Budget Committee

Minutes

May 15, 2007

Official as of February 8, 2008

Chairman Daniel McNally calls the work session to order at 7:10 p.m.

PRESENT: Chairman Daniel McNally, Selectmen Representative Scott Bryer, Water District Representative John Jacobsmeyer Ben Edwards, Nona Holmes, Herb Johnson, Lucy Edwards, Tammie Beaulieu, Robert Holden, Board Administrator Linda Smith, and Board Secretary Lisa Fellows-Weaver.

ABSENT: Vice-Chairman Shelley Bobowski, School Board Representative Bill Tappan, Colleen Pingree, Robert Bailey, and Douglas Briggs.

Election of Officers:
Chairman:
Ms. Holmes makes a motion, second by Mr. Johnson, to nominate Dan McNally as chairman. With no other nominations, motion passes; 7/2. Ben Edwards and Dan McNally are opposed.

Vice-Chairman:
A discussion is held regarding members. Ms. Edwards makes a motion, second by Mr. Bryer, to nominate Bob Holden as vice chair. With no other nominations, motion passes; 8/0/1. Mr. Holden abstains.  

Minutes:
1/6/07, 1/9/07, 1/13/07, 1/20/07, 1/22/07, 1/24/07, 1/27/07, 1/30/07, 2/3/07, 2/10/07.

Mr. Bryer makes a motion, second by Ms. Holmes, to accept the minutes of 1/9/07. Mr. Bryer makes an amendment to the motion to accept all of the minutes and allow the chair to review the minutes and make grammatical adjustments. Second by Mr. Johnson. Motion passes unanimously; 9/0.

Town:
Selectman Bryer states that the selectmen did approve the pay and classification study. He explains that if an employee had a step available it was budgeted for the step at 3.2%. When the wage plan was adopted the board placed the employee where they thought was the appropriate place based on the recommendations of the consultant, Local Government Center (LGC). He adds that negotiations have taken place with the police commission and the library and a compromise was reached. 

Mr. Bryer states that the town is at 73.19% and ideally should be at 75% at the end of the first quarter. He reviews each department and discussions are held as follows:
41301-Selectmen: Mr. Bryer states that all of the selectmen attended the Selectmen’s Institute for all 4 seminars so the training line may be over expended.   

41302-Town Administrator: Mr. Bryer states that the department is slightly over and may be due to the 26 pay periods and one may have overlapped in this quarter. 

41303-Moderataor: Mr. Bryer states that this is at 22% and there are no major elections this year. The majority of this department is from town meeting.

41309-Executive Office: Mr. Bryer reviews the areas in this department and states that overall the department is at 70%. He states that the postage, line 625, is computed twice per year and he adds that there may be an open purchase order for contracted services, line 330. He will check into this and get back to the committee.

41402-Voter Registration: Mr. Bryer states that this department has 12% left and is for elections and town meeting. Note to change the title of line 131, from super clerk to supervisors clerk.

41403-Elections: Mr. Bryer states that there is 43.75% left in this department.

41501-Finance: Mr. Bryer states that overall there is 80.75% left in this department.

41502-Audit: Mr. Bryer states that the audit was started and no invoice has been received. He adds that the audit should be completed in 3-4 months.

41503-Assessing Admin.: Mr. Bryer states that most of the expenditures from this department are contracted services, line 330, for Brett Purvis and Associates. Mr. McNally asks what line 312-Appraisal Assessing, is for. Mr. Bryer states that he will check into this and get back to the committee.

41504-Tax Collector/Town Clerk: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 72%. Ms. Edwards asks about contracted services, line 390. Mr. Bryer states that he will check into this.

41505-Treasurer: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 75%.

41509-Budget Admin.: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 48%.
41510-Trustees of Trust Funds: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 100%.

41531-Legal Operations: Mr. Bryer states that most of this department is encumbered funds as there are two open purchase orders.

41533-Claims and Judgements: Mr. Bryer states that this department is still at 100% as there have not been any claims or judgements.

