MINUTES -- SPECIAL JOINT MEETING
CITY COUNCIL & WPC AUTHORITY AND THE BOARD OF FINANCE
July 17, 2012
A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING of the City Council and WPC Authority and the Board of Finance was held in the City Hall Auditorium on Tuesday, July 17, 2012.
Present were Mayor Ryan Bingham, Corporation Counsel Ernestine Yuille-Weaver, City Councilors Paul Samele, Elinor Carbone, Gerald Zordan, Marie Soliani and Drake Waldron, and Board of Finance members Bill Lamoin, Laurene Pesce, Mark Bushka, Brian Paganini, and Thomas Scoville. Acting Fire Chief Brunoli, Police Chief Maniago, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Brett Simmons and Comptroller Alice Proulx were also present.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 5:18 p.m. He said the Board members have received a breakdown of the total reductions of $83,432 represented by proportion from each Department whose budget can be cut. This accomplished the first level of cuts, he said, plus an additional $8432.00 that was discussed at the last meeting.
Mayor Bingham said his final recommendation includes a three-way cut of $37,500 into Capital, and a discretionary hiring delay of $25,000. All Department Heads that have, or are expecting, vacancies have been put on notice that we won't be hiring back those positions until such a time as we have the money and the need exists. He said an additional $5,000 cut in Contingency from a legal settlement brings us to a zero balance.
In answer to Councilor Soliani's question, Mayor Bingham said the $10,000 cut from the Registrar's budget was a reduction in part time help.
Councilor Carbone asked if the last adjustment of $8432.00 is across the Board. Mayor Bingham replied that our Department Heads have already come up with those reductions.
Mrs. Pesce said she is concerned about cutting the Capital and not maintaining our facilities the way we need to. She said although it sounds fair to make equal adjustments across the board, she'd like to know what Capital projects aren't going to be done. Mayor Bingham said if she'd prefer the cuts be made by delaying hiring, the Capital cuts can be moved over there. Both are acceptable, neither are desirable, he said, and asked the Board for their thoughts on hiring delays vs. Capital cuts.
Councilor Zordan said if Department Heads agree to small Capital cuts, it would be better than additional delays in hiring. Mayor Bingham said the three affected Department Heads, Chief Maniago, Acting Chief Brunoli and Superintendent Simmons, were in attendance. Mr. Scoville said those were the affected Department Heads for the Capital cuts, and noted that hiring delays would affect City Hall, Public Works, Equipment Maintenance, Fire, Management, Police, Street and the WPCA, which doesn't have an impact on this budget.
Councilor Carbone said she, too, would like to know what is not going to happen as a result of this Capital reduction.
Mr. Simmons responded that the Parks system had $115,000 annually to perform park improvements, building maintenance, roof repairs, carpentry, and masonry work for 26 facilities. A Capital Reserve account was created for smaller projects such as playscape repairs and minor updates to ball fields, he said, and the Major Park Improvements fund was intended for larger, more significant projects such as paving parking lots and access roads, and full renovations to some of our athletic fields, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 each. We'll have to reprioritize those projects if this is reduced, he said.
Chief Maniago said the Police Department Capital Improvement line items are used for roof loan paybacks, building repairs, parking lot pothole repairs, well-documented radio system problems and computer system upgrades and technology for over 60,000 incident numbers from last year that all go into their computer system. He said the 37 different heating and cooling pumps in the Police Department building are a continual cause for concern, and there is a line item for five-year replacements of police officer body armor.
Chief Maniago said he is very concerned about the hiring delays. The Police hiring process is long, he said, and takes from 10 months to a year from the date of hire to the date officers go out on the
road by themselves. Every month we delay in hiring someone is added on to the end of those 10 to 12 months. Chief Maniago said he's down four positions, has had two others eliminated from a
reduction in force, and has two more people planning to retire after the first of the year. He noted
that the City either pays for it by hiring somebody or pays for it with the overtime line item.
Acting Chief Brunoli reported that most of the Fire Department Capital cuts will come out of multiple line items for equipment replacements of generators, boilers, and an air conditioner. He said their budget really won't be affected by taking a cut from the Capital account this year.
He noted that his biggest concern right now is that the parking lot needs to be done next year.
He added that if we offered a firefighter position to someone tomorrow, it will take up to September 9th to put that person on the payroll. There are some savings there, he said. Acting Chief Brunoli said there are salary savings found in the process of filling the Chief's position after his recent retirement. He cautioned that further hiring delays will cause firefighters to work three or four times a week, which is not healthy.
Mrs. Pesce said she doesn't want any of the hiring delays to be in either the Police or Fire Departments, and proposed that the cut achieved through hiring delays be increased to $50,000 from $25,000.
Councilor Zordan said he is in favor of keeping the budget cuts as presented, and is very reluctant to cause any further delays in hiring, as doubling those cuts will create some hardships.
Budget Adjustments - Finance
On a motion by Mrs. Pesce, seconded by Mr. Scoville, the Board of Finance voted unanimously to cut $50,000 from the budget by delays in hiring, $12,000 in cuts to Capital spread between Parks, Fire and Police, a $5000 increase in revenue from a legal settlement and cut $8432 by Department percentage.
Mr. Bushka said this is a temporary fix for this year, and when fully staffed next year, we're putting $50,000 back into our budget.
Budget Adjustments - Council
On a motion by Councilor Soliani, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council considered the above budget adjustments.
Councilor Carbone said she will want some feedback on the impact of Departments operating with reduced staff for six months.
Acting Chief Brunoli added that delaying the hiring of three firefighters to September 9th will create a savings in the salary account of $30,337.80. Depending on how long it takes to fill the Chief's position, and using his salary as a guide, he said another savings of $21,000 could be attained if it goes to the end of September.
Mayor Bingham assured the Boards that if it was absolutely necessary to hire someone, he would come to them and ask for a recommendation to cut somewhere else.
In answer to Councilor Carbone's question, Acting Chief Brunoli said that Fire Department vacancies do cause overtime increases, but the savings in the Chief's salary will take care of the overtime.
Mr. Scoville asked how not filling the two public works positions impacts the budget. Mayor Bingham replied that we can assume it is $1000 a week per position.
The Council voted unanimously to cut $50,000 from the budget by delays in hiring, $12,000 in cuts to Capital spread between Parks, Fire and Police, a $5000 increase in revenue from a legal settlement and cut $8432 by Department percentage.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Mr. Bushka, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Board of Finance and the City Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:43 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC CITY CLERK |
Respectfully Submitted, Car
ol L. Anderson, CCTC Asst. City Clerk |
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