TOWN OF WRENTHAM
Special Town Meeting
8 November 2010
Recommendations of the
Town Finance Committee
1
Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
FINCOM Recommendations Overview
Requested
Capital (less water)
Non-recurring
Recurring
Total Requests
Recommended
$899,285.00
$92,014.00
$239,916.00
$1,231,215.00
Capital (less water)
Non-recurring
Recurring
Total Requests
Source of Funds
Free Cash
Tax
Total Available Funding
$1,283,180.00
$26,000.00
$1,309,180.00
Source of Funds
Free Cash
Tax
Total Available Funding
Difference
$77,965.00
Difference
Requested
Capital (Water)
$340,000.00
$92,014.00
$239,916.00
$671,930.00
$1,283,180.00
$26,000.00
$1,309,180.00
$637,250.00
Water
Recommended
$120,000.00
Capital (Water)
$120,000.00
Source of Funds
Water Enterprise
Retained Earnings
$614,379.00
Source of Funds
Water Enterprise
Retained Earnings
$614,379.00
Difference
$494,379.00
Difference
$494,379.00
2
Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
Free Cash Status
FY11
Free Cash Certified by DOR
Total of FC Recommendations
$1,283,180
$645,930
Remaining Post STM Free Cash
Reserved for Snow and Ice
$637,250
$300,000
Effective Remaining Free Cash
$337,250
Free Cash Certified by DOR
Total of FC Recommendations
$738,000
$224,496
Remaining Post STM Free Cash
Reserved for Snow and Ice
$513,504
$300,000
Effective Remaining Free Cash
$213,504
$320,000 from
Tax Property Sale
FY10
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
Capital
Pri
18
Requirement
Sprinkler System
Ladder #1
CPR Machines
#5 Front Loader
Street Sweeper
Police Cruiser
Road Maintenance
Rec Lawnmower
COA Generator
Fire Car #2
Sidewalks
Snow Plow
2 Way Radio Police
Rec Pick Up Truck
PS Bldg Ext Repair
Rec Lawnmower
Station #2 Paint
Capital Totals
$44,500.00
$100,000.00
$42,000.00
$160,000.00
$185,000.00
$30,000.00
$150,000.00
$13,500.00
$16,500.00
$35,000.00
$30,000.00
$10,500.00
$10,285.00
$20,000.00
$25,000.00
$12,000.00
$15,000.00
$899,285.00
1
Water Truck #22
$120,000.00
$120,000.00
$1,019,285.00
$460,000.00
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Total Capital
Recommendation
$44,500.00
$100,000.00
$22,000.00
$160,000.00
$13,500.00
Issues:
• Continue to fall behind
•$61K this year for
unexpected maintenance
(Library and School)
• Next four years avg $1M
$340,000.00
4
Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
Issues
• Current requests/recommendations include $240K of recurring obligations
 Most of which is personnel
 Not a good business practice
• Recommendations include funding two new police officers and two new firefighters
 Recommended due to operational imperative
 Funding comes from a non-recurring source
 Two new police likely not on board until the summer
 Two new firefighters does not allow for operating Sheldonville Station
 Obligations create a new $400K impact on next year’s budget
• The Town’s ability to respond to current requirements is partially off-set by the sale
of Tax Property last year
• New solutions will be required to keep up with these new additions, and to address
the ever-increasing deferment of capital requirements (not to mention everything
else).
