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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-03-02 Finance Committee Minutes41-1 MINUTES OF THE READING FINANCE COMMITTEE MARCH 2, 1992 This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was held in the Conference Room of Town Hall, Reading, Massachusetts. Chairman Bill Burditt called this meeting to order at 7.•33 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT Bill Burditt, Chairman Dick Coco Pete Dahl Liz Greene Gerry MacDonald Carroll MacMillan Bill Murphy Nate White Peter Hechenbleikner, Town Manager Beth Klepeis, Town Treasurer Kathy Quimby, Town Clerk Maria Silvaggi, Reporter, CHRONICLE L RESERVE FUND TRANSFER A. Labor Counsel 01-041-5306-000 *Town Manager respectfully requested that a transfer of $1050.00 be made from the RESERVE FUND to the Labor Counsel 01-041-5306-000. *This request is for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures. i' 1 MOTION.- Gerry MacDonald moved to approve the Reserve Fund Transfer of $1050.00 and Bill Murphy seconded the move to approve. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED H. FINCOM DISCUSSION A. Chairman Has Major Concerns *Bill Burditt addressed the group of Committee Members before any voting of the budget this evening. Bill is concerned about State Aid and the distribution of monies. *Bill advised the Committee that reductions may be had in the Highway Funds. 1992 may be reduced. *Concerns were brought forth by the Chairman regarding the 40 Million dollars less in Massachusetts Lottery receipts in the State. State Finance is throwing out caution signs of 5% to 10%. III. BUDGET A, B, G Employee Benefits, Contrib. Retire-, Unemployment *Peter presented the newest budget revisions and. conveyed to the Committee that these revisions are the best estimates of revenues available at this time in Employee Benefits Budget, Contributory Retirement Budget, and the Unemployment Budget: MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve L3 in the amount'of $86,540 and Gerry MacDonald seconded her move to approve A, B. and C. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED D. Health Insurance *Peter provided information on the various plans of insurance offered by the Town of Reading. Here, Peter is encouraging the Town to level fund the Health Insurance in his presentation of all of the current information on this budget. *Pete Dahl asked about the split... what would Reading pay, what does the employee pay. *Peter indicated that it would be a bit more than 60-40. The Town will now pay approximately 60% (a bit more) of the insurance rates. *Both Peter and Beth Klepeis indicated that the Town of Reading is being looked up to by other surrounding towns regarding health insurance issues. *Nate White asked questions regarding John Hancock Insurance Co. *Beth explained here about the money collecting interest on $650, 000. MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve L4 Group Health and Life Insurance in the amount of IM, 968,090 and Gerry MacDonald seconded. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED E. Medicare and Social Security Budget MOTION. Liz Greene moved to approve this budget in the amount of $35,000 and Bill Murphy seconded this move to approve. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED F. Workers Compensation *Town Managerpresented this budget to the Committee with questions regarding the number of cases in Workers Comp. More additional information is to be forthcoming on this. . G. Police and Fire *This budget was presented and explained- Heart and Lung Presumption Bill means presuming that the illness occurred while on the job, as was defined by Town Manager. M07TON: Liz Greene moved to approve Police and Fire in the amount of $20, 000 amd Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion to approve. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED H. General Services *Town Manager discussed this budget and comments were made regarding the printing of the Town Annual Report. It was suggested by Peter Hechenbleikner that he would suggest no more published copies of the Annual Report free to the Town, due to costs. There would be a copy in the Town Hall and other public buildings for the Townspeople to read but that the printing of this document is expensive and one that perhaps should be cut out. *Discussion followed regarding this Annual Report printing, and Chronicle Reporter, Maria Silvaggi claimed that this would be "outrageous" not to have an Annual Report for the Townspeople, as it is a legal document for the Town of Reading. *Peter suggested no longer printing 300 copies of the Annual Report. *Committeeman Murphy spoke of up- front costs and Gerry MacDonald asked about the possibility of the high school print shop taking this task in hand to provide the Town of Reading with this Report. He suggested looking ( I 4 seriously into this idea of having students of the print shop help out here. l *Mr. Dick Coco asked if the Town Meeting Members got a free copy of the Annual Report. *Peter indicated that buildings in Town, such as the Town Hall and the Town Library would have copies on file for those who wish to see the document. *Bill Murphy had questions here on just exactly how much money is saved because Bill feels that the Annual Report should be saved here, and is valuable to the Townspeople. *Liz Greene wishes that there would be a way not to have to cancel the Annual Report and voices this to the Committee. *Bill Murphy thinks that we should have this service still offered. *Geny MacDonald brought up the costs of publishing the Street List for the Town. It was indicated that Street Lists in Reading cost $1500. *Peter Hechenbleikner emphasized the seriousness of the financial problems in the Town and felt that this area would allow the cut of a great expense to the Town. *Dick Coco indicated that the time and energy spent by an individual to get the data documented for only three copies of the Annual Report does not seem to make much sense to him. *Commenting on this, Pete Dahl does not feel that the document needs to be such a 'professional printing". In a less formal manner the document would still allow information to be available to all the people. Pete told the group that he feels that Town Meeting wants to be informed, and that the Annual Report is a document of information to them. *Further discussion ensued and a comment from Dick Coco advised the group that freedom of information to know how the Town operates is the Townspeople right. MOTION.