Capital Planning Committee, Selectmen Concerned About Finances

It's an issue that has raised concerns in many communities, and it will continue to be a problem until the economy finally stabilizes. But at last night's Selectmen meeting finances was again a major talking point.

The chair of the Doug Marmon, explained to the board that there are things out there that the committee just can't fund. He informed selectmen that the new Vinson-Owen school, along with the potential of a high school feasibility plan as two areas that committee would be unable to afford.

Marmon's concern is that he feels the Capital Planning Committee, is, at times, overlooked in its recommendation. He stressed the importance of working together with the town, in order to make wise financial decisions.

"Last spring we spent a fair amount of free cash," Marmon said. "And capital thought that we really should hold off on some of that, so we really didn't put forward any projects, and as a result, we went hungry. And that's not going to happen again. We have to have some rules on how we're going to handle free cash because if we're going to spend the free cash it ought to be on one-time items, which we have a whole long list of."

Marmon went on to explain how the Building Stabilization fund and Capital fund could be used to benefit the town, but Selectmen Brian O'Connor explained to Marmon that the committee needs to come up with items they feel need to be purchased.

"That doesn't make sense," O'Connor said. "I don't have any numbers in front of me. For us to listen to your presentation we need to have data points before I sit down and look. We have to know what we're trying to aim at."

When O'Connor asked Marmon for the committee's priority of projects he informed the Board that they had not officially voted for anything yet. He explained that it would be easier over what would not make the cut, citing the Transfer Station as another example.

"If you say the Transfer Station's not going to make it I have to know what's going to make it," O'Connor said. "Then I have to weigh in and I have to think about it and come up with a reasonable conversation with my peers."

Marmon told the selectmen that in the committee's discussions, improvements have been talked about, but it's been very hard to make a decision.

"It's very difficult for us to vote because we don't know what to do with something like the high school feasibility study," Marmon said. "That's a lot of money, and we don't really want to do it because it east away out of a lot of other things. I don't know what the plan is (at the high school)."

He told the board the committee can't fund Vinson-Owen or the high school, and would prefer not to fund the feasibility study.

"Well, you have to make those decisions," O'Connor said. "You have to go a lot faster."

The Selectmen Chairman Jim Johnson explained to O'Connor that the committee can't go faster. There are a lot of steps in the process and fact-checking that needs to be done before any decisions can be made. O'Connor still urged the committee to make some decisions.

"This is nuts," O'Connor said. "You have to make some decisions."

The board and Marmon agreed that the Capital Planning Committee will make the decisions based on the money they currently have and will report back to the board.