Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-01-30 Board of Selectmen Minutes Minutes of the Board of Selectmen Meeting January 30, 1990 The meeting convened at 7 : 37 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts- . Present were Chairman Russell Graham, Vice Chairman Mollie Ziegler, Secretary Dan Ensminger, Selectmen Eugene Nigro and John Russell, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner and the following list of residents: Bill Brown, Stanley Nissen, Dr. Robert Munnelly, Bruce Morang, Robert Ferrari, Richard Coco, Aram Boornazian, Robert Krekorian, Bill Burditt, Tom Stohlman, Gail Wood and John Wood. On motion by Ziegler, seconded by Nigro, the minutes of January 16, 1990 were approved by a vote of 4-0-1, with Russell abstain- ing. On motion by Ziegler, seconded by Nigro, the minutes of January 23, 1990 were approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Under Public Comment, Bill Brown asked when the land across the street from the High School would go on the tax rolls. It is tax title land and the Board of Selectmen has the authority to sell it. Dan Ensminger indicated that the average taxes from a single family home in Reading were $2,400 per year, and the average cost of educating a student was about $4,000. Therefore, returning this land to single family land residential purpose would wind up costing on an annual basis, since each household generates at least one school child. i The Town Manager introduced the discussion on the FY91 Budget and ballot question. A ballot question was drafted with a blank space for the amount of money to be filled in. Dan Ensminger in- dicated that he had reviewed tapes of all of the Selectmen' s meetings on the budget that he had missed last week because he was on a business trip. He asked if the budget was in balance, and it was indicated that it was $7 , 000 to $14 , 000 out of balance, but that it would be balanced through the FinCom process. Mr. Ensminger expressed concerns about the Department of Community Development. He feels that a putback of an addi- tional $80,000 would be needed in order to keep the department as a separate department, and keep full community development serv- ices available to the residents. He did not disagree with the deep cut budget needed to make the changes as proposed, but asked that consideration be given to putting an additional $80, 000 back into this budget as part of an override consideration. The $80, 000 consisted of restoring another half-time department head, another half-time conservation administrator, the full ad- ministrative assistant, the reduced hours for the Building In- spector, Electrical Inspector and Plumbing Inspector, and a half- time clerk. The School Committee reviewed their "putbacks. " Because of late revisions to the revenue structure, the School Deep Cut Budget is $274, 000 more than is available. Putback One is $450, 000 in ad- dition to that, and Putback Two is an additional $429, 000. Put- back Three is $600,000. Therefore, the cumulative totals for the School are $274, 000 to "stay even" with the deep cut budget as approved by the School Committee. Putbacks One and Two would . Selectmen's Minutes - 1/30/90 - Page 2 result in a total of $1, 153, 000 for Schools, and Putback Three would result in a total to $1,753,000 for Schools. To each of these would be added $400, 000 from the municipal side. The Town Manager stressed that the $400, 000 would not restore municipal business as usual. There would still be a cut of firefighters, public works employees, reduced hours of library service, a change in the Department of Community Development, and many other changes throughout Town government. There is no scenario that continues the present level of service for municipal government. Stan Nissen from the School Committee indicated that their priorities were to keep classroom teaching personnel, to keep personnel in support of the classroom personnel, to maintain sup- port staff, and to keep the maintenance staff. Bill Burditt from the FinCom indicated that the methodology of using putbacks was requested by the Finance Committee. Frank Smith indicated that he would like to see an override option to maintain educational quality completely, and suggested two questions be put on the ballot. Tom Stohlman indicated that the planner position has been thoroughly discussed and supported by Town Meeting. He also in- dicated that Community Development was the only department that paid for all of its expenses through fees. Aram Boornazian spoke and felt that we could take an approach of using fees. He indi- cated that he expects to pay for services and that that could be done through fees or taxes. If it is done through taxes, there is federal income tax benefit. On motion by Ensminger, seconded by Ziegler, the Board agreed to place one question and one dollar amount on the ballot by a vote of 5-0-0. There was a motion by Russell, seconded by Ziegler, to put an override in the amount of $2,225,000 on the ballot. This would deal with all the School needs, the municipal needs, and provide additional funding for the Department of Community Development. The motion was defeated 0-5-0. There was a motion by Russell, seconded by Ziegler, to place on the ballot, the amount of $2,153, 000 for an override. This would provide for all the School needs, and the municipal needs, but not add additional funding for the Department of Community Development. This was defeated by a vote of 0-5-0. There was a motion by Russell, seconded by Ziegler, to place on the ballot, an override in the amount of $1, 625, 000, which would provide for Putbacks One and Two for the Schools, the putback for municipal government and additional funding for the Department of Community Development. This was defeated by a vote of 1-4-0, with Ensminger voting in favor. On motion by Russell, seconded by Ziegler, an override in the amount of $1, 553 , 000 was placed on the ballot by a vote of 5-0-0. Dick Coco asked if there was a feeling that a trash fee and an override would be done. The Board indicated that it would not. Selectmen's Minutes - 1/30/90 - Page 3 He also asked if a trash fee would automatically be done if an override was not successful , and the Board indicated that it would certainly -be considered; there would be two new Board mem bers after March 19, 1990, and the discussion would center on how much of a trash fee and in what form it would take, if a trash fee was to be considered. On motion by Ziegler, seconded by Russell, the Board voted to place the following question on the ballot for Article 1 of Town Meeting for the election on March 19, 1990: "Shall the Town of Reading be allowed to assess an additional One Million Five Hundred and Fifty-Three Thousand ($1, 553, 000.00) Dollars in real estate and personal property taxes for the pur- pose of general expenses for school and municipal government for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1990? Yes No " The vote was 5-0-0. On motion by Russell, seconded by Ziegler, the Board approved the signing of two resolutions for retiring employees on a vote of 5- 0-0. On motion by Ziegler, seconded by Russell, the Board voted to ad- journ at 9:20 p.m. by a vote of 5-0-0. Respect y submitted, . Secretary