Date of Meeting: Monday, March 11, 2013
Location: Town Hall, 221 Main Street
Time: 6:30 PM – 10:02 PM
Members Present: Chairman Kenneth Sydow, James Wood, Matthew Mecum; Martin McNamara, Town Administrator; Stephen Madaus, Town Counsel; Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant (Others as listed on attached sheet.)
The meeting was called to order by the Chairman at 6:30 PM.
Report of the Town Administrator to the Board:
Boylston Light Dept Bond: The TA, Treasurer, Jeff Ugalde, Mark Barakian, Light Dept Manager, and Jim Goulet, Auditor for the Light Dept. sat in on a conference call with Moody’s. They issued a AA3 rating is similar to what we had in the past. The interest rate will not be available until Monday, March 18. Paperwork for Board’s signature should be ready on March 18. There will be no rate increase to residents.
American Fidelity Insurance optional insurance benefits for employees: We plan to offer products, such as short-term disability, long-term disability, life insurance, etc., to our employees beginning in July. There is no cost to the Town and American Fidelity will administer our Section 125 Program at no cost. We have been paying approximately $225 for that yearly service. They will also start a tax-deferred health savings account for employees. Employees can keep their current insurance or can change to Aerican Fidelity.
School Budget: Boylston FinCom and the School Superintendent have invited the Boards of Selectmen and Finance Committees of Berlin and Boylston to attend a meeting on Tuesday, March 19 at 7:00 PM. The guest speaker will be Dr. Stephen Hemmen, Executive Director of Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools and a retired superintendent of schools.
DCR Grant: We have received a check for $40K for the planting of shade trees. We are required to have the trees planted and inspected by June 30, 2014. Worcester is paying a company $500 to plant their trees; the TA thinks the Highway Dept. can do it for less money.
Personnel By-Law and Sexual Harassment Policy: A reminder to the Board to review the draft submitted.
Amendments to Regional School Agreement: A letter, attached, has been received from Superintendent Ekstrom.
Asian Beetle Report: The latest report is attached. One hundred seventeen infested trees were detected in Boylston last month near the Coachman Ridge section on the Boylston/Shrewsbury line.
Sudbury Valley Trust: The Trust has requested the Board discuss the possibility of transferring land off Linden Street for conservation purposes. Town Counsel suggests the transfer would require approval at Town Meeting. Jim Wood said he is not in favor of transferring any land to non-profit organizations.
DPW Budget: The Superintendent has requested moving funds from the Overtime and Hired Operator budget lines in the general Highway Dept. budget over to Overtime and Hired Operator lines in the Snow and Ice budget. The net amount would remain the same. Steve’s explanation is that we have gone way over the overtime budget this year in the Highway budget; this will allow overspending.
Draft Warrant Review:
Articles 1 – 14: routine recurring (revolving funds, etc.)
Article 17: Hillside revolving transfer of $220K
Article 18: For the purposes of establishing an OPEB Trust Fund, $15K is requested as “seed” money. Town Administrator said 2009 audit estimated $1.75M liability to pay for retiree pension, benefits, etc. This is required by law. It will be fully funded by 2040. $15K is just a start.
Article 19: $50K for the septic system at 599 Main Street. Recent bids came in over the amount appropriated at last year’s Annual Town Meeting. Any money not used would be returned to the General Fund.
Article 19 changed from $50K to $53K.
Articles 20-22: Skip
Article 23: Request to transfer $11,500 to Gough House for continued interior restoration. Amount is a bid bond that was acted on for an HRP project; should have been returned to Gough House funds, but was turned over to the general fund.
Article 24: Request to transfer $82,500 from Ambulance Receipts Reserved Account to the Fire Department budget for expenses related to ambulance operations.
Article 25: Request to transfer $5K from the Planning Board’s revolving account to the Town’s General Fund.
Article 26: Personnel By-law
Article 27: Sign By-law
Article 28: Leash law – citizen’s petition
Article 29: Fines for leash law offenses (citizen’s petition).
7:00 PM Finance Committee FY’14 Budget Discussion: present: Steve Dorval, Herb Cronin, Eric Brose, Dave Butler, Karen McGahie
- OPEB re-evaluation audit this year (required every three years).Town Administrator said a Reserve Fund transfer is required for $5K.
