Member Profile

ELIZABETH GHONIEM,  Chair of the Finance Committee and Member of the League

Elizabeth Ghoniem was first appointed to the Finance Committee  in 2000.  She served for three years because she wanted to get involved with the Town in a way that could have the biggest impact and that was most aligned with her business experience. She feels that this is an important committee because money is a powerful tool and she welcomed the opportunity to be able to advise the town on how to use funds wisely. In 2007, she was asked to re-join the committee and became first the vice-chair and then the chair.  She was especially interested in the Hamilton Farm issue and wanted to make sure that whatever decision was made would be in the best interest of the town as a whole.

Elizabeth with LWVMA President Diane Jeffrey

As chair of the committee, Elizabeth finds dealing with  key issues that affect the town both exciting and challenging.  One such issue currently facing the committee is how to avoid layoffs of Town employees, which would result in loss of services. The Town's expenses are growing more than its revenues.  By law we must bridge that gap, so the committee is grappling with how to responsibly handle the ‘free cash’ funds that are now available without using them up entirely in the short term.

To help inform Winchester residents about this and other important issues it is facing, the Finance Committee plans a series of articles to be published in the Winchester Star. .  Following are excepts from the first two of these articles:

"Personnel costs represent roughly 60% of the budget and these labor costs historically have grown in excess of the Town’s revenue growth. How the Town manages its personnel costs will be critical in navigating the current economic crisis. ... No one is able to predict with certainty how long this recession will last.  We all value town employees and the services they deliver to us.  However, we all need to recognize that in a difficult year, to minimize layoffs of these valued employees for this and future years, we must keep current personnel costs under control."

"'Free cash' is our cash reserves.... ... The Town’s healthy free cash balance can and will help weather this economic storm, but it would be unwise to expect it to solve all of our woes.  We have a healthy free cash balance in part due to careful practices on spending these funds in the past.  Whatever amount as a Town we determine to spend must leave us in a survivable scenario for fiscal year 2011. "

Elizabeth Ghoniem has been a member of the Winchester League of Women Voters for three years and a member of the Steering Committee for the last two. She feels strongly about staying involved with democracy at the local level, such as presenting the Day at the Races to help provide information to voters about local candidates.        

– Jean Herbert