NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
DECEMBER 6, 2007
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE JANUARY 3, 2008
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Mr. Kurt Duprey (Excused)
Mr. Terry Bonser, School Board Representative
Ms. Mary Bonser, Board of Selectmen Representative
Mr. Michael Koester
Mr. Philip Fernald
Mr. Kyle Barry
Ms. Gail Powell
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Mr. Scott Curry
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Mr. Bill Netishen, Board of Selectmen
Ms. Kelly Tivnan, Budget Committee Secretary
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:00pm.
TOWN DEPARTMENT HEADS:
RECREATION DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
Presenting- Recreation Department Director: Janet Horvath
Ms. Horvath gave the Budget Committee the latest Recreation Department proposed budget numbers dated November 27, 2007.
Ms. Horvath said that she would like to start her presentation with salaries. She said that the department Director was requesting a full time position. She said that she had been working 35-40 hours a week for the past 2-3 years and she wanted to get the retirement benefits for it. She said that she was not planning to use the medical insurance option. She also said that she worked 46-48 hours a week all summer. Mr. Brown said that the Board of Selectmen was still discussing this request. He said that the Recreation Department Director was no longer a seasonal position. He said that it had become a year round position. Ms. Horvath said that she had gotten a grant to buy some recreation equipment. She said that getting grants took time beyond the time she spent on programs. She said
that the time spent on grants was very worth it. She also said that she had been working on pursuing their accreditation with other state programs. She noted that was a time consuming process as well. Ms. Powell said that the Board of Selectmen should have looked into the scope of this request. She said that the proposed salary should be priced with other towns. She said that the Budget Committee should know what numbers were compared to get the proposed salary numbers. She said that the Board of Selectmen needed to know whether the proposed salary number was an adequate salary for this position. Mr. Brown said that the full time Recreation Department Director would be a position which was subject to overtime. Ms. Powell asked why. Ms. Andersen said that the summer would be busier for the Recreation Director so it should be a salaried position not an hourly position. She said that the Board of Selectmen should look at how
they would evaluate this position. Mr. Brown said that the Town of Nottingham was still a small organization. He said that they were constantly working on how to properly note what each position was responsible for. He said that most of the employees did things outside the normal scope of their positions because it was a small organization. Ms. Powell said that the employees of the town of Nottingham were a group of professionals and they needed to be recognized and paid for. Ms. Horvath said that the proposed salary number for the proposed full time Recreation Director was lower than the average in the area for that position but she said that it was difficult to compare the salaries of different towns. She noted that some area towns had bigger summer populations that Nottingham, other ones had different programs. She said that every town was different. She said that she lived in Nottingham and she enjoyed working for the Recreation
Department because she could affect the town and what her children were able to do. Ms. Powell said that Nottingham was growing. She said that Nottingham needed and could employ a full time Recreation Director. She said that the job should be posted and scoped out as a new position. Mr. Brown disagreed. He said that Nottingham was still a small community and he thought that posting the position as new would be too much. Ms. Horvath said that the request to make the Recreation Director a full time position was an attempt to formalize how things in the department already operated. Ms. Powell said that she was concerned that the town was home growing positions for employees. Mr. Decker said that the Board of Selectmen needed to discuss this. He said that it was their responsibility to make a decision on whether to make the Recreation Director position full time. Mr. Fernald said that he thought Ms. Horvath did a good job. He also said that he did not think she was overpaid.
Mr. Curry asked whether grants received by the Recreation Department should be included in the recreation budget.
