NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
NOVEMBER 30, 2006
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE DECEMBER 21, 2006
PRESENT ABSENT:
Ms. Gail Powell, Chair Mr. Kurt Duprey (Excused)
Mr. Bill Netishen, Selectmen's Representative Mr. John Decker (Excused)
Ms. Judy Doughty, School Board Representative
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Ms. Denise Blaha
Mr. Philip Fernald
Mr. Chris Mills
Mr. Michael Koester
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Hal Rafter, School Board
Mr. Peter Bock, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Mary Bonser, Board of Selectmen
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Ms. Powell noted the information packets for the Budget Committee members. She said that the information from the school was still in draft form.
Ms. Powell announced that the next Budget Committee meeting would be December 14, 2006 and she said that would include a final review of the school budget. She said that the Budget Committee would be hearing the town Department heads on December 21, 2006.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Mr. Batchelder made a motion to approve the Budget Committee minutes from November 16, 2006. Mr. Mills seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
PRESENTATION OF TOWN BUDGET:
Mr. Brown said that the most updated version of the town budget was dated 11-28-06. Ms. Powell asked if Mr. Brown could give a brief explanation of the budget process. Mr. Brown said that he had met with the Board of Selectmen and with the town department heads regarding the budget. He said that some changes had been made from the original budget requests. He said that there was still work to be done on the budget but he said that they were fairly close to a final draft. He said that the total budget was $20,000 less than the previous year. He said that the legal line had been decreased significantly. He said that he did not expect there to be any major changes to the proposed budget and he said that the Budget Committee probably would not be seeing any increases to the proposed budget but they might
possibly see some decreases to it.
EXECUTIVE BUDGET:
Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen had proposed giving a 5% base salary increase as well as a 4% cost of living raise to the Town Administrator.
Mr. Brown said that the performance award program for the employees had been going well.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget included an increase in postage costs because the town office had needed to upgrade their postage meter. He said that they were also expecting an increase in the price of postage sometime in 2007.
Mr. Brown said that there had been a slight increase in the proposed budget for the cost of dues and conferences at the executive level.
Mr. Brown said that the use of the copier in the town office had gone way up so as a result they had increased the copier budget in the proposed budget.
Mr. Brown said that the town office needed some chairs so they were proposing an increase to the office equipment line in the proposed budget.
Mr. Brown said that there was an increase in the proposed budget for mileage. He said the employees in the town office often did not put in reimbursement forms for the mileage they drove for town business. He said that he was encouraging the employees to ask for that mileage reimbursement. He said that the cost of driving was increasing and employees deserved to get some compensation for using their own cars when they had to travel for town business.
Mr. Brown said that the town was hoping to upgrade their website. He said that they wanted to make it more user friendly. He said that they had a good website and they had done well with it so far but they had talked about improving it.
Mr. Brown said that the line in the proposed budget for enforcement had seen a decrease.
Mr. Brown said that the Pawtuckaway Lake Advisory Committee had gotten a $50,000 grant. He said that the Board of Selectmen had wanted to budget for matching funds in case that was necessary. He said that the Pawtuckaway Lake Advisory Committee had been very active and they were working to improve the lake.
Mr. Koester asked if the amount in the proposed budget for the town office staff to go to the Registry of Deeds was too much. He asked if they could lower that amount to $50. Mr. Brown said that activity did vary as far as town office staff going to the Registry of Deeds. He said that he would look at that budgeted amount again.
Mr. Koester asked if the town was planning to do $1,000 worth of work to their website this year. Mr. Brown said that the town wanted to possibly do $1,000-$1,200 worth of work on their website. He said that they were thinking about putting their recreation department registrations online.
Mr. Brown said that the town had received a generous donation from a resident who had asked to remain anonymous. He said that the money was to be used to buy speakers so that meetings in the multipurpose room could be heard and speakers would not have to be brought from the school.
Ms. Andersen asked if the matching grant money reserved for the Pawtuckaway Lake Advisory Committee could be used for other matching grants. She said that the farmer's market had considered applying for a grant but they had not been sure that they could get matching funds. Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen could authorize using the matching grant money reserved for the Pawtuckaway Lake Advisory Committee for other purposes. Ms. Bonser said that she would encourage groups such as the farmer's market to ask the Board of Selectmen if they needed matching grant funds.
