FINANCE COMMITTEE
Town of Becket
557 Main Street
Becket, MA 01223
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Call to Order: 7.00 pm
Present: Ann S, Jeremy D, Steve L, Richard F, Dan P
Absent: Chuck A
Public Present: Rita F, the Becket Athenaeum Board of Directors Purr M and Marcia P and Library Director Zina J,
AGENDA
- Review and approve minutes for February 17, 2011
Motion: Jeremy Second: Ann
Approved
- Meet with Athenaeum director
The library presented their current programs and services and then a comparison of library funding by similar sized Berkshire County towns. The Town of Becket funds a much smaller percentage of the library budget than our peers (Becket funds 35% of the total budget where similar sized towns funds between 56% and 99%). It was asked that Becket step up funding from the current $30K level to $48.5K in 2012. This would cover salaries and materials in the library budget. It was not detailed what the increased funding would go towards since prior budgets of the library have been met. The library does face some unknown expenses this year due to the winter ice dams causing leaks and damage to the structure. It was brought up by the FC that this request is a significant increase which if granted would become the
new base funding for the library to continue to get certification and while the town may be able to afford an increase for 2012 because of a decreased school budget this year that it may be difficult to maintain in later years given levy limits. Other options brought up were possibly splitting the funding between capital and operating so the town is not locked into a base funding each year. However it was raised that any amount of funding has to be for specific activities that the town benefits from to be legal. Richard was going to verify this and Dan was going to investigate if there were any specific capital projects that would specifically benefit the town. At the present time the FC voted to recommend an increase for the operating funding to $36K.
- Review Dept Budget requests
See comment below
A discussion about the proposed 3% wage increase ensued. An informal survey of Mass and area towns showed a range from 0% to 3% increases for the proposed 2012 budget cycle. However most towns were staying flat and the 3% increases were contract related. It was felt that given the current economic times a 3% increase was higher than we should ask the town tax payers to support. However since there was not an increase in the 2011 budget cycle and a 1.7% in the prior year that we should give some sort of increase. The Boston area CPI for 2010 came in at 1.1% and the Albany area at 1.6%. After discussion it was voted that the FC would recommend a 1.5% increase in the 2012 Budget cycle.
Other open questions on the Budget were as follows:
What amount is put in as department request for the Becket Athenaeum as in prior years $36K was requested but it was reflected at the recommended $30K level
Why the additional increase in Tax Collector and Assessors salaries
Purpose of the New Police Cruiser, addition or replacement
Purpose of Special Article labeled “Internet Access”
When will we know funding levels for the Vocational Education and Transportation
Dan will follow up with Richard.
- Correspondence and transfers
None
Rita F brought up 3 topics. The first being the Community Preservation Act “CPA” support in the articles for the 2012 ATM and she asked that the FC support the CPA or at least not state they “do not support”. The second point was raised that a Historical Commission would be formed to deal with the Historical documents stored at the Becket Athenaeum and the possible need to move and store these in a new location. A room at the Mullen House was brought up but this would require new funding from the town to offset costs of the Mullen House which otherwise would most likely rent the space. It was estimated to be about $2K per year. It was suggested to find a way to keep the records at the BA so as to not create another funding area for the town. Lastly, Rita stressed the need to support
the special article concerning the resurfacing of the town.tennis court, it is the only one for public use, it is well used, and in very dire need of repair.
None
Adjourned: 10:20 PM
Respectfully submitted by Dan Parnell
Approved: Steven LaBelle ___________________________
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