41552-Personnel Administration: Mr. Bryer states that workers’ comp has been paid. He adds that he is not sure of the increase in this department. He will check into this.

41911-Planning: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at almost 88%.

41913-Zoning Board of Adjustment: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 89%.

41941-General Government Buildings: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 75%. He explains that the majority of this is for contracted services; line 330, and line 411, which is for heating, electric, etc. Mr. McNally asks about the grounds care, line 650. Mr. Bryer explains that two bids were received and the contract was awarded to E. Janelle. He explains that they are responsible for the Narrows Fire Station, police station, town hall grounds, community center, both libraries, and the municipal parking area. The contract is for mowing once per week during the early summer months and into the dry season it will be reduced to once every two weeks.

41941-Police Commission: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 97%. 

42112-Police Department: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 71%. He states that due to the flooding there will be a lot of overtime for the PD. He explains that it is not in this quarter’s information. The PD needed to maintain the phones 24/7. He adds that they will discuss the overtime with FEMA. 

42211-Fire Department: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 83%. He adds that he is not sure about overtime for the fire department during the flooding.

42401-Building/Code Enforcement: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 82%. He adds that the building season is approaching and there may be an increase of expenditures for this department. 

42901-Emergency Management: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 100%.

43111-Highway Administration: Mr. Bryer states that the highway department is at 65%. He states that overtime will be an issue due to two snow storms late in the season. He adds that the mowing has been contracted out. This will allow one of the employees to work more closely with the road agent and focus more on the roads, cleaning out the culverts, etc. He notes that the flooding costs occurred in April and are not included in this expense report. Next quarter will have the figures and the town will then have to wait for reimbursement from FEMA. 187,000. is the estimate for repairs.

43121-Snow and Ice Control: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 36% and is where the selectmen decided to cut $10,000. in order to address the $100,000. cut from town meeting. He states that this will need to be addressed in November and December as this area was also be affected due to the two late snow storms.

43211-Sanitation Administration: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 39% and $35,000. is in encumbrances for purchase orders. Ms. Edwards asks about line 431, and thought that the compactor was coming out of the trust fund. Mr. Bryer replies that he will check into this item as it is more than what was budgeted.

43211-Solid Waste: Mr. Bryer states that this department is 25% and is due to encumbered funds.

44111-Health: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 82%.

44141-Animal Control: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 84.5%.

44151-Health Agencies: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 58.9%. 
There are some encumbrances and some monies have been paid out to the agencies.

44411-Welfare Administration: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 75%.

44452-Welfare Vendor Payments: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 83%.

45201-Parks and Recreation: Mr. Bryer states that this department is at 87%. He states that the big costs are coming up in the summer months. A discussion is held regarding the condition of Bennett’s Bridge beach. Mr. Bryer explains that the town is filing for special permits for remediation only to prevent it from getting worse. He states that there may not be a beach there this year. The sand keeps going into the lake and there is a concern of the sand accumulating in the lake. NHDES is addressing this and will view the area. He states that this is the second time in the same area in two years. He states that the town does not have any permission to put the beach back in.

45501-Library: Mr. Bryer states that the library is at 71%. Mr. Bryer adds that the wage study noted that the salaries of the library staff were under paid and these will be brought in line; therefore the salary line will be over. On average the majority of town employees received a 3% to 4% increase.

46111-Conservation: Mr. Bryer states that the conservation commission is at 90%.

Mr. Bryer states that overall, this quarter is okay; however, the next quarter will be over due to the flooding issues.

Mr. Jacobsmeyer asks what the amount will be received from FEMA. Mr. Bryer replies that there are only estimates at this time. FEMA has not met with the town yet. He adds that last year the town received 75%.

Other
RSA’s relative to budgeting and notification of upcoming classes to be provided to new members. 

Next meeting is scheduled for August 15, 2007. 

The budget committee members request that the school mail out the information packets for the third quarter expenditures.
 
Herb Johnson makes a motion, second by Scott Bryer, to adjourn at 8:07 p.m. Motion passes unanimously; 9/0.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Fellows-Weaver
Board Secretary