FINANCIAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
TUESDAY APRIL 15, 2003
Approval of Minutes
The Newtown Township Financial Planning Committee met on
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 in the meeting
room of the Newtown Township Municipal Building.
Members present were Chairman Richard Weaver, Allen R. Fidler, III, Philip Mewmuis, Robert Dieterle, Phil Vance
and Ryan O’Keefe. Members excused were
Sarita Tirpak and Elaine Gibbs.
Township Manager Robert Pellegrino was unable to attend.
Call to Order
Chairman Weaver called the meeting to order at 8 A. M.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the meeting held on March 18, 2003 were approved
as submitted on motion of Phil Vance, seconded by member Robert Dieterle and
approved by all present.
Chairman Weaver stated that
he and manager Pellegrino were planning to present a Resolution
regarding the Reserve Account Policy to the Board of Supervisors at its’ meeting
scheduled for April 23rd.
Committee members suggested a separate account in the
Reserve Fund Account be set up for the purpose of Building Expansion.
A five-point Recommendation, developed in October, 2002 was to be presented to the Board of Supervisors
and copied to the Committee.
Discussion centered on Item #4,
“Appropriations from the 15% reserve fund should only be authorized by a
unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors and should be for emergency or for
expenditures of a non-recurring nature.”
Chairman Weaver noted plans for land development are in place at the
present time, awaiting a reply from the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia regarding the purchase of land: Parcels A, B & C.
Discussion centered on Item #3, “Reserve Funds between 15% and 20% could be appropriated to
balance the annual budget”. The
question concerning members was:
“Should this be a one-time, non-recurring transfer?” Chairman Weaver inquired if consideration
should be allowed if a catastrophic event happens? The consensus was that it should be of a “non-recurring” event.
It was decided that this discussion should be continued at
the May meeting when Manager Pellegrino and Finance Director Gibbs would be
present.
Chairman Weaver noted that an example was approval to
transfer $900,000. from the general fund, $400,000. of which was to build a
pole barn, which never happened.
Member Fidler asked Chairman Weaver if there is currently a
policy that a review be done in December whereby certain items might be re-classified?
Member Dieterle recommended that the Policy Recommendation
developed and approved by the Financial Committee, along with the Resolution which had been submitted to Supervisors
by Raymond W. “Skip” Goodnoe be
resubmitted at this time to the Board.
Chairman Weaver was directed to speak with Manager Pellegrino and
Finance Director Gibbs to accomplish this.
( A revision would be copied to members of the Finance Committee.)
Reasons for Borrowing
A brief discussion was continued on the reasons for borrowing money:
1. Expansion of township buildings, etc.,
2. Timing of refunds: PaDOT refunds for reconstruction of Sycamore Street may
impact general fund revenues adversely.
It may be a consideration to enter into a “line of credit”
with an area banking institution for certain “revolving expenses”, as needed.
Adjournment
There being no further matters to come before the Committee, the meeting was duly adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
______________________
Ethel K. Hibbs, Secretary