Mr. Mills said that he had a question about broadcasting. He said that he would like to know why the Planning Board was not broadcast on the cable channel. He also asked if broadcasting additional meetings such as those of the Planning Board would cost more. Mr. Brown said that broadcasting additional meetings would not be a significant expense. He said that the initial warrant article regarding broadcasting had only included broadcasting the meetings of the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee. He said that no one had ever taken the issue any further than that.
Ms. Andersen asked how the phone system for the town worked. Mr. Brown said that each department had a separate phone line. He said that there was no phone system. He said that departments could not transfer calls so if people called the wrong department they needed to get the correct phone number and try again. He said that he had talked to employees about this and most of them seemed to like the separate phone lines so he had not done anything to change them. He said that sometimes the people in the town office wasted a lot of time answering the phone and giving people the number for the recreation department or the building inspector so he said that he had thought about changing the way the phones worked but he said that he had not done anything about that at this time.
Mr. Fernald asked why the town meeting was not broadcast on the cable station. Mr. Brown said that they wanted people to come to the town meeting. Mr. Fernald noted that as he got older it was more difficult for him to attend town meeting. Mr. Brown said that Nottingham had never broadcast their town meeting on the cable channel.
Ms. Powell said that the Budget Committee would like to know who was compared as a peer to the Town Administrator when the Board of Selectmen had discussed the proposed salary increase for that position. She said that they would like to know what towns were part of that comparison. Ms. Bonser recounted an informal conversation she had with a member of the Board of Selectmen in a nearby town with a similar population to Nottingham. She said that the Board of Selectmen would get a more complete comparison list for another meeting of the Budget Committee. Mr. Koester reminded the Board of Selectmen that they needed to compare towns with similar structures. He said that town managers and town administrators did not have the same salary structures.
Ms. Powell suggested that the town look into laws about how many hours were equivalent to part time work. Mr. Brown said that there were no specific guidelines. He said that the number of hours were determined by the town employee manual.
Ms. Andersen asked how the town decided on a cost of living raise of 4%. Mr. Brown said that there was a formula to calculate cost of living increases on the Social Security Administration website. He said that they used the same formula each year when they calculated cost of living increases. Mr. Koester asked if the formula calculated a national cost of living increase or a regional cost of living increase. Mr. Netishen said that the calculation was regional. Mr. Batchelder noted that cost of living increases needed to be balanced with fringe benefits that were offered to employees. Ms. Bonser said that Nottingham was keeping pace with other towns as far as their employee benefits and salaries. She said that Nottingham was lucky to have very dedicated employees. She also noted that the town
tax rate had decreased by $.22.
TOWN CLERK:
Mr. Brown said that earlier in the day he had received amended budget information from the Town Clerk. He said that the information asked for an additional $1,185 in the Town Clerk salary line.
Mr. Brown said that the postage line for the Town Clerk in the proposed budget had increased.
Mr. Brown said that there was a decrease in the line for office supplies for the Town Clerk in the proposed budget.
Mr. Brown said that the state was paying for the internet access for the Town Clerk so the town did not need to include that in their budget anymore.
Mr. Brown said that the Town Clerk was working on restoring and preserving some old records. He said that process was ongoing and there was money in the proposed budget for it.
ELECTIONS:
Mr. Brown said that there were not going to be as many elections in the upcoming year as there had been in the past year so there would be a decrease in the amount of money needed for election workers salaries. He said that the town had paid the balance for the vote tallying machine but he said that the cost of printing the ballots would increase. He said that the cost of printing the ballots had to do with the number of questions on the ballot.
Mr. Koester noted the laptop in the voter registration equipment line. He said that he understood the purpose of that laptop and he felt it would be helpful to the Town Clerk. He said that his concern was whether the laptop could be used more than 3 nights per year. Mr. Brown said that he hoped so. He said that the town would make it known to the Town Clerk that they wanted the laptop to be utilized elsewhere for other purposes during the year. Mr. Koester said that his other concern about the laptop for the Town Clerk was that laptop security would be an issue because of the sensitive information dealt with by the Town Clerk. Mr. Brown agreed.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION:
TAX COLLECTOR:
Mr. Brown said that the salary line for the Tax Collector did not include a cost of living raise because the Tax Collector salary was set by the town meeting. Mr. Koester asked how the salary for the position of Tax Collector was different from the salary for the position of Town Clerk. Mr. Brown said that the two positions were set up differently. He said that the Tax Collector received fees for lein and deed notices and for executions.
