NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
DECEMBER 21, 2006
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE JANUARY 11, 2007
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Ms. Gail Powell, Chair
Ms. Judy Doughty, School Board Representative
Mr. Bill Netishen, Selectmen's Representative
Mr. Chris Mills
Mr. Philip Fernald
Ms. Denise Blaha
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Mr. Kurt Duprey
Mr. John Decker
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Mr. Michael Koester
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Ms. Mary Bonser, Board of Selectmen
Mr. Peter Bock, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Ms. Powell said that the School Budget Public Hearing was scheduled for January 12, 2006 at 7:00pm.
Ms. Powell said that if any members of the Budget Committee had concerns about areas of the town budget, she encouraged them to discuss those thoroughly with the department heads while they were in front of the Budget Committee.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Ms. Andersen made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting of November 30, 2006 as amended. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. Ms. Powell, Ms. Doughty, Mr. Netishen, Mr. Mills, Mr. Fernald, Ms. Blaha, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Batchelder and Mr. Koester voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Duprey and Mr. Decker abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 2 abstentions.
Mr. Decker made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting of December 14, 2006 as amended. Mr. Koester seconded the motion. Ms. Powell, Mr. Netishen, Mr. Mills, Mr. Fernald, Ms. Blaha, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Koester, Mr. Duprey and Mr. Decker voted in favor of the motion. Ms. Doughty and Mr. Batchelder abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 2 abstentions.
PRESENTATION OF HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
ALSO PRESENT: Mr. John Fernald, Road Agent
Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen had reduced the cost of living adjustment to 3.3% from the previously stated 4%.
Mr. John Fernald said that the proposed budget included an increase in the cost of salaries, overtime and part time salaries. Mr. Batchelder asked how many months were included in the actuals column. Mr. Brown said that the actuals went all the way up through the first payroll in December. Mr. Batchelder noted that not all of the part time salary money had been used. Mr. John Fernald said that most of the part time help was used in the winter. He said that it had been a light winter the previous year. He said that they had not had to use as much part time help in January, February and March of 2006 because there had not been a lot of snow. He said that the Highway Department used most of their overtime money in the winter as well. Mr. Netishen noted that those costs were heavily influenced by
the weather. Mr. John Fernald said that in 2004 they had spent 26,000 on part time salaries so he had increased his request to $30,000. He said that 2 miles of road had been added since then. He said that when there were snow storms the department needed 7 people. He said that a lot depended on the weather. Ms. Blaha asked about the total mileage of roads that the Highway Department was responsible for plowing. Mr. John Fernald said that there were approximately 70 miles of roads. He said that the Highway Department also plowed the school, around the hydrants, the Fire House, the Library, the churches, the ball field, etc. He said that he assumed that the mileage would get up to around 73 or 74 eventually. He said that some of the roads they took care of were asphalt and some were not.
Mr. John Fernald said that a new line had been added for clerical support. He said that line was for $1,000. Mr. Decker asked if the clerical support work would be done in the town office. Mr. Brown said yes. He said that it would be additional hours given to the existing staff.
Mr. John Fernald said that they had not mowed this year. He said that they had done 3 days of tree work. He said that they had been trying to offset costs because of the damage caused by the May flooding.
Mr. Koester said that if the Highway Department knew they needed more money in Highway Maintenance than they should request it for that line of the budget. Mr. John Fernald said that he had been trying to do that more with this budget.
There was discussion about the Hired Equipment Construction line. Mr. John Fernald said that he wanted to use money in that line for general cost needs. He said that the department used it to get things that they did not have available to them. Mr. Koester said that there should be a line in the budget for contingency. Mr. Decker said that the Budget Committee should look at the bottom line in the Highway Department budget. He said that Mr. John Fernald had done a good job of maintaining the Highway Department budget bottom line. Mr. Netishen said that much of the Highway Department budget was dependent on the weather or other natural causes. He noted that if a tree fell down then the Highway Department needed to clear it.
Mr. John Fernald said that his costs for supplies were increasing. He said that was his biggest problem area. He said that the actual cost of supplies had been over the budgeted amount since 2000.
Mr. John Fernald said that the Highway Department had spent $10,000-$12,000 on the culverts as a result of the flood. He said that the total cost of the flood had been about $30,000.
Mr. John Fernald said that the Highway Department would buy 1,000 tons of salt and he said that 2 miles of road had been added. He said that the price of salt had gone down slightly.
