First it was annual town meeting in 2013, town meeting voted to move Templeton to a town administrator and then in 2014 annual town meeting, the voters spoke again with article #20

CHANGE TO THE TOWN BUDGET PROCESS

To see if the Town will vote to change Article IV “Advisory Committee,” Section 4 of the Town By-Laws to read:

“It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.”; or take any other action relative thereto. Submitted by the Board of Selectmen

On a substitute motion duly made and seconded the Town voted that Article III “Town Officers“ of the Town By-laws be herby amended:

4. “It shall be duty of the Town Administrator in conjunction with the BOS to consider expenditures and develop a budget for the ensuing fiscal year of the several boards, officers and committees of the town, as prepared by them in such form and detail as prescribed by the Town Administrator.”

Passed Unanimously/May 19th @ 8:38pm

This is when town meeting voted to have a town administrator with the board of selectmen put together the budget rather than the advisory committee. The role of the advisory committee was changed by a town meeting vote!

AB Comments:

The Advisory Board fully supports a change to the town budget process, however, the wording and placement of this suggested by-law change ( replacing an article that deals with the

Advisory Board with text that relates strictly to the BOS and Town Administrator) does not seem to make sense and therefore the Advisory Board cannot support the article.

"The advisory committee states they fully support a change to the budget process but not the original warrant article; hence the substitute motion and passage of said motion and the resulting change to the budget process.

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Comment

 The annual budget is a community's primary policy statement and establishes the priorities of government. The most effective budget process follows a formal calendar that begins in the fall of each year with revenue and expenditure projections, also known as a financial forecast. Moving forward, major milestones in the process often include these components:

 ▪ A joint meeting of the selectmen, finance committee, and school committee to review revenue projections and reach consensus on overall expenditure levels, use of reserves, and allocation of resources generally 

▪ Distribution of budget guidelines to department managers so they can begin to prepare their appropriation requests 

▪ Deadlines for submission of departmental appropriation requests and for preparation of a working, or draft, budget document 

▪ Completion of meetings with department managers to review requests 

▪ Adjustments to revenue projections 

▪ Formulation of the initial budget recommendation by the town manager/administrator, finance director, or finance committee (depending on government structure) 

▪ Budget approval by the board of selectmen in its capacity as the town’s chief policymaker 

 ▪ Budget review by the finance committee with a deadline to ensure the printing and distribution of the town meeting warrant in sufficient time for town meeting members and residents 

These steps all culminate in the presentation of an annual budget recommendation to town meeting. Throughout the process, decision makers should recognize and adhere to formal financial policies, such as those guiding the use of free cash and stabilization reserve funds and establishing debt levels. 

The budget’s layout or format should be carefully considered since it tells town meeting the level of detail being voted on. It reflects a decision on the degree of management flexibility the town chooses to give department heads because it allows or restricts their ability to transfer money between budget line items without town meeting approval.

 Finally, the budget adopted by town meeting should be closely monitored throughout the year. This involves reviewing financial data to verify that expenditures are consistent with town meeting votes, line items are not overspent, and receipts are tracking in line with expected results. Monitoring actual performance against the original budget can reveal problems early and give policymakers and managers time to take corrective actions to avoid potential deficits.

This is from the MA division of local services, January 2020 on annual budget process in towns.

 An opportunity for Templeton Advisory Committee to return to it's "Glory Days."

Another example from a report to Town Meeting from an Advisory Committee, again, a town with a town administrator.

The recommended operating budget (article 5) for FY2022 is $23,662,176. This is an increase of $633,807

(2.8%) over the FY2021 operating budget. The increase is due to several factors which include:

• An increase of $147,000 in “Schools” is due mainly to an increase in the town’s portion of the Monty Tech Assessment due primarily to an increase of thirteen (13) additional Westminster students

attending the school.

• An increase of $76,655 in “Retirement and Pensions”, a 7.8% increase over last year, due to an increase in the Actuarial Accrued Liability.

• A net increase of $161,690 in “Fire”/”Ambulance” which is a 4.9% increase over FY21, due to the promotion of two privates to Lieutenant and increased call volume. A portion of this expense will be offset by Ambulance receipts (Refer to article 5).

• An increase of $77,592 in “Police/Dispatch”, which is a 3.6% increase over FY21; this net increase is due to contractual salary increases as well as an increase for the creation of a new full time School Resource Officer position. The majority of the new full time position cost was offset by planned overtime expense which would have been incurred absent the new position.

Also included in this town's advisory committee report is an explanation of the effect on tax rate with every increase of 100 thousand spent.

This is just another example of an advisory committee doing it's job. Templeton town meeting gives advisory committee two opportunities to speak to town meeting which would allow advisory to do some thing for the town residents besides bitch about the selectmen and administrator. First, advisory could do something really constructive and bring a well written informative report to town meeting, explaining some of the warrant articles, especially ones involving dollar figures. Second opportunity is to bring a report of the committee, under the consent agenda, perhaps inform town meeting what they have looked at regarding town budget, process, procedures, state school funding, etc. Taking this approach could get people to follow and want to be part of the advisory committee. It could most certainly help out those who attend town meeting and after all, that is their true mission, according to their own handbook put out by the association of town finance committees.