- Available new revenue: estimated new growth $100K (increase from last year’s $91K)
- PILOT reimbursement– no change as of now
- Cherry Sheet – unsure but will estimate no increase. Even if level funded, $36K will be deducted for mosquito control.
- Other revenue:
- Chapter70: down $40K
- Local receipts up $20K
Debt exclusion down $38K
2½% tax levy $236K
Net $322 additional revenue
David Butler said he is thinking of not taxing at 2.5% max. With a zero salary increase, there would be a
$50K increase in Town budget (includes three-year re-evaluation). Jim Wood said the police unions have not completed negotiations yet; there will be an increase there; Eric Brose said he added 2% increase as a placeholder. Ken asked how much it would be with a 2% increase for all other employees. Eric said $9,400 per percentage point, or $18.8K for a 2% increase, bringing the total budget increase to $68.8K. Dave said the Town side should be fine with a $70-80K increase. The Town Administrator said taking $25K out of overlay for re-evaluation would put the increase at $45K.
Schools: Dave said their last meeting was about an additional $200K. Of that $50K is just moving from the Elementary School to Tahanto insurance, so the net they are really increasing is about $150K.
$486,710 – estimated FY’13 receipts
Proposed spending for FY’14 -- $25K
Would like to have them increase their use to $460K
Cemetery: Dave asked if services for cemetery burial (opening/closing graves) are paid out of the cemetery revolving fund. Steve Mero said they are paid out of Highway funds. The Town Administrator said that will change. Going forward Steve will use cemetery money. Dave said $9,594 was paid out of the fund for wages last year. Steve said they paid summer help.
Selectmen’s Expense: Board wants to keep in funds for training/conferences/seminars and will look at it next year.
Fire Department Expense: Vehicle maintenance is $4K. Last year over $10K was spent. Need additional funding. Change vehicle maintenance to $8,500 from $4K. Increase ambulance reserve by $2,150.
Treasurer:FinCom questioned sending two mailings a year with two bills in each mailing. Jeff estimated this would be a savings of $2K/year and asked the Board to consider it.
Police Chief: Eric asked if the Board meet with Chief Sahagian regarding adding a Sergeant’s position. Jim Wood said it is not a done deal; the Board has not approved it yet. Dave said it might be worth talking about a patrolman hire versus a sergeant for long-term salary costs. It is necessary to think of the wage track for the future and the Quinn effect. Ken said he feels the Chief wants to develop service and a sergeant on each shift would make for streamlined administrative work. Eric said the overtime line item also requested is fully funded. Dave said the Board needs to decide if the cost is worth the service. He recommends looking at the long-term cost effect.
Building Inspector: The Board needs to meet with him to clear up the questions regarding his salary. Ken said that when the inspector was hired there was discussion regarding increasing him once the Tahanto inspector leaves. We need to determine if an agreement was made with the inspector. Ken suggests a salary increase of $3K to $28,560.
Motion was made by Matt Mecum, seconded by Jim Wood and voted all in favor to increase the Building Inspector’s salary by $3,000, effective immediately.
Parks & Recreation: Due to the revolving fund paying Karen Barber, they ran out of money. $1,500 will be moved to clerk’s salary.
Free cash: Frank Reale asked what the balance is in free cash. Eric said it is $668K.
School Committee/School Superintendent/Finance Committee: Approximately $208K overall increase requested. Dave Butler said the school choice revenue is $486K, with only $425K budgeted for expenditures. He questions if that spending can be increased to reduce Town spending. School finance person said there was a possibility of that. Brad Wyatt said reimbursement for Boylston Elementary is $1,100 and $2,200 for Tahanto. Fifty transferred students from the elementary school to Tahanto will get increased State funding. Eric asked how many are moving from Berlin. Supt. Ekstrom said 25.
Brad said the government budget is showing a Boylston increase and a Berlin decrease in Chapter 70 funding.
They are continually looking for reductions to get closer to the $100K the Town requested as a maximum increase. Brad said a possible reduction in Assabet enrollment would also save money.
Supt. Ekstrom said the health insurance budget change is projected as a worst case scenario. She will have a better understanding after April 5 as to which teachers will be transferring to Tahanto.