Mr. Brown said that there would be an increase in the cost of uniform cleaning.
Mr. Duprey asked if the Highway Department would underspend their budget for fuel in 2006. Mr. John Fernald said yes. Mr. Duprey asked why the Highway Department wanted more for fuel in the proposed budget. Mr. Brown said that the price of fuel was continuing to go up. Mr. John Fernald said that if they had a hard winter they would spend their entire fuel budget.
Mr. Decker said that he would rather see the money used as a result of the flood in the budget under the categories where it had been spent. He mentioned the money spent on culverts as an example. Mr. Netishen said that finding out the total cost of the floods had helped the town apply for grant money from FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency). He said that the flood had been a 1 time expense.
Ms. Powell said that the Highway Department budget was very confusing. She suggested that maybe they could revisit how it was done. Mr. Brown said that the Highway Department budget could possibly be broken down more but she said that it had already been broken down once. Mr. Koester said that lots of budget categories helped with tracking but he said that sometimes it was hard to predict where money would be needed most.
Mr. Philip Fernald asked why the Budget Committee was spending so much time on the Highway Department budget when they were not going to change it any. He said that he thought they should move on.
Mr. John Fernald said that he wanted to do some work on Flutter Street and Deerfield Road. He said that he wanted to do construction work on approximately 6,500 feet of roads. He said that Deerfield Road was 30-40 years old. Ms. Andersen asked if the Highway Department expected their construction on Deerfield Road to keep the road in good condition for another 30 years. Mr. John Fernald said that the Highway Department had worked on a lot of roads and the roads had held up well after construction. He said that there was one road that had not needed new construction work in 20+ years. He said that the roads would still need maintenance after construction though.
Mr. John Fernald said that he wanted to do overlays on Deerfield Road from Route 156 to this side of the new bridge and on Freeman Hall Road. He said that he was trying to maintain a 10 year overlay program on heavily travelled roads. He also said that Gile Road and Garland Road needed a top coat of asphalt.
Mr. Batchelder said that Freeman Hall Road was losing its edges. Mr. John Fernald said that it might be a good idea for the Highway Department to put some more shoulder gravel on that road. He said that cars cut corners more on highly travelled roads. He said that some underdrains might help Freeman Hall Road too.
Mr. Bathchelder said that he had looked up some history of the shim and seal coating budget. He said that it was an endless pit and he asked where they would stop. He said that for years they spent $75,000 on shim and seal coating and then over a 2-3 year time period they had ratcheted that budget all the way up to $220,000.
Mr. Duprey asked if the Highway Department had the staff to do all the projects that they budgeted for. Mr. John Fernald said that they had to substitute people for hired equipment. He said that an extra man would help but he said that the Highway Department would do just as well to put their money into supplies. He said that they could spread their money further by doing things with the people they already had.
PRESENTATION OF POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
OTHERS PRESENT: Mr. Philip English, Police Chief
Mr. English said that the cost of living increases for the salaries were at 3.3% as set by the Board of Selectmen.
Mr. English said that the cost for the county attorney had increased slightly.
Mr. English said that the Police Department had overspent their budget for uniforms because they had a turnover rate during the past year. He said that because they had bought uniforms for new officers they had not replaced the uniforms for their existing officers. He said that they would need to do that in the upcoming budget year.
Mr. English said that in the line for office equipment the Police Department wanted $6,095 to network their computers. He said that the company had a minimum number of 6 seats and they would not network fewer than that. He said that the network would involve a service contract and $2,012 in annual maintenance. Mr. Decker asked if the networked computers would fit into the cruisers. Mr. English said no. He said that they were working on getting a network for the laptops in the cruisers but he said that was unavailable at this point. He said that it had to do with the companies providing the network and the type of laptop and system etc. Mr. Brown said that he had called the company himself and asked about the 6 seat minimum for the network and he said that the company would not budge. Mr.
English said that the Police Department had 5 seats which they needed on the network.
Mr. English said that the Police Department had not had any major problems with any of their office supplies or equipment over the past year.
Mr. Duprey asked about server maintenance. Mr. Brown said that he had a contract with a computer guy who came in and fixed the computers for the whole town complex.
Mr. English said that he really did not know what would happen with fuel prices.
Mr. English said that the taxpayers would get $7,800 off the price of their cruiser purchase with the value of the trade in and with the money left over in the capital reserve fund.