Mr. Brown said that the town would not need to buy tax bills during this budget cycle so he said that line was low.
TRAINING/MAPPING/BONDS, ETC:
Mr. Brown said that there was an increase in the proposed budget for training and support. He said that the town wanted to change to a different Tax Collection/Billing system. He said that with the current system someone needed to input the data twice. He said that they were looking for $2,500 for new Tax Collection/Billing software. He said that the Tax Collection/Billing software that they wanted was available from the same company as their Assessing software. He said that people in other towns who used the software had highly recommended it. He said that the price was a one time licensing fee and he said that in future years there would be a maintenance fee for the software.
Mr. Brown said that the Treasurer wanted to be reimbursed for the mileage to the bank and he said that request was reflected in the proposed budget.
Mr. Brown said that the Mulligan Forest bond had been approved. He said that the cost of the bond fee would be $6,000. He said that there was also going to be a warrant article regarding a new firehouse. He said that if approved there would also be a $6,000 bond fee for that project. He said that he expected the cost of the bond counsel to be about $1,200-$1,500 for each of those two projects. He said that if he could he would combine the bonds and hopefully he could save a little money on the bond fees.
Mr. Brown said that revaluation of property had been added to the proposed budget. He said that he had also added a postage line for mailings related to the revaluation of property. He said that Nottingham had done a valuation update in 2005.
Mr. Brown said that there was money in the proposed budget for mapping. He said that the tax maps were updated annually. He said that there was a decrease in the line from the previous year because of a year of decreased subdivision activity. Ms. Bonser said that there were new fees in place so there would be offsetting revenues for updating the tax maps.
Mr. Brown said that there was a planned increase in the proposed budget for appraisal software support.
Mr. Brown said that there was a huge decrease in the proposed budget for legal fees.
Mr. Brown said that there was a decrease in the proposed budget for enforcement. He said that most of the enforcement line in previous years had been used to clean up one site.
Mr. Brown said that the line for other legal expenses was meant to be used to cover the bond counsel fees which he had discussed.
EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE, ETC:
Mr. Brown said that town employees had Blue Cross Blue Shield. He said that the proposed budget included a 14% increase for health insurance. He said that the number of participants had changed. He noted that there were changes from single plans to family plans, etc. He said that they had budgeted for the worst case scenario in health insurance because the health insurance lines also included 5 months of a new police officer.
Mr. Brown said that the retirements for the fire and police departments were required by the state. He said that the town office staff was not a part of the state retirement system. Mr. Batchelder asked why not. Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen had not decided to do that. Mr. Batchelder clarified that the town office staff was not a part of the state retirement system not because that was prohibited by the state but because it was at the discretion of the town and the town had chosen not to participate.
Mr. Batchelder commented that the numbers for FICA had changed from the previous year. Mr. Brown said that some employees had left and they had not yet been replaced.
PLANNING BOARD:
Mr. Brown noted the Planning Board budget. He said that he had been trying to get increased hours for the Planning/Zoning office. He said that the current secretary had a young child but he tried to get her as many hours as he could. He said that someone had offered to do some filing in the office for a decent rate. He said that the money for the contract planner had also been put back into the budget. Ms. Bonser said that the out of pocket expenses that the town spent on the planner were mostly spent between December and March. She said that was the time of year when the planner was working on zoning changes. She said that when the planner worked on specific cases the cost of that was billed to the applicants. Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for the Planning Board included increased
funds for conferences. He said that he was trying to encourage Planning Board members and office staff to attend conferences. He said that the proposed Planning Board budget also included increased funds for advertising and office supplies. He said that they had held off on a planned purchase of equipment because the Planning staff was working on their filing system. He explained that there were some offsetting revenues in the Planning Department because time spent on projects was billed to applicants and there were fees. He said that the planning budget had a decrease in planning services and other Strafford Regional Planning Commission services because of the use of the planner.
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for the Zoning Board of Adjustment was similar to that of the Planning Board. He said that the proposed budget included a decreased cost of postage and a decreased cost of advertising for the Zoning Board of Adjustment. He said that those projections were based on activity and he noted that activity varied.
