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Advisory Committee debates free cash vs. stabilization fund, members offer competing views
Summary
Committee members argued about whether to use free cash for immediate needs or to grow the stabilization fund. Figures for reserve and free cash balances were discussed and members asked for clear policy language on transfers and appropriate use.
Committee members spent substantial time discussing how to treat free cash and the town’s stabilization (reserve) fund. Al argued against treating free cash as a discretionary 'slush fund,' saying it represented money raised in prior years that had been set aside and should be used deliberately. "It's money we raised in the prior year that we told the voters was absolutely necessary for the town to operate that turned out not to be so," Al said.
Members exchanged views on the proper use of free cash versus transfers to stabilization: some favored using free cash to protect services and delay a Proposition 2½ override, while others argued for creating or funding a formal stabilization fund at an agreed level and using free cash more sparingly. During the discussion members cited reserve and free-cash figures on the record (discussion referenced reserves around $1.8–2.0 million and free cash described as "typically runs somewhere between 1.5 and 3,000,000" in the transcript). The committee agreed to refine policy language to clarify when transfers and reserve uses are appropriate.
