Expanding office of Town Administrator, increasing size of Board of Selectmen, consolidation of operations, a review town bylaws, revising and streamling town warrants, and a series of steps in improve financial management among recommendations.
by Frank Schroth
The Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services/Technical Assistance (DOR) submitted a report to the Board of Selectmen at the request of the of Milton’s Government Study Committee. The DOR performs assessments of town operations free of charge to municipalities in the Commonwealth for the purpose of looking at how town’s can possibly improve efficiency of operations particularly in the area of budgets and financial management.
The report’s recommendations are in 3 sections: Government Structure and Organization, Budget & Financial Planning, and Overall Financial Management. There are 32 recommendations altogether.
Arguably the most notable are those regarding Government structure. Chief among those is centralizing management of the office of the Town Administrator (TA) by clearly delegating decision making authority to that position for daily management related activities, having an asst TA for human resources (fyi BoS was already pursuing this), and creating a new position of asst TA for finance. The report also recommends expanding the Board of Selectmen to five. Why? “In a town with a population over 27,000, a budget approaching $98 million, and a wide range of town administrative functions, the role of the selectmen shifts. An expanded number of selectmen creates greater oversight of the town administrator position and broadens resident representation on the board.” The report also calls for redirecting the role and responsibilities of the warrant committee and performing a review of town bylaws.
In the area of financial planning the report recommends formalizing the town’s PILOT agreements (Pilot agreements are with non-profits such as Milton Academy that offer payments in lieu of taxes), building reserves, streamlining the content of the town warrant and preparing a long term financial blueprint.
There are quite a few recommendations regarding financial management. Many are specific tactical measures that could be taken up easily such as a Helpdesk ticketing system, implementation of a purchase order system, and setting up an account for student activity funds.
One recommendation that was not made was consolidation of school and town hall financial operations.
The selectmen may recommend a wholesale adoption of the recommendations or, more likely, will cherry pick the ones they believe most appropriate. Some are much easier to implement than others (e.g. some require bylaw changes).
Expanding the board will be an interesting issue. When asked about this issue during their campaign for Selectmen, candidates Keohane and Shields both expressed the opinion that the board remain at 3 members. The report notes, “because winning a majority of three, versus two votes, is more difficult, the prospects increase for greater collaboration; and with no more than two members elected each year, the board will experience greater stability and continuity.”
The full text of the report can be found here.