Committee Report - Finance - 6-5-12 — File 193407

June 5, 2012 Finance Committee Page 1 of 2 Printed 6/19/2012 REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Maryann M. Heuston Chair Present William A. White Jr. Vice Chair Present John M Connolly Alderman At Large Present Robert C. Trane Ward Seven Alderman Present Thomas F. Taylor Ward Three Alderman Present William M. Roche Ward One Alderman Present Tony Lafuente Ward Four Alderman Present Sean T. O’Donovan Ward Five Alderman Present Rebekah L. Gewirtz Ward Six Alderman Present Bruce M. Desmond Alderman At Large Present Dennis M. Sullivan Alderman At Large Present Joseph Curtatone Mayor Present Jay Weaver Director of Veterans Services Present Daniel Hadley Director, SomerStat Present Nicolas Salerno Election Commissioner Present Thomas Pasquarello Chief of Police Present Kevin Kelleher Chief Fire Engineer Present The following Aldermen were recused from all discussions of the departments below, as noted: Alderman Roche Police, Constituent Services, DPW - Sanitation Alderman Heuston DPW - Administration Alderman Taylor Animal Control Alderman O’Donovan Fire, Capital Planning Alderman Trane School Department Alderman Desmond: Information Technology Alderman Sullivan Traffic and Parking FY-13 City Budget The committee began the process of reviewing the city’s FY-13 budget, which was presented to the Board of Aldermen earlier this evening by Mayor Curtatone. The request being submitted for the General Fund Appropriation is $171,726,330, which represents an increase of 1.2% FY- 12. The proposed budget for the School Department has been increased 6.1% to $52,545,257and consumes 28% of the total city budget. Projecting an increase of 500 students over the next ten

Committee of the Whole June 5, 2012 Finance Committee Page 2 of 2 Printed 6/19/2012 years, the city is making an investment in youth through multiple initiatives across several departments, among them Recreation and Youth, Schools and Libraries. State aid, when combined with state assessments, leaves the city with a net loss, however, through effective financial management, Somerville continues to lead the way by spending the least amount per capita of any city in the state. Residential property values have held steady while those of surrounding communities have decreased. $1 million will be added to the Rainy Day Stabilization fund, bringing that total to $3.8 million. By switching to the GIC program, the city was able to realize a cost containment of $9 million, essentially reducing the amount of the health care cost increase to 1.43%. The budget requests for the following departments were reviewed at this meeting:  Executive Office  Capital Planning  Veterans Services  Elections  SomerStat The following requests were made by the committee:  formal job descriptions for the positions of Capital Projects Director and Project Manager, (Ald. White & Gewirtz)  quantified data of how SomerStat has improved city departments, (Ald. Connolly)  statistics on the various activities of the Veterans Services Department, (Ald. Gewirtz)  that the current goals of the Veterans Services Department be added to the FY-13 Budget book as an addendum, (Ald. Connolly)