Mr Tait said he ran across an endorsement of the software, called MuniCast, while he was reviewing information on the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) website recently. He said with the recent ability to access the school district’s comprehensive financial data, combined with his access to the past ten years of district budget details, he will have the maximum level of information to input into the system, in order to generate some of the most potentially accurate forecasts and models.

“I gathered ten years of past data and line items, expenses, revenues, staff levels, capital plan details, debt service to load into the program,” he explained. “Then, once I load in this year’s budget, it will forecast ten to 20 years with interactive assumptions.”

That means the software will be able to generate or update models and scenarios instantly if a particular town department inputs an increase in anticipated staff, if the town receives a grant for a project taxpayers were originally underwriting, or if the anticipated scope of any project changes.

This new software tool, one of two Mr Tait previewed for the finance board this week, is not for his use exclusively. The finance director already has plans to form a committee to help with the analysis of models generated by the MuniCast system.

He said individuals like school district Business Manager Ronald Bienkowski and Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker will be among town employees who will be asked to participate.

The initial cost for the MuniCast system is $1,450, which includes one year of unlimited forecasting and modeling, as well as setup support and training. Then, each year the finance office wishes to add new data to the existing program, there will be a $500 fee.

“This really takes us to the next level,” Mr Tait said, adding that MuniCast has the capability to model and forecast information on a monthly or even weekly basis, although the finance director believes Newtown will be best served by utilizing the data on an annual basis.

When asked to what extent MuniCast will increase the finance office’s capabilities, Mr Tait replied, “My current capabilities are only about 20 percent of what we can get out of this program.”

Its developer states that MuniCast can create baseline and alternative revenue and spending forecasts with more than 100 possible scenarios; analyze historic trends and correlations between financial, economic, and operating data; and test impact of proposed initiatives on current and projected fund balances.

Monica T. Potter, director of finance for the City of Livermore, Calif., stated in a testimonial that, “MuniCast has been the City of Livermore’s long-term forecast solution since 2006. City management has come to rely on the annual five-year forecast presentation to place current two-year budget projections in the proper fiscal context. This year we used the model to estimate the long-term impacts of a significant projected increase in retirement rates in FY 2011/12.”

The second software package Mr Tait discussed with the finance board will help the finance office improve and maintain better capital planning.

“I wanted to find a way for our departments to input CIP projects into a single database,” Mr Tait said. “This system will permit that, and will produce ready reports and a final CIP document from an approved capital plan.”

The ongoing annual licensing fee for this system, called “PlanIt1” is $1,000 after the initial $2,000 buy-in.

“It’s great because all the data can be input remotely, and all the information flows into a single, universal database,” Mr Tait said. “The software can then produce reports the town currently has with greatly enhanced detail, even incorporating graphics and photos.”

Mr Tait said the finance office budget already has the funds to obtain the MuniCast system, and he plans to request a special appropriation to obtain the PlanIt1 system.

Finance board Chairman John Kortze said he uses forecasting software in his work in the finance and securities field, and sees the acquisition of the MuniCast system as “a useful tool.”

“It’s not a replacement for difficult decisionmaking, but it will help us make better data-driven decisions,” Mr Kortze said. “It’s a way to make a cloudy financial landscape much more clear by providing substantially more data points.”

Mr Kortze said that Mr Tait’s discovery and advocacy for the implementation of these budget and planning tools locally is “just another example of how this finance director keeps working hard figuring out how to help Newtown do things better.”

In regard to the PlanIt1 system, Mr Kortze said that it will help the finance office deliver on its charter mandated charge to integrate all the capital planning documentation in a more user-friendly and transparent format.

“If it gives us a better handle on operating expenses and implications of our capital projects, it would be of great value,” Mr Kortze said. “From what I understand it will provide a lot more detail than even our current [CIP] impact statements.”