Annual Report Town of Hingham 2014 1 Table of Contents GENERAL ADMINISTRATION Selectmen .................................................................. 5 Town Administrator ..................................................... 9 Town Clerk Elected Officers and Appointees ........................... 11 Annual Town Meeting .......................................... 29 Appropriations .................................................... 55 Elections Town Election ................................................... 62 State Primary .................................................... 64 State Election ................................................... 71 Vital Statistics ...................................................... 76 Community Planning Building Department ........................................... 77 Conservation Commission .................................... 79 Planning Board ................................................... 80 Zoning Board of Appeals...................................... 83 Historic Districts Commission ............................... 86 Historical Commission ......................................... 88 Personnel Board ........................................................ 91 PUBLIC WORKS Dept. of Public Works ................................................ 93 Sewer Commission .................................................... 98 Municipal Light Plant ............................................... 101 PUBLIC SAFETY Fire Department/Emergency Management ................ 104 Police Department ................................................... 107 Traffic Committee ............................................. 109 Traffic Safety Division ........................................ 111 Harbormaster ................................................... 112 EDUCATION, HEALTH AND HUMAN CONCERNS Affordable Housing Trust ......................................... 118 Audit Committee ..................................................... 120 Bare Cove Park Committee ...................................... 121 Bathing Beach, Trustees of ...................................... 123 Beautification Commission ....................................... 124 Cable TV Advisory Committee .................................. 125 2 Community Preservation Committee ......................... 127 Country Club Management Committee ..................... 130 Development & Industrial Commission ..................... 133 Elder Services, Dept. of ........................................... 135 Electronic Voting Study Committee ........................... 137 Energy Action Committee ........................................ 139 Fourth of July Parade .............................................. 142 Grand Army Hall ..................................................... 149 Harbor Development Committee .............................. 151 Health, Board of ..................................................... 154 Hingham Housing Authority ..................................... 156 Logan Airport C.A.C. ................................................ 158 Long Range Waste Disposal & Recycling Committee ........................................................ 159 Memorial Bell Tower Committee ............................... 163 Plymouth County Mosquito Control ........................... 163 Public Library .......................................................... 166 Public Schools ......................................................... 169 Recreation Commission ........................................... 173 School Building Committee ...................................... 176 Scholarship Fund Committee ................................... 178 Shade Tree Committee ............................................ 181 Veterans' Services ................................................... 182 Water Company Acquisition Study Comm. ................ 184 Water Supply Committee ......................................... 185 Weir River Estuary Committee ................................. 187 FINANCES Accountant/Finance Director .................................... 190 Treasurer/Collector ................................................. 197 Assessors ............................................................... 200 Contributory Retirement Board ................................ 201 Report compiled and edited by Betty Tower Special thanks to Sharon Perfetti 3 This is Your Town www.hingham-ma.gov The Herbert Asa Cole, III Bandstand, built by the DPW in 1966 Area 22.59 Square Miles Shore Line 21 Miles Population 22,451 Registered Voters 16,546 Dem. 3,934; Rep. 3,057; Unenrolled, 9,499; Other, 56 Number of Houses, including Condos 7402 Assessed Value Real Property $5,822,944,860 Personal Property $96496920 Tax Rate $12.53 Schools 6 Public School Children, PreK-12 (2/11) 4,362 Professional Staff 359 Support Staff 305 Total FY2015 Town Budget (includes Capital) $95,900,303 Total FY2015 School Budget (includes Capital) $44,139,396 State Senator State Rep. State Rep. Norfolk-Plymouth Third Plymouth Dist. Fourth Norfolk Dist. Robert Hedlund Precincts 1,3,4,5,5A,6 Precinct 2 State House, Garrett Bradley James Murphy Rm. 313C State House, Rm. 478 State House, Rm. 443 Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133 617-722-1646 617-722-2520 617-722-2460 4 Paul Healey, Irma Lauter, Paul Gannon Board of Selectmen Although the Board of Selectmen’s report highlights the calendar year of 2014, it would be remiss to not mention the epic winter of 2015. With a record snow of approximately 110 inches, the Town prevailed due to its employees who were heroic in their response to the snow and weather events. The Board wishes to express gratitude and thanks to all the Town employees, the Hingham Light Plant and contractors that worked tirelessly during the snow and weather events. The first responders who ventured out in the blizzards cannot be thanked enough for their service. Hingham answered the call like the special place it is. The Town’s AAA rating continues to reflect its strong financial position. Prudent debt management policies and competent management are all areas of fiscal strength. We are again cautiously optimistic about the future. However, we remain concerned about managing potentially slow growth due to the lagging economic recovery and ever rising demands for service based on population growth. It will be a balancing act to minimize the economic burdens our citizens face in this economy. The 2015 Annual Town meeting will again consider a modest tax relief proposal for FY2016 by keeping a promise made to taxpayers to employ meal’s tax revenues and unused levy capacity to mitigate the impact of tax increases. The increases are a direct result of the voter approval of 5 the new Middle School and other Town projects. The Board continues to look for opportunities to provide tax relief to the neediest citizens, seniors as well as all property owners. The proposed budget continues to restore positions in Town departments and the Schools that were lost opportunities during the financial crises years. The Town now has an annual budget of one hundred million dollars with a population over twenty two thousand. The Capital Budget for FY2016 addresses planning for projects on Summer Street and the Rotary, the seawalls at the harbor, a renovation of the Fire Station on North Street, and a project to restore the Bathing Beach and address the parking lot erosion. The years ahead will see a number of proposals for building renovations to address our aging infrastructure and population growth. Debt management continues to be a strength of the Town. Approximately forty six million dollars was financed through general obligation bonds at a rate of 0.75% in the Spring of 2014. One of the Selectmen’s objectives this year was to work with the Advisory Committee, which is responsible for the Town Financial Policy, to examine the short term versus long term debt strategy. Given that Hingham debt offerings are still much in demand by investors, the decision was made to convert all the short term debt to long term in the spring of 2015. The Advisory Committee has updated the Financial Policy to reflect timely discussions of long term versus short term debt. This is a further example of prudent decisions made in the best interest of the Town and the taxpayer. Expenses for “snow and ice” and roof clearings are approaching two million dollars for FY2015. The excess over the budgeted amounts will be taken from Fund Balance. The Board is cautiously evaluating short term spending that involves decreasing the Fund Balance level, up from its lowest point of 8.9% in FY2009. The level of Fund Balance is one of the strengths supporting the Town’s continued AAA rating. The current unassigned fund balance is now over 20 percent. The Town policy is a range of 16 to 20 percent. The Town’s study of owning its municipal water company and the litigation to determine a price for the potential acquisition continues. The court trial testimony has concluded and closing arguments are scheduled for the end of May of 2015. A decision on the price is expected in early summer 2015. If appropriate, after open meetings with the Town, a future Town Meeting will allow citizens to decide if such ownership is in the best interests of the Town. To address current 6 issues, the Water Supply Committee was reactivated and is engaged with short and long term issues impacting the Town. The potential slow economic growth is being addressed, in part, by the South Hingham Study Group, established in 2013. The quest