A look back at fiscal 1999
Published on September 15th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The books were closed on fiscal year 1999 two and a half months ago, and on Monday night, the Finance Board got a good look at the bottom line with a presentation from Town Accountant Ron Florino.
"I think it was a very good year...Any year you're looking at free cash at over a million dollars, it's a very good year," Florino said.
In FY99, revenues beat projections by $1.7 million, with the biggest surplus in the excise and property tax accounts.
Florino explained that FY99 property tax collections surpassed projections by $366,000 and outdid FY98 by $722,000 with a larger percentage of taxpayers paying their bills on time in FY99.
Likewise, excise taxes exceeded projections by nearly a half a million dollars ($476,000) and FY98 by about $100,000.
Another big revenue generator was the interest earned on the town's investments. Florino explained that the $274,000 of interest earned in FY99 was due to the town's very strong cash position.
$104,000 of unanticipated Medicaid reimbursements to the schools also boosted FY99 revenues as a result of state regulations effective during the year. This reimbursement has been figured into the FY2000 budget.
Actual revenue from building permits topped projections for the year by $95,000. That figure also beat last year's by about $100,000.
Deficits occurred in the water and sewer accounts by $214,000 and $289,000 respectively, primarily due to Boston Regional Medical Center's nonpayment of bills, Florino said. The bankrupt hospital's total outstanding charges for water and sewer now approximate $600,000.
These revenue deficits, however, were offset by budget turnbacks and dipping into the surplus accounts. As a result of covering the revenue shortfall, the sewer surplus account has been reduced to $84,000. The water surplus account has now dropped to $129,000, a figure which also takes into consideration $30,000 appropriated from that account by Town Meeting for a water system distribution study.
Elsewhere on the budget side, Florino advised that most departments stayed on track through the year with no overrides.
Total departmental turnbacks amounted to $397,000, a figure which bettered FY98's by about $134,000.
Only one department experienced a budget shortfall. The Unicorn Golf operating budget fell short of projections by $4,000. The golf budget, however is combined into one with the arena's budget and the $4,200 surplus on the arena side covered the shortage.
The Finance Board turned back $38,000 from its reserve fund and likewise the School Department returned $100,000 to the general fund. Another $77,000 in savings was realized by the unclassified account (Worker's Comp., Retirees' health insurance).
That money will figure into the free cash figure as determined by the Department of Revenue (DOR) and, according to Florino, free cash from FY99 should be at least as good as last year's. FY98 produced $1.8 million in free cash.
This resultant free cash figure is made up of actual revenues over estimated revenues and actual expenditures that were below what was figured on. The DOR then makes adjustments to this number and for FY99, Florino anticipates free cash between $1.3 and $1.8 million.
While the past couple of years have indeed been very good for the town, Florino remains cautious about the next couple.
"I'm not as optimistic about this year and next...We probably won't be able to do as well."
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