Budget Committee

Minutes

May 30, 2006

Official as of February 10, 2007

Chairman Dan McNally calls the work session to order at 7:04 p.m.

PRESENT: Chairman Dan McNally, Selectmen Representative Scott Bryer, Cindy Jones-Bryer, Robert Bailey, Ben Edwards, Nona Holmes, Water District Representative John Jacobsmeyer, School Board Representative Bill Tappan. Mark Edwards, Catherine McNally, Colleen Pingree, Board Administrator Linda Smith, and Board Secretary Lisa Fellows-Weaver.

ABSENT: Vice-Chair Shelley Bobowski. Bob Jean, and Herb Johnson excused absent.
 
PUBLIC: Lucy Edwards 

Mr. Bailey makes a motion, second by John Jacobsmeyer, to nominate Dan McNally as chairman. With no other nominations, motion passes unanimously; 11/0.

Mr. Bryer makes a motion, second by Bob Bailey, to nominate Shelley Bobowski as vice chairperson. With no other nominations, motion passes unanimously; 11/0. 

Minutes:
Mr. Bailey makes a motion, second by Mr. Bryer, to accept the minutes of 1/7/06, 1/9/06, 1/14/06, 1/17/06, 1/19/06, 1/25/06, and 1/28/06, as written. Nona Holmes notes that there are figures incorrect in the minutes of 1/7 and 1/19. Motion passes unanimously; 11/0.

Town:
Selectman Bryer explains that the town’s budget is at 72% and ideally should be around 75%, after the first quarter. It appears that Mr. Bryer has been provided with other information, actuals of the first quarter, where the members have figures to date. While the materials provided to Mr. Bryer are copied and distributed to the members by the secretary, the board moves on to the school budget.

School:
Bill Tappan is present as the new school board representative. Mr. Tappan states he does not have his school information with him, yet he states that he has concerns with the way the budget is presented. He states that the school is not sure if they will be spending all the money that has been encumbered. He states that the school is over budgeted. Ms. McNally states that the budget has been frozen and asks if it will continue to be frozen in order to offset the special education costs. Mr. Tappan replies that he was not on the school board when the budget was frozen; however, he believes that that is probably the main reason as to why the budget was frozen. He adds that he does not believe that that is the only reason why the budget was frozen, just overall costs in general. He adds that computer costs are a good example. He explains that the fact that the budget is frozen only means that nothing gets spent without a review process. It is his understanding that everything must go through the S.A.U. office.

Mr. Tappan states that the problem he has with the information is that you can’t tell where you stand on any given date. In addition, the information does not give an ability to look at trends over a period of years and is not accurate. Mr. Tappan states that the numbers were not discussed at the last school board meeting and the business administrator was not present. He notes that the budget was not the focus at that meeting. Mr. McNally reviews the figures provided noting that some items are encumbered, yet many are negative numbers. He states that the town authorized the withdrawal of $150,000 out of the special education warrant article.

Further discussion is held regarding special education transportation. Mr. Bryer states that he thought that the contract did not get signed. Mr. Bryer explains the purchase order process and encumbrances to Mr. Tappan. Mr. McNally states that an example of encumbered funds is teacher’s salaries because a teacher would be there for the entire year and the salary would be budgeted for the entire year. Mr. Jacobsmeyer states that it is the school board’s job to figure out where additional money will come from if it is needed. Mr. Tappan apologizes as to how these materials were put together. He explains that the encumbered numbers do not reflect reality. Ms. McNally states that that is why the school board has authority to withdraw money from the warrant article to offset special education costs.
 
Mr. Tappan states that he will check to see if the school’s audit has been completed. 

