On Thursday, January 20, 2022, Town Administrator Travis Ahern delivered a presentation entitled, “Evaluating Financial Condition.”  This periodic financial picture is a recommended practice by the MA Division of Local Services – Technical Assistance Bureau (DLS TAB).

Members of the Select Board, School Committee, the Finance Committee, and public (see recording) – > https://drive.google.com/file/d/110Unh0TbLeBTq62am5zkdRviTqfYTIic/view were invited to attend in person in Upper Town Hall or via Zoom.

Mr. Ahern’s 45-minute presentation covered both sides of the Town’s balance sheet – revenue and expenses.  There were positive trends noted and some areas to monitor in the coming months / years.

Many of the acronyms used in the report are included in the attached Glossary.  Two that are not included elsewhere are:

• ICMA: The International City/County Management Association and includes Canada and the US. 
• GFOA: The Government Finance Officers Association is a professional association of approximately 19,000 state, provincial, and local government finance officers in the United States and Canada. 

The entire 30-page report can be found on the Town website -> Evaluating Financial Condition

To this reporter, the slide below was the most helpful to understand how the financial picture comes together.  As the Town periodically assesses its service needs (see some current examples at the bottom right), the outcomes of those assessments drive the other pieces of the finance picture.

The slides below capture some of the main points.  Note that each slide includes a page reference from the report.  The Blue boxes on the slides are not in the report and were used by Mr. Ahern to bring attention to positive trends and areas to monitor.

Some historical perspective below.

A key takeaway from the presentation for me was that our Town Administrator has access to a tremendous amount of financial data, and he is very willing to share his analysis with all.  Mr. Ahern can be reached at AhernT@Holliston.k12.ma.us.