NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
NOVEMBER 29, 2007
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE DECEMBER 6, 2007
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Mr. Kurt Duprey (Excused)
Ms. Mary Bonser, Selectmen's Representative Mr. Chet Batchelder (Excused)
Ms. Amy Plante, School Board Representative
Mr. Michael Koester
Mr. Philip Fernald
Mr. Kyle Barry
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Ms. Gail Powell
Mr. Scott Curry
OTHERS PRESENT:
Mr. Charles Brown, Town Administrator
Mr. Philip English, Police Chief
Mr. Peter Bock, Board of Selectmen
Mr. William Netishen, Board of Selectmen
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:05pm.
The Budget Committee members introduced themselves for the television audience.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Mr. Curry made a motion that the Budget Committee approve the minutes of November 15, 2007. Mr. Barry seconded the motion.
Several members of the Committee commented that they had not been able to read the minutes or that for some reason the email containing the minutes had not arrived.
Mr. Curry withdrew his motion because not everyone on the committee had gotten the chance to read the minutes.
Mr. Curry made a motion that the Budget Committee defer approval of the minutes from November 15, 2007. Mr. Koester seconded that motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
POLICE DEPARTMENT BUDGET:
Mr. Brown said that Chief English had announced his retirement. He said that it would be effective January 1, 2008. He noted that as a result, the salary line for the chief could change in the budget.
Mr. English reviewed the police department budget. He said that the salaries were set by the Board of Selectmen. He said that the line for overtime had been increased. He said that the line for the administrative assistant had increased by 2.3%. He said that the fee for the county attorney had increased the previous year and he said that he had put money into the budget in case that were to happen again. He said that he had inquired whether the attorney fee would be increased and he had not received any information on that yet. He said that the line for postage would decrease. He said that he had increased the line for dues and conferences in case those were needed for the accreditation process. He said that the line for office supplies had decreased. He explained the costs in the line
for office equipment. He said that the police department would like to replace three computers. He said that they were over five years old and they had all crashed. He said that they also needed a server. He noted that the police department was using an older computer as their server and they really needed an actual server. He said that the line for gasoline had been increased. He pointed out the cruiser maintenance line. He said that the cost of maintenance had been $8,400 and the value of the trade in was only $3,100. He said that because of the age of the car, the cost of repairs had increased. He said that the cost of a new cruiser was $19,452. He said that the cost of radio repair had increased to $3,000 because the project which had been providing radio equipment and service to the radios free of charge had been disbanded. He said that costs of maintaining the radio equipment now belonged to the police
departments which had received the equipment.
Mr. English said that he had requested money in the police department budget for stingers. He said that stingers were less expensive and better built than tasers but they were the same type of product. He said that pepper spray was 70% effective. He said that the police were carrying non lethal weapons but he said that more police officers state and nationwide had been killed and assaulted during the current year then during the previous year. He said that stingers would be a defensive weapon. He said that everyone was concerned about liability. He noted that the Board of Selectmen had not approved the request for stingers. Ms. Bonser said that as a Selectman her opinion was that she wanted to see how the accreditation process factored into purchases first. She said that she thought the town
should pursue answers to their questions about the process before they made large purchases. Mr. English noted that it had never been confirmed that anyone had been killed directly with a taser. Ms. Bonser noted that some people might have been indirectly killed with police tasers. Mr. English explained that most incidents had been related to certain illegal drugs taken by the victims. Mr. Fernald asked if the Nottingham Police Department had tasers. Mr. English said no. Mr. Fernald said that his impression from news reports about police taser use was that some of the police who used them needed some more training on them. Mr. English said that police were required to have 48 hours of training with the tasers or stingers every two years. He said that he would prefer officers got 48 hours of training on the devices every year. He said that he was not in favor of police officers abusing anyone. He said that proper use of
defensive weapons depended on the situation. Mr. Bock said that as a Selectman he wanted to give his opinion as to why he had not voted in favor of the police department buying stingers. He said that the department was just starting with this accreditation process and there were many issues involved with it. He said that there were too many unknowns with the process. He said that they were looking at how many other departments were accredited and how effective the process was.
Mr. Decker asked if Mr. English could briefly explain the accreditation process. Mr. English said that once a department was accredited it would be nationally recognized. He said that they would need to redo their policy manual. He said that as an accredited department they would be inspected by the CALEA. He said that the process might take a few years. Mr. Bock said that the Police Department and the Board of Selectmen had met with many people to discuss the accreditation process. He said that the process was about efficiency and standardization. Mr. English said that they would need to review their accreditation every two years. Mr. Decker said that he thought it was important for the town to track the accounting of the accreditation process so they could make sure they got value for their
costs. Mr. Netishen said that the most attractive parts of accreditation included that the department would be standard with other departments throughout the country and they would be evaluated by their professional peers. He said that the outcomes would determine the costs of the process as they moved forward. Mr. English said that police departments were highly respected throughout the country when they were accredited. He said that there were 110 standards which departments had to meet during the process. He said that Nottingham only had to meet 109 because they did not have any part time officers. He noted that not many departments the size of Nottingham's were accredited. He said that as they got going in the process they would know more of what they needed.
