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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-03-28 Finance Committee Minutes OF JR? Finance Committee Meeting b;os Ewa March 28, 2011 111, s.WCO Conference Room, Reading Municipal Light Department The meeting convened at 7:00 PM in the Conference Room at RMLD. FINCOM Members Present: Chair Marsie West, Vice Chair David Greenfield, Hal Torman, Mark Dockser, Bryan Walsh, Kevin Leyne, Francis Fardy, Barry Berman and Paula Perry. Members Absent: None. Also Present: Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur, Town Accountant Gail LaPointe, Police Chief Jim Cormier, Fire Chief Greg Burns, DPW Director Jeff Zager, Library Director Ruth Urell, Community Services Director/Town Planner Jean Delios, Board of Selectmen Chair James Bonazoli and Steve Goldy, Council on Aging Chairman Steve Oston, Conservation Commission Chair Bill Hecht, Town Meeting member John Arena, Kara Deyermenjian from Reading Patch, Melissa Russell from the Reading Advocate, and recording secretary Abby McCabe. There being a quorum the FINCOM meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM. The FINCOM Chair, Ms. West, gave a brief summary of the past few budget meetings over the last several weeks. The FINCOM has heard presentations and alternative budget proposals from the Conservation Commission, Board of Assessors, and the Board of Library Trustees. The Board of Assessors requested that the seasonal appraiser position be funded because it is not currently in the Town Manager's FY12 budget. There is also a $103,000 gap between the School Committee's approved budget and the Town Managers budget. The Finance Director/Assistant Town Manager, Mr. LeLacheur, noted that the Trails Committee has also asked for $1,500 for maintaining Reading's trails. FY12 Budget: Review Mr. LeLacheur explained that the Town still does not know the final figures for next year's State Aid but staff has begun to discuss budget priorities if the legislature comes back with more money then Reading has currently budgeted for in FY12. Staff priorities if the Town received an additional $150,000 in State Aid would be $6,500 into the Finance Department expenses to purchase technology supplies and parts; $6,500 to increase the Community Services clerical position from 0.8 FTE to 1.0 FTE; $4,000 into Community Services Expenses for animal disposal cost and professional development costs; $30,000 into Public Works expenses to buy equipment and materials to patch potholes in the cold weather and $103,000 to the School Department budget. If the Town were to receive an additional $150,000 from the State, staff would recommend $75,000 to the vocational school accommodated expenses and $75,000 for DPW fuel expenses. The School Committee requested that the school department budget line items be tabled to Wednesday's meeting when the School Committee is able to attend because there is a meeting conflict tonight. FINCOM agreed to hold the vote on the school and enterprise budgets until Wednesday's meeting. FINCOM had a discussion about the staff budget priorities described by Mr. LeLacheur. Several questions focused on the $30,000 for the public works expenses. The DPW Director explained that the equipment to patch the pot holes is $25,000 and $5,000 would be for the materials and tools. FINCOM discussed the $75,000 for the vocations schools. The Town Manager explained that this figure covers three potential new students at Minuteman Vocational school.. The Town will not know the exact student enrollment at Minuteman until the start of the school year in the fall. Mr. LeLacheur explained that they recently learned that three students were given permission from the Superintendant to attend the vocational school but there is 1 still an application process and it is not known if they will actually attend at this point in time. In response to a question about State aid Mr. LeLacheur said that Reading's budget is very conservative and State aid is not likely to come in less than what has been budgeted. Mr. Fardy asked if the Seasonal Appraiser position would be shared with another community. Mr. Hechenbleikner said that was not likely especially by July 1st The Committee discussed increasing the 0.8 Community Services Clerk position to 1.0 and how to increase the three administrator positions to 20 hours per week since this budget includes a reduction to the Conservation Administrator, Health Administrator and Elder Services Administrator position. Increasing the three positions to 20 hours a week would make the positions eligible for health insurance benefits. The Committee also discussed the $28,000 request from the Library Board of Trustees. The $28,000 request will help the library meet the State requirements to be accredited. The Committee was told that the costs to maintain Saturday hours at the library would be approximately $18,800. Mr. Berman asked if the Library revolving fund could be expanded to accept the Library room rental fees directly instead of the fees going into the General Fund. Library room rental fees were just over $600 last year. Room rental fees were discussed and it was the consensus of FINCOM that these rates should be raised for the library as well as other public buildings. The State does have a waiver process available to community library's facing budget shortfalls that may jeopardize the accreditation. The Town Manager noted that over 100 libraries were granted the waiver last year and were generally granted in communities where the library's budget was not directly targeted for budget cuts. FY12 Budget Votes: On a motion by Mr. Torman, seconded by Mr. Greenfield, the FINCOM recommended $12,845,486 in line B99 Benefits by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion by the Committee. On a motion by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM recommended $948,000 in line C99 Capital by a vote of 9-0-0. There was a brief discussion about the capital budget for FY 13 and FY 14. On a motion by Mr. Berman, seconded by Mr. Walsh, FINCOM voted to recommend $6,063,446 in line D99 Debt by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. FINCOM decided not to vote on the vocational education budget line E99 until Wednesday when the School Superintendent would be present for further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Leone, seconded by Ms. Perry, FINCOM recommended $212,611 in line G91 for Town Administration Wages by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Fardy, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM approved $468,180 in line G92 for Town Administration expenses by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Walsh, seconded by Mr. Dockser, FINCOM recommended $156,779 in line H91 for Accounting Wages by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Torman, seconded by Ms. Perry, FINCOM recommended $1,300 in line H92 for Accounting Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. Mr. LeLacheur reminded FINCOM about the Board of Assessor's request for $23,000 for the seasonal appraiser position, which was not included in the budget. On a motion made by Mr. Dockser, seconded by Mr. Greenfield, FINCOM recommended $1,089,226 in line I91 for Finance Wages by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. 2 On a motion by Mr. Leone, seconded by Mr. Walsh, FINCOM recommended $451,700 in line I92 for Finance Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion. A motion was made by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Walsh, to approve $150,000 in line J92 for FINCOM Reserves. Mr. Berman made an amendment to the motion to reduce line J92 by $18,000, seconded by Mr. Dockser, to put towards the Library to maintain Saturday hours. Mr. Dockser made an amendment to the amended motion, seconded by Mr. Fardy, to reduce FINCOM Reserves line J92 by an additional $6,521 to put towards the Community Services Wages in line K91. Discussion: The Committee discussed the funding for staffing levels for the Library and Community Services departments. Mr. Greenfield and Mr. Torman were not in favor of taking money from FINCOM's free cash funds to put towards the library at this time. Mr. Walsh was supportive of the library hours but not increasing the Community Services increase. Ms. West suggested the funds could be taken from the DPW trash removal line item to support these items because the Town may see a decrease in this budget item with the recent implementation of the new recycling program. The Committee was supportive of this suggestion and both Mr. Berman and Mr. Dockser withdrew the motion to reduce the FINCOM Reserve line J92 by $18,000. The Library Director answered questions from the Committee about volunteers, total staffing levels and the library hours. The Committee requested that the Library access the current staffing model for potential efficiencies or wider use of volunteers in the future. Mr. Hechenbleikner responded to questions about the Community Services positions and how they would be staffed if the position were not benefited. The Town Manager explained that the Town is required by State law to offer health insurance to employees working 20 hours per week. He did not expect part time positions to become a trend at Town Hall. Mr. Dockser and Mr. Fardy withdrew the motion to decrease the FINCOM Reserves line J92 by $6,521. FINCOM recommended $150,000 in line J92 for FINCOM Reserves by a vote of 9-0-0. Mr. Torman made a motion to approve $1,496,680 in line M95 for Public Works Street Rubbish, seconded by Mr. Walsh. On a motion by Mr. Berman, seconded by Mr. Dockser, the motion was amended to reduce line M95 by $18,000. An additional amendment was made by Mr. Dockser and seconded by Ms. Perry to reduce line M95 by an additional $6,521. FINCOM voted 8-1-0 (Mr. Greenfield opposed)to recommend the first amendment ($18,000 reduction). FINCOM voted 5-4-0 (Ms. West, Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Walsh and Mr. Berman opposed)to recommend the second amendment ($6,521 reduction). FINCOM recommended an amended amount of$1,472,159 in line M95 for Public Works Street Rubbish by a vote of 8-1-0 (Mr. Greenfield opposed). On a motion by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Dockser FINCOM recommended $767,480 in line K91 for Community Services Wages of the FY12 budget by a vote of 7-2-0 (Mr. Greenfield and Mr. Walsh opposed). No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Fardy, seconded by Mr. Berman, FINCOM recommended $237,499 in line K92 for Community Services Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Fardy, seconded by Ms. Perry, FINCOM recommended $987,717 in line L91 for Library wages by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Leone, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM recommended $253,813 in line L92 for Library Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Berman, seconded by Mr. Walsh, FINCOM recommended $2,289,710 in line M91for Public Works Wages by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion. 3 On a motion by Mr. Torman, seconded by Mr. Fardv, FINCOM recommended $731,930 in line M92 for Public Works Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Ms. Perry, seconded by Mr. Fardv, FINCOM recommended $565,000 in line M93 for Public Works Snow & Ice by a vote of 9-0-0. FINCOM discussed the history