2009 Annual Report.pdf - Town of Milton

Under Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed budget, State aid to Milton will
decrease from $9,880,660 in FY09 to $9,109,470 in FY10, a decrease of
$771,990. However, included in the Governor’s proposed budget is $454,380
of revenue from increased hotel and meals taxes that will be passed through to
cities and towns. This is legislation that has not yet been enacted. We believe
that there is a reasonably good chance that this legislation will not be passed.
We have not included the increased hotel and meals tax monies in our revenue
projections. Accordingly we are projecting that State aid will decrease by
$1,226,370. Chapter 70 aid for education is proposed at the same amount as it
was in FY09. Lottery and additional assistance line items in the State’s FY09
budget have been replaced with a line item called general assistance. Those line
items have decreased by $751,984. Generally by this time we have the House’s
version of the budget. However as of this writing the Governor’s proposal is the
only one that has been published.
Under the category of other available funds are cemetery perpetual care
fund and burial right accounts. These funds are earmarked for the Cemetery
budget. In past years this category has included grant funds from the Copeland
Foundation known as the Hillside Fund that was earmarked for specific items
in the School budget, free cash, overlay reserves and other onetime revenue
sources. Estimated Cemetery perpetual care funds are significantly less than
the FY09 amount because of reductions in interest rates. There will be no free
cash or overlay reserve funds available for the FY10 budget. The Town has approximately
$370,000 of free cash and $102,000 of overlay reserve. Neither of
these reserves are available for the FY10 budget. $100,000 of free cash will be
used to rebalance the FY09 budget that is out of balance as a result of the Governor’s
midyear cuts in FY09 local aid. The balance of the free cash and the
overlay reserve will be used to fund the almost $600,000 snow and ice deficit
for FY09. FY09 was the last year of the Hillside Fund grant.
Estimated revenue from FY09 to FY10 without an override will decrease
by approximately $440,343. With the recommended override, there would be
an increase in estimated revenue of approximately $2,935,761 or 4.03%.
B. Expenditures
Table 10 summarizes the amounts that the departments requested and that
the Warrant Committee recommends (in the contingent budget) for FY10. Additionally,
the table inside the front cover of this Warrant compares the recommended
FY10 contingent appropriations to the FY09 appropriations.
Significant expenditures are described below.
The cost of group health insurance will increase by approximately 4.24%,
which is slightly steeper than last year. This will mark the second year in a row
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