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Home My WebLink About2017-03-08 Finance Committee MinutesOFR Town of Reading Meeting Minutes LJ 6�9Q �NC044 f" E A D f N , U �n- Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committee Zell OCT.1 b All: 001 Date: 2017-03-08 Time: 7:30 PM Building:-, Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: r Chair Mark Dockser, Paula Perry; -Paul McNeice, Peter Lydecker, Eric Burkhart, Vanessa Alvarado, David Neshat, Marc Moll, Anne Landry Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Police Chief Mark Segalla, Fire Chief Greg, Burns, Deputy Chief Paul Jackson, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Administrative Services Director Matt Kraunelis, DPW Director Jeff Zager, Assistant DPW Director Jane Kinsella, Facilities Director Joe Huggins, Assistant Facilities Director Kevin Cabuzzi, Kevin'Gerstner,,. Library Director Amy Lannon, Library Trustees Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion:` Review FY18 Budget Library Director Amy Lannon and the Library Trustees - The Library Trustees called to order at 7:39 The overall budget is up 1.25%. The move back into the new building created a large demand.. They have decided to drop Sunday hours because -they do not have enough staff.. The salaries make up 79% of the Library budget. The library does a lot with elder/senior services. The town budget only pays the staff for the Library. The Friends of Reading Library donates and pays for the programs. State aid is dropping and they will need software upgrades soon. They are seeing a steady 60-70'new patrons every month and are doubling programs due to community feedback. The, State has regulations they have to follow in order to stay certified and get State Aid. Friends of Reading: Public Library has funded the library $28,000 this year. Volunteers equal out- to almost one whole person. Ms. Perry asked if Sunday is the library's slowest time and if that was why they decided to cut Sunday hours. Ms. Lannon noted no it isnot their slowest time; however, employees who work Sundays are paid at time and half. If they cut hours during ,the week, it messes up employee's hours. The Library Trustees adjourned at 8:0.9 P.M. Page 1 1 Finance Committee Minutes - March 8, 2017 - page 2 DPW Director Jeff Zager and Assistant Director Jane Kinsella The budget is up 1.2%.. Salaries are up 1.4%. Expenses are down 2.9% and the major leading item in that is fuel prices have just been lowered. The Town Engineer retired. Snow and ice is currently level funded this year. DPW just signed a 10 year contract with JRM. There are a lot of capital projects. happening including the big MWRA project, Bond Street drainage, Grove Street water main, Main and Mill Street water main cleaning,. and various road, pavement improvements. There has been a lot of professional development for the guys this year, making sure they have proper licenses'to be running the machines. Mr. Burkhart asked if they are where they should be in terms of licenses for the guys and Mr. Zager noted for the most part, yes. Mr. Neshat asked about the Cemetery Trust Fund and it was noted that it comes from the Cemetery Board of Trustees. The DPW helps out with a lot of community events and they are nice to do but something that may have to be looked at in the future. Facilities Director Joe Huggins, Assistant Director Kevin Cabuzzi and Kevin Gerstner The budget has a 4.9% .increase. They .are adding one new maintenance technician. Town building salaries are up for one time overtime for some projects in the buildings. Facilities is responsible for 17 buildings; 9 schools and 8 town buildings. They completed over 2,000 work orders last year. They are now able to track utility usage in real time. They are trending below last year but it is most likely because we generally have had good weather this winter. Facilities has their own master electrician which is saving them money. The department received a grant for LED lights in Town Hall to reduce our consumption. Natural gas and water & sewer are up. We have a three year agreement for natural gas right now and the same with RMLD which has the cheapest rates around. Mr. Burkhart noted the cleaning contract at the High School had been decreased, he asked if there was room to do that with any of the other contracts on the town side.. Mr. Huggins noted to decrease that contract he decreased the amount of.cleaning that will be happening and he doesn't .like to do that. Mr. Neshat asked if there were any renewable energy efforts and Mr. Huggins noted they did look, at solar panels a couple years back but we don't have enough space to make it worth our while. Enterprise Funds Town Manager Bob LeLacheur There was a 3.3% water and sewer rate- increase. The Finance Department is being rearranged due to the classification plan but the bottom line will still be the same. Annual increases have 'been less than 5%. From a cost stand point -the MWRA has been good. MWRA sewer rates are expected to start going up eventually. Retirement is back-up and the Health Insurance premium is still high. The Selectmen voted to keep the storm water rate the same. In summary, this was a tough budget after a failed override. Town unions are currently in collective bargaining. The town cannot complete the.pay and class gap but did do about 80% of it- which is good. The senior center and library are both reducing hours to the public due to low staff. Our peer communities. are much higher level staffed than we are. Our elder services far exceed a lot of other communities. The very low state aid number is really hurting us. Next week the Committee will hear the school committee budget. Page 1 2 Finance Committee Minutes - March 8, 2017 - page 3 . Town Accountant, Sharon Angstrom noted she is confident they can make the school budget work. Ms. Perry made a motion to adjourn at 10:30 PM, second by Mr. Moll and approved with an 8-0-0 vote. Respectfully submitted.- Secretary ubmitted;Secretary Page 1 3