Brookline’s “free cash” account and why can’t we use that instead?
Free cash is a technical term used by the State and is not really free. It is cash in our accounts that the Department of Revenue says that we may appropriate. Because the amount of this so-called free cash is very unpredictable and fluctuates greatly from year-to-year, our policies call for us to set these funds aside for planned capital projects (renovations, new buildings, firetrucks,etc.). Our capital improvements program is set up so that projects can be moved up or pushed back in response to fluctuations in free cash. We do not want to hire more police officers, firefighters and teachers each time the DOR says free cash has gone up and then lay them off the next year when the DOR says free cash has gone down. An average level of free cash is built into our plans for capital projects.
