MONSON FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 7, 2009
Present: Joel Keller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Bob Finnegan, Bob Margerison, Jim Pennington,
Gerry Brayton, Peter Fimognari, Christine Edwards, Brenda Payette (Administrative Assistant)
Also Present: Hope Bodwell (Library)
Absent: Peter Ross
The meeting was convened at 6:47pm
CORRESPONDENCE:
Ledger dated March 31, 2009
The Beacon-April 2009
ATFC Newsletter March 2009
MEETINGS ATTENDED BY MEMBERS:
None
OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion with Finance Committee members regarding the budget:
Mr. Keller reviewed the number 1 items the committee agreed upon on the spreadsheet of potential places for cuts and he said he came up with $354,450.00 in cuts. He spoke with Ms. Neggers to confirm the number that is needed in cuts and that number is $577,680.00.
Mr. Keller is looking for a proposal for a plan from the committee to present to the Board of Selectmen.
Mr. Keller presented his proposal:
He said two ways to get to a balanced budget:
cut the Council on Aging
and the Library.
Mr. Fimognari said you need to be cautious about cutting departments. Keeping money in free cash and closing departments is not a good plan. His proposal would be to use $354,450.00 in cuts and take the additional $220,000 needed out of free cash.
Mr. Margerison asked about using $150,000 from the $350,000 settlement the Water Department is getting? Mr. Keller said that was suggested earlier and it was said that it would not be wise to use that money.
Mr. Brayton's proposal is to use 75% of available free cash.
Mr. Finnegan said he is reluctant to use 75% of free cash.
Ms. Edwards remarked that the committee worked on a list ranking potential cuts 1-4. She suggested using free cash and then go back to the number 4's on the list.
Mr. Margerison remarked we keep cutting the CORE services to the town or do we cut an entire department to help save parts of other departments.
Ms. O'Sullivan asked Ms. Bodwell if the Department Heads saw the spreadsheet from Ms. Mahar and Ms. Neggers? Ms. Bodwell said yes, the Department Heads are aware of what could potentially happen.
Mr. Pennignton said it is dangerous to spend all the free cash; it is already low for next year. Cuts need to be made and FinCom prioritized a list of potential cuts. No department should be kept untouched.
Ms. O'Sullivan said she would like to go back and revisit the items ranked 3 and 4.
Mr. Pennington made a motion to keep the cuts they already agreed to do and revisit the items ranked 3 and 4 while trying to protect some free cash to leave a little bit of a cushion.
Mr. Fimognari seconded the motion, discussion on the motion:
Mr. Finnegan supports the motion to revisit items ranked 3 and 4.
Mr. Brayton would like to revisit the items ranked 3 and 4.
Mr. Margerison would like to see actual numbers but agrees with looking at items ranked 3 and 4.
Motion was passed to revisit items ranked 3 and 4 with seven YES votes and one NO vote.
Mr. Brayton made a motion to make cuts to all departments without eliminating one entire department, motion was seconded and the following discussion took place:
Mr. Finnegan supports cuts to all departments, not to one entire department.
Ms. O'Sullivan doesn't agree with cutting an entire department but does agree with combining departments.
Mr. Fimognari said that the absolute last resort would be to cut an entire department.
Mr. Keller said it's time to make hard decisions; we can't keep cutting some CORE services while other departments are still functioning.
Ms. Edwards doesn't agree.
Motion was passed to make cuts to all departments without eliminating one entire department with seven YES votes and one NO vote.
Mr. Fimognari made a motion to send a letter to the Department Heads asking them to look for additional cuts, motion was seconded and the following discussion took place:
Mr. Pennington against the letter. Doesn't like the idea of throwing it back to the Department Heads, without knowing the entire picture yet.
Motion was passed to send a letter to the Department Heads asking them to look for additional cuts with five YES votes and three NO votes.
Mr. Fimognari will send Ms. Payette an email to send out to the Department Heads to have for next meeting.
Mr. Margerison asked about the letter to the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Fimognari said he will draft a letter and send it to Ms. Payette to send to Board of Selectmen.
The next scheduled meetings of the Finance Committee are:
Monday, April 13, 2009 at 6:45pm
Monday, April 21, 2009 at 6:45pm
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda I. Payette
Administrative Assistant to the Finance Committee
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