Memorandum at State of the Town
GOAL
The overarching goal of the State of the Town (SoT) is to align on a comprehensive fiscal plan that can guide the Town broadly across a range of areas. To that end, the effort should end with the following four outputs:
- Strategic Roadmap for Town’s Finances (10 pages)
- Reports from Working Groups (3-4 pages each, total 25 pages)
- Financial Model and Recommended Operating and Capital Override Figure
- FACTS Report (100 pages)
To deliver those outputs, this memo outlines our thinking on the organization, timeline, and key questions the committee would address, as well as on the FACTS effort:
1. Organization and Process
- Leadership for the overall committee and each working group
- Composition
- Internal structure for overall committee and each working group
- Cadence of meetings at the SoT level and working group level
2. Key Areas of Inquiry
Principal areas of inquiry / analysis that will be pursued
- Working groups:
- Town and School Operating Needs
- Capital Needs and Asset Strategy
- Non-Levy Revenue and Structural Costs & Efficiencies
- Tax Design and Fiscal Stewardship
3. FACTS 2025 (Financial Advisory Committee to the Select Board)
- Creation of committee / profiles
- Key questions to answer
4. Timeline [See Schedule below.]
ORGANIZATION AND PROCESS
Designation
- Formally organized as a working group of the Select Board, with all meetings fully noticed Select Board meetings so all members can attend
Leadership and Internal Structure
Chair and Vice Chair drawn from Select Board ranks
- Chair — call the meetings, keep the overall schedule / workplace, check in with working groups between meetings and hold the “master” copy of the WIP roadmap
- Vice Chair — liaise with other Town bodies, Town Meeting, and develop strategy to communicate the findings
Committee to designate a Lead or co-Leads for each working group, which will be where most of the work takes place; working groups would be:
- Town and School Operating Needs
- Capital Needs and Asset Strategy
- Non-Levy Revenue and Structural Costs & Efficiencies
- Tax Design and Fiscal Stewardship
Note: Chair and Vice Chair can also lead working groups
With about 12 members overall, each member should try to be on two working groups (allowing for each working group to have 6 members, though some will have more and some will have fewer)
Composition and Participation
- 5 members of Select Board
- 2 designees from School Committee
- 1 member from Planning Board
- 3 members from Finance Committee
- 2 members from Capital Planning Committee at-large members
- 3 general residents to be appointed by the Select Board
- Town Manager and Town Comptroller
- Superintendent and Director of Finance and Operations
Cadence of Meetings
- Committee meetings should occur every other week (alternative to SB meetings) at a regular time, ideally first thing on Friday mornings with meetings to last 60 minutes. Meetings should be held live at Town Hall
- At the start and toward the end, more frequent meetings (weekly) will likely be needed.
- In between meetings, each Working Group should set its calendar of check-ins to advance their thinking and analysis
- Each group can determine its own cadence, but should likely be meeting once every two weeks or once every week; the working groups are ideally kept sub-quorum to allow flexibility on meeting times.
Key Areas of Inquiry
- Operating Needs
- Schools resourcing: Recurring and one-time, comparisons to peer Towns including review of per pupil methodology
- Town resourcing: DPW, Fire, Police, and other Town needs (e.g., eGov / IT, GIS, Capital Delivery, Comms, etc.)
- Growth Targets for staff compensation inclusive of fringe benefits
- Articulation and / or development of operating metrics and outcomes by responsible policy bodies (SC for Schools, SB for Town) as part of a participatory budgeting framework
- Capital Needs and Asset Strategy
- CSF and BSF capacity alongside medium-term debt maturity schedules (i.e., with maturation of Ambrose-era debt) and strategy on a debt exclusion for specific capital projects versus general capital override (i.e., adding to CSF / BSF)
- Coordination and availability of capital with CPA / WCPC
- Special taxing districts for corridor capital projects (e.g., BID for CBD sidewalks)
- Public private partnerships especially for public-facing assets (e.g., Library, Packer-Ellis, Friends of WinRec, etc.)
- Non-Levy Revenue
- Transfer station income (commercial rates / regional utilization, Pay-As-You-Throw, and construction debris, etc.)
- Growth from new developments–those in the pipeline and future opportunities (e.g., objectives for certain types of housing production)
- Fees and other sources of income (e.g., water & sewer rates, etc.)
- Structural Costs and Efficiencies
- Utilization of School and Town assets, near-term and long-term (e.g., Mystic School, Parkhurst, Transfer Station, DPW land, Carriage House, etc.)
- Regional coordination for Town services (e.g., joint procurement, increasing use of mutual aid for public safety, etc.)
- Maintenance contracts / use of warranties, particularly for new assets
- Retiree healthcare cost sharing and participation in GIC, coordination with Medicare and use of Medigap plans, and OPEB management
- Tax Design
- Review of senior-focused programs and marketing / education, including: circuit breaker, senior tax exemption, and property tax deferral program
- Review of tax exemption ($100k), options for moving the amount one time and in the future, and legal issues / process under the MMA / need for a home rule petition
- Fiscal Stewardship
- Maintenance of AAA credit rating and discussion of rating agency coverage
- Free cash / operating reserve policy
- Long-term liabilities: bonded debt (and bonding policy), PERAC, OPEB, etc.
- Availability of PERAC funds net of OPEB post 2027 based on an actuarially designed OPEB paydown for addition to CSF / BSF
- Investment management with PRIM / state programs versus in-house for OPEB
FACTS 2025 (Financial Advisory Committee to the Select Board)
Committee Creation / Profiles
- Individuals with research / analytical backgrounds but not holding Town office (apart from Town Meeting)
- Individuals without significant known perspectives on major town political issues (i.e., focusing on objectivity in fact gathering)
- Individuals able to devote significant time to the effort
Key Questions to Answer
Profile of Winchester
Information on Town
- Demographic and economic variables
- Quality of Town and school services
- Fiscal condition and outlook
Identification and benchmarking against peer towns
- Demographic peers (including with regard to WPS)
- Approach to finances
Key threats / risk facing the Town
Best Practices from Other Towns
- Town operations, including better use of data
- Budget / financial management and processes
- Technology and communications
Economic Projections and Recommendations
- Status quo approach
- Ideas for reducing expenses and / or long-term liabilities
- Ideas for generating revenue
Link to SCHEDULE
