Franklin TV & Radio Programming Guide: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Week ending - Apr 29, 2012

Like gardeners, planning the layout of the growing space, setting out the stakes, tying off the supports, the Franklin budget process is very similar. The department managers assess what they have and what they need to provide services they need to deliver. They have several discussions and present the plan to the Town Administrator who either makes an adjustment or brings it forward.

The first step is the review with the Finance Committee. Over the course of several nights, the Finance Committee reviews the budget with each of the department heads, discusses their processes, their needs, their issues and ultimately makes a decision.

Their decision goes before the Town Council who holds formal budget hearings on two consecutive nights. They are currently scheduled for May 23 and 24 to review the FY 2013 budget. During these hearings, the Council has the opportunity to discuss budget details with each of the department heads. From experience, there tends to be less discussion than in the FinCom sessions.

Given the Prop 2.5 rules for MA, there are restrictions on how much revenue that the community can raise via property taxes. The established levy can only increase 2.5%. Anything above 2.5% requires a special vote. There are two kinds of votes to approve a greater than 2.5% increase.

If it is for a capital item (like a new school), the vote is called a debt exclusion. The amount of increase is set for a specific number of years and then expires.
If it is for regular operational budget, like an additional DPW worker or for the salary increases due to collective bargaining agreements, then it is an operational override. The override amount in this case becomes a permanent addition to the tax base.

Franklin has passed only one operational override (in 2007) and has passed several debt exclusions for school buildings (mostly). The most recent debt exclusion was passed in March to approve the new Franklin High School. During the time that the debt exclusion amount will be building up to its maximum amount for the new high school, debt exclusion amounts for Horace Mann, Remington/Jefferson and Keller/Sullivan will be coming off the tax levy

You can see the current amount for these debt exclusions in the FY 2013 Budget Revenue document
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/04/franklin-ma-fy-2013-budget-documents.html

Franklin has automatically taken the 2.5% increase. It could choose to take part of it, or none of it. Given that it has taken all of it, we (as taxpayers) can expect a minimum of 2.5% increase each year.

All is well and good with this. It sets the planning horizon. Like the gardener, Franklin needs to live within its means. So when contract negotiations grant 2.5% increases in any given year then the automatic amount is already used up. If anything in operations would be needed, it would require a cut from somewhere else in order to balance the budget. If you only put up a two foot support, and your plant grows four feet, then what do you do?

Apr 29

Apr 28

Apr 27

Apr 26

Apr 25

Apr 24

Apr 23

"lower the amount of phosphorus discharged"

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Week ending - Apr 22, 2012

The school Spring break has come and gone. I trust if you went away (or stayed around) that your time off was restful and rewarding. If you did go away, what happened while you were away? The detailed listing of each days post can be found below. How would I summarize the events?

Let's work back from Earth Day. If you celebrated by helping out on either Sunday or Saturday, you did good.

The MA House of Representatives submitted their budget proposal for FY 2013. This follows the Governor's budget released in January and precedes the Senate version expected sometime in May. If there are still differences among the three budgets, there is a conference session to work out the differences before the Governor signs the full budget by Jun 30.

Why are we watching the budget so closely? Approx 30% of the Franklin revenue for our local budget comes from MA. That dollar amount is critical to our decision process. The House for example has announced an increase in the amounts allocated for local aid (compared to the Governor's budget). This is good news for Franklin assuming the dollars hold up through the remainder of the cycle.

The Finance Committee has been holding their budget hearings working their way through each of the Franklin department budgets. Apparently they have only the School Budget to review and that is coming up this Wednesday (Apr 25). I have not had a chance to review the video archive for those hearings some of which should be available on the Franklin website.

Franklin meetings via video on demand:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewCalendar.aspx?siteSKU=L7qhQ46xin%2fr3Z0jcDVCNw%3d%3d

The School Budget is up for review at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Apr 24. It may be an oversight but the agenda (as published) doesn't list an action item for the School Committee to approve the budget before it goes forward. Not a critical matters, the agenda can be adjusted to add the approval easily.

This weekly summary is my public service effort for Franklin and I can always use your help. How can you help, you ask? If you have an interest in writing about something that matters in Franklin, please let me know.

If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don't like this, please tell me.

This feedback loop is important. Thank you for listening.

Apr 22

Apr 21

Apr 20

Apr 19

Apr 18

In the News - Victorian secrets, SWAT Team, Art

Teachers as Individuals (1946)

Apr 17

Apr 16

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Week ending - Apr 8, 2012

This week the buds went to bloom. Colors appeared all around us. The capital budget was approved by the Town Council on Wednesday. The operational budget cycle is beginning. The School Committee meeting this Tuesday is scheduled to get its first look at the school budget.

What will the budget look like? Stay tuned here to find out.

Apr 8

Apr 7

Apr 6

Apr 5

"adopted lower trash fees"

In the News - Fire Dept, marathon

Apr 4

Apr 3

Apr 2

Franklin Cultural Council - Grant winners for 2012

In the News - gun sales, A Cut Above, pastel arts, cross walk

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Week ending - Apr 1, 2012

The big event of the past week; voters approved the new high school by a 4-1 margin and almost 50% turnout. Both impressive numbers. Historically Franklin turns out to vote in excess of 90% for the major elections every four years, turns out around 40% for money votes (overrides and debt exclusions), and only about 20% to elect our local officials (Town Council, School Committee, etc.). One could argue that the money in advertising associated with the major campaigns has an effect. Without a local TV station, such ad money is really a waste for a local campaign. But at least when the money is on the table (i.e for an override or debt exclusion), the Franklin voters will come to the polls.

What is up for this coming week?

The Town Council votes to allocate money for the capital budget. Regular readers should be aware that Franklin doesn't have a line item in our budget for a capital plan. What is used is the 'free cash' generated annually. Free cash is 'extra' money from the prior year budget that is a result of two things. One, more income than forecasted or less spending than budgeted for. The 'free cash' is a good source for the capital budget as it is one time money, already available. Using 'free cash' to pay for operational expenses just digs the budget further into the hole for next time.

Follow the link in the Town Council agenda document to review the capital items for this year.

Also worthy of noting, the template design for both the website and Facebook pages has changed. Forced by the Facebook change to implement their timeline format, I choose to spring clean the website as well. I hope the fresh look is welcoming. The content is still here. The intent behind it won't change other than for an improvement.

As a reminder to all readers, the Voices of Franklin is something that can be used for any topic pertaining to the business of Franklin. It doesn't have to be reserved for special elections. If you have something to say about something that matters to Franklin, say it respectfully and it can be published here. This can be as easy as composing an email to send to a special email address. It will sit in draft mode until published usually the next day. Detail information on the process can be found here.

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Mar 26