NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
April 24, 2008
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE 6/5/2008
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Mr. Kyle Barry (Excused)
Mr. Michael Koester, outgoing Vice Chair Mr. Chet Batchelder (Excused)
Mr. Scott Curry, incoming Vice Chair
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Mr. Archie Fernald
Ms. Gail Powell
Ms. Gail Mills
Mr. Peter Bock, BOS Representative
Ms. Amy Plante, School Board Representative
OTHERS PRESENT:
None
COMMITTEE BUSINESS:
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm.
The Budget Committee members introduced themselves for the benefit of the television audience.
Mr. Decker welcomed the Ms. Mills, Mr. Bock and Mr. O’Brien as new members to the committee.
Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the minutes of the January 24, Budget Committee meeting and Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. Discussion resulted in a change in format where lines wrapped in the attendance section. Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the minutes of the January 24, Budget Committee meeting as amended. Mr. Fernald seconded that motion. The motion passed 6-0 with 3 abstentions.
Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the minutes of the January 31, Budget Committee meeting and Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. Discussion resulted in a correcting the spelling of Andersen. Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the minutes of the January 31, Budget Committee meeting as amended. Mr. Fernald seconded that motion. The motion passed 6-0 with 3 abstentions.
Mr. Koester made a motion to accept the minutes of the February 7, Budget Committee meeting and Mr. Fernald seconded the motion. Discussion resulted in a couple of questions needing clarification from Mr. Brown and Ms. Tivnan. Mr. Koester made a motion to Table the minutes of the February 7, Budget Committee meeting to the next meeting. Mr. Fernald seconded that motion. The motion passed 7-0 with 2 abstentions.
Mr. Curry nominated Mr. Decker for Chair and Ms. Powell seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations. The Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of electing Mr. Decker as Chair 9-0.
Mr. Koester nominated Mr. Curry for Vice Chair and Mr. Bock seconded the nomination. Mr. Curry nominated Mr. Koester for Vice Chair and Ms. Powell seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations. The Budget Committee voted 7 in favor of Mr. Curry and 2 in favor of Mr. Koester, resulting in electing Mr. Curry as Vice Chair.
Mr. Curry nominated Ms. Andersen as the Capital Improvement Committee representative and Mr. Bock seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations. The Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of electing Ms. Andersen as Capital Improvement representative 9-0.
There was discussion around the need of a data and communications officer. Current process gets meeting minutes in draft and final forms posted on the website as soon as possible. The Forum website posts a link to them. Thoughts surrounded how we could use the town newsletter better for communication and exposure (What is the budget committee?) and how to better meet their deadlines.
Mr. Curry indicated he would look at Google docs to set up shared working document such as newsletter items, review of minutes and other working documents.
Mr. Koester indicated he would provide the schedule to the Forum and town newsletter.
Agreement not to fill position currently as this is a group effort,
SCHOOL BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Ms. Plante presented the 3rd Q School financials explaining the “Revised Budget” is the Approved Budget, “Reported Period” is the expended through 3rd Q, “Encumbrances” is amount spent or committed to for the remainder of the year. “Amount Remaining” is the amount left from the budget less expenses and encumbrances.
The anticipated surplus as of 3/31 is $79,528.30. Regular Ed has a $150,000 surplus with $120,000 coming from the public high school line. Special Ed is running about $70,000 over budget mostly resulting from an increase in Preschool Special Ed. School Board Services is also running over due to unexpected negotiations with the paraprofessional union.
The first draft of the school population report was received by the board but has not been finalized yet.
On the revenue side, there was some discussion as to the amount of Catastrophic Aid. The report indicates we received $887,210.30 more than anticipated.
Ms. Plante indicated she would share with the board and SAU to have end of year documents to the budget committee as early as possible. The committee would be happy to receive drafts with finals to follow.
TOWN BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Mr. Bock presented the 1st Q Town financials indicating the problem areas to be salt and fuel. The new assessors came in under budget again which does provide some relief. Additional areas over budget are printing and Library Appropriations due to a problem with mold.
There was a question why there was a $10,626 expense relating to the 4/07 flood as no money budgeted for outstanding flood expenses.
Mr. Bock was not prepared to speak on the revenue side so there was no presentation for revenues other than the revenue report.
REVENUE DISCUSSION:
Mr. Decker opened the discussion on revenues. This is an area of the budget that we do spend much time on. He questioned the primary elections and if we submitted bills back to the parties. There was brief discussion about this and Mr. Bock indicated he would bring this back to the Board of Selectmen.
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE DISCUSSION:
The committee agreed to a July 24 meeting to discuss 4th Quarter financials for the School District and 2nd Quarter financials for the Town.
The committee agreed to an October 23 meeting to discuss 1st Quarter financials for the School District and 3rd Quarter financials for the Town.
The committee also discussed the need to pull the schedule ahead a bit and make sure it is adhered to. The committee was happy with the format of how the budgets were received but expressed the need to get it earlier. Regarding budgets, certain items can be presented up front as they are considered fixed, It would also beneficial to get as much of the default budget for the school completed as soon as 4th quarter is completed.
There was concern about items changing at the public hearing. Mr. Bock suggested that the budget committee meet with the Board of Selectmen at their scheduled meeting on June 23 at 7:00 to discuss schedule and concerns. The committee decided to meet on June 5 in preparation and review for this meeting. A similar meeting will need to be set up with the school board.
Mr. Decker indicated he would make a first pass at a schedule and forward to all.
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION:
Ms. Plante requested that the superintendent get CCed on all communication.
Ms. Mills indicated she was looking forward to working with us all
Ms. Powell spoke about the latest conservation committee grant coming into the community.
Mr. Koester indicated a friend of his expressing interest in the town budget was astounded the selectmen were not bound to the departmental lines only bottom line of the budget.
Mr. Curry welcomed and thanked the new members.
Mr. Decker explained the expectations for quarterly reporting from the Board of Selectmen and School Board. Explaining this should take no more than 15 minutes each stating where we are overall compared to where we expect to be, where we are doing better than expected (highlights - top 2 or 3), where are we doing worse than expected (lowlights - bottom 2 or 3).
Mr. Fernald made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:48pm. Mr. Koester seconded the motion. The Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of that motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Respectfully submitted,
John Decker
Budget Committee Chair
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