Caliento reports on state of town's finances
Date: 9/25/2012
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comEAST LONGMEADOW — Addressing questions he has received recently about the town's financial stability in the wake of the recent voter registration fraud investigation, Town Accountant Thomas Caliento recently told the Board of Selectmen that the town's fiscal situation is strong.
"It seems everywhere I go I am constantly asked how we are doing, how are our finances, has [voter fraud] shaken you?" he said. "The answer is no ... It has added some extra work to [Town Clerk Thomas] Florence's area, obviously, because of the follow-up work he needs to do, but after discussions with other department heads, there are a lot of good things going on that I think we should talk about."
Caliento told the board that as of the closing of fiscal year 2012 [FY12] on June 30, the town had approximately $500,000 in general fund surplus monies, which will go to free cash.
"That is generally the range of the surplus that we do close with every year. It's usually between $300,000 and $500,000," he said.
Caliento added that in the current fiscal year, the town expected to receive $351,000 more in state aid than was budgeted for and that money would also flow into free cash for next year.
The town also recently received $320,000 in state grants as reimbursement for a mandated expenditure on new radios for the Fire Department. Retired Fire Chief Richard Brady applied for the grant and announced on March 27 that the town has been selected to receive it.
"[Fire Chief] Paul [Morrissette] just put the final numbers in and that $320,000 will hit general fund revenues," Caliento said.
Caliento also lauded the town for its move to quarterly tax billing, stating that the first quarterly billing cycle went "successfully."
"Because of that, we received almost $7 million for July, August and September," he said, adding that the move to quarterly billing offers "significantly better cash flow and significantly better opportunities to earn money on the net result of that $7 million."
Caliento stated that he learned through recent talks with Department of Public Works Special Project Manager Sean Kelley that the town is expecting to receive close to the maximum possible federal reimbursement on $926,000 in direct expenditures related to the Oct. 29, 2011 Nor'easter.
"The state will be kicking in some, so in addition to the $926,000, we may recover more from the state," he said. "Right now, I'm not sure. We'll know soon, I think."
The recent moving of town retirees to Medicare will also allow for increased financial stability, Caliento added.
"As everyone knows, health insurance costs in the country are doubling and in some cases tripling, however, because of the action taken moving eligible retirees to Medicare, it is going to significantly stabilize our costs in FY13 and going forward," he said. "It was, as I look back and start analyzing the numbers, a very, very good move. We will not see double digit increases in health insurance costs increases. In fact, we could see as low as 3 to 5 percent."
