DRAFT
Finance Committee Minutes
Town of Bellingham – Municipal Center
Monday, April 5, 2010
1. FinCom Present: Raymond Szczepan, Henri Masson, Gary Maynard, Roland Lavallee, Joseph Collamati, Toni Picariello
2. FinCom Absent: Carol Dill
3. Meeting called to order: 7:15 p.m.
4. ARTICLE 1 - SALARIES AND EXPENSES:
220 - Fire Department
Chief Ranieri appeared. Joseph Collamati asked about the $44,000 grant that the Fire Department received. Ranieri explained that the money is to be used to fill positions that were not filled in the previous year, so instead of running 4 men, he can run 5. The Grant money will last to August 2010.
Joseph Collamati inquired as to why the overtime line item increased 20%. Ranieri informed us that he had requested $212,400 for FY2010, but the Board of Selectmen allowed $159,328. To date he has spent $116,000. For FY2011 he requested $253,800, but has been cut to $200,000. In FY2010, instead of having 5 men per shift, he had to go to 4. Business inspections are being pushed back. Joseph Collamati mentioned that the Deputies salary is not being spent, but was informed that $23,000 of his salary went to the Deputy's estate for unused vacation/sick time and another private was hired. Also, per the Fire Department's contract the firefighters have a 90-day accrued sick buyback. As of today, there are 21 firefighters.
Joseph Collamati/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend the Fire Department budget as follows: VOTE: 6/0
Salaries |
$1,582,048 |
Expenses |
$93,285 |
|
$1,675,333.00 |
251 - Town Inspector
Denis Fraine appeared for the Town Inspector. The Committee received a copy of the "Intermunicipal Agreement Building Inspector services", between the Town of Bellingham and Town of Blackstone for both the Town Inspector and Assistant. This Agreement was a result of an emergency when Blackstone's Inspector became ill. Bellingham's Inspector and the assistant will be working part-time and Blackstone will reimburse Bellingham $23 per hour for the hours the Inspector works (approximately 12-16 hours/week). Mileage is not being reimbursed. This agreement ends June 30, 2010, but could be extended with a more "detailed" Agreement (like the Agreement between Bellingham and Franklin for Animal Control Services).
Raymond Szczepan/Henri Masson motion to recommend the Town Inspector budget as follows: VOTE: 6/0
Salaries |
$322,326 |
Expenses |
$5,988 |
|
$328,314.00 |
294 - Tree Warden
Denis Fraine appeared for the Tree Warden. The Committee questioned the increase of $10,000 in expenses. Mr. Fraine explained that the extra money will be used to clear and cut trees on High Street from the Charles River bridge to Maple Street. Even though High Street is designated as a "scenic road", if the Board of Selectmen decide that there are unsafe conditions, they can authorize the work to be done. The $10,000 is a one-time appropriation. There are three sub-contractors that the Tree Warden works with.
Joseph Collamati/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend the Tree Warden budget as follows: VOTE: 6/0
Elected Salaries |
$6,500 |
Salaries |
$3,700 |
Expenses |
$20,626 |
|
$30,826.00 |
252 - Sealer of Weights/Measures
Henry Boucher appeared. The Committee questioned the amount for office supplies. He explained that the State regulation require updated scanner, stainless steel equipment, seals, dies, etc and he needs to replace the old with new. There is a revolving fund that the civil violations go into. The amount of violations is about $5,600 and there is a couple thousand in the account. Roland Lavallee asked if he could use the money in the revolving fund to replace equipment and Marilyn Mathieu answered that it could. The committee agreed that his expenses could be reduced.
Joseph Collamati/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend the Tree Warden budget as follows: VOTE: 6/0
Salaries |
$3,000 |
Expenses |
$1,000 |
|
$4,000.00 |
172 - Planning Board
No one from the Planning Board appeared. The Committee had a question regarding the advertisement expenditures on their budget. The FinCom had received a copy of a letter to the Town Moderator from the Chairman of the Planning Board stating that, per the Charter and Bylaws and since there is no monetary appropriation, they had no intention of coming before the FinCom for their Articles.
