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Finance Committee Meeting Minutes
September 24, 2013
4:05 - 5pm
Present: Stanley Ross, Donald Clawson and Dan Moriarty
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting:
- The Committee elected a Chairperson for the balance of the budget year to end June 30, 2014. A motion was made to have Stanley be the Chairperson. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
- The Committee discussed their task to complete a budget for FY15 to be presented to the Select Board then Annual Town Meeting. The Committee discussed the timeframe for sending out requests to each department/committee for their FY15 requests. Don felt that the Committee should be requesting the budget requests much earlier than Dec/Jan. Dan and Stan explained that in years past getting some (not all) boards/committees/departments to return their budget requests by the deadline given is like pulling teeth and in some cases isn’t practical as numbers aren’t yet available (like oil and gas, etc). The Committee commended M. Noe on her ability and readiness to update the FY15 budget request spreadsheet in real time for the Finance Committee members. The Committee is also going to request from the
Accountant reports showing how much of last years requested budgets have been expended for each meeting.
- At this point Stan welcomed new member Don Clawson and stated how great it was to have a new set of eyes and ideas.
- The Finance Committee noted that the FY13 books still have not been closed so some reports are not entirely accurate.
- It was noted that the Fire Department Compensation line item is going to be split up going forward: one line item for calls and one for training so that there is a set amount for training that should not ever go over. It was mentioned that the Fire Department should also look at the policies for who can show up for medical calls, Dan noted that there isn’t any reason for 12 firemen that aren’t EMT’s to be at the call unless called in after the Chief assesses the situation. Don felt this was a dangerous area to enter as now you’d be trying to forecast policy and that isn’t the Finance Committee’s job.
- The Committee discussed the meeting scheduled for Monday with the Select Board, Finance Committee, Accountant, Treasurer and Assessors. Since there are 2 new people in the Accountant and Treasurer’s positions it was requested to have everyone meet to review what is needed and expected and to improve the lines of communications so that there aren’t any delays in setting the tax rates.
- The Finance Committee is going to be more proactive this year in meeting with each department/committee/board regarding their requested budgets prior to making any recommendations to the Select Board.
- The Finance Committee will focus on the stabilization and reserve funds, free cash and financing at their next meeting. Where we stand, how they should be used, etc.
- The next meeting will be at 4pm on Wednesday, October 16th.
Submitted by,
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Via audio recording
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