MUNICIPAL BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
DATE: November 13, 2007
CALL TO ORDER: 7:00 pm
PRESENT: Jan Penta, Chair; Ron Hayes, Vice Chair; Normand Bouchard; Michele Conte; Robert J. Gray; Dan Hooper; T. Richard Latham; Brian Levasseur; Donna Luciano; Kristin Lewis Savage; John Sherman
EXCUSED: Bernadine FitzGerald
MINUTES:
J. Penta states that the approval of minutes will be deferred until the next meeting.
BUDGETS:
Plaistow Public Library:
Jennifer Kiarsis, Chair of the Library Trustees and Catherine Willis, Treasurer of the Library Trustees are present to represent the Library.
J. Kiarsis reviews the past year. She states that the programming has been well attended. She reviews the new software programs and the many services that are offered on the website. She states that the library budget has grown over the years and is similar to a small business.
C. Willis states that the budget is up 5% from last year. The salary lines are up 4.5%. They have not increased staff hours but have moved positions. She states that the benefits package is up 8%. This year the budget has separated online resources from general materials, when you combine these 2 areas together it is a 7.9% increase in materials.
J. Penta states that it appears the materials lines have increased $10,000 over the last 2 years.
K. Savage states it has increased $3,000 - $5,000 each year over the last 2 years.
J. Sherman states it has gone up 50% in the last 2 years.
C. Willis states that the costs for programming have increased. People are attending the programs and they will be adding more. She states that they have placed $500 in memorial funds in the memorial line and $2,000 was placed on the technology line, however, the town portion is level funded. They have not received the rates for this year’s gas and electric costs and are currently level funding it. There is an increase of $2,000 in maintenance. They do not have Building Insurance or Janitorial services. They are in the 3rd year of a 3 year Contract with Lavalle Landscaping and there is a 3% increase this year. The bookkeeping line has increased. They are contracting a bookkeeper. C. Willis has been performing the duties of bookkeeper. Her current nursing job and
personal situation have limited her time available to the library and a bookkeeper is needed.
J. Penta asks if there is a duplication of programs offered by the recreation department and the library.
Laurie Houlihan, Library Director is in the audience and states that they are not the same programming.
R. Hayes asks for a breakdown of materials.
C. Willis does not have a breakdown. She states that when you come into the library these materials are anything you listen to or read. She can get these numbers for the Budget Committee.
D. Latham asks about the funding listed.
C. Willis states that gross budgeting makes you list anything that you will be spending in order to spend it.
B. Levasseur states that the public activity program numbers have increased over the past 2 years and asks if $3,000 is a good number.
C. Willis states they seek donations and they are able to support their programs with room rentals and fees.
B. Levasseur looks at actuals and asks if something is changing that will drive the costs of gas up.
C. Willis states that they have not received the actual numbers and they are going on the highest costs on record that they have spent. She believes they will come back and change this number.
B. Levasseur asks if the legal line is appropriate.
J. Kiarsis states that the State Library Association would like to have something on this line.
J. Sherman asks when the last time the library needed legal advice was.
C. Willis states that they never have used legal.
J. Sherman asks if they could keep it open with $1 like the capital improvement line.
R. Gray asks what the salary increase was from 2006-2007.
C. Willis states that it was 1.9% for a COLA and then the wage increase has a 3% increase. Not everyone is receiving a step increase on the wage matrix.
R. Gray asks if the 2.3% is the COLA and asks what the 4.5% increase is.
C. Willis states that it comes from the salary schedule and vacation coverage.
R. Gray states that this is the first salary line he has seen. He is not sure how he feels about a 4.5% increase. He thinks this seems a bit high.
C. Willis states this is the same discussion we have year after year.
D. Latham asks what index was used.
C. Willis states that she used the Consumer Price Index for Wages and the formula that Social Security website uses.
K. Savage asks where the income comes from that supports special projects.
C. Willis states it could come from the fees for copies, bake sales and donations.
R. Gray states that the only person not on the wage matrix is the Library Director.
C. Willis states they do not do wage adjustments for merit or one time pay increases.
D. Hooper asks how many hours IT is being used.
C. Willis states it varies. The person is on call and this varies.
D. Hooper states that this should be looked at town-wide for efficiency. He states that technology is growing. He compliments the work on the website. The Town may need to look at forming a technology department.
J. Hoch states this is an interesting idea. He has seen the synergy of using the same vendor at the town hall and the safety complex. He does not feel that we can offer competitive wages at this time.
