TOWN OF LYME
BUDGET COMMITTEE
LYME TOWN OFFICES
38 UNION STREET
LYME, NH 03768
MEETING OF APRIL 16, 2003
7:00 PM
Draft: April 17, 2003
Approved:_________
Present at the Meeting:
Budget Committee Members: Stuart V. (Mike) Smith, Jr., (ex-Chair), Barney L. Brannen, III, (newly elected Chair), Judith Lee Shelnutt (Judy) Brotman, George W. (Jeff) Lehmann, Gibbons G. (Gibb) Cornwell, III, Joshua Kilham, and Earl F. Strout, with B. Wayne Tullar, Jr., arriving later.
Members of the Board of Selectmen: Richard G. (Dick) Jones (Selectmen’s representative to the Budget Committee) and Peter A. Bleyler.
Staff: Carole A. Bont, Administrative Assistant and Scribe
Public: John M. (Jack) Elliott
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by Chair Mike Smith.
2. Chair Smith asked the Budget Committee to elect a Chair. He announced that he did not want to serve as chair this year. Chair Smith nominated Barney Brannen. Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman seconded. Chair Smith declared the nominations closed. Members voted unanimously in favor.
3. Newly elected Chair, Barney Brannen, yielded to former Chair Smith to present the next order of business – to appoint a new member of the budget committee to serve until next Town Meeting in March of 2004. Mike Smith informed the members that he had formed a subcommittee of Earl Strout, Mike Smith and Barney Brannen to consider potential budget committee members. Seven names were considered. The subcommittee narrowed the list of potential candidates down to four people. The subcommittee then voted to recommend Freda Swan. Chair Smith nominated Freda Swan. Earl Strout seconded. Voted unanimously in
favor.
4. Then Selectman Jones presented a number of concerns and information about the status of the budget through the end of the first quarter (i.e., March 30th).
a. Selectman Jones’ primary concern was the amount of money used already out of the Emergency Equipment Rebuilding Trust Fund. The town appropriated $11,500 for 2003. To date $9,447.10 has been expended for repairs to fire trucks. This leaves a balance of only $2,052.90.
b. Selectman Jones reported that the Board of Selectmen has awarded the contracts for the 5 Ton dump truck and associated equipment. The total cost of the contracts, including the trade-in of the old truck, is $93,964 of the $95,000 appropriated.
c. The Budget Committee wanted to know which vehicle the Board of Selectmen had decided to purchase for use as a police cruiser – a sedan or an SUV. The members present were given a copy of the letter prepared by the Board of Selectmen to send out to the public about their decision to purchase the sedan as the primary police vehicle and hang onto the old SUV.
d. Chair Brannen asked for clarification about the breakdown between summer and winter expenses for the highway department. Selectman Jones answered approximately 60% at the beginning of the year and 40% at the end of the year.
e. Jeff Lehman asked what the Budget Committee’s line item was for. Chair Smith explained that most of the money went to pay their scribe.
f. Wayne Tullar informed the Budget Committee that the Library had its fire alarm system inspected and they discovered that 6 of the 9 smoke detectors were bad. The detectors cost $90 each plus installation costs. The library did not budget any money for this and the estimated cost is around $750.
g. Jeff Lehman asked why the cost of the furnace in the highway garage was $5,000 instead of the $3,500 that was budgeted. Selectman Jones explained that because of the size of the highway garage they had to purchase a larger furnace to heat the cubic footage of the garage.
h. Chair Brannan asked for an update on the Selectmen’s progress towards building a new highway garage. Selectman Jones explained that the Board of Selectmen had appointed all but one member of a Public Works Facilities Building Committee. The members of the committee are Judith Lee Shelnutt (Judy) Brotman, Freda T. Swan, Stuart V. (Mike) Smith, James L. (Jimmy) Jenks, Fred O. Stearns, III, (ex officio as Road Agent) and Allan B. Newton, ex officio as Selectman. The committee hasn’t met yet. Members of the Budget Committee expressed their concerns that the project move ahead quickly so as to be ready for the 2004
town meeting. They asked to be kept apprised of what is happening. They asked that the presentations about the project be sufficiently detailed so taxpayers and the budget committee can evaluate the proposed plan and that adequate financial information be available to them so that, if possible, when they meet on July 23, 2003, they have some idea of the cost and can begin to plan ahead. Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman informed the Budget Committee that they hoped to start meeting next week.
