| Revenue Enhancement Idea |
Primary Owner |
Deliverable |
Due Date |
Status |
08-1.
Support the development of Legacy Farms in a revenue-positive
manner |
Town Manager |
Open Space Mixed Use
Development (OSMUD) zoning article for Town Meeting;
Host
Community Agreement;Alprilla
Farm Well Agreement
|
5/5/2008
|
Negotiations by Town Manager/Town Planner/Town
Counsel in progress with Boulder Capital. |
08-2.
Entice higher-value development in the
commercial/industrial areas near Rt. 495 |
Town Manager |
Resolution of
litigation over Fruit Street Waste Water Treatment (WWTF)
Facility; Marketing
Plan for the Town |
??? |
Resolution of litigation being aggressively
pursued. Marketing
Plan to be proposed as goal for Town Manager in 2008. |
08-3.
Support downtown revitalization |
Town Manager |
Engineering plan for
sidewalks, lights, etc. |
??? |
Working to get on
list to get state funding for reconstruction of
sidewalks, lights, etc. |
08-4.
Implement School Choice |
School Committee |
Vote on whether to
participate in 2008-09 school year |
4/17/2008
|
Poll of School
Committee members indicates no support.
Public hearing to be held followed by vote on
4/17/08. |
08-5.
Charge facility use fees for after-school programs |
School Committee |
New contract with
provider |
3/20/2008
|
Proposal from current
provider in hand. Awaiting responses to from other
providers. |
08-6.
Determine how best to utilize Fruit Street to generate
recurring revenue |
Town Manager |
Construction of Waste Water Treatment Facility;
New plan for use of the balance of the land |
??? |
Resolution of
litigation over WWTF being aggressively pursued. More
focus needed on new plan for the site. |
08-7.
Sell or lease Center School (or current Town Hall) after
Early Childhood Center is built |
Facilities Director |
Town Meeting article
for Center School Feasibility Study |
5/5/2008
|
School Committee and
Superintendent to develop town meeting article per
Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)
requirements. |
08-8.
Lobby state legislature to repeal telecomm tax exemption |
Board of Selectmen |
Letter of support from
Board of Selectmen (BoS) to state legislators |
3/11/2008
|
State Appellate Tax
Board issued ruling on 3/3/08 requiring telephone
companies to pay taxes on poles and wires on public
property. BoS Chairman to check status with Board of
Assessors. |
08-9.
Expand advertising |
School Committee |
Outline of program and
opportunities |
4/17/2008
|
Opportunities
documented in report dated 2/7/08. BoS discussion on 3/4/08 indicated support. |
08-10.
Sell naming rights to buildings/halls/fields |
School Committee |
N/A |
N/A |
Focus to be on
obtaining sponsorships. Will be addressed under the “advertising”
initiative. |
08-11.
Add new fees and fines; increase existing fees |
School Committee |
Municipal fee
structure for FY09 |
5/5/2008
|
Building dept fees
raised from $7/hr. to $10/hr. Weights & Measures fees adjusted. School Committee preliminary budget for FY09
contains no new fees. |
08-11a.
Institute a trash
collection fee |
DPW Board |
New contract for
rubbish and recycling; New
contract for disposal of recycling material; Plan
for accounting mechanism for handling fees. |
Mid-April 2008 |
New 20-year contract in place as of 1/1/08 for
solid waste disposal. Hopkinton participated as part of a group of 34
communities on the deal. Request For Proposal (RFP) is out for rubbish and
recycling collection. Disposal of recycling material being negotiated
in conjunction with the Recycling Committee. |
08-12.
Put program of studies on line |
School Committee |
Feasibility study |
5/15/2008
|
Looking at the Moodle
course management system. |
08-13.
Obtain new grants to offset expenses currently in the
operating budget |
Board of Selectmen |
Meeting of expanded
Grants Committee |
4/17/2008
|
Initial research into
processes and opportunities completed by Asst.
Superintendent of Schools. School department Grants Committee established.
Membership to be expanded to include teachers, parents,
and students. Discussions
planned with Town Manager, Chief of Police, and Fire
Chief regarding joint training and grant opportunities. |
08-14.
Lease space for cell phone towers |
DPW Board |
Request For Proposal (RPF) to see if there is any
interest among other cell phone companies in leasing
cell tower space |
8/1/2008
|
One cell phone company currently leases space on
the water tower. RPF to be issued during the summer. |
08-15.
Hire point person to market the town to businesses |
Board of Selectmen |
Marketing Plan |
12/31/2008
|
Board of Selectmen
assigned this work to the Town Manager in lieu of hiring
a new person. Help to be solicited from the Economic
Commission & Development Financing Authority and the
Chamber of Commerce. |
08-16.