GENERAL GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS:
Mr. Brown said that people usually had questions about the budget for general government buildings. He said that they had a great custodian who was worth every penny.
Mr. Brown said that the budget for maintenance had increased because they were continually working to keep the buildings in good repair.
Mr. Brown said that the company that did the mowing was a local company and they did a great job. He said that they charged a very reasonable price. He said that the company had done a really good job mowing the cemeteries and he said that since the price of mowing was reasonable he would like to use some of the savings to also get some tree work done.
Mr. Brown said that the town would like $30,000 for Community Center maintenance which also included money for an archive room. He said that was something they desperately needed. He said that the town would eventually like to utilize the space they had in the back of the town office building.
Mr. Brown said that the line for the old police station had been reduced to $0 because the building had been demolished.
Mr. Brown said that the estimates for fuel usage had been based on previous years and quoted prices.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget included an increase in workers compensation costs.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the salaries for the police department were less than what the Police Chief had originally estimated. He said that the Board of Selectmen had changed the start date for the new officer.
Mr. Brown said that there was a police cruiser in the operating budget for $16,743. He noted that a new cruiser would cost more than that but he said that some of the cost of the cruiser was being offset by money left in the capital reserve fund for that purpose.
Mr. Brown said that the budget was the worst case scenario and it figured that the new police officer was going to be experienced. He said that the uniform and equipment lines in the proposed budget reflected the new officer.
Mr. Brown said that there was going to be a warrant article to get the Police Department a sport utility vehicle. He said that the proposed budget included the cost of a radio for that SUV. Mr. Koester said that all costs associated with the SUV in the warrant article should be a part of the warrant article.
Ms. Andersen asked if the costs for police overtime would decrease with the hiring of a new police officer. Mr. Brown said that those costs would not necessarily decrease. He said that he had talked to the Police Chief about that.
Mr. Koester asked about the Police Department miscellaneous. Mr. Brown said that he would get a print out of what was included in that line.
FIRE DEPARTMENT:
Mr. Brown said that under the Fire Department full time salary line there was a change. He said that the intention had been to give a person a salary increase when they reached a certain level of training. He said that the person had reached that level but the salary increase had not happened. He said that the salary increase was now reflected in the 2007 proposed salary budget line.
Mr. Brown said that there had been an increase in training for firefighters and the proposed budget reflected that.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget included an increase for office equipment for the new fire station. He said that the fire department staff was really fighting with their office equipment and they needed to replace it.
Mr. Brown said that the cost of vehicle maintenance for the Fire Department had increased in the proposed budget because of ladder and pump testing.
Mr. Brown said that the town needed to do additional agility testing of firefighters. He said that would cost some money. He said that the Fire Department would probably not do that during this proposed budget but he said that it was very important that they did it in the future. He noted that unknown health or physical problems could cause a liability problem for the town.
BUILDING INSPECTOR/CODE ENFORCEMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budgets for the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement offices had decreased from the previous year. He said that the proposed budget did include a 4% cost of living increase for the Building Inspector.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the budget lines for emergency management were all new. Mr. Batchelder asked if the Building Inspector was also in charge of emergency management. Mr. Brown said yes. He said that the Building Inspector was receiving a stipend for these duties. Mr. Netishen said that the emergency management duties were approximately 6 hours per week. Ms. Andersen asked if the emergency management costs were mandated. Ms. Bonser said that they needed to have someone in charge of emergency management in order for the town to apply for grants and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) assistance in an emergency situation. Mr. Batchelder asked about EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitis). Ms. Bonser said that there would be a warrant article regarding mosquito control. Ms. Andersen asked
about $100 in the budget for uniforms for emergency management. Mr. Brown said that included shirts and other clothing. Mr. Netishen said that the uniform money also included money to buy outerwear for a command center if there became a need for a command center. Mr. Brown said that command center staff had to be identifiable.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the Road Agent needed some help with clerical support. Ms. Andersen asked if the town would hire someone to do that. Mr. Brown said no. He said that someone already on staff would help with that. He noted that the Road Agent currently did much of the budget and clerical work for the Highway Department.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget for highway department equipment and parts had increased. He said that the Highway Department used more than the budgeted amount on equipment and parts every year and he said that they had finally come to the realization that the budget for equipment and parts needed to be increased in order to reflect the actual expenditures.