i. Members of the Budget Committee asked what “big items”, other than the highway garage, the Selectmen anticipated that the budget committee would need to look forward to for next year. Selectman Jones explained that due to the budget committee’s recommendation that the town implement the recommendations of the wage and pay classification study over two year instead of one that payroll would represent one of the biggest “bumps” in the budget in 2004. Increased health care insurance costs would also be a factor.
j. Mike Smith suggested that they discuss planning for the future more philosophically and not go into details. Look at the methods and philosophy of approaching the problem. Mike Smith suggested that the Budget Committee come up with a target budget figure to shoot for. The Budget Committee wants to know what the “big elephants” are (like the highway garage, payroll, the number of children in school and health insurance) before this fall so these issues can be discussed and put in a broader context. Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman suggested setting those targets at the July 23rd meeting. She suggested that
the Board of Selectmen notify the department heads in July so the department heads can begin to aim for those targets when they start their budget preparations. Mike Smith suggested that at the July meeting the Budget Committee give guidance to the Board of Selectmen so that they can prepare departments for setting those targets.
k. Mike Smith stressed the need to get the school board involved in thinking about goal setting early because 3/4ths of the budget is the school. Chair Brannen agreed to contact School Board Chair, Lazlo Bardos, and ask him to get the School Board looking at the upcoming budget process proactively instead of reactively.
l. Earl Strout cautioned the Budget Committee that the town has been picking up about $125,000 in expenditures each year without a noticeable increase in the tax rate due to the steady increase in our assets (i.e., people building expensive homes). However, with our zoning ordinance, subdivision regulations and site plan review there is a lot of pressure NOT to build in Lyme. At some point this “no building” pressure will have a negative impact on the increase in our tax base. “We may not be able to depend on growth for covering our increased appropriations.” Earl Strout would like the budget committee to come up
with a yearly growth estimate to help them predict growth beyond the current year. If we are going to limit increases to $100,000 overall and we have $200,000 of proposed increases proposed by the department heads, the Budget Committee should provide some direction to the departments and the Board of Selectmen about what to cut.
m. Selectman Jones offered to take the information he has from the Department of Revenue Administration with equalized tax rates for several years and put it into an excel spreadsheet so that the Budget Committee can better examine Lyme’s annual growth rate and make some projections. This would be preferable to using the actual tax rate because the tax rates are not adjusted for fluctuations in value caused by revaluations and assessment updates versus actual growth. Gibb Cornwell offered that the revenue subcommittee would try to extrapolate the building activity from figures through July instead of waiting for building permit figures through
November to facilitate a fuller discussion in July.
n. Selectman Jones asked the Budget Committee to make clear to department heads at the beginning of the budget process that the purpose of the meeting at which the department heads present their budgets to the budget committee is to listen and hear what the department has to say and NOT to decide the merits of the departments’ budget requests at that time. The Budget Committee decides after hearing both the department heads AND the Board of Selectmen. According to Selectman Jones, when department heads present their budgets to the budget committee and are not met with hard questions and provocative discussion, the department heads are under the
impression that the budget committee approves of their requests. Later when cuts are made the department heads then interpret the cuts as the “selectmen’s fault.”
o. Mike Smith wants to have a target budget number for the highway garage and transfer station by the July meeting. The number should include the cost of site preparation, financing, bonding costs, etc. Selectman Jones pointed out that the Budget Committee should not be looking at the building of the highway garage in a vacuum. He urged them to look at the “long term picture” with due consideration given to the timing of other upcoming major expenditures. The town’s Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) has not been updated since 1992-1993. CIPs are supposed to be updated at least every ten years. There are a number
of very expensive capital improvements that need to be made over the next few years (i.e., the Town Offices, Public Safety Facilities, and recreational playing fields) that are not included in our present Capital Improvement Plan. He urged the Budget Committee to take into consideration bond payments and other costs associated with those other needed facilities as well as the expenses related to a new highway garage and transfer station when we set our target budget.
p. Selectman Jones agreed to provide the Budget Committee with town budget updates quarterly. Chair Brannen agreed to get a school budget quarterly updates from School Board Chair Lazlo Bardos.
5. At 8:25 PM Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman moved to adjourn. Motion seconded by everyone. Motion to adjourn was voted unanimously in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Carole A. Bont
Administrative Assistant
Scribe
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