7998-R1_ML&P_Hollis_2020-2021_AnnualReport_Web

Finance Committee Report

To the Residents and Taxpayers of Hollis,

The Finance Committee consists of five members, appointed by the Select Board to 3 year terms. The Finance Committee is an advisory committee to the Select Board with the following responsibilities excerpted from the committee’s ordinance: “1) Annual Operating budget - The committee will review the annual operating budget with input from department heads, and will recommend or not recommend to the Select Board. 2) Annual Capital budget - The committee will review and make recommendations to the Select Board. 3) Warrant Articles - The committee will review Warrant Articles pertaining to financial issues and recommend or not recommend to the Select Board. 4) Review of revenue and expenditures - The committee will make quarterly reviews of revenues & expenditures and present issues/questions to the Select Board. 5) Other- The committee shall review and make recommendations to the Select Board on supplemental appropriations, expenditures and investments of Town funds.” This past year, the committee focused on financial concerns as the town employees work to improve the town. We brought in a consultant to report on the status of the fire department. This report prompted the committee to recommend safety changes to the fire station paid for out of the then current budget. The committee also recommended the purchase of a new fire truck to modernize the aging fleet. The cost of this fire truck came by using the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District with Poland Spring. The town approved both of these measures in this year’s Town Meeting, June 8, 2021, through the passage of the Fire Department’s budget and a separate article for the fire truck. The committee also began discussions about financial means to optimize the town’s cash. The committee was not able to pursue that proposal this year, but we are hopeful to gain traction on it in the next year.

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