September 15,
2005
1:00 p.m.
FINAL VERSION
Members Absent: Matthew
Clark, Tom Thurston, and Robert Vetrick.
(all
of the above were excused absences)
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m.
Agenda
Review of minutes
Motion: The minutes will be reviewed at the end of
the agenda.
Motion by Sue Buerkel Seconded by Alice Foley Vote 5-0-0.
(Gary Delius abstained.)
Discussion with Town Manager
& Town Accountant:
Wastewater fund and Waste
water enterprise updates
A
detailed memo dated September 15th was handed out to the FinCom
members and discussed. For fiscal 2006
the Town will be taking in only $459,984 in the WWEF and not the $903,818 which
had been projected. Based on these
revised projections for FY 2006, the Wastewater Enterprise Fund shortfall next
year will be $377,817.
Keith
continued by saying that the assessments will go out on a timely basis and the
Town should realize a full betterment.
The billing for the sewer betterment didn’t occur on every bill – just on
the spring bill. We still had a lot
($286K) not collected last year on about $400K worth of betterments. Also the red-dot delays are being actively
pursued.
Keith
Bergman apologized profusely for the discrepancies and felt that the
responsibility was his alone but a lot of the fault could be timing and
departmental transitions, i.e., Bruce Miller left and Alex Heilala came on
board.
The
Board of Selectmen (BoS) is looking at
establishing a minimum sewerage fee.
(Some folks don’t pay a cent during the winter season.) KAB estimates that about $68K can be raised
by the minimum fee. If the BoS and the
Water &Sewer Board approves the minimum bill then we’ll be able to break
even this year. Prospec-tively – for
the long term - the key to financial security is additional hook-ups. That’s
why we went back to the red dot properties.
The sewer connection rate is going up – as of today. This has resurrected ill feelings and the
DEP is allowing us to revisit the rulings.
The DEP asked us to take another look.
We’ll discuss this later and do an analysis. Blackmail of a sort is thought to be the key to motivate the red
dot delays – or tell them they may have to stand in line in the future. So – maybe – a property would have the
ability to hook-up at a later date. The
BoS feels the allocation of this gallonage will be the prod needed to force
red-dots to hook up. David Guertin also
said to make them aware that the restaurants may have to lose seats should they
opt to stand pat. Also – only the
initial hook-ups were the people who could qualify for interest-free
loans. The proverbial carrot would be
that the large users might not have to pay the interest at 4% that the Town has
to pay.
Gary
Delius asked, “Do we know what that cost would be?” KAB said that the money to cover the loan would come from the
people who hook up later. David Guertin
said that we’re using the blended rate to get an approximate figure. Keith explained further that you divide your
total based on the end of the loan. If
you hook up at year 3, you have to pay the amount over a 17 year period,
etc.
David
Guertin said that there has been a lot of concern about the beach side of
Commercial St. – There is less and less
tolerance for the red dots and the BoH will eventually force this. If a red dot delay is a cesspool, then the
DEP may force these people to hook up.
All these decisions are based on the DEP and their findings since the DEP
has to determine that we have excess capabilities.
KAB
thought that once we complete phase 1 then we would have to add to accommodate
the system. David Guertin said that the system was over designed. There is massive extra capacity for our
treatment plant – some leaching beds have yet to be used. We are 180 degrees away from where we were
last winter. It was also thought that
maybe by next year Shankpainter Road will be included with the Cumberland Farms
site for affordable housing as well as Chuck Silva’s laundromat. Hopefully this will all gain fruition by
next year. At the fall town meeting the
town may ask for an additional 1 to 2 M dollars for sewer extension. The sewer is commanding the full time
attention of the Town.
Until
we resolve collection capacities and the dynamics of the flow problems, David
Guertin said this is conjecture. The
phase 2 (or whatever it will be called) is predicted to be a non-vacuum system
and new connections will be higher priced.
Dana Faris said that every red-dot owner of property had received a
certified letter informing them of the Water & Sewer Board meeting that
took place a few weeks ago. Mark Leach
said he’s a red-dot home-owner and he has received no such letter. He further felt that the messages from the
Town have been ambiguous and confusing.
David Guertin countered by saying that the BoS Monday night meeting will
set all the matters straight. KAB said
that – further - if a red dot delay property sells then it must hook up right
away (prior to closing).
Ed
Gage asked why some people have been forced to put in a title 5; Grand Union
was a case in point? The A&P even
wanted to put in the sewer pipe on Shankpainter. David said it was a timing issue.
Sue
Buerkel asked about the minimum bill proposal that is under consideration - is
it tied to the flow? The answer was
yes, i.e., an empty restaurant will pay a higher rate than a residential
property. Lowest bill would be
$75. Year round residents will not be
impacted.