Ms. Andersen asked about the life cycle of the stinger. Mr. English said that it ran on lithium batteries which needed to be changed once a year. He said that the stingers cost about $500 each.
Mr. Curry asked if the cuts made by the Board of Selectmen to the Police Department budget would have serious impact on the services provided by the department. Mr. English said that the cuts made by the Board of Selectmen had been a fair compromise. Mr. Koester said that he thought the line for gasoline looked low. Mr. English said that he hoped it would be ok. He said that it was really hard to predict those prices. He noted that he had been right on budget for gasoline until about a month ago when the prices had gone way up. Mr. Decker asked about the price of gasoline for police departments. Mr. English said that his department probably used about 400 gallons of gas a month and he said that the only discount was that they did not have to pay taxes on it. Mr. Curry asked if the police
department would have to replace more computers. Mr. English said that he wanted the department to be able to replace their computers when each computer hit five years old. Mr. Decker asked why the police department did not think about sharing a server with the town office. Mr. English said that it would cost $1,500-$2,000 for a server just for the Police Department. He also noted that he was not sure whether security of information would be a concern in sharing. Mr. Brown said that he didn't see what benefit there would be in sharing a server. Mr. Decker said that there would be a cost savings. Mr. English said that the Board of Selectmen had not approved his request for extra phone lines. He said that he had just wanted a line where someone could plug in a cheap phone in case there was an emergency which required state police because he noted that the cellular phones of the state police did not work in Nottingham. Mr. Brown
said that the town did not want to put all their eggs in one basket with Verizon. He noted that during the flooding the previous year, they had lost their phone service because the Verizon equipment had flooded.
SCHOOL BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Ms. Plante explained the packet containing the proposed school budget information. Mr. Decker asked if this information was final. Ms. Plante said yes. Ms. Powell asked for an overview.
Ms. Plante said that a major increase in the proposed budget had been in high school tuition. She said that they had estimated 5% tuition increases at Dover High School and Coe-Brown. She said that the estimate was for 222 students which reflected the current number of 8th graders plus 4 home schooled students at the 8th grade level. She said that many home schooled students came into the public system for high school. She said that they had not budgeted for growth or extra students. She said that Nottingham had 146 students at Dover High School including 38 seniors. She said that there were 62 8th grade students at Nottingham School. She also noted that there were 22 Nottingham seniors at Coe-Brown High School.
Mr. Curry asked about the surplus. Ms. Bonser said that the surplus went towards offsetting taxes.
Ms. Plante said that another major increase in the proposed budget had been in Special Education. She said that the Special Education part of the proposed budget included Pre-K, K-8 and High School students. Mr. Koester asked if there was anything in the salaries that was not under contract. Ms. Plante said no. She said that the proposed budget did not include increases for paraprofessionals. She said that the paraprofessionals had voted to unionize but nothing had been done on that yet. She said that she assumed if they came up with a contract that would become a warrant article and handled just as the teacher contract was. Ms. Powell asked if they were looking to hire any additional paraprofessionals. Ms. Plante said no but she said that they had needed two additional paraprofessionals during
the current year which they had not been expecting. She said that the School Board was putting on a warrant article for an additional Special Education teacher. She said that the school administration had requested the additional Special Education teacher because of an increase in students diagnosed with educational and behavioral disorders.
Ms. Bonser asked what other warrant articles the School Board was planning to sponsor. Ms. Plante said that the School Board had not finished the warrant articles yet but she said that she would give the Budget Committee an overview of what they were looking at. She said that they wanted to continue with the capital reserve funds. She said that those articles would be the same as the ones from the previous year. She said that the School Board wanted to do a warrant article of $6,500 to set the school up for a generator. She defined setting the school up for a generator as getting a generator hook up. She said that the school could borrow a generator if they needed one but she noted that the school was the emergency shelter for the town of Nottingham so the School Board thought having a generator hook up
would be a good idea. She also said that the School Board was looking at a warrant article for $20,000 which would be used to drill a well and irrigate the soccer field. Mr. Decker asked if they could take water from the river to irrigate the soccer field. Several members of the Budget Committee felt that practice would be discouraged. Mr. Decker asked Ms. Plante to have the School Board look into the possibility. Ms. Plante said that the School Board was also planning to sponsor a warrant article for an additional Special Education teacher.
