TOWN OF GILMANTON BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 28, 2014

Transcription

1 Members Present: Brian Forst (chair), Stan Bean, Mark Sawyer, Lynn Paige, Richard Bakos, Robert Carpenter (school rep), Raymond Daigle, Steve Bedard, Steve McCormack (selectmen s rep.) Members Not Present: Also Present: Annette Andreozzi (clerk), Don Guarino, Brett Currier, Stephanie Fogg, Arthur Capello, Chief Collins, Deb Cornett Meeting opened at 7:02pm 1. Approval of April 9, 2014 Minutes Steve B. moved to approve the April 9, 2014 minutes as amended. Seconded by Mark. Approved unanimously. 2. Old Business (Agenda Items and Concerns of Committee Members) There was no old business. 3. New Business Brian stated that the committee was trying a new format this year. Department heads will present their budgets to the budget committee and the selectmen at the same time. The meetings will be Budget Committee meetings and all questions and comments will go through Brian as chair. Department heads need to present all things they are requesting and need while all parties are present at the meetings. This is a trial for the way to present. Steve B. asked who the selectmen s representative was. Arthur said the budget papers the committee where given included expenditures through October 21, of 5

2 Presentations Police Chief Collins said his budget was the same as last year except he increased rent and lease services to what he thinks it will cost. The overall budget is up $1000. Arthur stated that retirement and health insurance is up for all departments. Rich asked if the Selectmen had discussed upping the copay for the health insurance so there wouldn t be a 7 1/2% increase to the tax payer. Steve M. said they hadn t discussed it. Arthur said the total increase in that area would be about $5000. Brian stated that the worst case would be a 7½% increase, but the amount has not been set. Chief said everything in the detail line gets reimbursed. Some of the state grants for this year haven t been reimbursed yet. The police department has taken in more money in detail than it has expended. He will have a warrant article for speed and DWI details. Brian said something has to be listed in the budget to be able to expend money for it, even if grant money will be reimbursing. There was a discussion about putting line items in the operating budget vs doing a warrant article. The consensus was that voters liked knowing that the money could only be spent if the grant was received and the line could not be over spent. Brian said that the committee wanted to hear what the department heads need and want in their budgets. Stan asked the Chief if he would be able to provide the same level of service with the present budget request. The Chief said yes. Lynn asked how many officers are on duty at a time in town. Chief said at key times there are two officers, but most of the time just one. Brett asked if raises were built into his budget. Chief said that in his copy of the budget the raises were taking out because the Selectmen were going to put them in a warrant article. Brett said a warrant for raises is what the Selectmen were talking about, for transparency. Chief said there will be a warrant to replace the 07 cruiser that will be 8 years old. This is the normal rotation to buy a cruiser. The department is sticking with an explorer because they get good mileage. It will need a radio upgrade. Cost will be about $35,000. Arthur said there may be $2000 in the cruiser capital reserve fund. Brian asked if the chief wanted to discontinue the cruiser capital reserve fund since there is a warrant article every other year for the whole amount of the cruiser. The Chief said he was for that. Rich said that the expenditure for all personnel lines is not the same percentage; it should be for all people that have been employed all year. The percentage for Patrol #3 was way over the other lines. 2 of 5

3 Arthur said he will find out what the correct amounts are. Patrol #2 left on October 1 for deployment so he won t be drawing any more pay this year. Arthur will print out a new sheet with corrections. Lynn noticed that some budget lines were over expended, and asked why that wasn t adjusted in the budget request. Chief said the photo lab expense is hard to determine because the line is used for blood tests. Arthur stated that the town pays a flat rate for life insurance & long term disability. It is not based on payroll. Tax collector/ town clerk Deb said she will not present the election budget that the supervisors of the checklist wish to do that. Deb she had made a request for a total budget of $174,955 which included 2% merit raises. That amount for merit raises was removed by someone due to the possible warrant article for cost of living raises. Merit raises are based on a person s evaluation and they haven t been done in a few years. She stated that her biggest increase was for document restoration because the capital reserve document restoration has been depleted. Dues and subscriptions are up for software upgrades and changes required by the state. Arthur stated that pension and retirement will be the same because the employees in that office are in a different group from police. Stan asked if document restoration was going to be on going. Deb said yes. Stan stated that it doesn t make sense to put money in capital reserve every year and then take out. Brian asked if it was time to deplete the capital reserves for document restoration, make a warrant article to dissolve the fund, and put all document restoration in the operating budget instead of making a warrant article each year to raise funds and another to expend them. Deb was good with Brian s suggestion because she wouldn t have to make a warrant article each year asking to expend funds. She is going to request a warrant article this year to expend $2800 in funds from the capital reserve for equipment to replace the oldest system computer. Robert asked about the warrant article for raises. Deb said the Selectmen told her that they would do a warrant article for across the board cost of living raises. 3 of 5

4 Don asked if $5000 per year was going to be spent on document restoration over the next few years. Deb said yes that included supplies. She said that this past year the office did 20 years of documents. There are only a few companies that do restoration, and if it isn t done right it has to be done again. Schedule for upcoming meetings: November 13 - Fire at 7PM, selectmen s office, legal, government buildings, assessing, building, welfare, patriotic purposes November 25 Highway, solid waste December 2 - school (tentatively) December 16 - outside agencies, corner library, ZBA, HDC, planning, trustees, election [supervisors of the check list], parks & rec, conservation, cemeteries, Year Round Library Brian stated that the YRL will be included if they submit a warrant article. It is not a town budget item. Rich said that there is a selectmen s recommendation and a budget committee recommendation on petition warrant articles. Brian said the YRL does want to present to the committee. Steve said the YRL has presented in the past so they should be allowed to again. Don agreed that the YRL should be heard by the budget committee so the committee will be able to make a recommendation. Stan asked when the committee will have the capital reserve numbers; they are needed. Arthur said that he would send the trustees of the trust fund report out, which has the numbers for what is presently in the reserve accounts. The Planning board is still working on the CIP. 4. Public Input There was no public in the room. 4 of 5

5 Motion to adjourn by Stan, seconded by Robert at 8:07 PM. Respectfully submitted, A. Andreozzi 5 of 5