Mr. English said that the Police Department needed more outgoing telephone lines. He said that there had been occasions where they had the state police in town or had negotiators and they had not had enough outgoing telephone lines for everything they needed to do. He noted that was especially important because many cell phones did not work in the area.
Mr. English said that there would be a warrant article requesting an SUV (sport utility vehicle) 4x4 for the Police Department. He said that the cost of that vehicle would be $23,988. He said that he was projecting an 8 year life for that vehicle.
Mr. Koester asked if there was specific equipment that the Police Department wanted to buy. Mr. English said that the Police Department wanted to replace Glock firearms. He said that they were 11 years old. He said that the estimate they had gotten for a trade was $1,204. He said that the department was also trying to get discounts on holsters. He said that he thought the department would be trading 9 in firearms and buying 7 new ones. He said that the department had some old firearms and they also had some firearms in the evidence room that they had gone through the process to get ownership of and they were going to trade those in as well.
Ms. Andersen asked if the Police Department would be getting a new officer. Mr. English said no.
Ms. Andersen asked why the Police Department wanted a new SUV. Mr. English said that the Police Department had not gotten a new vehicle in 11 years. He said that officers needed to use their own vehicles during the flood. He said that the department had problems with calls where they needed to go out in the woods or they needed to go up difficult driveways. He said that this SUV was not intended to be a patrol vehicle. He said that it would only be used in specific situations so he expected that it would last longer than a police department patrol vehicle. He said that the officers would be able to use the SUV during storms and other weather problems. Mr. Brown said that the Police Department had a donated vehicle for a short time and he said that they had used it. Mr. English said that this
SUV would need to be a specialty vehicle and he said that it should last 8 years.
Mr. Decker asked if the town was looking at upgrading the phone system in their town complex. Mr. Brown said that they had put something about that in the capital improvement plan. He said that it was still up in the air. He said that he had not thought about including the Police Department with the possible town office telephone upgrade. Mr. Decker suggested that they should think about upgrading the phone system for the entire building all at the same time.
Mr. Batchelder asked if the Police Department was doing video arraignments. He mentioned that a large part of the overtime cost had always been officers sitting in court. Mr. English said that Auburn did not have the equipment to do video arraignments. He said that the last time he had to do a video arraignment he had gone to Salem. He said that video arraignments would save the department time and money but they were not an option at this point. He said that 1 day of court had been cut back so there was going to be an even larger backlog.
Ms. Powell left at 8:30pm.
PRESENTATION OF RECREATION DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
OTHERS PRESENT: Ms. Janet Horvath, Recreation Department Director
Ms. Horvath said that the salary lines had increased. She said that the number of hours worked by the Recreation Director had been increased. She said that the employees of the department had also gotten the 3.3% cost of living increase.
Ms. Horvath said that there had also been an increase in the amount requested to pay a swim instructor. She said that the town had trouble hiring a swim instructor. She said that in order to be a swim instructor a person needed to take certain classes and so they needed to be paid a certain amount in order to make it worth their time to be a swim instructor. She said that there were 88 children who had taken swimming lessons the previous summer. She said that asking families to pay for the cost of swimming lessons would make them cost prohibitive for many parents. She said that in a town full of lakes and rivers, people knowing how to swim was a safety issue for the entire town. She said that the benefits of offering swimming lessons to kids in town outweighed the costs of the program. She said that
Nottingham charged $10 per child for swimming lessons. She said that most towns covered the majority of the costs for swimming lessons. She said that the only reason Nottingham had started charging any fee at all was because the Red Cross had charged them a paperwork fee for the swimming lessons. She said that the town did not charge anything for any of the other programs in their general fund. She said that children got approximately 9 swim lessons at about 45 minutes each when they were a part of the program. Ms. Blaha asked how the number of children taking swim lessons compared with the number in previous years. Ms. Horvath said that 4 years ago there had been a huge jump in the number of children talking swimming lessons. She said that since that time the number had remained fairly steady. She said that the children taking swimming lessons ranged in age from 10 months to 10 or 12 years old and she said that when they included
camp kids in the total their instructor taught approximately 130-140 kids.
Ms. Horvath said that the increased request for postage was based on spending.
Ms. Horvath said that she and her assistant would be going to the New Hampshire Parks and Recreation conference. She said that they would be going for the full 3 days so that would include an overnight. She said that the two of them had been to the conference before but they had not been to the full 3 days before.
