MONSON FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES APRIL 23, 2012
Present: Bob Margerison, Gerry Brayton, Bob Finnegan, Kurt Kaiser, Christine Edwards, Maureen O’Sullivan, Brenda Payette (Administrative Assistant), Deborah Mahar (Town Accountant), Gretchen Neggers (Town Administrator), John Morrell, (Highway Department)
Absent: William Dominguez, Peter Fimognari, Jim Pennington
The meeting was convened at 7:00pm
Mr. Margerison made a motion to accept the minutes of the 4/2/2012 meeting; it was SECONDED and SO VOTED with Ms. Edwards abstaining.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- Association of Town Finance Committees Spring Workshops.
OLD BUSINESS / NEW BUSINESS:
Meetings attended:
Some Finance Committee members attended the Board of Selectmen meeting on April 17, 2012.
Some topics of conversations-
Proposed Maintenance Department
Talk of an override-feeling was that the Board of Selectmen not favorable.
Mr. Kaiser asked about the proposed 6% salary increase for the Water & Sewer Superintendent
Where all other non-union positions will receive a 2% salary increase. This becomes an issue a
Fairness. Further discussion needed.
7:10pm John Morrell, Highway Department:
Mr. Morrell wrote a letter to Finance Committee requesting to come back in and discuss his request for $5,000 salary increase.
Mr. Morrell sat at the table and first started the discussion clearing up any misconceptions.
His requested salary increase is $5,000 (that includes the 2% increase).
He would fund the increase beyond 2% with Chapter 90 money. He said that the last few years he has used $10,000 of Chapter 90 money for wages. It would be about $3,600.00
Mr. Morrell made another proposal to FinCom of a 5% increase instead of $5,000 increase. That amount would be around $3,390.00.
FinCom will continue discussing this at next week’s meeting.
Update regarding FEMA/MEMA money regarding tornado and October storm.
The Tornado costs to the town are about $115,000. They will need to decide if they want to use free cash to pay this.
October storm- looks like $746,000 will be the town’s obligation.
They are still looking at these figures, nothing is final.
Town Hall update:
Insurance Company will pay $6.9 million to repair at the same location. To rebuild a building to accommodate Town Hall and the Police Department would be about $10million. The Board of Selectmen will have a separate article for Town Meeting for a debt override of about $3.4 million to rebuild Town Hall and Police Department.
Budget Discussion:
Proposed Maintenance Department: at this point it doesn’t look like the Town will be able to move forward with a Maintenance Department. It is not going anywhere and time has run out for action to take place now. Hopefully this will get followed up with next year.
Water & Sewer Superintendent 6% salary increase request:
Mr. Brayton made a motion to keep the Water and Sewer Superintendent salary increase to 2% in line with other increases; Mr. Margerison SECONDED motion and discussion took place:
FinCom agreed to discuss this at their next meeting and take a vote after more members had a chance to discuss. Discussion ended and all voted NO the motion did not pass
The next scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee is:
Monday, April 30, 2012 at 7:00pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda I. Payette
Administrative Assistant to the Finance Committee
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