Westport News

Present:    Lisa Arnold (LA), Bob McCarthy (BM), Warren Messier (WM), Tony Vieira (TV), Hugh Morton (HM), Tracy Priestner (TP), Jack Baughan (JB), Chuck Goldberg (CG), John Miller (JM)

1.    LA, Chair, opened the meeting at 6:30 pm with the traditional salute to the flag.

2. Minutes:    The minutes of 4/28 and 5/5 were presented for approval.  They were voted on separately with WM making the motion and CG seconding it and all were in favor.

3.    FY 10 Update:        Michael Coughlin was in attendance to give the Fincom the update on the cuts from the State.  (See attached.)  He wanted to thank all department heads for stepping up and banding together to cover the cuts by the State.  He said the Senate left Chapter 70 alone and restored the Quinn Bill.  However, it is still $300k less than the Governor and the House.  The budget scenario he is presenting leaves a small amount of free cash to cover some articles but not a lot.  An override was suggested but MC said they were prone to failure.  He said a fall Town Meeting is inevitable with pending negotiations of union contracts.  He feels the State aid numbers will fall somewhere between the House and Senate proposals.  CG thinks we should look at raising fees to fund the deficit.  JM made a motion and CG seconded it to present this budget to Town Meeting as presented.  The vote was 7-2 with WM and BM opposed.  
 
Adjournment and next meeting: There being no further business to come before this meeting, WM moved and CG seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:25pm.  The vote in favor was unanimous.   The next meeting will be May 26th at 6:00 p.m. at the Westport High School.
                            
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Secretary