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Article
1
2
3
4
5
6a
6b
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Dept
Requirement
Available Funds
VOY, EOY
FY11 Supplemental
BOS/DPW
Cleaning Contract
BOS
Admin Asst
Personnel
Police
Personnel
Assessors
Personnel
Town Clerk
Expenses
Reserve Fund
Reimbursement
Total Supplementals
Multiple
Unpaid Bills
Zoning
Personnel Bd
Salary Bylaws
Capital/Priority
1 Sprinkler System
2 Ladder #1
3 CPR Machines
4 #5 Front Loader
5 Street Sweeper
6 Police Cruiser
7 Road Maintenance
8 Rec Lawnmower
9 COA Generator
10 Fire Car #2
11 Sidewalks
12 Snow Plow
13 2 Way Radio Police
14 Rec Pick Up Truck
15 PS Bldg Ext Repair
16 Rec Lawnmower
17 Station #2 Paint
Sub Total Capital
1 Water Truck #22
Total Capital
BOS/Police
Contract Funding
Fire
Two FF
Police
Two Police
Fire
Personnel
Fire
ALS
Fire
HAZMAT Foam
BOS
Bldg Insurance
Lake Pearl
Weeds
BOS
Alcohol
Town Clerk
Fees
Gen By Laws
Stabilization
Total Requests
Remaining Funds
Cost
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
Recommendation
Free Cash
$1,283,180.00
$16,678.34
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
$59,578.34
$329.69
Approve
$15,000.00
$1,200.00
$2,750.00
$20,000.00
$3,600.00
$350.00
Source
Water
Taxation
$614,379.00
$26,000.00
$15,000.00
$1,200.00
$2,750.00
$20,000.00
$3,600.00
$350.00
$16,678.34
$59,578.34
$329.69
Notes
FINCOM
Recommendations
Recap
Approve
$44,500.00
$100,000.00
$42,000.00
$160,000.00
$185,000.00
$30,000.00
$150,000.00
$13,500.00
$16,500.00
$35,000.00
$30,000.00
$10,500.00
$10,285.00
$20,000.00
$25,000.00
$12,000.00
$15,000.00
$899,285.00
$120,000.00
$1,019,285.00
$48,094.00
$68,705.00
$100,567.00
$26,000.00
$2,851.33
$20,405.00
$5,400.00
$12,500.00
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
$44,500.00
$100,000.00
$22,000.00
$160,000.00
Approve
$13,500.00
$340,000.00
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
Approve
IP
$120,000.00
$120,000.00
$48,094.00
$68,705.00
$100,567.00
$26,000.00
$2,851.33
$20,405.00
$5,400.00
IP
$1,363,715.36
$645,930.36
$120,000.00 $26,000.00
$637,249.64
$614,379.00
Includes $300k Reserve
For Snow and Ice
$0.00
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Town of Wrentham, Massachusetts
Motions and Recommendations of the Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting
Monday, November 8, 2010
ARTICLE 2: Move that the Town vote to appropriate from unappropriated
funds in the treasury the sum of $59,578.34 to supplement current Fiscal
Year 2011 operating budgets. Said sum to be distributed as follows:
Budget
To DPW Expenses
To BOS Salary
To Police Salary
Cost
Discussion
$15,000.00 This supplements the budget line for the new
$1,200.00
$22,750.00
To Assessors Salary
$3,600.00
To Town Clerk
Expenses
To the Reserve Fund
$350.00
cleaning contract for Town Hall and the
Public Safety Building. This contract was
signed after the Fiscal Year began.
This provides a contracted raise based on
performance for the administrative assistant.
This supports two items. The first ($20,000)
is additional overtime pay required due to
the shortage of two officers (one from injury
and one from departure). The second is a
performance based raise for the chief of
police ($2,750).
This funds additional hours required in order
for the Assessor’s office to meet DOR
mandated requirements for a triennial
certification.
This buys a new combining machine that is
used throughout Town Hall.
$16,678.34 This replaces a Reserve Fund Transfer that
was required in October in order to replace
two boilers in the Library that unexpectedly
became unserviceable.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 2.
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
ARTICLE 3: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury, the sum of $329.69 to pay for Fiscal
Year 2010 unpaid bills. Said sum to be distributed as follows:
 To MHQ - $39.00
 To Municipal Management Association - $148.69
 To Milford Regional Hospital - $142.00
Discussion: Unpaid bills are bills from the previous fiscal year that did not arrive until
after the fiscal year close-out.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 3.
ARTICLE 5: Move that the Town vote to amend the Personnel By-Laws
and Salary Schedule for the FY2011 Salary Range as follows:
Position
Assistant Superintendent
Public Works
Administrative Assistant to
the Board of Selectmen
Finance Director
Call Firefighters
Call Fire Lieutenant
Council on Aging Director
Council on Aging Outreach
Worker
Old Min
$55,000
Old Max
$74,000
New Min
$55,000
New Max
$76,000
$30,000
$40,000
$30,000
$45,000
$70,000
$17.82
$18.54
$18.94
$19.34
$19.75
$20.89
$21.33
$21.78
$22.24
$35,000
$10/hr
$90,000
$70,000
$18.36
$19.10
$19.51
$19.92
$20.34
$21.52
$21.97
$22.43
$22.91
$40,000
$12/hr
$95,000
$50,000
$15/hr
$55,000
$17/hr
Discussion: These changes were principally initiated because employees currently in
the positions have reached or very nearly reached the top of the authorized salary
range, either due to longevity or contract. (In the case of the Finance Director, the Old
Max is below what her contract authorizes for the current fiscal year.) These
recommended changes were developed by the Personnel Board via surveys with
comparable surrounding communities. The salaries listed for the Call Firefighters are
steps based on longevity, so there is no range within a step.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 5.
