MPIC to seek boards' input ahead of FY27 budget and Select Board goal-setting

Members of the Master Plan Implementation Committee agreed to contact their assigned boards and committees to review master-plan goals, confirm priorities, and surface budget or resource needs before the Select Board's summer goal-setting and the FY27 budget review.

"We should go back out to our boards and commissions and have the midterm conversation that says, here's your goals and recommendations. Here's where we believe you are in terms of the dashboarding. Do you agree?" said Will Warren, an MPIC member, urging direct outreach to committees.

MPIC discussed timing: MPIC members said the Select Board's goal process likely occurs in June and the town's finance staff will begin budget work in September. "The budget will probably get cranking in September. The finance people will ask the departments September," Sam, an MPIC member, said. Committee members recommended collecting input by the summer so boards' priorities can be considered early in the budget process. They discussed preparing simple background materials and suggested MPIC could provide analytics and context for committees that want help shaping requests.

Committee members also discussed coordinating a July goal-setting presentation to the Select Board with background information on master-plan progress. MPIC said this outreach could be used to identify resource needs ahead of the formal budget cycle and give boards and committees an earlier voice in budget planning.

MPIC resolved to undertake outreach in the coming months and encouraged members to raise board- and committee-level priorities, including any funding requests, before the town's summer goal-review season.