Minutes
Town of Greenfield
Greenfield Town Offices, 7 Sawmill Road Greenfield, NH
Selectboard’s Work Session Minutes
Wednesday, December 22, 2014 – 4:30 PM
Selectboard: Chairwoman Debra Davidson, Selectwoman Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss
Staff: Administrator Patt,
Public:
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by Chairwoman Davidson.
Documents for Approval/Review/Signature
The Selectboard reviewed and/or signed the following items:
- A/P Invoices
- A/P Checks
- Letter to Ledger Transcript – Tax Rate clarification
Chairwoman Davidson opened the meeting at 4:33pm.
4:30 PM: Work Session – 2015 Budget
At 4:30 PM the Board met to discuss and finalize 2015 wages. Prior to starting work on wages, the Chair motioned to institute a spending freeze for the remainder of 2014. After a brief conversation, the motion was seconded by Selectwoman Charig Bliss and passed 3-0. Selectwoman Day commented that it was late in the year for a spending freeze.
The Selectboard reviewed health insurance increases for 2015 and compared the increase in employee co-pay, resulting from an 8.5% increase in the health insurance rate, to the net increase in wages. This was then compared to a range of salary increase examples including 1.7% (National COLA), 2%, 2.7% and 3% wage increases. It was noted that for those employees with a family plan, the increase in health insurance rates will result in approximately 1% lower wages due to the increase of the health insurance co-pay. In 2015 employees will contribute more than $18,000 to the cost of health insurance (about 12% of the cost). After a lengthy discussion the Board reached a consensus that it would provide a base COLA of 1.7% to all employees, which matches the national increase to Social Security. After further discussion the
Board said it would reserve the right to add up to 1% (not to exceed 2.7% in total) to those employees that they felt merited a raise, based on performance. Merit decisions would be handled after employee reviews were conducted.
The Board requested that Supervisor Murray and Supervisor Burgess be scheduled on January 7th and Administrator Patt and Police Chief Giammarino be scheduled on January 14th. The final discussion on wage adjustments would be held on January 21st.
The Board discussed end of year spending. The Fire Department submitted invoices for turn-out gear in 2014 per the BoS vote on 12/17. The total of the invoices is 7,275.00. The invoices were approved. The Board received invoices for a Town Office server hard-drive upgrade (the server hard drives are 90%+ full) and a PC for the Town Office. The Board voted to use computer funds in the Town Clerk’s budget to pay for a new computer that would allow for an upgrade of the shared PC in the building inspector’s office.
7:00 PM: Review and Approval of Documents
The Selectboard signed A/P invoices and A/P checks. The Board reviewed and approved a letter to the Ledger Transcript, as requested during the 12/17/2014 meeting. The letter addressed the discrepancy between the newspaper’s reporting a 15.9% increase in the tax rate, when in taxation terms the tax rate is approximately 5 cents less than the previous year; the revaluation change to the tax rate is based on a lower valuation. Net taxes to be raised were lower overall in 2014 than in 2013 in all categories.
Adjournment
On a motion by the Chair, and a second by Selectwoman Charig Bliss, the Board voted to adjourn. The motion carried 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM.
The minutes are final when approved and signed by the Selectboard. A signed copy is on file in the Selectboard’s office.
______________________ _______________________ ______________________
Chair, Debra Davidson Karen Day, Selectwoman Margaret Charig Bliss, Selectwoman
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