Mr. Brown said that a grader lease had been added to the budget but a loader lease had been subtracted from the budget.
Ms. Bonser said that the floods had pointed out areas where their roads needed improvement.
Mr. Brown said that the proposed budget included an increase in the cost of salt. He said that the price of salt was $42.82 per ton and the town bought 1000 tons of salt per year average.
Ms. Powell said that the price of fuel in the proposed budget was high compared to the actual expenditure on fuel in the previous budget. Mr. Brown said that the price of fuel had been lower than his estimate the previous year.
Mr. Brown said that the Deerfield Road Bridge was completed but there would still be some charges that had not come in yet.
Mr. Brown said that drug testing was random and the town did not have any control over that. He said that the town was part of a pool and employees were required to go and be tested for drugs whenever they were notified. He noted that they had lost at least one employee because he had been tired of getting calls for random drug tests when he was not working.
Mr. Brown said that the money requested for shim and seal coating was to allow the Highway Department to remain consistent and to maintain their high level of work on the roads. Mr. Batchelder said that he was going to look at the history of the shim and seal coat line. Ms. Bonser said that the Road Agent had a 10 year plan for shim and seal coating. She said that he had a list of roads he was doing and then when he finished the list he was going to start all over again. She said that Nottingham also had an increasing number of roads and the prices for shim and seal coating were going up. Mr. Batchelder said that roads were losing their edging. He wondered if the town should fix edging instead of doing shim and seal coating. He said that edging needed to be maintained for a road to be in good shape. Mr. Netishen noted that Nottingham was gaining much more traffic on their roads.
SOLID WASTE:
Mr. Brown looked at the solid waste budget. He said that Nottingham needed to mow their landfill. He said that collection fees were down and the town was trying to encourage people to recycle. He said that the compactor lease was up and the town now owned the compactor. He said that there had been an overall decrease in the proposed budget for solid waste.
ANIMAL CONTROL:
Mr. Brown said that there had been a slight increase in the stipend for the Animal Control Officer in the proposed budget. He also said that the proposed budget for animal control had decreased $10 overall from the previous year.
WELFARE:
Mr. Brown said that the Welfare Coordinator had requested a slight increase in stipend so that it would match other towns. He said that agencies needed to request funds after July 1st in order to be eligible to receive them. He said that he had received a request from CASA (Court Appointed Special advocates). He said that he had made some inquiries but he had not gotten responses yet. He said that the Board of Selectmen needed to approve requests from new agencies before their requests could be included on the warrant article. He said that he had heard good things about the work done by CASA but he said that he was not sure if they did work that specifically benefited Nottingham. He said that he was trying to get information on whether anyone from Nottingham used the CASA program.
RECREATION DEPARTMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen had not approved the salary increase request from the Recreation Director. He said that the Board of Selectmen had not approved the request to move the Recreation Director into a full time position. He said that the Board of Selectmen had approved the Recreation Director at a 35 hour per week level.
Mr. Brown said that the Recreation Director and Assistant Recreation Director would be going to a conference where they would have to stay overnight. He said that the cost for that was included in the proposed budget.
Ms. Andersen said that swim lessons were costing a lot based on the amount of usage. She said that the Recreation Department might want to consider charging more for swim lessons. Mr. Brown said that he would talk to the recreation staff about that suggestion.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION:
Mr. Brown said that the Conservation Commission had received a grant for a water testing kit.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
Mr. Brown said that the line for salary for Economic Development Committee had decreased because he said that the Committee would no longer be using the services of an Economic Development Director. Mr. Bock said that the Economic Development Committee was in transition but it would still be meeting.
ABSENCES/VACATION DAYS:
Mr. Brown said that compensated absences had been removed from the budget.
Mr. Brown said that they wanted to give part time staff prorated paid vacation and holiday pay. Ms. Andersen asked if vacation days could be carried over from year to year or whether they were "use it or lose it." Mr. Brown said that this had not been discussed. He said that he was thinking "use it or lose it." He said that it would be a nice benefit to boost morale among their part time staff.
