:58] to put it right now with the least

[6:00] amount of questions or issues is going

[6:02] to be into stabilization

[6:04] you have a quick follow up mr walsh

[6:40] uh

[6:42] you know high school

[6:43] committee that put you know amounts of

[6:46] money to the appropriations for funding

[6:48] the high school where the border

[6:50] selector decided to have to pay off the

[6:52] debt and then the high school committee

[6:54] came back and said hey

[6:56] that's not the way the town voted

[6:59] so all i'm saying is

[7:14] stabilization

[7:29] just answer that point we could not take

[7:31] it from the water

[7:32] and put it into stabilization the point

[7:34] that needs to be made is the fact that

[7:37] if we as town meeting did not put up

[7:40] that 200 000

[7:43] four years ago as feed money to the hill

[7:45] view we would not be able to transfer

[7:48] this money into stabilization this is a

[7:50] payback

[7:52] simple as that

[7:54] mr bellows

[8:05] paula billows 175 north street mr

[8:08] moderator there's been some remarks

[8:10] about several remarks about hillview and

[8:12] i just

[8:12] would like to to set the record straight

[8:15] when the proposal for the acquisition of

[8:18] hillview was made

[8:20] it was to protect the aquifer the open

[8:22] space

[8:24] the monies that came from hillview uh

[8:26] have come from hillview

[8:28] go to the town

[8:30] and hill view is not mine

[8:33] it's not the hillview commissions it is

[8:36] ours and that's very important not to

[8:38] lose sight of that it is ours

[8:41] and it will remain ours hopefully

[8:44] indefinitely

[8:45] now

[8:46] as far as the monies from hill views

[8:48] going into stabilization

[8:51] i don't really oppose that i do for a

[8:54] couple of reasons suggest that there

[8:56] should be serious questions as to

[8:58] whether we should do it now and the

[8:59] questions basically were risen i've

[9:02] risen because of things that the finance

[9:04] committee has said

[9:06] the traditional concept of stabilization

[9:09] is as the gentleman stated before

[9:11] for capital projects

[9:14] uh in my mind that seems to be an

[9:17] appropriate use for the funds

[9:20] now

[9:20] mr dodge i believe it was says that

[9:23] stabilization is being used i think i'm

[9:26] calling him for operations

[9:28] and the next year we're going to have

[9:31] the same problem but i don't believe

[9:32] we're going to have the same funding

[9:34] next year so now

[9:36] if we put this into stabilization

[9:40] why are we doing it this year there's

[9:42] money in stabilization so what it is

[9:44] it's a swap off you take some of

[9:46] stabilization that's there right now and

[9:49] you replenish it with stabilization but

[9:51] it's a utilization of stabilization

[9:54] money

[9:55] for purposes of our operating capital

[10:00] now mr walsh previous speaker said that

[10:02] there are jobs that are being created

[10:05] this is not level funding government there are jobs that are being

[10:08] created and these monies will be used to

[10:11] fund these jobs where's the money going

[10:12] to come from next year

[10:14] i think at some point this town and our

[10:17] town officials have got to bite the

[10:18] bullet and the most cogent thing that

[10:20] was said by mr dodge and he posed

[10:23] questions

[10:24] and i would like to hear answers to the

[10:26] questions there were two questions he

[10:28] said

[10:29] we need a plan we need to know where we

[10:32] are going

[10:34] and the second one is what's not being

[10:36] done

[10:37] and i urge the town administrator or the

[10:40] board of selectmen or someone to answer

[10:42] those questions before we start

[10:44] earmarking this money for stabilization

[10:47] at this time

[10:49] gentlemen please take your name and

[10:50] address sir

[10:52] uh james brophy 21 marshall street i've

[10:55] heard comments

[10:56] about payback

[10:59] several years ago when the town

[11:02] invested the money into hill view

[11:05] and that investment has done very well

[11:09] can the town take that investment and

[11:11] reinvest it instead of using it for

[11:14] day-to-day expenses

[11:16] and that reinvestment allow that to grow

[11:20] so that the town in the future

[11:22] will be a better place to live

[11:36] again mr walsh

[11:38] current chairman of the hill view and mr

[11:40] billows a member of the hill view and

[11:42] former chairman have made reference to

[11:44] various line items in this budget

[11:46] i certainly hope

[11:48] that the people that are here tonight

[11:50] who are going to vote on article 9 and

[11:51] whether or not to transfer this money in

[11:53] stabilization

[11:54] will stay here and discuss at the

[11:56] appropriate time each line item with

[11:58] this budget to see if in fact there is

[12:00] waste to see if in fact there are monies

[12:03] that they're not in favor of

[12:04] appropriating i think to vote on article

[12:07] nine and then not to sit here and go

[12:09] through the budget line item by line

[12:10] item is irresponsible i really do

[12:13] and we have spent the time the finance

[12:15] committee and the board of selectmen

[12:17] reviewing this budget we spent six

[12:19] consecutive saturdays we spent meetings

[12:21] during the week we spent our own time at

[12:23] home trying to establish a budget that

[12:24] was responsible the monies that we're

[12:26] asking to transfer back whether

[12:28] stabilization of free cash is monies

[12:30] that were advanced in the first place to

[12:32] the hill view it's not so-called surplus

[12:36] money from the hill view

[12:37] next year maybe there will be surplus

[12:39] money but this is money that essentially

[12:41] is owed back to the town and again i

[12:43] think if people in this audience have a

[12:46] problem with various line items they

[12:48] should stay here and they should vote on

[12:50] those line items and they should be

[12:51] discussed at that time thank you

[12:55] gentlemen in the center please state

[12:57] your name and address sir

[13:04] jerry fitzgerald ashwood drive

[13:06] uh mr moderator

[13:08] i believe that we have we planted a seed

[13:10] at hill view and we are about to reap

[13:13] the first harvest

[13:14] at this point i don't think we should

[13:16] gobble up the first harvest

[13:18] i think we should continue to reinvest

[13:20] it and let it be our legacy to our

[13:22] children and to their children

[13:37] mr dodge

[13:42] i had to prep one of my busy chats again

[13:44] here

[13:54] as far as right now

[13:57] if you follow the fincard

[13:59] recommendations

[14:01] this is the amount of money that we

[14:02] would have remaining in stabilization

[14:06] okay

[14:08] some of the issues that are coming up

[14:09] before us

[14:11] now the two main ones that we pretty much

[14:14] know the dollar amounts of uh illini is

[14:16] within the honorable budget one is

[14:18] compensation change within the town

[14:20] budget which would be money there for

[14:22] uh well actually both lineups are called

[14:24] two different things but there's money

[14:25] there for negotiations for increases for

[14:28] the different unions and the employees

[14:29] of the town right now the finance

[14:31] committee is not is not recommending

[14:33] those line items as you see that subs up

[14:36] to about a total of 173 000

[14:41] that leaves us short

[14:44] basically about what thirty thousand

[14:45] dollars

[14:47] from those two line items

[14:50] the other issue is

[14:52] and believe me i haven't had noise the

[14:53] finance committee had time to consider

[14:55] the arbitration that was just settled

[14:57] with the firefighters union but we

North Reading Town Meeting 4/6/92 Part 9

Transcript