While the Town of Mattapoisett was awaiting a financial reckoning from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue in the form of free-cash certification, the Select Board met on October 22 to give the November 8 Special Town Meeting warrant a final once-over and their signatures.
When it got to the matter of free cash, that uncertified number, the board was very pleased with the $2,000,000 estimate floated by Town Administrator Mike Lorenco. As he had previously noted, a combination of reduced spending, federal CARES Act money and underestimated revenue pushed the free-cash dollars to an all-time high.
Lorenco explained that “free cash” isn’t really free but is a term used to describe funds collected but not allocated by the town. The warrant articles, he said, are primarily for the appropriation of some of that “free cash” to keep the town in balance with DOR rules for the amount Mattapoisett must appropriate but also to pump up stability funds for future expenditures.
“The DOR doesn’t want you taxing residents and then have the money just sitting there.… We can’t save it all,” he said. “Ten-percent can be carried over but has to be spent eventually.”
Board member Tyler Macallister said that by placing money in stability funds the town avoids “peaks and valleys” in revenue and in expenditures.
Removed from the original draft were two Water Department articles that would have asked Town Meeting to reallocate savings from previously approved Enterprise Fund projects to other projects. A new Article 11 for the Sewer Enterprise Fund in the sum of $180,000 from retained earnings to be used to pay the additional costs of treatment of sewer effluent with the Town of Fairhaven was added.
The warrant now contains 11 articles as follows: Article 1, Appropriation to Reduce OPEB Liability $100,000; Article 2, Appropriation to Debt Stabilization Fund $150,000; Article 3, Appropriation to Capital Stabilization Fund $150,000; Article 4, Cyclical Annual Property Revaluation and Town Mapping $36,000; Article 5, Amendment to FY22 Annual Budget, $30,000 for Finance Committee Reserve Fund and $27,000 for part-time staffing in the Accounting Department; Article 6, Supplemental Funding Fiscal Year 2022, $35,000 for Employee Benefits Accrued Liability Funding, $15,000 Employee Benefits Education Incentive, $50,000 Town Buildings and Grounds Repairs, and $7,000 for Elections and Town Meetings; Article 7, Capital Improvement Project Funding, $650,000 for a new fire engine, $40,000 for Transfer Station Loader repairs, and $70,000 to purchase a new Ford 550 truck; Article 8, Grant Matching Funding $50,000; Article 9, Amend and Restate the Regional Agreement of the Old Rochester Regional School District; Article 10, Approve Establishment of Stabilization Fund by Old Rochester Regional School District; and the aforementioned Article 11.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, November 16, at 6:30 pm.
Mattapoisett Select Board
By Marilou Newell