2021-05-10 Annual Town Meeting Minutes

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ANNUAL TOWN MEETING Virtual Town Meeting May 10, 2021 Via Zoom Webinar The meeting was called to order by the Moderator, Alan E. Foulds, at 7:30 PM, there being a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance was said by all. ARTICLE 6: Motion made by the Select Board to table the subject matter of Article 6 Counted Vote 110 in the affirmative 1 in the negative 185 Town Meeting Members remotely in Attendance Motion Carried ARTICLE 7: Motion made by the Select Board that the Town ratify the vote taken under Article 5 of this Town Meeting to amend the Fiscal Year 2021 Operating Budget by appropriating Seven Hundred and Ninety Three Thousand and Four Hundred Dollars ($793,400) from the General Fund and to transfer Seventy Three Thousand Six Hundred Dollars ($73,600) from the Water Enterprise Fund, Twenty Five Thousand and Five Hundred Dollars ($25,500) from the Sewer Enterprise Fund, and Eleven Thousand and Two Hundred ($11,200) from the Storm Water Enterprise Fund for the purpose of funding the Other Post -Employment Benefit Liability Trust Funds as modified In the revised budget lines in Article 5. Presentation given by: • Sharon Angstrom - See Attached Background: Each year at Annual Town Meeting we ask to transfer funds budgeted for OPEB from that line to the actual OPEB Trust in this Article. Sometimes due to budget surpluses in health insurance premiums we have increased the budgeted contribution figures; we are prepared but have not yet needed to ask to lower the budgeted contribution figures to cover health insurance premium deficits. Recent contributions to the Trust on behalf of the General Fund have been $800,000 (FY19) and $700,000 (FY20) - each a bit higher than budgeted. Actuarially the eventual required annual contribution for the General Fund Is between $1.5 to $2.0 million. It is understood that once our Pension Fund is actuarially fully funded (by about 2029), a large shift away from funding annual pension contributions and towards funding OPEB will occur, and on balance the total funding needed should be lower than the current combined totals. In the meanwhile, targeted annual OPEB contributions are about $0.5 million. Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, lune 2020 Town Meeting approved a reduced annual FY21 contribution of $100,000. The Town Manager's FY22 budget proposes a similar $100,000 figure in recognition of ongoing revenue uncertainty. This spring, the Public Employee's Committee (PEC), a group of all Town, School and Light department unions, plus representation for Retirees, will be negotiating health insurance renewals with town management. We intend to discuss the OPEB situation, and try to find a way to address the two-year (FY21 and FY22) contribution shortfall. Historically the PEC has been an outstanding partner in keeping our annual health insurance premium expenses (including enrollment increases) below 3% over a ten-year period. Town Meeting is therefore requested to make the following annual transfers of funds for the OPEB Trust Fund: General Fund $100,000; Water Fund $60,000; Sewer Fund $22,000; Storm Water Fund $10,000 for a total of $192,000 of all these OPEB contributions to the trust for Other Post Employment Benefit liabilities. ulna,.