D. Latham asks if there is an auditor that looks at the library’s books.
C. Willis states that the town auditor looks at their books.
K. Savage states that the technical services line is projecting a $600 increase again this year. She asks why they are not covering their full increase with their funds.
C. Willis states that this seems to be a small number for the technology. She does not feel asking for this amount is outrageous. They are a small company that has 23 computers. Their money is not going to last forever and they do not want to use it all.
B. Levasseur asks for details on the janitorial contract.
C. Willis states that the janitor is provided from the town building maintenance department.
B. Levasseur asks about landscaping.
C. Willis states that they are happier with the old service provider and they reached a better price working independently from the town.
D. Hooper asks why they have received less information this year.
J. Hoch states that they condensed the list after they met with the Selectmen.
D. Hooper would like to see this information.
L. Houlihan states that she will send this information to the Town Manager tomorrow.
M. Conti asks if residents are charged a membership fee.
C. Willis states residents do not pay, but there is a fee for nonresidents.
Motion by D. Hooper and second by R. Gray to take the library budget of $471,815 under advisement.
VOTE: 11-0 U/A
Public Works Administration:
J. Hoch reviews the budget and Highway Supervisor Dan Garlington is present to answer questions.
D. Hooper asks if the Highway Supervisor is eligible to be a salaried employee. He states that the Building Inspector moved to salary due to supervision requirements.
J. Hoch states that he is not aware of the history of previous salary changes.
J. Sherman states that one requirement to become a salaried employee is the number of hours a person supervises. It is his recollection that that number is 80 hours of supervision. This is one requirement and there are other issues that come into consideration before changing a pay status.
J. Hoch states that he can look into the checklist for salaried employees.
J. Penta asks if we use gas or diesel.
D. Garlington states that the equipment uses diesel but some of the small hand held equipment uses gas.
J. Sherman states his understanding is that diesel is going up more than gas.
D. Hooper states that the maintenance is level funded but the budget was over expended this year.
D. Garlington states that they had an unexpected expense when the garage spring broke.
R. Hayes asks if they purchase their supplies on their own or if they use the town hall supplies.
D. Garlington states they do not have a large storage area and do not consume at the same rate as the safety complex or town hall. They are purchasing items themselves.
J. Penta asks if they purchase in bulk.
D. Garlington states they do.
Motion by K. Savage and second by D. Latham to take the highway works administration budget of $243,307 under advisement.
VOTE: 11-0 U/A
Highway:
J. Hoch states that the crushed stone budget is up due to the severity of storms we have had. Drainage projects are continuing on plan. Pavement management is continuing on target. The paving method we use is to keep us current and not slip into an expensive reconstruction. We have bunched our roads into classes. We prioritize the roads into categories that will prevent a more costly situation from developing.
D. Garlington states that the central roads in town need to be reclaimed. He references Park Ave., Duston Ave. and Willard Way areas. He states that he will meet with the residents in these developments and discuss the improvements that can be made in this budget.
K. Savage asks if granite curbing will be an issue. She states that the newer developments have granite and the roads are wider.
D. Garlington states that the newer developments are no longer curbing in granite. They are putting roads that are very wide. This is going to cost more when you look at yards. The majority of repairs are based on square yards. Granite curbing is not practical based on the functionality or the road. He states that granite was done for esthetics.
J. Hoch states that the wider road also creates speed issues. The wider roads come with problems.
K. Savage states that the Planning Board seems to be requesting these changes to plans. The developments are going to hit all at the same time and this is going to impact future budgets.
D. Garlington states that this is something he is working on with other staff. We need to look at what potential a road has for traffic.
J. Sherman states that the Selectmen heard this same issue regarding Main Street. The State commented on the width of the road over the tracks and then the narrowing in front of Town Hall. This does affect speed.
D. Garlington states that when walking with children a white painted line does not instill confidence in safety.
J. Hoch states that street sweeping is done by an outside contractor and prices are dependent on the winter weather conditions. He states that we need to repair a culvert of Smith Corner Road. There is a negative number on this budget because we get a reimbursement from FEMA in anticipation of replacing the culvert. We will carry this money forward. FEMA reimbursed materials and gave anticipatory repair money from the spring storm this year.