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
ARTICLE 6A: Move that the Town vote to appropriate from unappropriated
funds in the treasury the sum of $340,000.00 to fund FY2011 Capital
Requirements. Said sum to be allocated as follows:
$44,500.00 for the Repair/ Replacement of the Wrentham Elementary Dry
Sprinkler System to be expended under the direction of the Wrentham
School Committee.
And the following to be expended under the direction of the Board of
Selectmen:
Requirement
Repair/Replace Fire Department Ladder Truck #1
Purchase Fire Department CPR Machines
Repair/Replace Department of Public Works Front
Loader #5
Purchase Recreation Department Mower
Cost
$100,000.00
$22,000.00
$160,000.00
$13,500.00
Discussion: The Capital Budget Planning Committee presented a prioritized listing of
requirements to the Finance Committee. The above listed items represent priorities #25 and #9. The number 1 priority was the Library Boilers which was addressed via a
Reserve Fund Transfer as discussed with Article 2.
The sprinkler system for the elementary school is a firefighting apparatus in the Delaney
School that was installed during building construction in 1997. Over the past five years
it has experienced three significant leaks, the most recent in January of this year. Each
leak has caused damage of between $4000 and $10,000. Fortunately none of the leaks
occurred during the school day. In March of this year the school began the process of
inspecting and evaluating the entire system. The inspection revealed significant
deficiencies that would likely lead to additional and potentially more damaging leaks.
The funding requested here will be augmented by $20,000.00 from the Wrentham
Elementary School Facility Use revolving account.
The next three items (ladder truck, CPR machines and front loader) all are items that
were deferred from previous years due to funding constraints. The ladder truck is 13
years old and the front loader is 17 years old. Both are at the end of their service life.
The CPR machines are critical life saving devices that provide consistent compression
that would otherwise become less efficient the longer an EMT would have to perform
CPR manually on the way to the hospital.
The Recreation Department mower was added to the recommendations even though it
has a lower priority then several non-recommended requirements. Our reasoning was
to add it because it is a relatively lower cost requirement that could fit into our funding
constraints where no other item could.
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
The funding of capital requirements is a significant challenge for the Town. We have
deferred many requirements particularly over the past two years. Last year, all of the
funding came from our Stabilization account. The CBPC has recently re-developed a
five year plan that requires on average approximately $1 million per year. This year we
are able to recommend as much as described here in large part due to the tax property
the Town auctioned off last year, the proceeds of which contributed approximately
$320,000 this year’s free cash account (unappropriated funds in the treasury). Based
on the five year plan developed by the CBPC and our current ability to support funding
for capital requirements, it will be critical to develop alternative funding strategies for
future years.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 6A.
ARTICLE 6B: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
Water Enterprise Retained Earnings Unreserved the sum of $120,000.00 to
fund capital requirements. Said sum to be allocated for the replacement of
Water Department Truck #22 and to be expended under the direction of the
Board of Selectmen.
Discussion: This motion is separated from the primary capital requirements motion
because it has a unique funding source. The Town’s recently established Water
Enterprise fund includes a source as enumerated in the motion that is similar to free
cash. This account exists for the funding of capital requirements directly related to the
Water Department. The Water Department Truck #22 is such a requirement and is the
number one capital requirement of the Water Department. It will replace a less effective
truck that is 11 years old.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 6B.
ARTICLE 7: Move that the Town vote to appropriate from unappropriated
funds in the treasury the sum of $48,094.00 to fund the Wrentham Police
Union Contract.
Discussion: As part of the terms of the newly negotiated Wrentham Police Union
contract, the union agreed to a 0% raise for FY 2011 if the education incentive was fully
funded. This article therefore is to fully fund the education incentive.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 7.
