Easton Board of Finance amends Activity Fund policy, sets $87,000 minimum unencumbered balance

The Easton Board of Finance on July 7 approved a change to the town's Activity Fund policy that allows the board to transfer uncommitted Activity Fund balances to the General Fund after July 1, provided a minimum unencumbered balance of $87,000 remains.

The board approved a motion by Ira Kaplan, seconded by Josh Bailey, to replace item #8 of the Activity Fund policy so that "Any Activity Fund balance as of March 1 of each year that is not committed to an approved capital spending plan by July 1 can be transferred to the General Fund at the discretion of the Board of Finance as of July 1 subject to a minimum $87,000 unencumbered fund balance." The motion passed 6-0.

Members said additional suggested wording changes — including replacing the term "Comptroller" with "Finance Director" and removing some restrictions in items 2, 3, and 10 — were offered by Chris and Danielle Alves, Park & Rec Director, but board chair Art Laske said he had not yet reviewed those suggestions and the group agreed to reconsider them at the next meeting. Colin Cote asked for the rationale behind the original restrictions in the policy, and Joe Glavan again asked where the board's policies are stored; Art said he would discuss organizing policies with Chris.

Ira also noted that the Activity Fund policy is dated as adopted April 2021 in the policy text, but that the Board of Finance minutes for that month contain no reference to the policy, a discrepancy the board said it would investigate. The board did not take additional action on the suggested wording changes at this meeting.

The amendment affects how Park & Rec and other activity-based program balances may be handled going forward; the board scheduled further policy review for its next regular meeting.