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ALG SECRETS REVEALED
The Acton Leadership Group (ALG) is a non-chartered group in Acton made up of 10 members, 4 of whom are staff. There are 4 school committee reps (2 staff), 4 municipal town reps (2 staff) and 2 Finance Committee reps.
This group typically meets at 7:30 am in Town Hall. There is rarely any audience present, other than a few other board members.
Many would be surprised that while this group doesn't take votes, it ends up making many decisions that affect Acton. For example, the three-year plan printed in the town warrant was approved by the ALG.
An earlier version of this plan was made available at town meeting last April. Board members have repeatedly argued that calling another town meeting to discuss budget issues is wasteful since "the plan was approved by voters at Town Meeting." Of course, there is no vote or motion referenced because no such vote ever took place.
Luckily, although the ALG meetings are not televised, very detailed minutes are typically taken. These minutes do not appear on the town of Acton website. We went to the town clerk's office and managed to get them. Most were not provided electronically so we have retyped minutes that are relevant to the current issues. Headlines appear below. If you'd like to read excerpts from them, there is a link at the bottom of the page.
QUESTION: "Do you consider free cash recurring revenue?"
ANSWER: "Yes. The $1.2 mill used may not regenerate at that amount, but it will regenerate."
ALSO: "Free cash is a recurring source of revenue."
"Should consider override in next 2 years (FY10 or FY11) Don't have funds to sustain long term."
"Very nervous about plan that goes outside of 2 1/2 after a year or two. Citizens will have questions. We can't count on getting the votes for an override."
"Our projects are too big now, too onerous to stick inside 2 1/2."
"There is a high probability that we will be going outside 2.5."
"Concerned about the precedent we're setting."
"Within the next 12-24 months we will need a debt exclusion override...."
"We ought to go outside 2 1/2 sooner rather than later. Need to tell voters to plan on override."
"the 3 year lookout update shows we can still balance at increases assumed with $2.5M in reserves in FY11...."
Read Excerpts from the ALG Minutes HERE
If you want to read how our leaders are misinterpreting the Massachusetts Department of Revenue recommendations, CLICK HERE. The DOR recommends maintaining reserves at 3-5% of operating budgets, establishing a reserve use policy, and not using reserves for recurring (operating) expenses
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