Finance advisory committee to ask council to create retirement fund line and pursue surplus sales

The town's Finance Advisory Committee discussed steps to seed a retirement plan for municipal employees and police officers and agreed to recommend that the town council create a designated budget line to begin accumulating funds.

The committee's chair opened the meeting by framing the discussion around how to "build revenue so that we can finance a retirement plan for the police department and the general government," and asked the treasurer to outline options. Members explored several revenue approaches, including setting aside surplus cash, selling unused town assets, and pursuing enforcement-camera receipts.

The committee discussed timing tied to state action: staff said state-level changes will likely be needed for a full pension adoption and that implementation could be targeted for 2027 or 2028. Staff also said the committee should plan for actuarial work in the coming months; one staff member noted an actuarial engagement could run "ultimately, $5,000 each." The committee agreed that an initial down payment for actuarial work should be available in the next budget cycle.

The treasurer described practicable budgeting steps: establishing a reserve baseline (committee members mentioned keeping roughly $1.5 million as a base), creating a zero-dollar line in the budget so future councils see the designation, and building a set-aside in the 2027 budget cycle. "I can put it in there with zeros," the treasurer said, referring to adding budget lines that initially carry no appropriation but appear in financial reports.

Members also reviewed sources to seed the set-aside. They identified surplus vehicles and stored equipment as immediate candidates: committee members said dozens of vehicles sit in town storage and suggested departments inventory assets and assign responsibility for disposing items. One resident urged caution about service trade-offs if revenues come from taxes: "As a resident, don't raise my tax because it's competitive with my neighbor and my but my neighbor's doing all these other things," the resident said, arguing any higher rate should be tied to improved services.

The treasurer reported the first month of red-light camera collections had produced only a small amount so far (about $3) but noted that state rules may restrict how different camera revenues are spent. The committee discussed stop-sign and speed-camera programs as potential revenue streams but acknowledged political and operational concerns from neighbors.

Committee members also discussed a vacant commercial property (referred to in the meeting as Harborside/dry cleaners) and prior outreach by the mayor and a state delegation; they explored options to market or repurpose the site to bring in revenue or partner with county/state agencies for occupancy. Members cited outstanding debt on the property and suggested assessing market interest before committing to redevelopment.

Outcome and next steps: the committee agreed to take to the town council a recommendation to create a designated budget line for retirement funding, to begin identifying and marketing surplus assets with proceeds routed to that line, and to commission actuarial work before the next budget cycle so the council can consider adoption timing and costs. The committee scheduled its next meeting for January 7 at 11:30 and said it would invite specialists virtually to advise on grants and funding strategies.

The advisory committee did not adopt a formal ordinance or make a binding budget change; members committed to forwarding the recommendation to the town council for formal consideration.