Wellfleet Finance Committee
Minutes of Meeting of February 10, 2010
Senior Center Conference Room, 7:00 p.m.
Present: Dennis Murphy, Chairman; Robert Kelly, Robert Wallace, Janet Loewenstein, John T. Morrissey, Sylvia Smith,
Regrets: Sam Bradford, Donna Robertson, Liz Sorrell
Also Attending: Town Administrator Paul Sieloff
Chair Dennis Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Wind Energy
Dennis O’Connell was present to give his viewpoint on financing for the wind turbine. He mentioned the 2008 Black & Veatch study that had been prepared for the project, the information on the Town website and the opposition Save Our Seashore website. Much of the planning that has been done so far has been done with grant money. The revenue projections are not yet finalized, O’Connell said. The many complex factors of pricing would be better explained by the Energy Committee, O’Connell said. He considered: the intangible value of Open Space, National Seashore involvement, the Town going into the energy business, Town Counsel opinion, property values, reliability of wind power, the interest on borrowing, industrial bond v. general obligation bond, getting an independent financial analysis,
and potential law suits. Murphy said Finance Committee needs to focus on the financial information when the proposal comes forward to Town Meeting, which may or may not be this April.
Fire Department Overtime
Fire Chief Daniel Silverman addressed the February 4, 2010 memo he had received requesting details on Overtime in his department and his memo to the Selectmen dated January 27, 2010 requesting transfers of sums, mainly for Overtime. He referred to Budget material he had previously submitted on Overtime. He explained that the Call Department is dwindling, and the only way he can adequately staff the department is through Overtime. Silverman said he doesn’t understand why every year the Overtime Budget is cut when the Fire Department brings in significant revenue.
Paul Sieloff, FinCom members and Chief Silverman discussed possible remedies for budgeting Overtime. Discussion took into consideration: union negotiations, comparison with the Police Department, secretarial Overtime, Comp time, Holidays, new hires, and training sessions. Many of the questions and concerns should be cleared up by Silverman’s reply to Administration’s memo. FinCom would like to have the Fire Department Budget trimmed to fit into the 2 1/2 % Budget that the other departments have maintained.
There was a discussion of using the Ambulance Fund to cover some of the transfer to Overtime. Paul Sieloff offered using 50% from the Ambulance Fund and 50% from Free Cash to cover the Overtime
Budget – Recommendations
John Morrissey said he found it difficult to approve the Budget without knowing the amount that taxes would be going up. Paul Sieloff said there had been assessment changes that explain why tax bills had increased. Tax rates had gone up while assessments went down. John Morrissey and Paul Sieloff will review this in the upcoming week. Paul Sieloff discussed how the Water Enterprise Fund would work. He also discussed Police and Fire Department Budgets. Morrissey asked to see records of Revenues from all the departments.
Cruiser Purchase
Kelly distributed a chart he had prepared on Police cruisers and reviewed the rollover schedule. He suggested that FinCom study the chart and discuss it further at a future meeting. Murphy said that the Police Department had been preparing the vehicle rollover form.
Charter Changes
The Committee will wait till there is a full complement of members to vote on this.
DPW Operation Budget FY10
The DPW will be requesting Fiscal year 2010 transfers and had also submitted a list of repairs for Fire Department vehicles totaling $19,526.38. Murphy said that DPW Director Mark Vincent should discuss the expenditures with FinCom. Paul Sieloff reviewed the DPW transfers.
Minutes of 1/27/10
Kelly moved to approve the minutes of January 27, 2010. Wallace seconded, and the motion carried 5-0.
Other Business
Smith suggested more joint effort on the Budget with the Selectmen as established in 7.3.3 of the Charter.
Sieloff said that Wellfleet, Truro and Eastham would be discussing regionalization ideas for Police Departments. FinCom would like to pursue other regionalization ideas.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 9:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________ _________________________
Mary Rogers, Committee Secretary Dennis Murphy, Chairman
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Date
Finance Committee approved these minutes at the meeting held 2/24/10.
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