Toni Picariello checked the Bylaws (Chapter 6, Article 6.07) and informed the Committee that "[a] Public Hearing shall be held, at least fourteen (14) days before such Town Meeting upon all such Articles, unless a Public Hearing by some other Tribunal is required by law". The Charter states, Section 3: 2-3-2, "The finance committee shall hold one or more meetings to permit discussion of the subject matter of all articles contained n the warrant, except those articles subject to public hearings by other multiple member bodies and not containing appropriations". Since the Planning Board budget contained an appropriation, they should have attended the hearing to explain their budget.
Toni Picariello made a motion to delete the $5,000 stipend of the elected officials.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion to recommend the Planning Board budget as follows: VOTE: 4/1/1 (Toni Picariello voted against the motion; Raymond Szczepan abstained with a no recommendation, since no one showed up)
Elected Salaries |
$5,000 |
Salaries |
$48,000 |
Expenses |
$5,898 |
|
$58,898.00 |
Received a copy of the Planning Board's recommendations to the Board of Selectmen, dated March 26, 2010.
The FinCom will have no recommendations on these Articles.
Article 21 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 3400. (Plbd Recommended)
The FinCom was wondering why the Planning Board was eliminating Section 3400 and 4451 in its entirety?
Article 22 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 2110. (Plbd Recommended)
Article 23 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 3324. (Plbd Recommended)
Article 23 is just correcting a numbering error in the Zoning Bylaws.
Article 24 - Amend Zoning By-Law Section 4500. (Plbd Recommended)
This Article is going to be passed over by the Planning Board.
Roland Lavallee will check with Stacy Weinstein regarding what the Planning Board's intentions of their Articles.
5. GENERAL DISCUSSION
A. Review updated spreadsheet from CFO (Town Meeting Article Funding)
There are no changes to the spreadsheet.
B. Status on Tour of Macy & Stallbrook Schools.
The FinCom received an email from Superintendant Fischer, April 5, 2010: "Please note that Jim Testa will make himself available this coming Saturday, April 10th beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Macy to meet with members of FinCom and CIC to review the repairs included in Article 13 of the May annual town Meeting Warrant. Following the tour of Macy, Jim will also provide a tour of the repairs needed at Stallbrook".
C. Accept the following Minutes:
January 25, 2010
March 22, 2010
March 29, 2010
Joseph Collamati/Roland Lavallee motion to accept January 25th, March 22nd and March 29th minutes with corrections. VOTE: 6/0
March 15, 2010 (Joseph Collamati, Roland Lavallee)
Raymond Szczepan/Henri Masson motion to accept March 15, 2010 minutes with corrections. VOTE: 4/0/2 (Joseph Collamati, Roland Lavallee abstained because they were not at the meetings)
C. Misc. correspondence and emails.
1. Toni Picariello passed out material she received from Robert Bonnell, President of Worldband of Milford, a company that services IT/Technology for many towns and school systems, to look over.
2. Toni Picariello gave the Committee a document titled "Sale of Water to Mendon 2010".
3. Received an email from Dr. Fitzpatrick answering the FinCom's question regarding the cost per student. His response is:
Per the Finance Committee question: How much is the per pupil assessment for Bellingham students? I am happy to provide the following information.
By design and in order to comply with rigorous federal, state, and other safety state-of-the-art and industrial standards, vocational technical per pupil assessments are expected to be twice that of non-vocational technical high school rates. Thus, Bellingham’s FY11 per pupil assessment to its vocational technical system will be $9,870 per student.
Bellingham’s tax generated per pupil investment is complemented with state, grant, donations, and local fund raising dollars. Attorney Hall and the full Valley Tech School Committee are proud of the well documented return on BVT investment which Bellingham citizens have experienced. Additionally, we ask Bellingham Finance Committee members to notice the $194 reduction in every per pupil assessment requested for FY11. Any contrast with last year’s approved assessment illustrates a 14.96% (-$113,339) overall reduction.
Adjourned: Raymond Szczepan/Joseph Collamati motion to adjourn. VOTE: 6/0. 8:10 p.m.
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