Advisory Committee Present: David Lindsay
March 3, 2009 Burt Shnitzler
Connie Benjamin
Bob Czekanski
Lawrence Delaney
Randy Dinjian
The Advisory Committee met at the town hall at 7:30 p.m. Also attending: Kenneth F. Troup, Stanley Wysocki, Board of Selectmen; Donald Lowe, Town Administrator
TOWN ACCOUNTANT
Present: Julie Costello, Town Accountant
The Committee reviewed the FY10 Town Accountant budget with Julie Costello.
The salary has not been negotiated, but assumptions of a 1% cost of living adjustment and a 3% step increase have been made.
The following budget line items were revised:
Audit line item reduced from $12,000 to $11,800
Supplies line item reduced from $1,200 to $1,100
Meetings line item was increased from $995 to $1,000
INSPECTORS
Ms. Costello, Town Accountant, suggested that the town consider paying the electrical, and plumbing and gas inspectors 90% of fees collected rather than a yearly salary, and that the fees for electric, plumbing and gas permits be reviewed to determine if they should be increased. Mr. Troup’s opinion was that this proposal would have a large impact on the individuals involved and needed to be reviewed carefully. Mr. Lindsay was concerned about raising fees in an environment of plummeting construction activity. Others expressed concerned about being able to resolve this question in the limited time remaining in the FY10 budgeting process. Ms. Day, Town Secretary agreed to collect data from other towns regarding their form of payment to the inspectors. The Advisory Committee
expressed a consensus to review this information prior to having a discussion with the inspectors.
LIBRARY
Ms. Costello, reported that the Library has a fund totaling $37,000 that is in the Library Board of Trustees control and could be used for the purchase of computers and other one-time purchases.
OTHER FUNDS
Ms. Costello noted that there is also an ambulance gift fund and police gift fund. The Advisory Committee requested that in the future Ms. Costello show these funds as part of the budget spreadsheets.
BUDGET SPREADSHEET REVIEW
Ms. Costello stated that the 1st vehicle excise tax commitment was $40,000 less than last year, but she anticipates that the 2nd commitment may largely make up most of the shortfall.
Ms. Costello also stated that the overlay reserve has not been released by the assessors.
Ms. Costello said that she would review and make an estimate on the cell tower revenues.
Ms. Costello also expressed her view that Free Cash will not be replenished in the future as substantially as we have seen in the recent past.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING UPDATE
Mr. Czekanski attended the School Committee meeting last Thursday evening. They have re-arranged some of the reductions to their budget, but they did not take a final vote on it. They are scheduled to meet on March 5, 2009, but this may get delayed a week. They are uncertain about cutting department heads or hiring for the curriculum position. A Lancaster School Committee representative was against cutting any school expenses, but a Lancaster Finance Committee member recommended that they cut the budget sharply enough so that there would not be an increase in the Lancaster Nashoba assessment.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR BUDGETS
The Committee reviewed the following FY10 budgets with Don Lowe, Town Administrator and Linda Day, Town Secretary.
122 Board of Selectmen: The purchase of service line item was reduced from $8,000 to $7,000, and the engineering services line item was reduced from $8,000 to $7,000.
123 Town Administrator, 194 Building Insurance, 195 Town Reports, 912 Workers
Compensation and 945 Other Insurances: There were no revisions to these budgets.
151 Law Committee: The purchase of service line item was reduced from $45,000 to $40,000, and the supplies line item was reduced from $300 to $0.
192 Town Hall: The heating line item was reduced from $7,500 to $7,000.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE RESERVE FUND
A motion made by Mr. Lindsay to reduce the Advisory Committee reserve fund to $95,000 was not seconded.
LIBRARY DISCUSSION
The Advisory Committee expressed a consensus that the Library budget needs to be reduced. The budget is up by 49.5%. The Advisory Committee agreed to propose that the library trustees go back to the percentage increase that they originally proposed at the Town meeting at which the Library was approved, minus a small additional percentage to reflect the current weak economic situation. Mr. Shnitzler will relay this message to the Library Trustees.
DATA MANAGEMENT
Each Advisory Committee member was provided a copy of the Electronic Records Management progress update and support request document from staff members of the town hall.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 p.m.
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