Tuition-in special education students |
School Committee |
Agreement with other
school districts to take students into our high school
Futures Program |
5/15/2008
|
No interest from
students in other communities to attend next year. Will continue to market the program. |
08-17.
Assess fees to cars going into the state park |
Board of Selectmen |
N/A |
N/A |
No action planned. Payments already received from the state in lieu
of taxes. |
08-18.
Pursue voluntary mitigation payments from developers |
Planning Board |
Mitigation agreement with Boulder Capital. |
5/5/2008
|
Discussions in
process with Boulder Capital regarding Legacy Farms. Work
planned to collect information on ideas and to survey
other towns. |
08-19.
Allow drive-thru lanes for restaurants |
Planning Board |
N/A |
N/A |
No action planned due to perceived lack of
community support. |
08-20.
Develop special education life skills program |
School Committee |
Decision on whether
and when to proceed |
N/A |
No action planned. The school district does not yet have a critical
mass of students to justify moving forward with its own
program. |
| Expense Reduction Idea |
Primary
Owner
|
Deliverable
|
Due
Date
|
Status
|
08-1.
Negotiate lower
health insurance premiums (restructure programs)
|
Town Human Resources Director
|
Agreement with unions on health
plan design changes.
|
4/1/08
|
Negotiations in progress.
|
08-2.
Reduce legal
expenses
|
Town Manager
|
Contract with legal counsel having
wide range of expertise in issues facing Hopkinton.
System for tracking all legal
expenses.
|
Complete
|
Hired Miyares and Harrington, LLP
as Town Counsel as of 1/1/08. $39K legal
budget reduction in FY09.
|
08-3.
Make more efficient
use of revolving accounts and 53E˝ accounts
|
Town Chief Financial Officer
|
Plan for managing revolving
accounts more effectively.
|
|
School Committee identified
additional $305K to offset FY09 budget.
|
08-4.
Combine certain
school / general government operations
|
School Committee
|
Plan for potential consolidation of
Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR),
Facilities, Food Services, Purchasing, and Procurement
functions
|
4/3/08
|
Superintendent and School Committee
reps actively addressing with Town Manager and Board of
Selectmen reps. Plan
for combining IT functions agreed to. No efficiencies found in Food Services. Analyses of HR and Facilities functions in
process.
|
08-5.
Combine services
with neighboring communities
|
Town Manager
|
Cooperative agreements
|
Ongoing
|
Town Manager met with officials of Ashland and Southboro in Feb 2008. Agreements in
place to buy water from Ashland and to send wastewater to Westboro. Looking at building
ball fields to be shared with Ashland as part of Legacy Farms project.
|
08-6.
Pursue
regionalization for large pieces of equipment
|
Town Manager
|
Cooperative agreements
|
Ongoing
|
Mutual aid agreements in place with
neighboring towns.
|
08-7.
Institute
cooperative purchasing
|
Town Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
|
Common agreement for purchasing
bulk commodities for all town departments.
|
5/15/08
|
CFO and School department Finance
Manager to report on opportunities.
|
08-8.
Relocate DPW
Facilities to a new facility
|
DPW Board
|
Plan for future DPW facility
|
???
|
DPW Board to discuss Annual Town
Meeting article to purchase property adjacent to Wood Street facility.
|
08-9.
Develop wind power
or solar power
|
School Committee
|
Commitment for site visit from
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy
Trust
|
4/17/08
|
Information gathered on potential
sites for wind turbine on Hayden Rowe Street campus. Interest
from High School teacher Jim Marzec to tie into course
work. Application
for site visit complete.
|
08-10.
Revise
staffing/overtime practices
|
Town Manager
|
Plan for revised staffing and
overtime practices.
|
N/A
|
No action planned beyond normal
vigilance.
|
08-11.
Modify snow removal
tactics (don’t plow so quickly or so often)
|
DPW Board
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
No action planned. This is a public safety issue.
|
08-12.
Hire company to
retrofit buildings for guaranteed energy savings
|
Facilities Director
|
Town Meeting article for energy
audit
|
5/5/08
|
Facilities Director preparing
proposal for Town Meeting.
|
08-13.
Re-evaluate the Community Preservation Act (CPA) tax
|
Town Chief Financial Officer in
conjunction w/ Community Preservation Committee
|
Formal review of Capital
Improvements Committee project list by CPC.
|
10/1/08
|
Review of capital articles by CPC
to explore applicability of CPC funds to be instituted.
No action planned to withdraw from
the CPA as long as the State continues to provide
matching funds.
|