Ms. Horvath said that as of 1-1-07 there was approximately $77,000 in the Recreation Department Revolving Fund. She said that as of 11-30-07 they had received $9,607.07 in interest on that account and she said that the current balance in the Recreation Revolving Fund was $90,738.75. She said that she intended to use the money to build recreation facilities. Ms. Bonser asked if that was an allowable use of the money. Ms. Horvath said yes. She read out loud the warrant article allowing it. She noted that the money could also be used as matching funds for grants. Mr. Batchelder said that he had gotten a call from a citizen who had questions about the Recreation Revolving Fund. Ms. Horvath said that she wanted to use the money for facilities because they needed at least one other gym in Nottingham. She said that they also needed ball fields which didn't flood. She said that there was not enough daylight for all the kids who wanted to be able to participate in the sports
programs. She gave an example saying that due to some requests she had decided to try having a toddler soccer program. She said that she had expected 20-25 kids and she had cut it off at 40 when she had run out of t-shirts. She said that she had 18 kids on the waiting list and 8-10 parents who had told her not to bother to put their kids on the waiting list. She said that she was still hearing from parents about it. She said that there were a lot of little kids in Nottingham. Ms. Andersen asked about the number of participants in Recreation programs over the past three years. Ms. Horvath said that soccer participation had grown and was continuing to grow a huge amount. She said that they had added an archery program. She said that the summer programs had also grown. She said that there had been 30 and now there were 50 children in the camp program. She said that there had been 60 children in the all summer program
and now there were 90. She said that she had been working with the Northwood Recreation Department to help them develop their own programs so their kids did not want to participate in Nottingham programs. She also said that would help the Nottingham kids have teams to play against. She said that they had a toddler gym program and she had 22 kids in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. She said that the ski program was the only one declining because she could not get a bus at 2:45pm. She said that she had tried several avenues and she did not anticipate that they would be able to run the ski program without bus transportation at 2:45pm. Mr. Koester asked what year the Recreation Revolving Fund had started. Mr. Brown said that the fund had started in 1993. Mr. Batchelder said that he was concerned because he did not see how the money was revolving. He said that it looked to him like money was going into the fund but it was not
coming out. Mr. Brown said that it was considered liquid capital. He said that the Department of Revenue Administration Representative had said that they didn't want to take successful programs out of the Recreation Revolving Fund and let them pay for themselves. Ms. Horvath noted that the Recreation Department did not have a capital reserve fund in case they needed money for large projects. Mr. Batchelder asked how other towns handled this situation. Ms. Horvath said that she thought the Recreation Revolving Fund was the best way to handle this situation. She said that having the money in a revolving fund allowed her to make decisions and initial expenditures when she heard about worthwhile programs without having to go through as many channels. She also noted that the Recreation Department got a grant from DCYF (Department of Children, Youth and Families) for their summer program. She said that she could not guarantee that the
department would always get that grant.
Ms. Horvath noted that the proposed budget line for overtime pay was a total for the entire department.
Ms. Horvath said that her assistant had recently left and she would be starting the hiring process soon. She also said that she had two lifeguards. She said that they had been on duty on Mondays-Fridays from 9:00am-5:00pm in the summer. She said that she hoped to expand those hours but she said that it was very hard to hire lifeguards. She explained in detail each staff position in the department.
Ms. Horvath said that the proposed budget for Recreation Department postage had not changed from the previous year. She said that the proposed budget for dues and conferences had not changed either. She said that she had access to information from the other Recreation Department Directors in New Hampshire because of the dues that they paid. She said that the budget item for training was money used to train the summer staff. She said that the money for Recreation Department office equipment was because they wanted to add some photo software to their office computers. She said that she had decreased the amount in the budget for mileage during the previous year and she said that it had not been quite enough so she was bringing the number back up. She said that their costs for the phone were down because they
used a lot of email.
Mr. Decker asked about the money spent on employees. He noted that it was less than had been budgeted for. Ms. Horvath said that the Recreation Assistant had left in the spring and it had taken her a month to hire another one. She said that had left the position vacant for a month. She also said that the new assistant had received $2 less per hour than her predecessor. She also noted that they had not hired the full amount of lifeguards that they had budgeted for.
Mr. Batchelder noted a typo and said that the overtime line appeared in the proposed budget twice.
Ms. Andersen said that during the previous year Ms. Horvath had said she had trouble getting volunteers. She asked whether there had been any improvement in that area. Ms. Horvath said that there had not been any real improvement there. She said that she had been fortunate because she had some really good volunteers who did a lot of work. She said that over the seven years she had been involved in the town the amount of volunteerism had declined. She said that there was an education process because some parents had moved from larger towns where these services were provided for them and they did not understand that the programs in the small town could not run without volunteers.
TOWN CLERK BUDGET:
Presenting- Town Clerk: Sandra Weston
Ms. Weston said that the Town Clerk made $50 per day and the Deputy Town Clerk made $40 per day. She said that there was an increase in the number of election days for the upcoming year. She noted the job description and duties of the Town Clerk.
Ms. Andersen asked whether the option of mailing in registrations would be more or less work for the Town Clerk. Ms. Weston said that the mailing option involved the work of preparing and physically sending out the letters to the people as well as the work of checking all applications for duplicates. She said that the people really liked the mail in option and she said that it worked well for her because she could do the work at her own leisure. She said that the mail option made it easier to manage her time.