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
ARTICLE 8: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury the sum of $68,705.00 to fund the
staffing of two additional firefighters for the remaining weeks of the current
fiscal year, beginning January 1, 2011. Said sum to be distributed as
follows:
 To Fire Salary - $53,705.00
 To Insurance and Benefits - $15,000.00
Discussion: The Fire Department is seeking two additional firefighters to add to the
current force of 18 (including the Chief and Deputy). The current size of the force
means that an overtime replacement is required for every shift that becomes short due
to injury, vacation or other absence. It also causes significant limitations in the ability to
always man two ambulances. Adding two firefighters provides greater flexibility which in
turns reduces overtime and the associated increased risk to injury. It allows better
availability to man two ambulances, which benefits response time and potentially avoids
the increased costs of relying on ALS from other communities. (For clarification sake, it
is important to note that the addition of these two firemen does not provide staffing for
the Sheldonville Station. It is also important to note that while we recognize the
operational imperative for this request, the funding is provided by a non-recurring
source, which is not a viable long term solution. The approval of this request, coupled
with an approval of Article 9, will present significant funding challenges for next year’s
operating budget if the current fiscal environment prevails.)
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 8.
Article 9: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury the sum of $100,567.00 to fund the
staffing of two additional police officers for the remaining weeks of the
current fiscal year. Said sum to be distributed as follows:
 To Police Salary - $85,567.00
 To Insurance and Benefits - $15,000.00
Discussion: The Police Department is seeking two additional police officers to add to
the current funded force of 16. The additional officers would provide increased
coverage for the midnight and day shifts. It would also provide increased flexibility for
any shift that becomes short due to injury or leave, which currently remains short or is
filled by overtime. Most statistics cite the need for 20-22 officers for a town of our size
and coverage responsibilities. The two additional officers would bring the force to 18.
(As noted with Article 8, while we recognize the operational imperative for this request,
the funding is provided by a non-recurring source, which is not a viable long term
solution. The approval of this request, coupled with an approval of Article 8, will present
11
Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
significant funding challenges for next year’s operating budget if the current fiscal
environment prevails.)
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 9.
Article 10: Move that the Town vote to raise and appropriate the sum of
$26,000 to be allocated to Fire Department Salary to supplement injury
replacement.
Discussion: This funding request is predicated on a long term injury replacement
requirement that exceeds budget allocations.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 5.
Article 11: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury the sum of $2,851.33 for the
repayment of ALS to the Town of Norfolk.
Discussion: This is a funding requirement the Town incurs when ambulance calls must
be met by a neighboring community through the mutual aid agreement.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 5.
Article 12: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury the sum of $20,405.00 for repayment
of foam for the HAZMAT trailer used to extinguish a junk yard fire on Route
1A in February 2010. Said sum to be paid to the Executive Office of Public
Safety.
Discussion: In responding to the junk yard fire on Route 1A last February, a
Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) foam trailer belonging to the Commonwealth’s Office of
Public Safety was required to quell the blaze. The Town is currently obligated to
reimburse for the expenditure of the foam. It is possible that reimbursement may
eventually be provided, but at the current time it is not imminent.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 12.
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Recommendations of the Wrentham Finance Committee
Special Town Meeting, November 8, 2010
ARTICLE 13: Move that the Town vote to appropriate by transfer from
unappropriated funds in the treasury the sum of $5,400.00 to supplement
the municipal buildings insurance fund as defined by M.G.L. Chapter 40,
Section 13. Said sum to be expended under the direction of the Board of
Selectmen.
Discussion: This supplements an account that the Town endeavors to maintain
between $5000 and $10,000 in order to avoid incurrence of deductibles and to also
lower the Town’s premiums. The current balance has dropped below $5000 and this
will bring it back to $10,000.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to approve Article 13.
Article 14: Move that the Town vote to indefinitely postpone action on this
article.
Discussion: The contract for the Lake Pearl weed control is up for renewal. The
Finance Committee recommends indefinitely postponing this request until updated
funding requirements are available. It is expected that this will be addressed at the April
2011 Town Meeting.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to indefinitely postpone
Article 14.
ARTICLE 18: Move that the Town vote to indefinitely postpone action on
this article.
Discussion: This article seeks to add to the Town’s Stabilization account. However,
the Finance Committee does not believe that funding is available to provide for this at
this time.
The Finance Committee recommends that the Town vote to indefinitely postpone
Article 18.
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