OPERATING BUDGET/WARRANT ARTICLES:
Mr. Brown said that the total proposed operating budget was $2,879,433.
Mr. Brown said that there were 2 CRF warrant articles which were being proposed which would be $50,000 each. He said that there were also going to be warrant articles for social services and road construction.
Ms. Powell said that the Budget Committee wanted revenue information. Ms. Bonser said that the Budget Committee would get to see the actual revenues from the previous year.
Mr. Brown noted that the 2006 operating budget was $2,900,254. He said that the proposed 2007 operating budget was a decrease from that 2006 budget.
Mr. Brown said that the Conservation Commission would like to see 100% of the proceeds from the land use change tax go to conservation. He said that they were doing up a warrant article on that but he said that he had not seen what language they were planning to use. Ms. Bonser said that a percentage of the proceeds from the land use change tax was generally used to offset taxes. Mr. Brown noted that the Conservation Commission was looking to get enough money so that they could buy properties if they became available.
SCHOOL BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Mr. Rafter gave the Budget Committee a revised revenue sheet. He also noted that the Budget Committee had received a copy of their narrative.
Mr. Rafter said that the School Board had not made any changes to the proposed budget. He said that the School Board Chair had been out of town and had been unable to attend their last meeting. He said that the School Board had not removed the additional teacher and the modular classroom from the proposed budget but he said that they had not firmly committed to them either.
Mr. Rafter said that the School Board would be lucky to have the teacher contract settled by the final review meeting with the Budget Committee. He said that the Budget Committee should not expect that.
Mr. Rafter said that there had been staff members who had indicated that they had an interest in teaching a multi age level class. Ms. Powell said that the Budget Committee wanted to know how many rooms were in the school and how they were used. Ms. Doughty said that the school Principal would be presenting to the Budget Committee on that question. She said that the original plan for the school had called for 21 rooms. She said that 4 rooms had been added afterwards. She said that the recommended standards for class size had changed. She said that the school had originally been built to hold 600 but it was bursting at the seams with 500. She said that the computer lab, the library, the art room, the music room and the teachers room had originally been considered as part of the 21 total rooms.
She said that the school also had 3 small rooms for Special Education classes that equalled 1 regular sized classroom. Ms. Andersen asked if the Budget Committee could take a field trip to the school. Mr. Batchelder said that a few years ago there had been an open house at the school for members of the Budget Committee. He said that it would be nice to have something like that again. Mr. Rafter said that there were no vacant rooms in the school building. Mr. Koester said that the school should still have the infrastructure, bathrooms, cafeteria, etc designed for 600 people. Mr. Rafter said that was not necessarily the case. He said that the school was designed for the maximum allowable amount of kids. Ms. Blaha said that there was a serious problem with kids not having the time to finish eating during their lunch period.
Mr. Rafter said that the current Dover tuition rate was $9,268 and he said that the proposed budget included a 6% rate increase which would make the rate $9,824.
Mr. Rafter said that the proposed budget also included 1/5 time for a guidance counselor and a nurse. He said that was based on recommended staff size for school population size.
Ms. Powell said that the student population forecasts for the next 5 years were very conservative. Mr. Rafter said that the School Board would probably look at an 8 classroom addition. Mr. Mills said that the School Board should consider the amount of residential building in Nottingham. He said that they needed to look at where they were going to be in 10 years. He said that older people who had kids already would be most likely to move to Nottingham because of the price of housing. Mr. Rafter said that the School Board did have money in their budget for a population study. Ms. Andersen said that the Planning Board needed to look at impact fees. She said that the planner could help them with that. Mr. Mills said that the School Board needed to look at the rate of growth over time. Mr.
Batchelder noted that many population studies suggested that the people moving to New Hampshire were going to be older and have adult children.
Ms. Powell said that the School Board needed to keep a frugal eye on this budget. She said that the Budget Committee did have concerns.
Mr. Rafter said that he wanted to note the unreserved fund balance line. He said that he had put in $200,000 as a guess. He said that the Principal had not felt the School Board should put anything in that line. He said that he had also predicted a 3% increase in assessed valuations and the Principal had kept those the same as the previous year in her proposed budget.
Ms. Doughty noted that the School Board had reduced a tuition line.
Mr. Netishen made a motion to adjourn the meeting at about 10:00pm. Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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