2006 - Town of Longmeadow

To the Honorable Select Board:
CAPITAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Capital Planning Committee met September 2005 through February 2006 and considered requests for capital
expenditures during fiscal year 2007. Forty-eight capital requests totaling $1,345,190 were considered. Of these
requests, 20 requests totaling $365,630 were from the School Department.
Because the payments for the public safety complex are still coming from the capital stabilization fund, the
committee was again scheduled to have only $360,000 available for capital appropriation rather than the $800,000
that represents the full 2% of tax revenue that is allocated to the capital stabilization fund. This reduced capital
availability has been severely restricting the town’s ability to provide needed capital items. Beginning in FY06,
working in conjunction with the town accountant and the finance committee, the Capital Planning Committee began
the process of “borrowing forward” funds from future years. As a result of this “borrow forward” program, the
Capital Planning Committee was authorized to fund projects totaling $510,980 from the capital stabilization fund.
These FY07 capital expenditure considerations were the first conducted under the consolidated town management
organization authorized by the revised town charter. Therefore, in addition to recommending the appropriation of
funds from the capital stabilization fund, the committee also reviewed requests for funding from three other sources:
water stabilization fund, sewer stabilization fund, and the ambulance fund. The committee reviewed and prioritized
all capital requests irrespective of their potential funding source, and then recommended appropriate and available
funding sources to the limit of available funds in the capital stabilization fund ($510,980). As a result of this
prioritization process and additional funding sources, the committee was able to recommend capital expenditure for
twenty three (23) items totaling $1,055,265.
The table on the next page is the prioritized list of the capital appropriation recommendations for FY 2007. These
recommended appropriations were endorsed by the Select Board and the Finance Committee. These recommended
expenditures were presented at the May, 2006 town meeting and the requested amounts were approved by the
voters.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Gold, Chair Person
Nicholas Katsoulis
Roger Wojcik
Roger Cloutman
Stephen R. Gelling
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