[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