Members present: George Fuller, Mark Karlberg, Jeanne Pryor – Select Board; Stephen LaBelle, Ann Spadafora, Jeremy Dunn, Dan Parnell – Finance Committee
Others Present: Craig Kleman, Colleen O’Connor, Mike Falk, Robert Ronzio, John Amato
7:02 PM Meeting opened.
Mark asked if anyone from the audience was recording this meeting besides the Select Board. Bob Ronzio is audio taping the meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how the budget is coming along and to discuss what happened at the Finance Committee meeting last night.
Mark apologized for not making it to last night’s Finance Committee meeting. Stephen LaBelle advised that this will be a tough year. The school will be asking for a bigger increase than last year. Dan calculated that even if the school was level funded, we would still be looking at an increase of about $200,000. Mike Falk does not believe the increase from the school would be as much as Dan calculated. Mike does not know what the school committee will be asking for but he feels it would be between three and five percent which probably would not be accepted by the seven towns. George feels that they should wait for something from the school instead of trying to predict what the school will come in at. Mark feels that that they should listen to who has had experience with the
school budget. Briefly discussed the timeline in which the school committee gives the towns its final budget. Because the budget will not be received until approximately mid-March, it is very difficult for the town to finalize its own budget so Jeremy feels that Mike’s information is helpful. Jeremy asked if employee salaries were discussed at the last joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee. Craig advised that a discussion took place about giving the employees that did not get the 3% increase last year a 1.5% increase this year. He would like the Select Board and Finance Committee to be on the same page so it would make it easier at town meeting. Colleen O’Connor asked if there would be an article about the town beach and if so, what would the amount be. Mark advised that the town is trying to work something out with Camp Greylock but the owners have not gotten back about working something out with the parking
area. Bob Ronzio asked if the ambulance department will be asking for an increase since they did not get one last year. He wanted to know if the ambulance department has submitted a budget for this year. Craig advised that the ambulance department has already submitted its budget. Briefly discussed the tax rate increase. The Finance Committee has tried to figure out how the rate increased so much and it feels that it could be because the average values of properties in town have dropped significantly. If a property did not drop in value, then the tax amount would increase. Jeremy advised that approximately 50% of properties in Sherwood Forest went down in value which is part of the reason the tax rate went up so much. John Amato would like some explanation that would make sense to people available so property owners understand why their tax bills have increased so much. Briefly discussed what the Finance Committee and Select
Board can do to keep the tax rate down. The finance committee would like to know what the Select Board and Town Administrator will do regarding the police department. They also decided that there should not be any special town meetings because they cost too much money and the bottom line is that the Annual Town Meeting is when the budget is voted on so they feel it should just wait for the annual town meeting. The Finance Committee also needs to know if a major piece of equipment can be deferred to another year when it is a tough year. Mike Falk feels there should be policy set when doing the budget. Briefly discussed the items that the town does not have control of like health insurance costs, fuel costs, etc. and the options the town has to either increase the percentage that the employees pay or to layoff employees. Mike Falk advised that a number of years ago the town did a survey of what other towns employees paid for health insurance so
that we could be competitive and the employees went from paying 10% to 25%. He does not know if we are still competitive with other towns. Briefly discussed possibly closing the town hall one or two days a week to save money. The Finance Committee wants the Select Board to tell them what percent of an increase or decrease they want for the budget then they will work to get it. They would like guidance from the Select Board. George wants to go with a 2.5% increase. John Amato suggested that they do up two budgets; one that is at 0% and one that is 2.5% over last year’s budget and let the voters decide which one to go with. Jeremy asked the Select Board to think about what they want to cut in the budget so the Finance Committee could start working on the budget. Mike Falk cautioned the Select Board about cutting employees hours because some employees may need to find other employment and the town may lose some of its staff.
John Amato feels that employees should be the last thing that gets cut. Jeanne motioned to have Craig prepare a letter to the CBSRD school committee recommending only a 1% raise in their budget, Mark seconded. All in favor. Ann motioned to follow the lead of the Select Board on this issue, Dan seconded. All in favor. This letter will be sent jointly by the Select Board and the Finance Committee. Ann feels the town should stop calling the town attorney for every little thing because we will spend triple of what was budgeted by the end of the year if we are not careful. She also asked if we go with a full time chief would the town need six part time police officers. Briefly discussed the issue of having a part time versus a full time police chief and regionalization.
9:00 PM George motioned to adjourn, Mark seconded. All in favor.
Respectfully submitted, _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary Mark L. Karlberg, Chairman
Documents discussed at meeting:
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