Ms. Horvath said that the proposed budget included training for the summer staff. She said that the training had really improved the program. She said that the summer program had really grown in the past 2 years.
Ms. Horvath said that the computer in the Recreation Department office needed to be updated.
Mr. Duprey noted that the Recreation Department phone bill had decreased. Ms. Horvath noted that the staff used a lot of email. Mr. Koester asked if the town had changed long distance carriers. Mr. Brown said that the town had changed long distance carriers 2 years earlier.
Mr. Batchelder asked how much money was in the revolving balance. Ms. Horvath said that she did not know for sure but she estimated it was about $87,000.
PRESENTATION OF FIRE/RESCUE DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
OTHERS PRESENT: Ms. Heidi Carlson, Deputy Fire Chief
Ms. Carlson said that when the Fire Department had put together their budget, they had been very cognizant of the possible new fire station on the warrant.
Ms. Carlson said that there had been some increases in the Fire Department proposed budget.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire Department needed vests to wear over their jackets. She said that they needed to be more reflective in order to be compliant with current standards.
Ms. Carlson said that the overtime budget would not all be spent.
Ms. Carlson said that the biggest part of the service contract was the defibrillator.
Ms. Carlson said that the value of the stipend point system had dropped $4.00 per point. She said that was good because it meant there were more people responding to calls but she said that it meant people could respond to the same amount of calls and get a lot less money. She said that the department needed to look at the total stipend amount in a future budget year.
Ms. Carlson said that the Nottingham Fire/Rescue Department had a contract with NewMarket dispatch.
Ms. Carlson said that the department was trying to set up another first aid bag for their forestry truck. She said that increasingly they would get medical calls when their ambulance was out on a call. She said that happened at least once a month now.
Ms. Carlson said that the money set aside for breathing apparatus covered the maintenance on the department air packs.
Ms. Carlson said that the money spent on publications was because the department had bought a subscription to the NFPA Fire Codes.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department was requesting more money for training. She said that they had 6 members enrolled in an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) class. She said that 2 or 3 new people had taken the firefighter course and she said that some members of the department were getting additional training and moving up. She said that the department wanted to support additional training. She said that they wanted to give the people in Nottingham the best care possible when they needed emergency help.
Ms. Andersen asked if the Nottingham Fire/Rescue Department had divers. Ms. Carlson said that the department had some people who did recreational diving but she said that they did not have a dive team. Mr. Duprey asked if any of the other towns had dive teams. Ms. Carlson said that Kingston and Fremont had dive teams. She said that the reason Nottingham did not have one was because it was an insurance issue. She said that they had tried to establish a dive team and a couple of firefighters had taken a class but she said that it cost $5,000-$10,000 per year to maintain a dive team. She said that it was quite a specialty.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue gear was expensive. She said that the department members couldn't use it when it was worn out. She said that they used it as long as they could but after a certain amount of wear and tear the gear became a health hazard and that was unacceptable.
Ms. Carlson said that each new volunteer needed to get a shot and she said that there was money in the proposed budget for those.
Ms. Carlson said that there was money in the proposed budget so the Fire/Rescue Department could buy new file cabinets for the new Fire Station.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department wanted to start to replace their 4 inch hose. She said that it would cost $500 per 100 feet of hose to replace. She said that they did have one newer hose which was only 8 years old but she said that they would like to have their 4 inch hose as well.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department was looking to get more vehicle stabilization equipment for car accidents.
Ms. Andersen asked about the height of a structure. Ms. Carlson said that there was a height ordinance in Nottingham because the Fire/Rescue Department did not have a ladder truck. She said that when she referred to a structure, it could be any building but it was usually a house.
Ms. Carlson said that the cost for fuel in the proposed budget was estimated.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department wanted to purchase a hose tester. She said that they were talking to other towns about sharing it with them because it was expensive and they would only use it a few times per year. She said that they needed to get on to a hose testing program because they have had their hose fail in service. She noted that was one of the reasons they wanted to start to replace their 4 inch hose.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department had new radios. She said that the digital radios were more expensive than the radios which had previously been used. She said that she thought they would need to buy batteries for their new radios every year or so because there were more settings and channels and features on the digital radios but she said that it would take some time to find out for sure because they had not had time to really use the digital radios yet and find out how everything worked and how long the batteries would last.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department had gotten high speed internet for $106 per month. She said that the high speed had been a huge help to the department.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department had put some money in the budget for forest fires, just in case.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department had bought one floating pump and they needed to replace another.
