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This past Town Meeting had a considerably different look than previous sessions. Besides the debut of new Moderator Steve Dodge, the Advisory Committee welcomed a new chairman. Longtime member Matt McNeilly took the helm with the departure of Steve Curley from the committee. An active Town Meeting participant, McNeilly is in his second stint on the committee, having served a total of eight years.
How did you originally get involved with the Advisory Committee? I was going to Town Meeting all the time. My wife and I started attending since I arrived in town. It was habitual for me to attend. I started going in Hingham, which has the same form of government, with my parents when I turned 18. I heard about an opening when Hilary Wilson was the chair in 1998. I talked to Mary Dio about what the Advisory Committee did, applied for an opening and was appointed by John Walsh. What prompted your decision to rejoin the committee? Partly, because I missed it. I needed the break after six years because it can get intense and I was busy at work. I had spoken with Steve Curley and he was two or three members short at the time and asked me if I wanted to come back. Even though we have nine members, we have to have five in at all times. If we have people who do not participate, it can really hurt. How has the role of Advisory changed since you began serving on the committee? There is more active participation with Ed Thorne as the Town Administrator. Ed, with [town accountant] Mike Buckley, has eased the budgeting process by having a direct reporting relationship with the departments. Between Ed and Mike, they see it every day and have been able to help us cut down from six inches of paper to three.  What advice did Steve Curley provide prior to you taking the post? Steve told me to sit back and listen to what the members tell you. You need to read the flow of what the members are thinking. You do not need to interject into the flow of the meeting. What strengths do you bring to the committee? I think it is probably the fact that I was there, served with some long-term members and under two good chairmen in Hilary Wilson and Steve Curley. I also understand how things get done. I have developed good relationships with departments from acting as the Advisory Committee’s liaison to the Department of Public Works and the Council on Aging. What was your impression of the fall special Town Meeting? I thought it went really well. Steve Dodge did an excellent job. The Advisory Committee did not get everything to go the way we had proposed. The town employees did receive their raises. They did deserve them, and it was hard earned. Our biggest concern was it [raises] does not hurt anyone in the long run. We are doing everything we can to avoid layoffs. Do you believe the town will need to endure any additional cuts in the current fiscal year? I believe that we are going to receive another cut to local aid before the end of the fiscal year. We have left some money in free cash that can be use to make up the deficit. This was the main reason for doing this at fall Town Meeting. If this doesn’t cover the entire cut, then we will look to make cuts to the individual departments using a process similar to last year, where they were spread out evenly. When will you begin the FY2011 budget process? We will start on Nov. 30 with the building department. Then, we will be bringing in four different departments each week with each getting 15-20 minutes to make their initial budget presentation. Realizing that this will not be the final proposal for Town Meeting, it gets us started on the numbers we need. We begin with the personnel cost, step increases, office supplies, and then anything new that they need.  What are your expectations going into the planning process? I think we are going to plan as tight as possible and hope the cuts from the state are not as severe as they could be. We really need the Massachusetts economy to turn around in order to get full cherry sheet funding from the state of Massachusetts. [Editors note: the cherry sheet is notification by the Commonwealth to municipalities of estimated state aid to be paid.] What do you believe are the main budget priorities for the town for FY2011? The big thing is to keep everyone working who is currently working for the town. We do not want to lay anyone off. Some departments are cutting through attrition, which will help for next year.
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