Walt
Winnowski said that the direction presented today is a lot easier to understand
and seems more equitable. KAB said it
is the accounting issue and the information that we didn’t have as of June 30th. This was the explanation on why the figures
were different. Books didn’t get closed
until one accountant left and the transition was the problem. When he & Alex sat down with the auditor
– expenses were charged to the general fund and not to the enterprise
fund. That’s why there was a
mistake. Also our estimates were based
on having data and we didn’t have the right information. The error, even though Keith takes the
responsibility for it, was due to turnover; he’s pleased with the team that he
has currently in place. Back in January
and February we weren’t ready to deal with the red-dot delay issues. We were in limbo as far as DEP is
concerned. He regrets the
circumstances.
Ruth
Gilbert said that the minute the information gets out there – we, the FinCom
get hit with a credibility issue. KAB
gave accolades to the FinCom, and truly appreciates the time and effort that
they have expended. There was about a
month’s delay in the information and then the publicity about it. Keith apologized time and time again.
Ruth
wondered if it would make sense to offer some kind of incentive to have the
people pay their sewer loans earlier than they have to? KAB said that the Town borrowed $14M and
only has to pay back $12M so it wouldn’t be meaningful for the Town.
Water Enterprise Fund
David
Guertin said the balance is used to fund future projects. David said that we’ve met with the Truro and discussed the permitting of north
Union Field. David wants to get off the
knife-edge of monitoring pumping. This
gives us additional clout; we have 5 years to use old Air Force base water
while Union Field is being developed.
He’s meeting with the DEP on Monday to discuss the development of North
Union Field. He expects approval on
Monday to all predicated issues of site control – purchase, lease, or
whatever. Truro wants to lease it to
us. South Hollow has 800K gal/day so
this could be our redundant source.
Gary
Palmer was interested in having a fly-over and both towns could benefit
from a fly-over and the digitalization
will be available next week. It allows
us to have a dialogue and this sets the tone for future discussions.
Ruth
wants this fund to continue to be healthy and doesn’t want to see this fund
accessed in any other way for any other reason. KAB agreed saying it’s our shining example. (Water Enterprise Fund)
Gary
Delius who works for Truro said it’s merely a matter of miscommunication. We will be doing a lot of things together
and it behooves us to communicate with them on the Water Enterprise Fund. David agreed saying that the dynamics are
changing. KAB said that the water
pressure issue is now being addressed.
Impact of Changes of Use on Room Tax Revenues and Property Tax Levy Limit
Paul Gavin, our Assessor, presented a great deal of information to the FinCom.
Parking
revenues are down $64K as well as other businesses across the board. Paul said that we are one of the fastest growing
condo centers in the state and for 2005 alone we had 24 condo-conversions.
Ruth
Gilbert said, speaking as a real estate broker, that there’s a glut of condos
on the market. She said in the past
that she could encourage buyers to purchase because in the near future the
condo they liked might not be there another day. But now, there are many hanging on the market for longer than
usual and it has become a buyer’s market.
KAB
said that the Economic Development Group is seriously looking at the foundation
of our economy and looking at what we can do to improve the situation. They are looking at growth management bylaws
in order to allow more flow from old restaurants, etc. to be captured for new
happenings.
Ruth
said to Paul that she feels his estimates are very low. Paul said that all of these conversions will
help the town. Boatslip, for example,
will go for $1.5M or $1.6M per unit.
These charts are only what-ifs and these are going to be
multi-phased. Gary wondered if this
extra capacity will be able to keep us out of prop 2½? KAB said that we will have to have budget
crunches to avoid 2½.
KAB
also talked about all the fees going up and that the increases have been
received well – so far.
Mark
Leach – referring to the Boatslip – said that one thing you have to keep in
mind. “The impact of 200 gay boys not
coming down here any more. No tea
dance; how will that impact the economy?”
Paul
said that if these units are converted to homes then many people will not be
going out to eat any more. Ruth said
that she had seen all the coolers coming in to condos this summer translating
to more people eating in.
KAB
said that the FinCom and he are going to need to get back together before the
fall town meeting. Some of the issues
are: 1) making a plea for grants. 2) lease agreement with the Pier Corporation
and the issue of the fishermen (mostly commercial fishing.) It now costs $350K/yr to subsidize the Pier
Corporation because of the overall lack
of fishing. That’s one of our biggest
challenges. Barnstable qualified last
year for a grant taking these fishing issues into consideration under two
categories. “If you don’t ask you don’t
get.”
The
Annex sale is coming back before the voters and we’re adding some more square
footage. He thinks the School Committee
will want to bring back an additional request for a loan extension. Great news is that - in the Standard and
Poors report - we have maintained our A+ rating. It’s in the 3s.
KAB
regarding the CPC projects said that they will probably be postponing this for
the April 2006 town meeting. At that
point the Economic Development Council will be established along with the
Zoning By-law. KAB told them they could
probably get money from the VSB. KAB
will probably have to move some money around.
The November Town meeting will be mainly to do the sewer and balance the
budget. There are still a lot of issues
that involve the schools.
NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD ON:
THURSDAY -
OCTOBER 20TH AT 1:00 P.M.
The meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano
Approved by ____________________________on
______________, 2005
Ruth Gilbert, Chair