Ms. Carlson said that the Fire/Rescue Department had also put some money in the budget for matching grants. She said that often a department needed to have matching funds to apply for grants. She said that the Fire/Rescue Department was also hoping to apply for another grant to help with the cost of the proposed fire station.
OTHER DISCUSSION:
Mr. Brown said that all cost of living adjustments had been reduced to 3.3%.
Mr. Brown said that the additional money requested by the Town Clerk was now reflected in the budget paperwork.
Mr. Brown said that the projected cost of Blue Cross Blue Shield had been reduced because they had taken the additional police officer from the budget.
Mr. Brown said that there had been an increase in the salary line for the Planning Board Secretary in order to reflect the hours that she was currently working. Ms. Andersen asked if the job title should be changed from Planning Board Secretary if that title did not accurately reflect what the person in that position did. Mr. Netishen said that the accounting software would not be able to accommodate a change in job title.
Mr. Brown said that he had increased the proposed budget for mileage for the Animal Control Officer.
Mr. Batchelder asked if there would be revenue changes. Mr. Brown said that there would be a decrease in the land use change tax. He also said that the Treasurer did not expect to get as much return on their investments in the coming year as they had in the past year.
Ms. Doughty said that the School Board had approved their proposed budget at their most recent meeting. She said that the bottom line for that proposed budget was $8,226,407.
Ms. Doughty said that the teacher contract negotiating teams had done a 9:00am-5:00pm session that day. She said that she had not heard anything about whether they had made any decisions or not.
Mr. Decker said that he had done some work on trending. He showed the Budget Committee some graphs he had done looking at trends for the town budget, the public safety budget, the highway budget, and the general government budget. He noted that the budgets were trending upwards. He said that exponential trend line predicted a town budget of $6 million in 2010. He said that the linear trend line predicted a town budget of $4,160,000 in 2010. He noted that the actual town budget from the previous year exceeded what the linear trend predicted for 2010. He said that the exponential trend line was a better estimator than the linear trend line. He said that realistically the town budget in 2010 would probably be somewhere between the exponential trend line prediction and the linear trend line prediction. Mr. Netishen asked if Mr. Decker had done similar trend work on the school budget. Mr. Decker said no. There was some discussion about how the Budget Committee could use the
trend information. Mr. Batchelder noted that the Consumer Price Index and the population growth would also be factors in how much the budget changed in the upcoming years. Mr. Decker said that he had just wanted to get facts that the Budget Committee could talk about. He said that each member of the Budget Committee could draw their own conclusions about what the facts meant. He said that he had used the MS7 form to get his trending information.
DISCUSSION OF NEXT MEETING DATE:
Mr. Koester asked if the Budget Committee should meet on January 4, 2007. Mr. Decker said that date had been left open for a meeting to discuss the teacher contract. Ms. Doughty said that she was not sure there would be anything to discuss. Mr. Decker said that in that case he did not think the Budget Committee should meet on January 4, 2007. Mr. Koester said that would make the next Budget Committee meeting on January 12, 2007. He specified that date was a Friday night. Mr. Fernald said that he did not feel the Budget Committee had done their job right. He said that the Budget Committee should not be a rubber stamp. Mr. Netishen suggested that the Budget Committee meet to discuss the teacher contract on either January 9, 2007, January 10, 2007, or January 11, 2007. He suggested it would
be reasonable to assume there would be a teacher contract by January 7, 2007. Mr. Koester suggested that the Budget Committee have a meeting to discuss the contract on January 11, 2007. Ms. Doughty said that there was a time frame for the teacher contract negotiations. She said that if the contract was not negotiated and ratified by a certain date then the district and the teachers would need to wait until the summer to negotiate again. Mr. Decker said that he would not vote to recommend the contract if he was seeing it for the first time. Mr. Batchelder said that he would be out of town on January 11, 2007 and January 12, 2007.
The Budget Committee discussed whether they would like to discuss the teacher contract exclusively at their meeting on January 11, 2007 or whether they would like to have the option to discuss other business if necessary. They decided they would like the option to discuss other business if necessary.
Mr. Mills made a motion that the Budget Committee change their scheduled meeting from January 4, 2007 to January 11, 2007. Ms. Doughty seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Mr. Netishen made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:30pm. Mr. Decker seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 10-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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