N. Bouchard asks if the vehicle maintenance will be fully expended since the budget is trending under this year.
D. Garlington states that we did not sand-blast a truck this year. We had a truck go down that was unanticipated and we needed to spend money to fix this. If we had sent out the truck for sand-blasting we would have been 2 down for a good portion of time.
D. Latham states that he looked at the new truck and states that D., Garlington did a great job spacing it out.
D. Garlington states that he needs to give the Highway Foreman Dana Rabito credit for this. He states he will pass this on.
J. Sherman asks if the sand-blasting will be done.
D. Garlington states that this probably will not be done. He is leaning towards painting it to get it through until it is replaced.
J. Sherman asks if to sand-blast this truck would be throwing good money at bad.
D. Garlington states that this is the downfall of a steel body.
B. Levasseur asks about the jump in general supplies.
D. Garlington states that on alternating years we paint parking lots and white lines. This is the fluctuation in the years.
J. Sherman states that next year this will come back down. He asks the Town Manager to look into a way of leveling this.
D. Garlington states that the newer paint is not as durable. He foresees that based on wear and tear this will become an annual expense.
J. Penta asks why there is a $150 increase in small hand tools. We have not spent this in the past.
D. Garlington states that he has budgeted for a gas powered weed whacker style broom for graveling.
?Motion by K. Savage and second by R. Gray to the highway budget of $523,700 under advisement.
VOTE: 11-0 U/A
Solid Waste Clean-Up:
J. Hoch states that this budget was previously titled landfill. This year we added hours on Wednesdays and this was well received. There is a slight increase in monitoring and testing. The CAP maintenance is increased due to low spots. We will cover the engineering with this year’s budget. This was a much larger designed project than anticipated due to State requirements.
R. Hayes asks if the maintenance is due to erosion or if this is due to State requirements tightening.
J. Hoch states that there are divots and the issue is water pooling. We need to look at the depth of the cap and look at if the cap needs repairs.
D. Latham asks about the Old County Road water testing.
J. Hoch states that this is testing on the water system that we installed on Old County Road. The Health Officer collects the sample and sends them to the State.
D. Latham states that the Health Officer stated she would monitor this when then Old County Road Recreation Field goes online.
J. Hoch states that currently we are testing the 2 sites we supply water to. When the Old County Road Field goes online this changes the designation of the water to a community water system. He states that this then changes the type of testing.
R. Gray asks if we go into the homes to test the water or if the testing is done at the field
J. Hoch states that currently we are testing from the field. We have not gained access to the homes. The agreement with the Selectmen states that the water supply is not transferable with the property owners.
Motion by R. Hayes and second by D. Latham to take the solid waste clean-up budget of $46,000, under advisement.
VOTE: 11-0 U/A
OTHER BUSINESS:
J. Hoch states that the budget worksheet report provided tonight have expenditures thru November 7th, last years budget and last years actuals.
J. Penta states that the Capital Improvement Plan Projects have been handed out. The Police Chief has sent a memo with the answer regarding the calls of service on Route 125. In 2006, we totaled 3,334 calls and in 2007, we have had 2,650 calls. She asks that each member sign the letters of thanks to those members that have served on the committee. There will be no meeting next week due to the holiday week.
K. Savage states that she has 2 minor corrections for the 10/30/2007 meeting. She states that on page 4, 6th section, it should say 2006 instead of 5-6 years and on page 5, 6th section, the second number should be 8,500 not 850.
J. Sherman asks if the first correction is a change of information presented or a correction.
K. Savage states this information came from the Department Head that spoke that evening.
J. Hoch states that she is speaking of her position therefore it would be a reliable source.
Motion by K. Savage and second by R. Hayes to amend the 10-30-2007 minutes.
VOTE: 11-0 U/A
K. Savage asks about the progress on paint samples and curtains.
J. Hoch states that we are working on the first floor renovations and then the last larger phase will be this room.
J. Sherman states that we are saving money by doing some work in house. The trade off for saving this money is that it will take longer.
B. Levasseur would like to get the minutes before Tuesday nights.
J. Hoch will work on getting a packet together for the Committee.
R. Gray asks what the definition of a call for service is. He asks asks if it includes alarms and motor vehicle accidents
J. Hoch states this is anything that requires a response.
B. Levasseur states that the Police website has a breakdown of calls.
K. Savage states that Selwa Moured is not here tonight because she had surgery. She wishes Selwa a speedy recovery.
ADJOURNEMENT:
J. Penta adjourns the meeting at 8:44pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Carr
Recording Secretary
| 