• Bill Murphy moved to fund $3900 to include 350 copies of the Annual Report and Dick Coco seconded this motion to approve ,$3900. DISCUSSION: Liz told the group that deciding where this money will come from is the issue to resolve. Carroll speaks here against the motion made by Bill Murphy at this point in the meeting. Carroll reminded Fincom that the economic times are difficult and he feels that three copies of the Report would be enough to get the information out to the public. Bill Burditt told the group that the information would be available and perhaps paying for copies of the Annual Report is a feasible alternative for people who want their own copies. Pete Dahl thinks this is a 'philosophical issue" and recommends putting money back into this account. i Liz Greene asks if this is worth it. Bill Murphy asks for a vote at this time. VOTE: 6 - 2 - 0 APPROVED *Bill Burditt discussed the possibility of some kind of "employee time cards" as perhaps being a valid approach to the employee time spent in each area. Perhaps in this way tracking would be more available of time to each department. *Dick Coco considers this a good way to go. *Bill Burditt asks Peter Hechenbleikner to think about what could be allocated. 6 L Town Manager's Budget *Peter Hechenbleikner presented this to the Committee. MOTION: Liz Greene moved to approve Personal Services in the Town Manager's budget in the amount of $64,730 and Bill Murphy seconded this motion to approve. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED MOTION: Nate White moved to approve the None-Pesonal Town Manager's budget in the amount of $3750 and Bill Murphy seconded. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED J. Law Division 4 *This Department covers all of the legal services for the Town, except for the Light Department, which has their own counsel. MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve Town Counsel budget in amount of $95.000 and Dick Coco seconded this motion. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve Town Counsel Non-Personal in the amount of $14.,250 and Nate White seconded. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED 7 MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve the Non-Personal Other Expense in the amount of $3500 and Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED K Town Clerk Budget *The Town Manager explained this budget to the Committee and motion was made. MOTION..- Liz Greene moved to approve the budget of the Town Clerk Personal Services Account in the amount of $31,270 and Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion to approve. ~i ' VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED MOTION..- Nate White moved to approve the budget of the Town Clerk Non- Personal Account in the amount of $1874, including $425 for conference held at Salve Regina College. Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion to approve. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED L. Elections and Registrations MOTION: Liz Greene moved to approve Personal Services in this Account in the amount of $20,910 and Carroll MacMillan seconded. VOTE. 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED I MOTION: Liz Greene moved to approve the Non-Personal Services in this Account in the amount of $15,470 and Gerry MacDonald seconded. DISCUSSION: Dick Coco had a question here on the amount of elections held in the Town. Kathy Quimby, the Town Clerk, suggested the possibility of having Street Lists available for sale at Town Hall and make a profit and give no 'free" Lists to anyone. AMENDMENT MOTION: Dick Coco moved an amendment motion of $17070 to include Street List printing of 350 copies and Gerry MacDonald seconded this amendment motion. VOTE: 4-4-0 FAILED MAIN MOTION.- VOTE: 7 - I - 0 APPROVED M: Casualty Insurances *Nate White posed some questions to the Town Manager with regard to deductibles on the insurance coverage. MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve this account in the amount of $232825. with Nate White seconding this motion. DISCUSSION.• Pete Dahl asked about insurance and coverages and the possibility of eliminating some of the Town vehicles. Pete Hechenbleikner told him he has addressed this. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED N. General Department, *Pete Hechenbleikner explained this budget. MOTION.- Liz Greene moved to approve this account in the amount of $86,987 and Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion. DISCUSSION: Gerry MacDonald had a question on telephone conversion costs. IV. ADJOURNMENT I MOTION: Dick Coco moved to adjourn this meeting at 10.38 PM and Gerry MacDonald seconded this motion to adjourn. VOTE: 8 - 0 - 0 APPROVED *This meeting of the Reading Finance Committee was then adjourned at 10:38 PM on the evening of Monday, March 2, 1992. Respectfully submitted to the Committee, c f4 Sue Finn, Secretary 10