Additional discussion is held regarding other negative line items: vocational transportation, special education, and architectural engineering study of existing building. Ms. Pingree asks if the school just didn’t budget enough money in those specific line items. She adds that looking at the budget, it seems like there is always an ongoing issue with special education and these areas of the budget are not predictable. Ms. Pingree adds that required services for one child can throw off the figures for the entire year. Mr. Tappan replies that he asked to be the representative to the budget committee so that he could understand the budgeting process better, answer questions, and provide some reasoning to the school board and come up with more reasonable numbers. He states that in his opinion the school board should be working with the number that was provided by the budget committee. Ms. McNally states that her frustration is that the school board has frozen the budget and it appears that there are some unexpected costs such as special education placements. Mr. Tappan is unaware that any money has been taken out of the warrant article. He adds that he did not choose to freeze the budget; he was not part of the school board at that time. He states that there is a lack of understanding especially when he looks at what has occurred since the short time that he has been on the school board. He states that he feels there has been a lack of control over the expenditures within the school. He adds that he believes there has been a lack of accountability between the school board and the administration. He feels that this is not all from special education; however, special education has prompted the school board to make the decision to freeze the budget. He feels that this is not the way to look at budgets, there needs to be trending over years. It is not always over expended due to special education Mr. McNally states that the money needs to come from somewhere to pay the bills. The budget is frozen and the regular education students are affected by it. He asks if the $150,000 in funds for catastrophic aid was taken out of regular education or from the warrant article. Ms. Pingree states that the regular education child pays the price and these kids are the ones most affected by a budget freeze. She states that teachers have told her that the scheduled field trips were cancelled, no pencils were left by March, all of the paper supply was gone in April. Mr. Tappan replies that field trips were not canceled. He states that he has no way to verify this information and adds that they did not run out of supplies. It is his understanding that Dr. Crist would authorize the ordering supplies, after the budget was frozen. Ms. Pingree states that she feels that is a mismanagement in the principal’s office.

A discussion is held regarding overspending the bottom line. Linda Smith states that should the school board overspend the bottom line; the budget committee can request the removal of all sitting board members. She adds that any discussion regarding mismanagement is not a public matter and any time that discussion is held regarding anything that could adversely affect the reputation of someone, it needs to be addressed in a non – public session.

Mr. Tappan states that he cannot answer all of the issues directed to him this evening; however, he has kept track of these issues and will get the answers, and provide the responses to the budget committee staff for dispersal to members. He adds that there are some obvious frustrations from the budget committee of decisions that have been made by the school board with the budget. He asks why these have not been addressed previously.

The budget recommendation procedure is explained to Mr. Tappan. Mr. McNally explains that during the budget sessions, department heads made requests. He adds that the budget committee felt that some of these cuts should not be made. Mr. Tappan states that he volunteered to be the representative. He feels that he is being grilled, and is not responsible for what has happened in the past. Mr. McNally replies that Mr. Tappan did not do his homework prior to coming to the meeting and if he cannot get the job done, he respectfully requests that the school board send someone else to represent them. Mr. Tappan states that he did do the homework, will get the answers, and reply.

Ms. McNally asks if there is another way to set aside money for costs of special education, or another form so the school can access the money without a special meeting being held.

Mark Edwards left at 8:15 p.m.

Town:
New budget materials have been copied and reviewed. Mr. Bryer apologizes for the mix up.

Mr. Bryer states that the town is at 72% and ideally should be at 75%. He further reviews the encumbered column of the handout and explains that purchase orders (PO’s) are set aside and haven’t been spent. He feels that the town is actually close to 77%, due to PO’s.

Areas further reviewed are as follows:
Town Administrator: Mr. Bryer states that this is now a new contracted position at $1000/per week.

P/T Municipal Receptionist: position is over, due to the additional hours since administration has changed. 

Contracted Services: Mr. Bryer states that he will get additional information regarding this area and will reply to the board. He adds that he would also like to verify the salary line for the interim town administrator.

Deputy Town Clerk: Mr. Bryer states that it appears that nothing was budgeted for this position and is not sure why there is something being paid from this line. 

Finance: Mr. Bryer states that the town has signed a contract for the new accounting software as addressed during budget season. $18,120 has been encumbered for this and has not been purchased. He also reviews the supply line for this department.