Ms. Weston said that the town had to pay a portion of their vital records and dog fees to the state. She said that the Town Clerk also received a portion of the fees. She said that there were more dogs in town so there were more dog registrations. She said that there had not been any boat registrations in years.
Ms. Weston said that her proposed budget included $20 for dues to the Town Clerk Association and $50 plus the cost of a hotel which would allow her to attend a conference in North Conway.
Ms. Weston said that her proposed budget line for postage had been increased due to the new registration by mail program. She said that cost would be offset because she was charging $1.50 fee for people to do the registrations by mail. The Committee had a short discussion of how that fee worked. Ms. Weston said that she had not received a single complaint about the fee. She said that she had done 400 mailing notices so far. She said that she had not budgeted for any change in printing or envelopes.
Ms. Weston said that they no longer had a need to buy the automobile redbooks because the information came with their computer software. She said that her printer had been worked on four times and replaced twice. She said that there had also been work done on her safe.
Ms. Weston said that her costs for office supplies and dog tags had gone up. She said that she would recover the cost of the additional stationary with the $1.50 fee she was charging to do registrations by mail.
Ms. Weston said that she had put aside $400 because the state was mandating that Town Clerks get new printers. She said that she didn't know if the town would have to pay for that or if the state was going to pay for it.
Ms. Weston said that the mileage she was asking for was one round trip to Concord and one round trip to North Conway.
Ms. Weston said that there was information in the proposed budget regarding the restoration project for vital records. She said that they had received a $10,000 grant for the project. She said that they had already spent $3,106 on the project before receiving the grant. She said that the $10,000 grant minus the cost of the appraisal meant that they had $8,900 available. She said that they had spent approximately $300 of that on equipment. She said that she suspected they could finish the project for less than the remaining $8,600. She thought that amount should cover everything they still needed to do. She said that the films containing the vital records would be converted to CD for an approximate cost of $500.
Ms. Weston said that all the costs in her proposed budget would be covered by revenues generated through the Town Clerk's office.
Ms. Powell commented that Ms. Weston had done a good job and given a very thorough budget report.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
Presenting- Road Agent: John Fernald
Mr. John Fernald said that he had increased full time salaries by 2.3% for a total of $127,693. He said that he had increased overtime by 3% and he had increased part time salaries by 2.3% for a total of $32,685.
Mr. John Fernald said that his proposed budget line for clerical help had not changed from the previous year.
Mr. John Fernald said that the line for hired equipment was in case the Highway Department needed extra help. He said that the line for equipment maintenance would remain the same as the previous year. He said that line was for when they sent out equipment to be repaired. He said that he thought their current supply of parts would be enough. He said that they spent a lot of money on maintenance. He said that their equipment had a lot of wear and tear. He also said that their grader lease was six years.
Mr. John Fernald said that during the flood they had corrected a lot of problems with culverts but he said that there were still a lot which needed to be corrected. He said that it would take extensive work to repair all the culverts but he felt that it would better serve the public and he thought that was important. He said that he had increased the culvert repair line in the proposed budget to approximately $15,000. Mr. Koester asked whether the pipes could be reused. Mr. John Fernald said that some of them could be reused but he said that galvanized pipes did not have a long life. He spent several minutes discussing the options and what might be better materials.
Mr. Curry said that he wanted to thank Mr. John Fernald for doing a fantastic job during both of the floods. He said that he had seen him as well as the rest of the Highway Department out a lot. He asked whether there were areas that needed more attention because of damage from the floods. Mr. John Fernald said that the dirt roads had sustained extensive damage. He said that he had put gravel down on the dirt roads to deal with the muddy conditions. He said that he was satisfied with the clean up. He said that one of the biggest problems had been that some of the back roads had trouble handling the extra traffic when the main roads were flooded. He said that all the roads in town were being used more. Mr. Curry asked if there was an impact from the flooding that they had not addressed.
Mr. John Fernald said that he had put money in the proposed budget for repairs to the Deerfield Road Bridge. Mr. Brown said that he had applied for a grant to fix that bridge. He said that included the engineering study and design. Mr. Netishen said that the Highway Department could probably double the amount in their culvert repair budget with the work load in town but he said that the Highway Department worked hard to stay within their budget. Mr. Curry asked whether there were more grants that the town could get for the flood damage. Mr. Brown said that he had been having good experiences with the Department of Transportation. He said that he would continue to look into possible grants to help with flood damage issues.
