The Finance Committee voted to approve the following requests (see Report and watch the video on NewTV):
- Appropriate $244,821.31 from June 30, 2022 Certified Free Cash to Newton Public Schools for homeless student transportation. City Comptroller Curly explained that each year the Schools submit a reimbursement request to the State and the City received the money and it becomes free cash for that year. The School Department is now requesting that money be transferred to them.
- Transfer $125,000 to Human Resources Department Consultants transfer of unused salary from staff vacancies for consultants in training and recruiting. Discussion on whether relatively low pay makes it more difficult for Newton to hire staff.
- Transfer $450,000 to Account #0120102-511001 Traffic Safety – Regular Salaries to fulfil the City of Newton’s two 3-year agreements with AFSCME 2913 spanning FY2019-2021 and FY2022-2024. The request is to move money from the wage reserve fund to settled union contracts with parking control and crossing guards (13 vacant positions out of the 52 crossing guard positions).
The Finance Committee voted to hold the following:
- A discussion regarding the Rainy-Day Fund Investment Strategy. According to the report, there were questions about restarting the Investment Advisory Committee to protect against bad investments. Treasurer discussed why Rainy Day money was moved into 2-year US Treasuries. He reported that the City needs to take 5% of whatever amount the budget is increased and add it to the Rainy Day fund. Any interest earned lowers the amount of money that the City would have to take from free cash.
