Town of Lyme
Budget Committee
December 19th, 2007
7:00PM
Selectmen’s Office
Approved: January 3, 2008
Present at this meeting: Selectmen: Richard Jones & Simon Carr. Budget Committee Members: Josh Kilham, Freda Swan, Gibb Cornwell, acting Chair Dave Caffry, & Elizabeth Glenshaw. School Board Representative: Kathy McGowan. Fire Chief Michael Hinsley, Deputy Fire Chief Hank Flickinger. Recreation Commission members: Kathleen Henriques & Robert Couture. Town Offices Building Committee members: Frank Bowles, Don Metz & Jay Smith. Library Trustees: Judy Russell, Mardi Bowles & Librarian Betsy Eaton. Public: Earl Strout. Staff: Administrative Assistant Carole Bont & Bookkeeper/Scribe Dina Cutting.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Chair Caffry.
1) Mr. Cornwell moved to approve the minutes of the December 12th, 2007 meeting. Seconded by Mrs. Glenshaw. Voted unanimously in favor with no corrections.
2) This meeting is for any department to rebut budget line items that have been cut from the proposed budget requests.
3) Fire: Mr. Hinsley reviewed the reasons why the Fire Department needs the funds in the 2008 budget for the generator. The trucks need to be kept warm because they have water in them. Since the Fire Station can get cold very fast, the generator is needed to protect the trucks. The Fire Department is expected to take care of the town in the event of an emergency. If the Fire Station is not usable, it will be difficult to help the community members during an emergency. If putting the funds for the generator increases the operational budget too much, can we put these funds in another place within the budget? Chief Hinsley explained the traditional uses of the Clothing line & Major equipment lines. Followed was a discussion concerning the various Capital Reserve Funds and their designated uses.
· Mr. Cornwell moved to increase the Station Maintenance budget line # 178 by $6,000.00 to purchase a generator for the Fire Station. Total line will be $7,500.00. Seconded by Mrs. Swan. Voted 6 in favor, 1 opposed (Mr. Jones).
4) Mr. Strout informed the Budget Committee he was looking into having the School and the Town budgets voted on at the same meeting (Town Meeting). If he can get this approved at the 2008 Town meeting, it would take effect for the 2009 Town Meeting. The purpose of this is to get more people to vote and be involved with the School budget. Followed was a brief discussion about the various options of voting school and town moneys. There were concerns noted from a few Budget Committee members about people voting and not being informed.
5) Beach & Ball Field: Mrs. Cutting reviewed the engineering plans from Pathways. It was noted that the Recreation Commission is making both of the warrant articles by petition. The Commission feels these 2 warrant articles need broad community support. The Commission has raised $45,000.00 towards the project. The warrant articles will still be contingent on the targeted water level of 2’. The Commission feels strongly that if the 2’ level is not the target, these projects should not take place. There will be no point in spending this money and the Beach will not be usable.
6) Town Offices Committee: Mr. Bowles reviewed the Committee’s goals to date. Followed was a brief discussion concerning past plans compared to the present plan and the money involved in this coming bond proposal. The Committee will be coming back to the Budget Committee in 3 weeks with final numbers on the costs involving the construction. Very little of the $25,000.00 in this year’s budget has been spent. The Town has been very fortunate to have 2 architects working on this project and donating their expertise and time. Thank you….
7) School: Mrs. McGowan reported the School Board had just voted on the proposed budget. Mrs. McGowan will e-mail the budget summary to the Budget Committee members. There will be 2 binders available for review in Mrs. Cutting’s office. The School will be presenting the proposed budget at the January 3rd, 2007 meeting.
8) Mr. Carr reviewed the procedure for the recommendations of the warrant articles. The law has changed and now, if the Town chooses the Town will be able to list the actual vote on the various warrant articles; for example, recommended by the Selectmen 2-1. This will be voted on at 2008 Town meeting.
9) Mrs. Glenshaw would like the Budget Committee to set a time on the agenda to think strategically about the budget. The Committee needs to be able to look at different departments individually. It is important to know how and why the department’s budgets are going up and why revenues are going down. Mrs. McGowan noted she would support doing this. Followed was a discussion on setting this up as a procedure for each budget cycle starting in March right after Town Meeting. The Budget Committee needs to meet earlier in the year to have the time to really study the numbers.
10) Library: Mrs. Russell just wanted to check in with the Budget Committee to see if there were questions they could answer concerning the proposed budget. The Blisters for Books procedure was briefly reviewed. There will be a vote to accept the donations from this fundraiser and the amount in the fund will be voted at Town Meeting. Moving this fund out of the operating budget has made things much clearer for budgeting purposes.
At 8:15pm, Mrs. Swan moved to adjourn. Seconded by Mr. Kilham. Voted unanimously in favor.
Respectfully submitted, Dina Cutting
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