Mr. John Fernald said that he expected the cost of gravel to stay the same. He said that he had budgeted for an increase in the cost of salt. He said that the cost of uniforms would stay the same. He said that he did not know what would happen with the cost of fuel. Mr. Batchelder said that the Highway Department should look at the number of gallons used. Mr. Brown said that they were working with their fuel supplier. He said that they had run out of fuel twice in two weeks. Mr. John Fernald said that he expected the costs of drug testing to stay the same.
Mr. John Fernald said that for his construction project he was looking at doing Kennard Road and 5700ft of Merry Hill Road. He said that if the people did not want that, he could use the money to do Deerfield Road to the town line. Mr. Brown said that Kennard Road and Merry Hill Road were mentioned in the Capital Improvement Plan. Mr. John Fernald said that Merry Hill Road was very heavily travelled from Barrington. He said that he would like to do an overlay and a shim and seal coat. He said that Oak Ridge Road had been accepted in 1991 and it was still in good shape but it needed one inch of overlay. He said that Church Road had not had overlay since 1995. He said that Flutter Street hadn't had overlay since 1987 or 1988. He said that Mitchell Road hadn't had overlay since 1995. He said
that Freeman Hall Road was complete. He said that Little River Road had not had overlay since 1992 and Autumn Hill Road had not had overlay since 1993. He said that really roads should not go more then ten years without overlay. He said that he would like to spend $20,000-$30,000 on track sealant. Mr. Curry asked what the Highway Department would do with the money they didn't need to use on Freeman Hall Road. Mr. Fernald said that there were several things under consideration.
Mr. Brown said that he had spoken with Pike and the cost of salt had gone up $4/ton. Ms. Andersen asked about salt line actual numbers. Mr. Brown said that there were at least two invoices which had not been included in those actual numbers. Mr. John Fernald said that they would use their entire salt line. Mr. Koester asked whether the Highway Department salted entire roads or just intersections. Mr. Fernald said that they salted the entire road. He said that he really believed they had to. He said that now motorists were out no matter what the weather. Mr. Netishen noted that liability was a factor for the town.
FIRE DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
Presenting- Fire Chief: Jay Vilcheck and Deputy Fire Chief: Heidi Carlson
Mr. Vilcheck said that the full time salary lines in the proposed budget had increased by 2.3%. He said that there were two full time firefighters. He said that they worked Monday-Saturday from 8:00am-4:00pm. He said that the money for full time overtime was used to pay full time employees for mandatory training and recalls. He said that the pool for part time workers was $6,000.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the costs of service contracts had decreased. He said that there was a defibrillator maintenance contract and they had removed Anthem online billing.
Mr. Vilcheck said that they wanted to raise the stipend for volunteers. He said that each volunteer got one point per call or two points if they were transporters. He said that after four hours at a call, a volunteer was awarded an additional point. He said that it had worked out to be approximately $8 per point the previous year. Ms. Andersen asked how many volunteers the Fire Department had. Mr. Vilcheck said that there were approximately 33. He said that they were looking for a reduction in the stipend for the Chief and using the money to add $1000 stipends for each Deputy Chief. He said that the Deputy Chiefs would still be a part of the regular stipend as well. He said that the Chief did not get any additional stipend from the volunteer pool.
Mr. Vilcheck said that private vehicles were sometimes used on calls so he had increased the line in the proposed budget for mileage. He said that he had also increased the line for postage and the line for dispatch. He said that currently he had an increase in the medical supplies but he said that could change. He said that the cost of breathing apparatus was the same and he explained what that money covered. He said that the cost of dues had increased because of charges for membership in mutual aid organizations. He said that the costs of publications were expected to be the same as the previous year. He said that those costs included public relations materials (like coloring books and stuff that they gave to kids) and NFPA hardcover updates. He said that START was a hazardous materials cost and
that money provided the department with access to a certified hazardous materials team and their equipment. He said that in the proposed budget the cost of training had decreased because they were allowed to send people to training in probationary slots and they had decided that they would like to send people in probationary slots to a cheaper training program. He said that the costs for uniforms should be the same as the previous year. He said that the cost of office supplies should also be the same as the previous year.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the cost of office equipment was increased in the proposed budget because the department would like to purchase new chairs and bookcases and they would like to replace their printer/fax/copier. He said that the department would like to replace their hose incrementally. He said that they would like to get a new ventilation chainsaw. He said that a ventilation chainsaw had a heat shield on it and it was used to cut holes in the roof of a burning building. He said that the proposed budget included the cost of a gear washer. He said that was an industrial washer for their apparel. He said that there were safety requirements when it came to washing firefighter gear. He said that a gear washer would wash two sets of gear at a time after every fire or twice a year (assuming there were
not two fires in a year). He said that the options (aside from buying a washer) were borrowing a washer from another department or sending the laundry out and having one of their firefighters out of service until their gear is returned. Mr. Koester asked about the expected life of the equipment. Mr. Vilcheck said that he didn't know that yet. He said that he did not know anything about a warrantee yet. He said that he would find out that information. He said that the department had been borrowing a washer because their previous washer had been out of commission for two years. He noted that there was only a certain amount of time that someone could keep borrowing anything before it became too long. He also said that the Fire Department would like to get tables for their training room. He said that would increase comfort.
