CITY OF BERLIN
New Hampshire
Minutes of Council Budget Work Session of 3/20/13
Council Conference Room
6:30 pm
Members:
Mayor Grenier
Councilor Theberge
Councilor Otis
Councilor Morgan-Allain
Councilor Nelson
Councilor Benski
Councilor Remillard
Staff:
Pat MacQueen, City Manager
Patty Chase, Finance Director
Chief Pete Morency
Deputy Chief Brian Valerino
Lt./Prosecutor Dan Buteau
Lt./Lead Investigator Richard Plourde
Sgt. Kerry Theriault
Cpl. Dana Brouillette
Cpl. Geoff Bardeen
Officer Jeff Lemoine
Auxiliary Officer Dan Arguin
Dispatch Supervisor Jenn Cloutier
Lisa Arguin, Administrative Assistant
Commission Chair Steve Griffin
Commissioner Tony Urban
Commissioner Jerry Nault
Mayor Grenier called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
Mayor Grenier began by thanking the Commissioners and the Police Department for the fine work they do.
Chief Morency and Commission Chair Steve Griffin began by reviewing the Police Department’s 2014 requested budget.
Chief Morency gave a brief overview of his department and expressed the need for the requested budget of $2,916,640. He explained that the Police Department has worked diligently to provide a flat line budget, but with certain expense increases that are beyond their control it would be a difficult task to achieve. One of these increases is the higher employer contribution that will be required with the start of the new fiscal year and an increase in health insurance premiums. Chief Morency expressed concern at having to lay off two officers if the flat line budget is enforced which could result in the loss of potential grant revenue. Councilor Theberge asked about the loss of grant revenue and Chief Morency explained that federal grant revenue requires a certain level of law enforcement coverage in order to continue
with the funding and lower employment could result in the loss of those grant revenues.
Chief Morency then distributed a worksheet outlining some cost saving measures that are proposed in the 2014 budget. He pointed out that the Commissioners are foregoing their $400.00 stipend.
Officer Valerino demonstrated with a visual aid what affect the loss of two officers would have on the Police Departments ability to provide adequate coverage to the City. Chief Morency expressed his concern that these reductions would perpetuate an unsafe environment for the remaining officers responding to calls.
Councilor Remillard inquired as to the number of full time employees. The department has 29 full time positions: 21 Officers, 3 Administrative, 1 Maintenance and 4 Dispatch positions.
Chief Morency then offered statistics. The total calls for service are up 6.5 %, assaults are up 45% and total arrests are up 32.3 %.
City Manager Pat MacQueen brought up the Special Public Safety budget and thought the Chief might want to review it before moving onto the capital requests. City Manager MacQueen explained that the Public Safety portion of the budget is kept separate because the expenses are offset by revenue. Currently Berlin provides police protection to the Town of Milan and is compensated for this coverage.
Capital Improvements were then reviewed with the Mayor requesting that the Police Department cut their capital requests enough to bring them to a flat line budget. The Mayor suggested that the Police Department curtail the expense of a storage area and perhaps a lease-purchase agreement for radio consoles should be considered. Chief Morency agreed that this is an area they could review again and would report back with probable adjustments to the budget.
Commission Chair Griffin expressed how proud he is of the department and the Mayor thanked everyone for attending.
City Manager Pat MacQueen explained that the City has contracted with BEMS for 32 years. The City has an agreement that is a five year contract which expires on June 30, 2013. The subsidy has fluctuated over the years, sometimes going up and other times going down but the overall increase since 2003 has been 4%. Currently the City subsidizes BEMS $246,000 during fiscal year 2013.
Next Chris Dube from Berlin EMS began expressing his concerns for providing emergency services to the City. Mr. Dube explained that Medicare and Private Insurance reimbursements have steadily decreased with the cost of EMS expected to increase dramatically. Mr. Dube reported that his service provides full time paramedic coverage. He detailed that his company has been making cost saving changes such as not offering pay increases to its employees for the past four years and that management has also taken pay cuts. They have been putting off purchasing a badly needed new ambulance for some time now.
He also shared that AVH has a full time cardiologist so there have been few transports, hence a decrease in revenue for BEMS.
Mayor Grenier suggested that since the City Manager is negotiating a new contract that further discussion should be delayed until that information is finalized.
On unanimous vote, the meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.
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