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Here is a ten yesr forecast from the financial experts from the town of Barnstable, MA., with a population of 49,000 residents about an hour from Rhode Island.

I wonder if this analysis was created by the town leaders as a hobby or at their kitchen table.

Copy this link to your browser to see what resonsible political leaders do in terms of strategic planning:

http://www.townofbarnstable.us/finance/FY13%2010%20year%20forecast.pdf

Key points and I quote:

"Long-term financial forecasting allows the town to consider its financial future beyond the current and immediate subsequent fiscal year. This offers the opportunity for better management of the community’s fiscal health as long-term imbalances can be identified and strategies to counteract them can be developed."

"For example, recent accounting and law changes enacted concerning employee benefits has resulted in the town restructuring its budget presentation to consolidate and analyze these costs collectively as they consume more of the budget every year. A growing concern from taxpayers nationwide in this area has emerged over the past few years. Most notably has been the accounting change to record a community’s unfunded other post-employment benefits, or OPEB".

"As with any long-range forecast, this document should not be interpreted as a spending plan for the next 10 years. Many decisions regarding the allocation of resources and spending priorities are made outside the finance operations. These decisions should be made considering the key financial data finance provides. Additionally, finance needs to consider the impacts of these decisions to the town’s financial position."

"The focus of the ten-year forecast should not be centered on the accuracy of the numbers provided herein but rather on the trends they illustrate. Furthermore, how this report can be connected to the town’s other planning documents including the Annual Operating Budget, the Capital Improvement 2 Plan and the Town Council’s Strategic Plan is an important consideration. These plans are all interconnected and the ten-year forecast is as good a place to start when juxtaposed with the other documents."

This was the point of my presentation.

"TRENDS" is that a familuar term we recently heard? MAYBE DURNING MY PRESENTATION IF YOU WERE LISTENING!!!!!