of how much has been budgeted for snow and ice in the past and how often the Town is under or over budget. In the last decade there have only been two years when there was a surplus in this budget item. Ms. West pointed out a possible disincentive to increase the budget because the state may direct funds back to communities based on the amount over budget their snow& ice accounts are this year. On a motion by Mr. Fardv, seconded by Mr. Leone, FINCOM recommended $253,575 in line M94 for Public Works Street Lights by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Leone, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM recommended $7,595,269 in line N91 for Public Safety Wages by a vote of 9-0-0.No further discussion. On a motion by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Berman, FINCOM recommended $366,014 in line N92 for Public Safety Expenses by a vote of 9-0-0. No further discussion. Town Meeting Warrant & Votes: Article 8: The Town Manager explained that this article would authorize the Board of Selectmen to acquire temporary and permanent easements necessary to construct the Safe Routes to School Infrastructure Project (SRTS). The project will improve pedestrian and bicycle access around schools. FINCOM discussed curbing, snow shoveling and the easements. The valuations of this property are still pending. On a motion by Mr. Walsh, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM voted 0-0-8 on Article 8 (Mr. Greenfield not voting). If more information is available before Town Meeting, FINCOM will re-vote this Article. Mr. Walsh volunteered to write the Town Meeting report. Article 9: Article 9 is for Town Meeting to accept Pondview Lane as a public way. The Town Manager said all work has been completed and informed the FINCOM where this was located. In terms of funds, there may be ten payments of$1 each. On a motion by Mr. Torman, seconded by Mr. Fardv, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 9 as written by a vote of 9-0-0. Mr. Greenfield to prepare the report. Article 13: This article would authorize the Board of Selectmen to enter into a lease agreement for the Burbank Ice Arena indoor skating rink. The Town Manager further explained the history of the Burbank Ice Arena and its benefits to the Town. On a motion by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Berman, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 9 as written by a vote of 9-0-0. Mr. Berman to prepare the report. Article 14: The Town Manager explained that this article addresses the revolving funds for Town Departments and briefly reviewed the background for each fund which includes Conservation Consulting, Inspections, Health Clinic, Library Materials Replacement, and the Mattera Cabin operating revolving funds. The Town Manager explained that the funds listed are the maximum expenditures allowed. On a motion by Mr. Torman, seconded by Mr. Walsh, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 14 as written by a vote of 4 9-0-0. Mr. Torman to prepare the report. Article 24: Article 24 authorizes expenditure of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund currently has a balance of$458,017 and the Town has negotiated providing up to $400,000 to Oaktree Development for their project at 30 Haven Street that would include 11 affordable units. The Committee asked several questions about the purpose of the Fund and how it has been used in the past. Members of FINCOM expressed concern about providing funding to the development of 30 Haven. The Town Manager explained that the Housing Authority and the Selectmen are the Trustees for this Fund but they do not vote until after Town Meeting and noted that they are currently reviewing the Oaktree financial information to validate the request. Mr. Berman asked if there were other options the Town could provide to Oaktree other than using a majority of this Fund. It was the consensus of FINCOM to continue this discussion until Wednesday's meeting. Mr. Greenfield requested that any additional financial information be presented to the Committee. Article 17: Ms. LaPointe explained that the State law has changed that has allowed Reading to increase the annual allowance for widow(er)s of disability retirees to increase to $9,000 from $7,000. This annual allowance has stayed at $7,000 since 1996. The Reading Contributory Retirement Board voted unanimously to accept this supplemental annual allowance. This would be in the FY13 budget and not the FY12 since it is an annual payment. On a motion by Berman, seconded by Mr. Walsh, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 17 as written by a vote of 9-0-0. Mr. Dockser to prepare the report. Article 4: Article 4 is to amend the FYI 1-FY20 Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Mr. LeLacheur explained that this Article is included in every Town Meeting Warrant. The amendments include the library renovations project, funding and the cemetery garage design study. Projects must be stated in the CIP and approved by Town Meeting in order for the projects to be implemented. On a motion by Mr. Greenfield, seconded by Mr. Torman, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 4 as written by a vote of 9-0-0. Article 7: Article 7 authorizes expenditures of the Chapter 90 funds for road improvements. Ms. LaPointe explained that the State requires a Town Meeting vote to spend the Chapter 90 funds. On a motion by Mr. Walsh, seconded by Mr. Berman, FINCOM voted to recommend Article 7 as written by a vote of 9-0-0. Mr. Leyne to prepare the report. On a motion by Mr. Leone, seconded by Mr. Fardy, FINCOM voted 9-0-0 to adiourn at 10:27 PM. Respectfully submitted, Recording Secretary 5