The 2nd annual Financial Summit for the Town of Natick is planned for Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m. in the Dlott Meeting Room in Town Hall. The session is timed to provide information to the community about the Town’s financial condition prior to the commencement of (1) the Fall Annual Town Meeting and (2) the FY 2012 budget process. Members of Boards and Committees and the public are encouraged to attend the Summit; the session will be taped by Pegasus and re-broadcast on the local cable access channel. Several financial indicators will be presented at the Financial Summit; these indicators are used to develop a clear understanding of Natick’s present financial condition and to forecast, as best as reasonably possible, our financial future. The indicators are updated annually and plotted over time to facilitate ongoing monitoring and analysis.
The objective of the Financial Summit is to present an analysis of Natick’s financial condition, which is generally defined as our ability to pay, on a continuing basis, for the cost of services needed and desired. This strategic planning effort helps us to create financial stability within our local government, thus minimizing impact on taxpayers.
This strategic financial planning facilitates efforts to
- measure and monitor trends and changes in our financial condition
- identify forces affecting our condition
- foresee emerging problems and identify strategies in response to these factors, and
- create stability in our financial condition
A financially stable condition helps the community to
- maintain existing service levels
- withstand local and regional economic disruptions, and
- meet demands and challenges associated with economic, demographic and other growth, decline or change.
This strategic planning effort is a continuation of and consistent with several other recent and ongoing initiatives, including development of the Natick 360 Strategic Plan, development of financial management principles, improvements to the capital planning and budgeting processes, development and implementation of numerous revenue enhancement and expense control efforts, and more. All of these efforts are designed to allow us to identify and attain the desired future for the Town of Natick and its residents.
We encourage citizen participation in all of these efforts, and look forward to presenting and discussing the town’s financial condition at the Financial Summit on September 22nd. |
