When Town Meeting convenes May 5, members of Needham’s Finance Committee will be there to answer questions and offer thoughts on the warrants that they’ve scrutinized. But the committee’s work, at least for the time being, will largely be done. Composed of nine volunteer residents, the nonpartisan committee exists to conduct financial analyses of town initiatives with an eye toward judicious spending. Each line item in the budget that the town will present at Town Meeting, along with every warrant that includes a price tag (Town Meeting support for nuclear disarmament did not need FinCom’s review) will have been reviewed and endorsed — or not.
It’s not a small job.
“It’s quite a time commitment, especially around this time of year,” said FinCom member and retail business owner Tina Burgos. Selection for the board, she said, seemed to hinge on two things: her understanding of finance in general, and her willingness to commit to the time, short and long term. “It’s going to take at least one full budget cycle, if not two, to really have an understanding of how municipal budgeting works. So not only did he want to make sure that I was available during the week, but also for the longer period of time, like longevity.”
That word “he” in Burgos’s description is significant. Unlike any other of the dozens of town committees whose members are either elected by the residents or appointed by the Select Board, the FinCom is selected by the Town Meeting moderator with no oversight. The current moderator is Michael Fee, who has held that role for 28 years and is the “he” in question.
With one person making the appointment, the decision about what “nonpartisan” means and who is qualified to make assessments, judgments, and recommendations about town priorities and the use of funds is potentially fraught. In some recent years, there has been considerable tension between the Select Board and the FinCom, as the latter entity recommended against Select Board spending priorities.
Burgos said she thinks the current composition of the committee works well, despite and because of a range of opinions respected by all. She remembers “respectful, collaborative” meetings as FinCom discussed the financial impacts of rezoning. And it’s an important time, she said, for that to be the case. Committee members have their eyes on the wrenching changes in federal government priorities and investment.
“We’ve been talking about how are we going to manage ourselves going forward,” said Burgos, “because I think the sense is that next year is going to be even more difficult than this year. We’ve got the school projects happening, we’ve got potentially the new building for the DPW.
“It’ll be interesting to see how everything unfolds. I think that it’s more critical now, that we are all educated about what’s happening and not just on a micro level in Needham, but having a really good understanding of what’s happening on the state level, the federal level. Because that affects all of our funding. Everything’s sort of chaotic right now. It’s important that our group works in a very collaborative fashion.”
FinCom members serve three-year terms and can be reappointed three times, so many alumni served on the committee for 12 years. One of them is Richard Creem, an attorney who was on FinCom from 2000-2012. “The finance committee is looking to review and critically analyze these proposals to see if they’re financially feasible,” he said, “to see if there are less expensive alternatives, and to understand what’s driving the request. And work with the department or the leadership to see if there are better solutions, better ways of achieving that single goal.”
Now as a member of the Permanent Public Building Committee Creem is on the other side of the scrutiny. His committee, he said, has four warrant articles on the agenda, clustered in the capital projects, including the DPW facilities and library renovations.
How has the Finance Committee reacted to those projects?
“My understanding,” Creem said, “is that they have all been recommended for adoption.”
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