State unfunded mandates for Boylston and Tahanto total $687K over the next two to three years. Supt. Ekstrom was asked to clarify staffing positions being cut:
Cuts:
(3) 6th grade, full-time elementary
(.6) kindergarten
(2.5) aides
(.1) art
(.1) physical education
(.1) music instructor
(.1) chorus
(.5) psych
(.5) special education
(.5) preschool
Increases:
(.5) BCBA (Board Certified Behavioral Analyst who works with the therapeutic psychologist
(.125) curriculum director
Brad said we are currently spending more than we take in (school choice) and need to analyze how we can use extra space at the Elementary School. They are looking into revenue-generating programs or money-saving special programs run in-house. He is hopeful that we can realize that by next year. Supt. Ekstrom said we can also “tuition-in” from other towns to support the program. Rebecca Dono Healy said there has been a decrease in the birth rate, and as a result the kindergarten program has been reduced from three to two classrooms. They made the difficult decision to reduce staff.
Regarding the request for $50K on the Warrant for Phase 2 of roof repair at the Elementary School, Ken advised to be well prepared for questions at Town Meeting, similar to last year.
Regional Agreement change on Warrant: Supt. Ekstrom said while the state was reviewing the agreement changes submitted to include the sixth grade (Fall ’12 Special Town Meeting) , it was discovered the first amendment on the agreement was never actually voted at town meeting in either town. The amendment was related to the apportionment payment schedule and billing. They have been operating according to the agreement but it cannot be amended until a certified vote is submitted. This is just a ‘housekeeping’ issue.
Frank Reale said he met with the Superintendent last week and received information he had requested. He cited a list of revenue sources. The balance of the Tahanto revolving account is currently $1.1M. He asked the Board to consider this balance and ask for a level-funded budget requiring the use of some of these funds before voting the budget. Mr. Realy also discussed his findings for the reduction in the birth rate and student enrollment. If we go below 300 students, the cost per student increases drastically. He is against school choice, since the cost per student is $16K, and reimbursement for choice is $5K, it is costing us $11K to educate kids from other towns. We are spending over $500K to educate school choice students and school choice numbers will be increasing over the next few
years. Dave Butler said he would have to analyze the staff impact of school choice students. If adding staff to support school choice, then he agreed it is not worth it. However, if we can add kids to already-existing classes, other incidentals, such as books, etc., should be covered by the $5K revenue. He agrees that, if too many school choice students, it would be a cost burden. Mr. Butler said, regarding E & D account, the school runs a year behind, since the money is spent and then reimbursed by the State the following year. Also any overage used is not recurring and will run out in a couple of years.
Warrant Review, Cont’d:
Article 20: $45K for a 2014 F-350 pickup truck. Steve Mero (present) said the cost is for a new vehicle. He got stuck several times due to breakdowns and now uses his own vehicle to go to meetings, etc. $12K was spent in repairs over the last six months. Eric said that typically, we buy used vehicles. Ken said that was in tougher budget years and when more used vehicles were available. Jim Wood said there is a shortage of used trucks right now. Eric asked if it could wait or is it needed immediately. Steve said he has some issues with it but hopes it makes it through the winter. They had a rough season this year with all the plowing. The Board is okay with keeping the article.
Article 21: $67K for replacement of the F550 truck. Steve said this gets daily use, has different operators and huge wear and tear. The truck has body issues and has had a couple of breakdowns. Eric asked if we would keep it. Steve said we would not as it would probably cost too much for repairs. The Board approved this Article.
Article 22: $95K for repaving the entryway and parking at 599 Main Street. Steve Mero said it would probably be closer to $85K depending on the cost of asphalt.
Eric asked the status of the Town House being ADA compliant. Steve Mero said the Grange uses the Town House and they are looking into an outdoor elevator system and would fund the project. Dave said he would like to see an article to begin funding Town House updates/renovations. We have volunteers willing to do the work but no money to fund supplies, etc. Ken said we would need to decide who oversees projects and spending. Herb Cronin and Matt Mecum volunteered to serve on the Town House Committee. Dave said to have the Board of Selectmen as authority for spending money.
Stabilization Fund – current balance is $1.3M. Add $100K to that.
Article 30: Zoning By-law change on Main Street (placeholder – needs to be reviewed).
Article 17: Eric asked if we need a salary and not an expense line. He will check with the accountant.
At 10:02 PM, Jim Wood made a motion, seconded by Matt Mecum and voted all in favor to adjourn.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:02 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori Esposito, Administrative Assistant
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