NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 8, 2007
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Ms. Mary Bonser (Selectmen's Representative)-Excused
Mr. Scott Curry Ms. Amy Plante (School Board Representative)-Excused
Ms. Gail Powell Ms. Charlene Andersen-Excused
Mr. Philip Fernald Mr. Chet Batchelder-Excused
Mr. Michael Koester
Mr. Kurt Duprey
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Kyle Barry (Appointed to Budget Committee)
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:05pm.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the Budget Committee minutes from August 16, 2007. Mr. Curry seconded the motion.
Ms. Powell said that she did not have a problem with the minutes but she wanted to request that the school district give the Budget Committee an official accounting of the surplus. She said that she felt the explanation at the previous meeting had been a little too vague. Mr. Decker stated that the Budget Committee had requested more information as well as year end school district numbers at their previous meeting. He said that Ms. Plante had called him and said that she had nothing to present other than new surplus numbers.
Mr. Decker, Mr. Curry, Ms. Powell, Mr. Fernald and Mr. Koester voted in favor of the motion to approve the minutes. Mr. Duprey abstained from the motion. The motion passed 5-0 with 1 abstention.
VACANCY:
Mr. Decker said that there was a vacancy on the Budget Committee because Ms. Blaha had resigned. He noted that two people had expressed interest in the position but one had withdrawn her name from consideration. He introduced Mr. Barry and said that he was interested in the position.
Mr. Barry said that he had been a resident of Nottingham for two years. He said that he was currently in school full time to get his nuclear license. He said that he was a college graduate, an officer in the Merchant Marines and he was employed. He said that this was his first house and he wanted to get involved with town government. In response to a question, Mr. Barry said that he did not have any kids but he did have friends with kids so he was interested in how the school money was being spent.
Ms. Powell asked how long a replacement for Ms. Blaha would be appointed for. Mr. Decker said that a replacement would be appointed to fill in until the town meeting in March.
Mr. Koester said that he had specifically asked at the legal seminar about the use of secret ballots to appoint replacements for members who resigned. He said he had been told that was not allowed so he suggested that the Budget Committee appoint a replacement without using a secret ballot.
Mr. Koester made a motion to nominate Kyle Barry to replace Denise Blaha on the Budget Committee until March of 2008. Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 6-0.
Mr. Decker welcomed Mr. Barry to the Budget Committee and said that he would not be able to vote until he was officially sworn in by the Town Clerk.
DISCUSSION OF SCHEDULE:
Mr. Decker said that he was really disappointed with the School Board and the SAU. He said that the School Board had 5 people on it so there should be a representative at every Budget Committee meeting. He also noted that this was the second meeting in a row to which the Board of Selectmen had not sent a representative. He said that he felt this was irresponsible behavior from elected officials, especially from those that got paid for their service. Ms. Powell said that she thought this was worthy of the Budget Committee writing a letter to the School Board and the Board of Selectmen about. Mr. Decker said that he had spoken to the new SAU Business Administrator. He also read out loud emails that he had received from the new Business Administrator, Bill Tappen. The emails basically said that he had
some information put together for the Budget Committee but he had been informed that the School Board needed to review the information before it was given to the Budget Committee. Mr. Decker suggested that it was illegal for the School Board and the SAU to hold back information from the Budget Committee. He said that he would like Ms. Powell to look up the Right To Know RSA's regarding the Budget Committee. Mr. Curry asked if there were regulations over and above RSA 91-A, the Right To Know law. Mr. Decker said that he was looking for information specifically about what information the Budget Committee was entitled to receive from the School Board. He said that the Budget Committee was not getting information that they needed from the School District. Mr. Koester said that he had spoken to Ms. McGann and Ms. Plante and he had mentioned to them that numbers could and should be released as draft. Mr. Decker said that he felt this situation
had been handled professionally by the new Business Administrator at the SAU. Ms. Powell asked why the Budget Committee was dealing with this issue. She said that it had been a recurring problem. Mr. Decker said he would recommend that if the Budget Committee did not get the information they needed in time to review it properly than they should vote against whatever topic was being discussed.
Ms. Powell said that the School Board should provide the Budget Committee with detailed surplus numbers, year end audit numbers and the proposed default budget. Mr. Decker said that he thought the Budget Committee needed initial drafts of both the town and school district budgets by the October 11, 2007 meeting. Mr. Duprey asked if the Budget Committee needed those in advance of the meeting. Mr. Decker said no. He said that the initial numbers would change. He said the Budget Committee wouldn't need the initial numbers until the meeting on October 11, 2007. Mr. Fernald noted that the Budget Committee could show their dissatisfaction by how they voted at Town Meeting. Ms. Powell asked if the Budget Committee was assuming that since the Board of Selectmen and the School Board had not commented on their draft schedule
with feedback that it was ok with them. Mr. Decker said yes. Ms. Powell said that she thought there might need to be further discussion with the Board of Selectmen and the School Board regarding the schedule. Mr. Duprey asked what the Budget Committee was specifically looking for when their schedule said they wanted budget updates. Mr. Decker said that his expectation for the meeting on October 11, 2007 was to get initial drafts. Ms. Powell asked if those initial drafts were meant to include simply fixed expenses or if they were meant to include estimates of other costs. Mr. Duprey said that he thought the fixed expenses should be a minimum requirement. Mr. Decker said that the initial drafts could be really rough. He said that he also expected the school district to provide the Budget Committee with finalized year end numbers and a draft of the default budget.