Mr. Vilcheck said that he expected fuel costs to decrease. He said that he expected vehicle maintenance to remain the same. He said that the ladders and pumps were tested annually. He said that this was the last year for the tanker lease. He said that in 2009 as part of their capital improvement plan the Fire Department wanted to replace Engine 2 which had been bought in 1988. Mr. Curry asked if they had a guess on the lease payment for a new vehicle. Mr. Vilcheck said no.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the cost of radio maintenance would increase. He said that two new radios would cost $2,100 each and they would need to buy replacement batteries. He said that the Fire Department would like to install a repeater system similar to what the Highway Department used. He said that the topography of the area created communication problems. He said that the repeater would be used by all the emergency services for anything out of the ordinary which lasted for an extended time period. He said that the cost did not include hardware. He said that the idea was to improve the performance of their communication equipment. Mr. Netishen said that this line item was a necessity. Mr. Curry said that the town needed to look for creative ways of improving communication. He said that
they should try to force Comcast to cooperate or they could negotiate with Verizon. He said that there were options. Mr. Vilcheck said that they had solved the problem for the primary frequency and the repeater should solve the problem for the local frequency.
Ms. Bonser said that according to the Capital Improvement Plan the tanker lease should end in 2007. Mr. Brown said he would look into that.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the decrease in the proposed budget for telephone costs was based on their actuals. He said that Comcast was the internet provider for the Fire Department and they needed internet service because they needed to submit reports online. Mr. Brown said that it cost them $106/month to have Comcast at the Fire Department. Mr. Curry said that there should be a way to get savings there.
Mr. Brown said that not all of the actual lines were accurate because there were some outstanding bills which had not been added to those lines yet.
Mr. Vilcheck said that he was trying to get a matching grant for forestry supplies such as hats, gloves etc. He said that they had been rejected in their request for a vehicle grant but they were still in the running for the grant for the gear.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the Fire Department was proposing a new line. He said that it would be entitled Ambulance Expenses and its purpose would be to fully fund the ambulance and make it a self funding entity. Mr. Brown said that everything related to the ambulance would be in one place. He said that hopefully the fund would be self sustaining. He said that he had not had a conversation with the Department of Revenue Administration about this yet.
Mr. Vilcheck said that he would like to put $1,000 in the budget to increase their full time staff during emergencies. He said that volunteers had taken time off from regular jobs to help during the flooding and they had lost wages. Ms. Carlson suggested that money could be put in the town trust fund to deal with this problem. Mr. Decker said that he thought that would be better. Mr. Batchelder asked why they would need to budget for something like that. He said that they had the authority to do that. Ms. Carlson said that she thought adding the item to the proposed budget was an attempt to increase awareness of the issue and an effort to plan better for extended emergencies. Mr. Fernald noted that the recent flooding was supposed to be a rare event and he said that in the case flooding like that did
not happen again for another 50 or 100 years the Fire Department was just budgeting more spending money for themselves. Mr. Netishen said that he thought the idea was simply to acknowledge something they had not acknowledged in the past. Mr. Vilcheck said that maybe they should lower the line from $1,000 but continue to have it in the proposed budget. He said that they would also like to have a similar line to provide meals and supplies to volunteers in the case of an extended operation.
Mr. Vilcheck said that there were eight dry hydrants and thirteen cisterns in Nottingham. He said that he would like a separate line so he could track the costs of maintaining those. Mr. Decker asked whether signs and mowing around cisterns should be a part of the Highway Department. Mr. Brown said that he thought it was better to keep the cisterns separate from the Highway Department mowing responsibilities. Mr. Decker said that he did not think maintenance should be a part of the Fire Department's job. Mr. Netishen said that if they wanted to give the Highway Department more work they would need to hire another person. Ms. Andersen said that she questioned whether weed whacking was a good use of Fire Department resources. Mr. Curry noted that this would be an ongoing maintenance effort because new
subdivisions would result in more cisterns being built throughout town. Mr. Vilcheck said that the Fire Department needed to replace the hydrant on Smoke Street.
