Program Description

The Advisory Committee is appointed by the Town Moderator in accordance with Sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 of the Town's By-Laws, which read as follows:

"Section 2.2.1: The Moderator shall, in June of each year, appoint citizens to serve on the Advisory Committee (herein the "Committee") established under G.L.C. 39, Section 16, and this By-Law. Members of the Committee shall serve without compensation. The Committee shall consist of not fewer than twenty nor more than thirty registered voters of the Town. At least one elected Town Meeting Member shall be appointed from each precinct. No more than six members shall be appointed who are not elected Town Meeting Members at the time of their appointment. No more than four members of the Committee shall reside in the same precinct. No member of the Committee shall be an employee of the Town or a member of any standing board or Committee having charge of the expenditure money; but, this restriction shall not disqualify from appointment to the Committee, members of special committees which may be created from time to time by Town Meeting, the Moderator, or the Select Board to report on specific matters.

Section 2.2.2: members shall hold office from July 1st, in the year of their appointment, for three-year staggered terms and until their successors are appointed. All vacancies shall be filled by the Moderator for the unexpired term of the appointee's predecessor."

Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 39, Section 16 states that “every town whose valuation for the purpose of apportioning state tax exceeds one million dollars shall, and any other town may, by by-law provide for the election or the appointment and duties of appropriation, advisory or finance committees, who shall consider any or all municipal questions....”

The Brookline Advisory Committee, in accordance with Town by-laws, consists of not fewer than 20, nor more than 30, residents of the Town, all appointed by the Town Moderator.

The Advisory Committee functions not only as a Finance Committee, but as an informed citizens group that counsels the Town through its recommendations to Town Meeting. It consists of dedicated Brookline residents who are committed to the Town’s fiscal health and good governance. The Advisory Committee’s subcommittees hold public hearings on matters contained in the Warrant for each Town Meeting, and the Committee then votes to make recommendations to Town Meeting. These recommendations are published in the Combined Reports, which are mailed to all Town Meeting Members in advance of Town Meeting, posted on the Town website, and delivered in spoken comments at Town Meeting itself. Throughout the fiscal year, the Advisory Committee exercises its authority to honor or dismiss departmental requests for transfers from the Reserve Fund, which is established to deal with unforeseen or emergency expenditures.

FY23 Objectives

1. In accordance with Section 2.2.5 of Article 2.2:  "The Committee shall consider any and all municipal questions, including appropriation requests and proposed action under all articles in the Warrant for a Town Meeting, for the purpose of making reports and recommendations to the Town. The Committee shall submit a budget at the Annual Town Meeting.  It may examine the books and records of any board, committee, or officer of the Town as far as permitted by law.

FY22 Accomplishments

1. During 2021, the Advisory Committee operated effectively as the COVID-19 pandemic continued. The Advisory Committee held 45 public meetings in 2021; subcommittees held an additional 75 meetings and public hearings. All meetings and public hearings were held using the Zoom platform.
2. The FY22 Financial Plan was delivered by the Town Administrator on February 18, 2021, as per past practice. Subcommittees held hearings on the various departmental budgets. COVID-19 continued to impact Town’s spending. (In particular, the protocols put in place to sanitize buildings resulted in unprecedented additional spending on cleaning supplies, which was reflected in Reserve Fund transfer requests during the year.)
3. The trend for increased transparency in the activities of public bodies continued in 2021. This trend, coupled with the unprecedented number of Warrant Articles (a total of 75) presented at the Annual, Special, and Special-Within-Special Town Meetings, resulted in more overall work for the Advisory Committee than in past years. In 2021, the Advisory Committee experimented with a number of changes to streamline the work and to improve transparency. These changes included:
4. Identifying certain Warrant Articles as pro forma and holding the public hearing for those articles during a full Advisory Committee meeting, bypassing subcommittee review.
5. Identifying certain Warrant Articles as having minimal financial impact and limiting the Advisory Committee to issuing a report without a recommendation.
6. In addition, the Advisory Committee continued activities that had begun in 2020, including reserving a 15 minute slot at the beginning of each meeting for public comment and increasing the distribution of meeting invitations, meeting packets, and meeting minutes.
7. The Advisory Committee is committed to reviewing these practices at regular intervals to assess their efficacy, and to continuing to experiment with ways to improve transparency.
8. As always, each article was reviewed at an online public hearing held either by a subcommittee or by the Advisory Committee acting as a committee of the whole. The public was invited to comment at the hearings, all of which were conducted over the Zoom meeting platform, which afforded an opportunity for all participants to speak.
9. The Committee provided Town Meeting members and the public with reports on all articles and recommendations (with the exceptions above noted) for all articles on which it voted. These reports and recommendations were published in the Combined Reports and supplements. Continuing the excellent work from 2020, despite the increase in workload, virtually all of these reports were included in the initial mailing.
10. Throughout this process, Advisory Committee subcommittees met with warrant article petitioners and proponents to help their articles. During the weeks when the virtual Town Meetings convened, the Advisory Committee continued to hold online meetings to review numerous amendments from warrant article petitioners and from the Select Board.
11. In July 2021, Mike Sandman was re-elected as the Chair of the Advisory Committee. Carla Benka was re-elected as Vice Chair. Dennis Doughty was elected as second Vice Chair. In December 2021, Dennis Doughty assumed the role of Acting Chair.