Audit Services: Mr. Bryer states that most of the audit work is completed. He anticipates that there will be more costs incurred; however, he feels that there is enough money budgeted to complete the audit. 

Assessing: Mr. Bryer explains that a few of the lines are over expended; however, the amount for the department is under. There is still 90% remaining, He adds that the selectmen are in the process of signing a new contract with the company that did the town’s revaluation. The amount will be between $40,000-$50,0000 for the assessment services. He feels that there will be adequate funds.

Budget Committee: Mr. Bryer states that the budget committee is at 50%. There is money encumbered.
 
Legal: The town is at 60%. Money has been encumbered and that is why this amount is at 60%. He explains that the town usually encumbers funds for several months.

Planning: Mr. Bryer states that there is $17,000 encumbered. A discussion is held regarding the part time planner discussion. Ms. Smith states that the planning board is in the process of reviewing resumes. 

ZBA: Mr. Bryer states that the ZBA legal is currently at 21%. He asks if this is due to heavy case load similar to last year. Ms. Smith replies yes and adds that the board was also involved with litigations this year and have been completed. She adds that the supply line for ZBA is over due to the recording of notices at the registry of deeds. No line item was created for this and the recording fees are coming out of the supply line. 

Police Commission: Legal is encumbered due to a blanket purchase order.

Police Department: The $12,688 has been encumbered for gas. Mr. Bryer adds that should gas stay at these current costs, this could be a potential problem area.

Fire Department: There is $20,000 encumbered.

Highway Administration: Mr. Bryer explains that this is due to overtime, which is mainly seasonal. He adds that there may be an issue due to the floods; however, some money will be recovered from FEMA. Mr. Bryer feels that this could be a potential problem area.

Snow and Ice Removal: Mr. Bryer explains that this is 25%; however, this is normal for this time of year as November and December usually are the snow and ice problem months.

Sanitation Administration: Mr. Bryer states that this is at 58%; however, the removal for demo furniture has been encumbered as well.

Solid Waste Disposal: $35,000 has been encumbered through purchase orders.

Library: Mr. Bryer states that the library is at 67% with $13,000 encumbered.

Conservation: All monies are encumbered.

Nona Holmes asks about the budgeted BOS figures. She states that this is more than what was voted at town meeting. She states that Article 7 was $2,760,579. She adds that she has gone through the town report; some budget figures have been increased. Ms. Smith explains that these figures are due to funds being encumbered from last year. She states that an example would be the contract for Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC) when they did the build out analysis for the planning board. The figure was $4,000. The money was budgeted from 2005 and SRPC was in the middle of the contract. There was a signed contract put into the 2006 budget and therefore the money comes out of the 2006 budget. Mr. Bryer adds that the Department of Revenue Administration will not let the town put in a bigger amount than what was budgeted for. 

Colleen Pingree asks about the part time recreation director’s position and the salary and if that is being paid out of the full time position line. Mr. Bryer replies that that is the only way that the town can pay for this position. He further explains that the previous person agreed to work full time at $13.96. The person that was just hired will be working 32 hours per week at a pay rate approved at a higher rate, which was a decision made by the majority of the board. He feels that there will be some savings and no benefits will be paid out. Ms. McNally asks what the rational was to hire a new person without all the background at a higher rate of pay. Mr. Bryer replies that he did vote in favor of the pay rate as he felt that the kids in town needed a recreation program and it was late in the season. There was a concern if the beaches would be open and this was a compromise for the kids. He adds that he feels that this would be a more appropriate question for the entire BOS.

OTHER:
Ms. Smith states that she has had a request from the business administration department at the S.A.U. office, to have the budget committee set all of their dates for rest of the year.
• September 13, 2006 ~ 7:00 p.m.
• October 25, 2006 ~ 7:00 p.m.
 
Scott Bryer makes a motion, second by Kate McNally, to adjourn. Motion passes unanimously; 10/0.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Fellows-Weaver
Board Secretary