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Finance Committee Meeting Minutes
January 29, 2013
10 – 11:05am
Present: Stanley Ross and Dan Moriarty
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Chief Backhaus
Updated FY14 budget requests received to date:
- M. Noe informed the committee that MIIA (our insurance provider) has stated that the health insurance premiums are expected to rise 0 – 10% with an average of 6.2%. The exact increase for Monterey will not be available for some time. The life insurance is not expected to increase.
- Stanley stated that the $275,000 request for a grader shouldn’t be included in the special article total because it will be a debt exclusion.
- We are still waiting on the loan payment amount from the Treasurer for the rescue vehicle.
- Dan presented the proposed salary ranges from the Employee Compensation Advisory Committee (he is the Finance Committee Rep on this Advisory Committee). They are suggesting a 3% increase to salaries if a multiple year Memorandum of Understanding is not instituted. If a multiple year MoU is instituted the committee is recommending salary ranges for all the full time positions. Dan also stated that the Committee is looking into making a recommendation to the Board to condense the budget portion of the town meeting warrant which Dan is not in favor of; Stan agreed.
- The line item “Principal Assessor” has been added to the budget as the person in the position currently has taken all of the courses offered by the state and Massachusetts Association of Assessors and has been promoted from Assistant Assessor to Principal Assessor. The Assessors will also be looking to give him a substantial raise to compensate the level of education and knowledge that we now have access to. The Assistant Assessor line item will be lowered to $1 to reflect the change. Currently the Assessor’s Clerk was level funded but if the Select Board gives salary increases this will change.
- Town Clerk line item: Deborah Mielke is resigning (for personal reasons) and the Select Board is currently researching their options with Counsel to fill the vacancy. Stanley stated that he will recommend to the Board that this position be changed from elected to appointed. The Finance Committee is unsure if the salary for this position will change to reflect a new person coming in and if the Assistant Town Clerk line item will remain, this will be up to the Select Board to decide.
- The Committee reviewed the budget requests for the Fire Dept which includes an increase of $15,000 for compensation. The Committee stated that there wasn’t any backup included to support the increase but they do recall having a conversation about it. They are also requesting $45,500 to replace the air packs; this will be added to the special articles.
- This will be the last year for a payment on the loan for the Kenworth and Pickup.
- Preliminary calculations of the budgets submitted show an increase to the budget of $330,000 without salary increases and all budget requests (the Select Board still has to go over all of the line items they are responsible for). Stan stated that to reduce the tax rate that we’ll need to use monies from stabilization and free cash although he recommends using $250,000 from free cash to try and keep the overall budget level funded.
- Chief Backhaus came in to present a summary of the increases being requested to the Police Dept budget. Most of the increase is due to training and fuel. Training has increased because the state stopped funding the criminal training program and now police departments are responsible for this. The Chief explained that the Fire Dept and Police Dept are now proposing a slightly more expensive boat (approx. $30,000) to replace the air boat that will be used for police and fire/medical emergencies on both lakes.
Submitted by,
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Via audio recording
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