Ms. Andersen said that Special Education insurance and salaries had a higher percentage increase than for the regular education teachers. Ms. Plante said that was partially because all the paraprofessionals worked in the Special Education program. She noted that there had been two paraprofessionals added during the year which had been unexpected. She also said that the health insurance guaranteed maximum rate increase was 13.1%. She said that teachers were now contributing more to their health insurance. Mr. Curry asked whether the increase in text books was because of the new reading program. Ms. Plante said yes. She also noted that they were down one half of a teaching position since they were no longer using the Literacy Collaborative. She said that was a savings to the district. Mr.
Decker said that he would like to see an analysis of the school staff. He said that he would like for it to include positions, salaries, years of experience, step and track and years worked in Nottingham. He said that he did not need names but he would like to see that information for the entire staff. Ms. Powell said that she was interested in knowing the teacher turnover rate for the past couple of years. Ms. Andersen asked about a piece of equipment called a display for graphic novels. Ms. Plante explained that graphic novels were books for 7th and 8th graders. She said that they were complicated stories with comic book pictures. She said that these were oversized books and so she assumed the display for them would be like an oversized bookshelf or other display case which would fit these books. She said that the graphic novel was a new genre of literature.
Mr. Curry said that there had been a question the previous week about items in the default budget. Ms. Plante said that the partnership with the town library was not included in the default budget. She said that the school would not be able to enter into the partnership with the library if the voters voted in the default budget. Ms. Andersen asked whether kids would be able to get information from the entire library or just the children's room if the partnership occurred. Ms. Plante said that she would double check on the answer to that question.
Ms. Plante said that the proposed budget for the SAU was an increase. She said that the building where the SAU had their offices was going up for sale. She said that the SAU needed a new building for their offices. She said that they were looking at a building in Northwood. She said that the building they were looking at had less space but was better configured. She said that this building was not a sure thing because there were still many steps to go through. She said that the SAU budget had been approved by the Joint School Board and she said that the Joint School Board would hold a public hearing on it.
Mr. Curry asked about an increase in the proposed budget for retirement. Ms. Plante said that the money paid into the New Hampshire retirement system had increased the previous year. She said that she would find out if that accounted for the entire increase. Mr. Koester asked what items in the proposed budget were shaded gray and why. Ms. Plante said that the gray shading had been left over from a previous year. She noted that there had been no discussion this year about discretionary and non discretionary items. She said that the school had a new water system because their water had been tested to have higher than acceptable levels of arsenic. She said that the price of that system depended on the amount of water used. Ms. Powell asked about student transportation. Ms. Plante said that
the School Board had a contract for student transportation. Mr. Curry noted that the difference between the regular budget and the default budget was only $150,000 or so but that there was a large increase from the previous budget. Ms. Powell asked how the school was dealing with the possibility of expansion. Ms. Plante said that they would not need to do anything towards that for the upcoming year. She said that they had six less students then at last count. She said that the School Board would get more information on possible school growth in December. Ms. Bonser asked about the school capital improvement plan. Ms. Plante said that she would talk to the School Board about that and email the Capital Improvement Plan Committee. She also said that the total for Special Education had increased. She suggested that before they talk about cutting items in Special Education they should look because some of the items had been
overspent. She said that she would get any updated information on Special Education. She also said that she would get the warrant articles and an updated financial statement. She said that she would make sure the old reading program was taken out of the default budget and she said that the new reading program would get a new line in the budget. She said that the new program was federally mandated. Mr. Fernald asked whether the School Board could spend money from a special article for anything that it was not intended for. Ms. Plante said no. Mr. Fernald wondered if there was an equipment break down where the money would come from. Ms. Plante said that the School Board could not overspend their bottom line but they could use money from other budget lines if they needed to. She noted that the school building was 12 years old so things would break down.
Mr. Koester said that there was an increase in electric in the default budget. He said that increase should not be in the default budget if there was no written contract between the School Board and the electric company. Mr. Decker said that coming to a true legal default budget was really important. He said that the school district could overspend the bottom line if it was absolutely necessary. Ms. Plante noted that the definition of what was in the default budget left some disagreements.
Ms. Plante said that the School Board had voted to have the Deliberative Session on a Wednesday evening. She also said that if people had questions she wanted to be sure they sent them to her so that she would not show up at the Budget Committee meeting and not know that someone had a question. Mr. Decker suggested that members email questions to the entire Budget Committee so everyone would know what the questions were. He noted that would alleviate confusion and cut down on duplicate questions.
Mr. Koester asked if they knew what the paraprofessional collective bargaining agreement would mean. Ms. Plante said no. She said that she assumed that would be a part of a warrant article.
Mr. Decker noted that the Nottingham Town Employee and Committee member holiday lunch would be on December 21, 2007 at noon. Ms. Bonser said that the Nottingham Christmas Parade would be on Saturday December 1, 2007 at 1:00pm.
Ms. Andersen made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:10pm. Mr. Koester seconded the motion. The present members of the Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Tivnan
Budget Committee Secretary
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