Mr. Fernald asked when the School Board representative had let the Chair know she wouldn't be able to attend the meeting. Mr. Decker said that it had been after 4:00pm.
Mr. Decker said that he would like the Budget Committee to see the first complete drafts of the town and school district budgets at their meeting on October 25, 2007. Ms. Powell said that the Budget Committee should see the budget process schedules for both the school district and the town. Mr. Decker noted that the Budget Committee did not need to know the process used to get the budget drafts, they just needed to see the budget drafts.
Mr. Duprey said that he would like to see expected revenue and potential tax rate impacts as a part of the budget process. Mr. Decker said that he felt the final reviews of the budget should include the tax impacts.
Mr. Decker said that he needed to know the potential snow date for the school budget public hearing.
OTHER DISCUSSION:
Mr. Duprey noted that the Budget Committee had struggled with some supply lines in the school budget the previous year. He requested that the School Board and Board of Selectmen's representatives come prepared with information on what was included in each supply line.
Mr. Koester said that the default budget was a bottom line number. He said that the state provided a worksheet for the verification of the bottom line number and he said that the Budget Committee needed to see that worksheet. He said that the Budget Committee was looking for detail. He also noted that building inflation into the default budget was not allowed. Mr. Decker said that he would like to request information about contracts that had been signed when the Budget Committee was discussing the school district default budget.
Ms. Powell asked when the Budget Committee would discuss warrant articles based on the proposed schedule. Mr. Decker said that he would vote no on warrant articles that he did not have time to review. He said that there should not be any warrant articles other than petitioned warrant articles because there hadn't been anything on the capital improvement plan schedule.
Mr. Koester said he had learned that the Budget Committee did have the right to review the results of the Deliberative Session. The Budget Committee decided that they were going to take the time to do that.
Mr. Koester also requested that Mr. Decker add a distinction on the proposed schedule for days of the week that were not Thursdays.
TOWN BUDGET QUESTIONS:
Mr. Decker said that the Budget Committee had received a letter from Ms. Heidi Seaverns in the Board of Selectmen's Office. He read out loud each portion of the letter and then the Budget Committee commented on them. The portions of Ms. Seaverns letter are in italics.
September 21, 2007
To: Budget Committee Members
From: Office of the Selectmen
There were three questions raised at your last meeting in regard to the budget expenditure/revenue sheets that you reviewed.
The first question was why the estimated revenues are not in the system (are not in the printout). Since revenues are just an estimate until the tax rate is set, we have never included them. Once the tax rate is set, they may be put into the system.
Mr. Decker said that just because the revenues had not been included in the past did not mean that they could not be included now. Mr. Duprey asked when the tax rates were set. Mr. Decker said that he would like to include that information on the schedule. He said that the estimated revenues should be included on the information given to the Budget Committee. He said that the town should take full advantage of their software. He said that there was a column for firm numbers and he wanted the Budget Committee to be able to track how close the estimates were to reality.
The second question dealt with abatement amounts. The abatements that are reflected in the Tax Collector report in the Town Report are for abatements that were done before taxes are paid. Once taxes are paid, refunds are handled through the Town Office. If you want to make comparisons from year to year, you need to compare like report to like report.
Mr. Decker asked where the abatements were tracked. He asked if there was a report that showed that information and he asked where the abatements fell back into the budget. Mr. Curry asked how many abatements the town had in the past year. Mr. Decker said that he thought the Budget Committee was confused by the abatements because they did not appear within the budget worksheet where the members expected them to be.
The third question dealt with line 4975.10-525-Misc. Refunds. The breakdown is refund of a Planning Board Bond ($6,161.40), a reimbursement to the State of NH for an ambulance billing paid twice ($191.80) and a dog license refund ($29.53).
Mr. Decker asked why there had been a dog license refunded.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Mr. Curry noted that the town budgeted $6,500 for internet access. He said that they budgeted over $24,000 for their internet and telephone services. He said that he would look for more information on prices and services but he said that he thought the amount the town paid for these services seemed expensive.
Mr. Fernald said that he had been involved in town government for more than 50 years. He asked whether they had to increase employee pay every year. Mr. Decker said that the Budget Committee did not have any control over what amounts were paid to the employees. He said that it was the job of the Board of Selectmen to decide appropriate pay and raises for employees.
Mr. Koester said that he had heard a couple of pieces of information that would probably have an effect on the budgets. He said that the SAU would probably have increased rent costs soon. He said that there was also a rumor that the school non classified employees were putting together a collective bargaining agreement.
Mr. Koester said that he thought the Budget Committee conference had been worthwhile. He said that it was the first one he had been to since he was elected to the position. He commented that if people were interested in attending in later years though, that they should register early. Mr. Decker said that he had attended Budget Committee conferences in the past and he asked if there was anything new. Mr. Koester said that when something was put on the ballot as approved by the governing body...in this case, the Budget Committee, they were now allowed to put the tallies of the vote on the ballot (The Budget Committee recommends this item by a 6-5 vote.) The members of the Budget Committee felt that this was positive news.
Ms. Powell made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:55pm. Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 6-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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