Advisory Committee Present: David Lindsay
February 23, 2010 Burt Shnitzler
Randy Dinjian
Connie Benjamin
Terry Abdalian
Linda Day, Town Secretary
The Advisory Committee met at the Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Mr. Troup, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and Don Lowe, Town Administrator were present.
The Committee reviewed and approved minutes of February 9, 2010.
TREASURER/TAX COLLECTOR
Ms. Madden, Treasurer/Collector and Human Resources Director, met with the Advisory Committee to review budgets for FY11.
Treasurer: The dues and travel line items showed an increase to accommodate the Assistant Treasurer/Tax Collector. All other line items were level funded. The wages line item for the Assistant was moved to the Tax Collector’s budget instead of splitting it between the Treasurer and Tax Collector’s budgets.
Collector: Funds originally allocated for postage to mail the real estate and excise tax bills were removed from the town hall postage meter line item and placed in the collector’s budget as a separate line item. This will allow Ms. Madden to have the envelopes pre-stamped and mailed at a lower cost. The Advisory Committee approved increasing the postage line item an additional $200 for regular mailings to those delinquent in paying taxes. Ms. Madden intends to combine the budget of the Treasurer and Collector beginning in FY12. Ms. Madden’s human resources responsibilities have increased, and additional help may be necessary.
There has been an unusually high level of human resource issues over the last 6 months, and Ms. Madden agreed to wait to see if the responsibilities will level off in the near future before making any request for additional help.
Ms. Madden reported that the online payment option for real estate taxes is being received very well.
Health Insurance: The health insurance is budgeted at $367,000. There are two new hires coming on. The Advisory Committee agreed to add $20,000 to this budget line item to cover likely additional health insurance costs.
Cash investment: Ms. Madden provided the Advisory Committee with a report showing where the town’s cash is currently invested: Fidelity Cooperative: ~$5.4 million; Citizen’s Bank:~~ $2.1 million; MMDT:~ $1.5 million; Eastern Bank:~ $250,000; Century~ Bank:~~ $250,000; Clinton Savings~ Bank: $20,000. These are approximate balances as of 1/31/10.
ACCOUNTANT
Ms. Costello, Town Accountant, met with the Advisory Committee to discuss the accountant’s FY11 budget, which was level funded except for Ms. Costello's step increase.
Ms. Costello provided the Advisory Committee with reports showing outstanding real estate receivables, revenue comparisons and budget versus actual reports. The Advisory Committee requested that the current year be taken out of the receivables report, and the local receipts be broken out so that the Committee can see which categories are performing close to target and which are running behind. Ms. Costello will make modifications to the reporting information as discussed with the Committee. These reports will be provided to the Committee on a quarterly basis. Ms. Costello will also work to provide this same type of reporting for the last few years.
TRANSFER REQUEST
Ms. Collins, Library Director requested a transfer from the reserve fund in the amount of $3,079.84 to pay the wages of a temporary employee until the appointment of a new employee. Ms. Collins stated that interviews will be conducted next week, and she anticipates that the new employee will start on April 1, 2010. On a motion made by Shnitzler and seconded by Benjamin, the Advisory Committee voted to approve the transfer. (Lindsay – yes, Shnitzler – yes, Dinjian – yes, Benjamin – yes, Abdalian – yes)
CAPITAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
Present: Wayne Day, Frank Chiodo and Kerry Hoffman, Capital Planning Committee members.
The Capital Planning Committee met with the Advisory Committee to discuss the requests received from various departments for FY11 capital funding. The requests included 11 defibrillators ($40,000) to replace those currently in the ambulance, fire trucks and cruisers; Repair or removal of the Fyfeshire Dam; One ton truck ($50,000); Replacement of a culvert on East End Road ($100,000); Combining of the well for Florence Sawyer School and Emerson School; Documents management software ($6,500). It was reported that Mr. Spratt decided to defer the annual carpet replacement program at the Florence Sawyer school until FY12. The Advisory Committee and the Capital Planning Committee were favorable to Mr. Lindsay’s suggestion of borrowing to purchase the defibrillator units. There is a public hearing
scheduled for Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the results of the recently completed feasibility study regarding the Fyfeshire Dam. ~
The Capital Planning Committee had met with Chief Alfano earlier in the evening regarding the cruiser replacement. In the future, they would like to see the cruiser submitted each year as part of the capital review process, even if it remains a line item in the operating budget.
TOWN ADMINISTRATOR
Budgets: Mr. Lowe, Town Administrator met with the Advisory Committee to review the budgets for FY11. The budgets for Board of Selectmen, Town Administrator, Legal Services, Town Reports were all level funded.
The Advisory Committee agreed to increase the telephone line item in the Town Hall budget from $9,400 to $10,800.
The Workers Compensation, Building Insurance and Other Insurances budgets represented a 5% increase. Ms. Day will be meeting with a representative from Murphy Insurance to review the insurance policies and confirm the premiums for FY11.
Oil Leak Cleanup: Mr. Lowe reported that final reports on the soil contamination removal have been received. At this time we are $2,100 under the estimated budget and should be able to complete the work with the funds that were allocated for the cleanup.
OVERALL BUDGET
Mr. Lindsay presented a spreadsheet showing the status of the fiscal 2011 budget which indicated, tentatively, Free Cash of $115,468 above the minimum target of $500,000.
The Advisory Committee discussed the concept of having the town meeting vote on the option to implement a local meals/hotel tax and to reduce property taxes by the amount raised from the new tax. It was thought that the amount might be in the range of $20,000 for fiscal 2011. The Advisory Committee discussed the same concept in relation to the funds being transferred from free cash into the stabilization fund. The Committee members thought that it might be a good idea for these two articles to appear on the warrant prior to the budget article so that the appropriate adjustments could be made to the FY11 budget, depending on the outcome of the votes on the two articles.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Linda L. Day
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