Town of Lyme
Budget Committee
January 18th, 2006
7:00PM
Fire Station Training Room
PUBLIC HEARING
APPROVED: February 15th, 2006
Present at this meeting: Selectmen: Judith Shelnutt Brotman, Peter Bleyler, & Richard Jones. Budget Committee Members: Gibb Cornwell, Jeff Lehmann, Josh Kilham, Dave Caffry, Chairman Barney Brannen, Wayne Tullar, & Manning Rountree. Community members: Ross McIntyre, Barbara Roby and Julia Elder. Bookkeeper/Selectmen’s Secretary & Scribe Dina Cutting.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Chair Brannen.
1) Mr. Cornwell moved to approve the minutes of the January 2nd, 2006 meeting. Seconded by Mr. Kilham. Corrections were offered. The motion was voted Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Lehmann, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Brannen, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Rountree in favor. Mr. Tullar abstained because he was not present at this meeting. The motion passed.
2) Mr. Bardos moved to approve the minutes of the January 11th, 2006 meeting. Seconded by Mr. Cornwell. Corrections were offered. The motion was voted Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Tullar, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Rountree in favor. Mr. Brannen and Mr. Lehmann abstained because they were not present at this meeting. The motion passed.
3) Chair Brannen explained that the Budget Committee will hold a Public Hearing for the proposed town and school budgets. Before the public hearing, Mr. Brannen would like to bring up two issues to be reconsidered.
· e-mail from the Conservation Commission concerning the Salt Shed at the Highway Garage (attached to minutes)
· Ms. Bont’s request to reconsider increasing the amount requested by the Town Building Committee. (attached to minutes)
4) Mrs. Brotman responded to the Conservation Commission’s e-mail. The new salt shed will cost a considerable amount of money. The Selectmen felt that given the monetary constraints in the proposed budget and the cost of constructing a new salt shed, they were recommending that the town fix up the old salt shed. Followed was a discussion concerning moving the old salt shed to a new location, what would be needed to fix up the old salt shed, and using the $21,833.00 from last year’s warrant article for the salt shed towards this project. Mrs. Brotman commented the site was very tight and there would only be a few places to relocate the salt shed. The Selectmen did not have a definitive plan for the location at this time. Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman assured the Budget Committee all measures would be taken
to meet the necessary environmental concerns of the Conservation Commission. If enough money was put into this proposed budget to build a new salt shed, it would be an increase of $30,000.00. It was the sense of the Budget Committee to not add this money to the proposed budget at this time.
5) Mr. Brannen distributed the e-mail from Ms. Bont. The e-mail asks the Budget Committee to reinstate the original figure requested by the Town Building Committee ($35,000.00). The feasibility study must be done in a timely manner and is the next step in the process. This proposed budget does not have enough money to do the feasibility study. The amount the Budget Committee voted for this line is $15,000.00.
a. Mr. Bleyler explained the Committee is looking at Green Mountain Studios, Tuckaway Timber, and a parcel of land off Route 10 as options for new Town office space. The Committee has had a consultant come and review all of these choices. They recommended excluding the Tuckaway Timber site as a choice because the building is not really suitable for this type of project. The next step is a detailed space analysis study. The consultant has said this will cost $35,000.00 and needs to be done before any other work can continue. It was stated that this estimate might be a bit high. Mr. Bleyler commented the Committee would be willing to get another estimate on the cost of a space analysis. Mr. Bleyler stated the committee has not dealt with the issue of holding the properties until the town has to make a decision. There
is a lot to be done to get a plan ready to go to the town. The Committee is planning to have a proposal ready for Town Meeting in 2007.
b. The Selectmen are also requesting extra money to move someone out of the present office space and into another location. Mrs. Brotman stated the Selectmen felt they would need $5,000.00 for these expenses. This has not been discussed with the staff yet. The Selectmen were looking at moving the Bookkeeper and the Treasurer out to a separate location. This is a temporary solution; the overcrowded and air quality issues will not go away. Mr. Bleyler, Chair of the Town Building Study Committee, stated the committee recommends this move.
6) Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved to add $5,000.00 to account 4194 General Government for temporary office space. Seconded by Mr. Cornwell. The motion was voted unanimously in favor.
7) Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved to add $10,000.00 to account 4915 To Capital Reserve: Town Offices Building line. This will increase the total amount of this line to $25,000.00. Seconded by Mr. Caffry. The motion was voted Mr. Brannen, Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Tullar, Mr. Caffry, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Roundtree in favor. Mr. Lehmann opposed.
8) Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved to add $10,000.00 to account 4903 Buildings: Town Offices Building line. This will increase the total amount of this line to $25,000.00. Seconded by Mr. Caffry. The motion was voted Mr. Brannen, Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Tullar, Mr. Caffry, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Rountree in favor. Mr. Lehmann opposed.
9) Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman noted there were a few corrections to the budget. There was a $1,000.00 line left out in the original proposed budget. This was the Building office maintenance line in the Police budget. There were a few rounding errors to bring the total change to the bottom line of the proposed budget to be increased by $996.00.
· Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved the total Police budget at $172,472.00. Seconded by Mr. Cornwell. The motion was voted Mr. Brannen, Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Tullar, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Roundtree in favor. Mr. Lehmann apposed.
10) The changes to the proposed budget will be made and the spread sheet sent to all Budget Committee members.
11) Public comment:
*Mrs. Elder requested there be some acknowledgement at town meeting that the rescue truck being replaced was bought by donations from the community members. Mrs. Elder asked if the fire department was requesting money to pay for a full-time fire fighters position with in the department. Mr. Brannen responded no.
* Mr. McIntyre asked if there was a recommendation from the Selectmen to change the allocation of the land use change tax money. Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman responded no.
* Mrs. Roby asked for clarification on the Police salary line.
There being no further public comments or questions the Budget Committee moved on to vote the total Town and School budget.
12) Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved to approve the total proposed town budget at $2,459,782.00. Seconded by Mr. Caffry. Mr. Lehmann informed all that he was going to vote against this bottom line. He is sorry he missed the meeting when the individual lines were discussed. The motion was voted Mr. Brannen, Mr. Cornwell, Mr. Tullar, Mr. Kilham, Mr. Bardos, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman and Mr. Rountree in favor. Mr. Lehmann opposed.
13) Mr. Bardos moved to approve the proposed School budget at $4,117,744.00. Seconded by Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman. Mr. Bardos explained the changes from the previous meeting. The increases to the tax payer was discussed and clarified. The % increase to the tax payer was also discussed. The total budget, school and town, were calculated to be an 8.7% increase in taxes. The motion was voted unanimously in favor.
14) It was decided that it would not be necessary to hold a second public hearing. The public hearing on January 25th, 2006 will not be necessary unless something comes up and the Budget Committee needs to meet to discuss changes to this proposed budget.
Reminder: Next meeting February 15th, 2006 7:00pm at the Fire Station. This meeting will be to vote the final budget and the warrant articles and sign necessary forms for town meeting.
At 8:15, Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman moved to adjourn. Seconded by Mr. Brannen. The motion was voted unanimously in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Dina Cutting
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