Northborough, MAssachusetts
Administrative Officer
December, 1996

 While 1996 proved to be a year marked largely by administrative transition, the Town of Northborough remained steadfast in its commitment to expand its provision of municipal services while providing a bit of a reprieve from the endless upward trend characteristic of tax rates in the Commonwealth.

The conservative fiscal management philosophy adopted by the Town's internal finance team and as well by its Financial Planning Committee, Appropriations Committee and Board of Selectmen, has strengthened and solidified the Town's financial bases, enabling our municipality to gain a surer footing in readiness for future unforeseens - whether they be investment opportunities like the re-acquisition of the Howard Street/Zeh School, or revenue shortfalls, not unlike the retrenchment of State aidwitnessed in the late 80s/early 90s. Northborough's Free Cash for Fiscal 1995-96 was certified at $2,314,741.38, and in December 1996, the Fiscal 1996-97 Tax Rate was approved at $16.80, a decrease of .22 from the Fiscal '96 Bate of $16.52. While these indicators project a positive image of our Town's renewed financial health, it is the will of those charged with the financial management of the Town to remain vigilant in the prudent administration of public funds. Decisions about where to spend future dollars become more difficult as we must make harder choices about priorities in the best interest of all of Northborough's citizenry, rather than in the best interest of well-organized interest groups.

Individual departmental budgets are now routinely presented in concert with departmental performance measures which compare Northborough's service delivery internally based on variable annual demand, and externally in contrast to other municipalities. As well, all Town employees submit professional goals in relation to their respective departmental mission, and the Town's overall service commitment.

To better enhance customer access to Town services, the Town's third Continuous Quality Improvement team studied responses to the 1996 Town-wide survey which asked citizens their view of current Northborough service delivery and unmet needs, and made several recommendations therefrom: Town Hall hours of operation are being adjusted to accommodate a 7 a.m. opening time on Fridays, and a 7 p.m. closing time on Tuesdays to provide additional early morning and early evening service hours; a letter drop-box has been installed at the parking-lot entrance of the Town Hall; and, plans to implement an automated voice mail system are being considered for Fiscal Year 1998. Additionally, the Town has continued to strive to improve communication between its departments and its citizenry by installing new directional signs within Town Hall and by distributing the "Northborough Notice" semi-annual Town newsletter to every Northborough household for a second year. In conjunction with the Master Plan Update - the process by which the Town will set priorities for Northborough for the next five to ten years - the Town will survey all residents in response to their vision of our Town's future.

In an effort to innovate the way the Town processes information, voters at the 1996 Annual Town Meeting endorsed an appropriation to create a geographic information system (GIS) designed to compile all land-based information kept by the Town and integrate it into an automated database. As the Town refines its method of electronic communication, citizens can expect to eventually realize information exchange with the Town of Northborough from their home computers. In the meantime, the Town's new MIS/GIS Director, David Kane, is in the process of data gathering (the procurement of digitized maps via aerial photography) and computer workstation networking to lay the groundwork for the realization of this information processing ability.

The Town's ongoing effort to reach out to the business and industrial community remains a top priority of the Administrator's Office, and in 1996 Northborough celebrated the grand openings of neighboring facilities at 40 and 55 Bearfoot Road, respectively, Peterson Spring Company's Commonwealth Plant and the Massachusetts Electric Customer Service Center. Peterson Company renovated an abandoned building performing $1.4 million in capital improvements, and creating 47 jobs, promising preferred status for job-seeking Northborough residents and service contractors, and in return, was the recipient of the Town's first Tax Incremental Financing Agreement which promised a six-year phase-in of the incremental new value of the property at 40 Bearfoot resulting from Peterson's occupation. Massachusetts Electric's grand investment at 55 Bearfoot Road relocated and/or created over 400 johs, and renovations at the site represented over $4 million of the Town's new growth in Fiscal '96. Other no less important arrivals lauded by the Town include InSports Baystate at 185 Otis Street and Marlborough Savings Bank at 101 West Main Street.

To echo the former administrator's message from last year's annual report, "our restored fiscal health and stabilized financial systems permit us to plan rather than react." It is my belief that there is no sounder financial management philosophy than that characterized by careful long-term planning; the Town's ability to continue on its path of deliberative planning is predicated upon continued fiscal stability, and the transfer of this administrative credo to your new Administrative Officer.

As we begin a new year and prepare to welcome a new administrator, I wish to sincerely thank those individuals who have provided you with the consistency of mission you have come to expect from Northborough's public services. Beyond the technical support provided to my office by our municipal workforce, whose skills are wholly responsible for our continued success, I must extend special thank yous: to the Board of Selectmen and to those two memhers serving through very difficult Chairpersonships, Dawn Rand, and William Henries; to Town

Accountant Ahmed Elmi for his unwavering guidance and unfailing expertise; to your 'Acting' Acting Town Administrator, Town Engineer Jack Perreault; to Recreation Director Angela Cornacchioli for her fearlessness (and more); and most especially, to Diane Wackell, the Board of Selectmen's Executive Secretary, without whom I could not have confidently fulfilled the duties of Administrative Officer.

Respectfully submitted, Stacia J. Smith,

Acting Town Administrator

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