Draft: August 3, 2005
Approved: August 9, 2005
TOWN OF LYME
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Joint Meeting with the Budget Committee
August 3, 2005
7:30 pm
MINUTES
The reconvened meeting of the Board of Selectmen with the Budget Committee was opened at 7:35 pm by Chairman Pete Bleyler.
Present: Dick Jones, Pete Bleyler, Judy Brotman, Dina Cutting, Josh Kilham, Gibb Cornwell, Barney Brannen, and Laszlo Bardos.
1. Dick presented a brief review of the budget, expenditures, and revenue for the first six months of 2005.
a. Page 1 selectmen’s miscellaneous – includes new cemetery lawn mower $3,200 (will be shifted to cemetery and cemetery perpetual care) and unanticipated gift of skating rink lights $3,343
b. Page 4 insurance deductibles – includes fire station oil spill $1,000, police relocation during oil spill clean-up $1,583 and highway garage accident $1,000
c. Page 5 fire station maintenance – includes $1,771 which will be reimbursed by insurance coverage
d. Page 5 highway building maintenance – includes $2,375 which will be reimbursed by insurance coverage
e. Page 7 street lighting – Town meeting added $7,000 for new street lights but the contract price is $8,200
f. Page 11 vehicle capital reserve fund - $65,000 was voted for a new ton truck and the contract price is $74,185.
2. Dick discussed the Vehicle and Heavy Equipment replacement schedule. The updated schedule shows recent purchase costs updated. A “mini-excavator” is not in the schedule. If we had a fully funded depreciation account, there should be $331,000 in vehicle fund, rather than the current amount of $1000, we would also have $172,000 in heavy vehicle account rather than the current $42,000. We presently are not adding for inflation of costs, and there is not enough balance in the account to be earning sufficient interest.
Laszlo’s preference is to change to inflated dollars in the spread sheet rather than establish a fully funded depreciation account. Barney sees the two methods of doing the “fix” – and thinks that the most easily understood method is the inflated dollars. The Selectmen will present a different spread sheet in the fall for the budget committee meetings, showing an increase in contributions by a “guesstimate” of the rate of inflation – also showing an increase in the cost of purchase. The question of how to catch up is a critical question.
3. Judy updated the Budget Committee members on several Highway Department issues. Any unused Block grant money from this year’s budget will be carried over to next year’s budget.
4. Pete updated the Budget Committee on several Transfer Station issues, including a proposal for the purchase of a trash compactor in 2006, an additional “open day” for the transfer station, an increase in the number of attendants, the pole barn and proposed beautification plans. Pete also reviewed the “Pay-As-You-Throw” statistics gathered so far: Before the PAYT began, the packer averaged 10.3 tons/trash/Sunday (at a cost of $85/ton and $115 per haul = $900-$1000/week). In the 8 weeks before the start of the program, tonnage was up, to a maximum of 19 tons collected on June 19th. The first day of the
program, June 26th, the Town collected less than 5 tons at the packer. Now the average is at 6-6 ½ tons/week. There has been no noticeable increase in C&D collections. The average reduction in packer collection is 4 tons – this is an average savings of $340/week. This savings was not anticipated in 2005 budget. Recyclables have also increased, especially fibers. To cover his transportation costs, Mr. Witcher now wants to increase his fees to $300 wk (presently it is $115 week). With a compactor on site, the town could see increased savings - 15 tons compacted, (2)15yd containers – which could generate a possible savings of $11-13000 year, and allow the additional open time. Other costs would have to be factored into the final cost analysis.
5. The Selectmen have appointed Andrea Colgan as Town Treasurer for the unexpired term of Luane Cole.
6. The Selectmen are in the process of forming a Town Offices Building Committee charged with investigating both the short-term and long-term needs of town. There may be a small budget item for town meeting for this committee. A preliminary report may be made as well. Barney suggested we make sure the need for office space is well defined.
7. Tax Bills are scheduled to go out the first part of November. We are currently 5 weeks ahead of last year’s status at this point in time. An update of Current Use program lands (new categorizing) yield about $20,000 more revenue from the current use properties.
8. The Selectmen voted by unanimous roll call vote to go into Non-Public Session under RSA 91-A:3 II (c) matters that would affect someone’s reputation. The Selectmen returned to Public Session at 9:04 pm, no decision having been made.
9. Next meeting will be 8:00 Tuesday morning.
Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Judith Lee Shelnutt Brotman
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