Mr. Vilcheck said that AED maintenance included battery replacements etc. He said that the hazardous materials charge gave them access to a hazardous materials team. He said that if a department does not pay for the hazardous materials team they would overspend their budget with one incident involving hazardous materials. Mr. Decker noted that the money for the medical supplies would be used in the ambulance fund if the proposal for that fund passed.
Mr. Vilcheck said that the Fire Department had two warrant articles to bring before the voters. He said that the first was for $150,000 to replace their ambulance and the second to create an ambulance fund. Mr. Batchelder asked if the $150,000 was set aside already. Mr. Vilcheck said yes. Mr. Batchelder asked why replacing the ambulance moved up a whole year from what was stated on the capital improvement plan. Mr. Vilcheck said that it had to do with the maintenance history of the current ambulance over the past year. Ms. Carlson said that she did not think they could get another 18 months out of the current ambulance. She also said that she did not know the potential trade in value. She said with the fund they would like to replace the ambulance every five years. Ms. Andersen asked if
they wanted to replace the ambulance with a comparable vehicle. Mr. Vilcheck said yes. Mr. Batchelder asked how often other towns replaced their ambulances. Ms. Carlson said that she would find out the answer to that question. Mr. Koester asked how the life of the vehicle was measured. Mr. Vilcheck said that it was measured in hours. Ms. Carlson said that the ambulance had a lot of time when it was idling. She said that they would need another article to expand on the purpose of the original warrant article. She said that the Department of Revenue Administration needed to take a stand on the question and say yes or no. Mr. Curry said that based on the wording in the article he would not understand that this was an annual charge. Ms. Bonser said that the article would be discussed on the floor of Town Meeting. Ms. Carlson said that it would also be in the town report. Mr. Decker asked how much money was
currently in the ambulance fund. Ms. Carlson said that there was just over $200,000.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the Budget Committee minutes of November 15, 2007 as amended. Mr. Curry seconded the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Bonser, Mr. Koester, Mr. Fernald, Mr. Barry, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Batchelder, Ms. Bonser and Mr. Curry voted in favor of the motion. Ms. Powell abstained from the motion. The motion passed 9-0 with 1 abstention.
Mr. Curry made a motion to accept the Budget Committee minutes of November 29, 2007 as amended. Ms. Andersen seconded the motion. Mr. Decker, Mr. Koester, Mr. Fernald, Mr. Barry, Ms. Andersen, Mr. Curry, Ms. Bonser and Ms. Powell voted in favor of the motion. Mr. Bonser and Mr. Batchelder abstained from the motion. The motion passed 8-0 with 2 abstentions.
OTHER:
Mr. Curry asked about action items. Mr. Decker said that he would pull action items and make them a part of the meeting agendas.
Ms. Andersen said that she had received the job descriptions she had requested and she would look them over and report back to the Budget Committee.
Mr. Curry noted that the interest and penalties for delinquent payment of taxes had increased. He asked if that was because there were more delinquencies. Ms. Andersen said that Mr. Duprey had previously asked that question and the answer had been no.
Mr. Decker said that the Budget Committee had gotten information saying that if they wanted to submit anything to the 2007 Town Report the deadline was January 4, 2008 and for pictures and other artwork the deadline was January 17, 2008. He noted that the Budget Committee did not typically submit anything to the Town Report. Mr. Curry asked why not. Mr. Decker said that he had wondered the same thing. Mr. Batchelder said that the Budget Committee approved the budget. He said that everyone knew what their role was. He said that it was always printed on the information whether the Budget Committee had approved of the budget or not. Mr. Curry suggested that the Budget Committee write something short for the town report about how often they met, how many members they had etc. Mr. Decker asked if
Mr. Curry would write it. Mr. Curry said that he would.
Mr. Decker said that at the Budget Committee meeting on December 13, 2007 the Budget Committee would talk to Chris Mills and they would discuss the school budget.
Mr. Koester said that there was a group trying to get signatures for a warrant article that would propose rescinding SB2. Mr. Decker said that if such a warrant article were to pass, it would not be effective until 2009.
Ms. Bonser made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:55pm. Mr. Koester 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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