Town of Becket Finance Committee
April 2, 2009 Minutes
Present: Mike Falk, Ann Spadafora, Steve LaBelle, Jeremy Dunn, Amy Fyden
Also Present: Richard Furlong, Kathy Hayn-Burtt, Bill Elovirta
Also Present until 8:15pm: George Fuller, Bob Will, Elizabeth Will
The meeting was called to order at 7:01pm.
- Minutes of 3/19/09 & 3/26/09 FinCom approved
- Review of Employee Salary Classification
- min/max columns are really for current salaries; should be corrected to show min/max for each salary grade
- Town Admin – current salary grade appears to be too high, needs review. If we paid 85% of the existing minimum, would still be higher than the advertised starting salary. There were 34 candidates for the position, of which 8 will be interviewed. Obviously the published range is sufficient.
- MOTION: Recommend to Select Board that the Town Admin salary range be reviewed and adjusted. Possibly get data from MMPA Surveys. Passed.
- Request for $1000 from Wahconah auditorium seat restoration project.
MOTION: Recommend to Select Board AGAINST this contribution. Passed.
- Tax Collector Demand Fee increase
Current demand fee is $5. Law now allows up to $30.
Kathy H-B recommended all town fees be reviewed. RF stated that all fees recently had been.
KHB recommended $15. MOTION: to increase fees to $15, but not to increase anticipated revenue in FY2010. Passed. Must be Article @ ATM; RF to compose.
- Should Wage increases be capped at Salary Classification max for each salary grade?
Highway Dept. employees were asked if Becket is competitive; GeorgeF said they felt not, but had no evidence of such to present.
MOTION: to increase top range of all salaries by 0.7%. Passed.
MOTION: Recommend to Select Board they they review competitiveness of Highway Dept. salary ranges. Passed.
MOTION: for upcoming FY, limit current salaries to current top of range. Passed
Account is still under-fund by a substantial amount; funds are needed at the end of every year to make up the shortfall. MOTION: increase to fund more of the actual salaries. Passed. Will fund @ $170,000 in FY2010.
Actual Building repairs to town buildings likely to exceed current $20k budget.
MOTION: to increase article to $25,000. Pass
TASK: RF to come up with some project estimates in time for ATM
- Library request for increased funding
Last year budget was $24k. They requested $49k. In light of their dire situation, current budget shows 52% increase @ $36,500. MOTION: Keep the budget @ $36,500. Passed
Price was locked-in on 4/2/09 @ 2.24 for 16,000 gallons; market rate if we exceed this limit. Budget was previously requested at 3.17/gallon. MOTION: Reduce Fuel acct to $60,000. Pass.
TASK: RF to confirm with LennyT.
RF says tuition has historically gone up a lot, but expects it to be nearly flat this year. Budget is based on 9 kids; won’t know if they are accepted till mid-summer. For transportation, Washington is covering Smith Voc.
- Police Salaries & Police Expense accts
Discussion with BillE re need for increased hours (+2 hrs/week = 104hrs/year) due to cuts in governor’s budget for community-policing funds. Other salary increase is +1.7% as for other depts.
Bill agreed to cut $500 from his expense budget, to $16,270.
MOTION: to approve additional hours; leave Police Salary account @ +2.99%. Passed
Windsor contested the DOE assessment. If this is upheld, will it affect Becket? No, because of two things: a) there is no “pot hole” money in state budget to fund Windsor abatement; b) this is the final CBRSD budget. If there is any shortfall, CBRSD has to make up the difference; they cannot pass it on to towns.
- Line-by-line review of budget
MOTION: to accept all lines as budgeted, with the exception of above changes. Passed
TASK: RichardF to check with Assessors that they are still comfortable with this number
To review details at future FinCom meeting
- Review of Special Town Meeting warrant
MOTIONS: to recommend in favor of each article. All passed.
Possible Article 5, to fund RichardF sick-payout, contingent on finding funds to pay for it. Select Board will make a transfer if necessary later in FY2009.
- Citizen petition to make Jacob’s Hollow Rd. a Town Rd.
This is used as a shortcut to Jacob’s pillow. Efforts to reduce traffic have been unsuccessful. A gate was ruled unlawful. Police department in favor of accepting it.
MOTION: to recommend in favor of this Article. Passed.
No public input other than as noted above.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeremy Dunn
Clerk
| 
