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Home My Public Portal About2018 Budget Message from Town Administrator Michael Embury1 Town of Brewster 2198 Main Street Brewster, MA 02631-1898 Phone: (508) 896-3701 Fax: (508) 896-8089 January 13, 2017 Citizens of Brewster Board of Selectmen Finance Committee Brewster, MA 02631 Dear Constituents, The proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget provides a financial plan to maintain town services and programs at the same level as Fiscal Year 2017 without requiring a Town Meeting request for an operational override. During the last session, the State Legislature passed the Municipal Modernization Act which provided more flexibility in the operation and reporting of municipal finances. These changes are reflected in a “remodeled” format of the Town budget. This new format provides additional information from past years; the departments are grouped by functional areas that correspond to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Financial Reporting and Uniform Massachusetts Accounting Standards. (Please Note: These format changes will also provide a new look for the Town Meeting warrant.) Some of the format changes you will notice are as follows: The General Fund Operating Budget is now presented in nine functional categories including General Government, Safety & Protection, Maintenance, Human Services, Culture & Recreation, Education, Debt Service, Insurance & Other Fringe Benefits, and Other Operating Expenses & Assessments. There are three new special revenue funds including Ambulance, Water, and Golf Department. In accordance with the General Laws of Massachusetts Chapter 40 Section 5F, these funds are standalone funds and are responsible for paying all expenses including debt service. In addition, all revenues generated by each of their respective activities can only be utilized within their respective fund. As a result of the three new special revenue funds, the general fund local revenues, debt service, and insurance & other fringe benefits will show a reduction for any Office of: Board of Selectmen Town Administrator 2 related local revenues and expenditures associated with the new special revenue funds that were previously reported in the general fund. GENRAL FUND BUDGET Revenues •Property Tax Revenues are budgeted to increase by $1,162,388 ($31,527,126). These revenues consist of: Levy Limit; Prop 2 ½ increase; New Growth; Debt Exclusion; and Cape Cod Commission Levy Exclusion. •Estimated Local Receipts are budgeted to increase by $850,231 ($6,550,965). The estimated local receipts for Fiscal Year 2018 were based upon prior year actual revenue trends. •Other Available Funds are budgeted at $152,000 – Road Betterment Offset. Expenditures •Expenditures are budgeted to decrease by $2,754,957. This results from the Special Revenue Funds (see Overview) being responsible for their expenditures as well as their revenues. Please keep in mind that the preliminary numbers do not include contract settlements or final numbers for insurances or school budget requests. •Salary Adjustments – Fiscal Year 2018 calendar cycle results in a requirement for us to budget for 52.3 weeks versus the typical 52 weeks requiring a slight increase over FY 2017 without contract settlements. The Town’s five collective bargaining units’ contracts all expire on June 30, 2017 and are presently in negotiations: 1.Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - 33 employees 2.Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) - 22 employees 3.International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) - 14 employees 4.Brewster Police Union (BPU) - 17 employees 5.Brewster Ladies Library Association (BLLA) – 3 full-time and 6 part- time employees In addition, we have 38 full-time and 7 part-time employees covered under the Personnel Bylaw, consisting largely of the department heads and exempt employees. We also have a large number of seasonal part-time employees working primarily within the Golf, Public Works and Recreation 3 Departments, who are covered under the Personnel Bylaw and are not included in the aforementioned employee counts. Town Contractual Obligations – The Town is introducing a new category in Fiscal Year 2018 to provide funding for general fund budgetary “unknowns” prior to and after Annual Town Meeting. Examples include but are not limited to salary adjustments based upon employee and union contracts, health insurance premium increases, sick & vacation time buyouts for employee’s retiring or voluntarily leaving town service, legal settlements, snow & ice potential deficits, etc. The action to transfer funds from the town contractual obligations account does require town meeting action at either a special town meeting in the fall or annual town meeting in the spring. The funds can also be reallocated for unforeseen and unexpected deficits at fiscal year end between May 1st and July 15th. Any unused funds are included in the town’s annual free cash calculation. General Liability Insurance – We do not have accurate budgetary estimates from the Massachusetts Inter-local Insurance Association (MIIA) at this time and do not expect to receive any more definitive information until the end of March of 2015. We have included a program reward/participation credit which reflect the average rewards/credit value over a three year period. Pension/Retirement Expense – This budget includes an actual assessment number from the Barnstable County Retirement Association for FY2017 that reflects a 0.06% decrease over the current fiscal year. We are eligible for an early payment credit of $40,742, which we have captured within this budget. Health Care/Fringe Benefits – This budget category includes all costs for unemployment, health care, life insurance and Medicare for town, library and school employees. We have adjusted the budget detail to reflect current plan participation by employees; and increased the budget by 10%. We do belong to a large purchasing collaborative called the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group, which includes approximately 52 governmental entities. Actual rate increases will be provided later in the process from CCMHG. Veteran’s Benefits – We continue to see a significant growth in this area recently due to an increasing number of veterans in need. We are generally reimbursed 75% of these costs from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through the Cherry Sheet. DEBT SERVICE The Town’s Debt Service budget will increase from $2,705,969 in FY2017 to a sum of $2,964,256 for FY2018. Some of the Town related debt is funded through separate revenue offsets accounts, such as private road & water betterments; golf revenues; water projects and Community Preservation initiatives. 4 SCHOOL DEPARTMENTS The School Committees (Brewster/Nauset Regional/Cape Cod Tech) are working on completing their FY 2018 budget at this time. When it is submitted, the figure will be put into the preliminary budget. The Administrator’s recommended amounts are based on an estimate only. NEW POSITIONS/PROGRAMS It is required that any requests for new positions or programs be supported by a statement of need and identification of funding to support the request. There are no requests in this budget. The FY 2018 budget format and structure differs from years past due to changes in state law and in keeping with existing state statutes for budgeting. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me at membury@brewster-ma.gov. You can also follow the budget development as any updates to the document are posted on Friday of each week. There will also be an interview about the budget posted on line which will provide information on the format and changes to the document. Sincerely, Michael Embury Town Administrator