Town of Pittsfield, NH
2015 Budget Committee
Meeting Notes
1-28-15
Meeting called to order at: 6:03pm
Members Present: Chairman Louie Houle, Vice Chairman Robert Schiferle,
! Secretary Faith Whittier, School Board rep. Ray Ramsey, !! ! !
! Selectmen rep. Gerard LeDuc, Helen Schiff, Helen Schoppmeyer, ! !
! Mary Thorpe, Fred Hast, Cedric Dustin, Jacob Kitson,
!
Guests/Presenters: Superintendent SAU 51, Dr. John Freeman
! ! ! Town Administrator, Mike Williams
! ! ! Town Administrative Asst., Cara Marston
Reading & Motion to approve minutes of 1-21-15:
! ! ! moved by Fred Hast
! ! ! seconded by Ray Ramsey
! ! ! minutes approved with one addition, snow date for Public !!
! ! ! Hearing Feb. 5, 2015
Town Budget: Town Administrative Asst., Cara Marston was invited to come
and clarify questions about the proposed new 20 hour office position, 4130 Executive
p. 1. Line 7. The main reason for this position is to have someone
cross trained so when Cara isn?t there this person could fill in and they could
provide backup for Town Administrator. This is especially needed on days the
payroll needs to be done. Areas that this position could help with are Code Enforcement
and other Administrative Office duties. Cara puts in more than 40
hours per week. This position is separate from the 20 hour position that does
Planning Board Administration and Zoning Board minutes and the position of
Select Board Secretary. The reason that they would like to hire the person
who does the part time welfare position is that she already has done this type
of work and would require very little training. To hire the part time Welfare person
to fill this position, thus making her a full time employee would be
$25,910.00. See the Handout 2015 Proposed Dept. Ft Wage Adjustments for
the breakdown of costs. Town Administrator helped answer questions as well.
Louie met with Selectman Larry Konopka and Town Administrator after our last
meeting to clarify the new position that Cara explained above. From that meeting
Cara was asked to come to our budget meeting and talk about what the job
would look like and the Town Administrator would look into the costs of outsourcing
the payroll. Louie mentioned the amount of research that would be
needed to change how we currently handle payroll vs outsourcing it. At this
late stage of the budget process there really isn?t time to do the research. The
Town Administrator is looking into outsourcing options for us, but it probably
isn?t a good idea to rush into it at this time.
Discussed the Total Operating Budget which is a 10.37% increase and does
not include proposed Warrant Articles. The Budget Committee members
homework is to find out where the $300,000.00 comes from? It was noted that
$100,000.00 comes from the Highway Department and some from having an
extra pay period this year (53 weeks).
Discussed Revenues: Line 14 Motor Vehicle Permits, Line 43 Police Department
(grants?), and Line 71 Insurance (unplanned insurance claims). Revenues
down by $100,000.00 but up $30,000.00 from amount budgeted last year.
We are budgeting for Revenues to be down, don?t want a budget shortage.
We want to be careful not to over or under estimate Revenues. Budget Committee
members can look through them and see if there is anything we can
tweak down.
Town Warrant Articles were reviewed. Article 3, we need dollar amount, tax
impact, and actual funds. Is it Article 3 or Article 5, that selectman are thinking
of using to construct a security door to the Town Administrative Offices? Article
4, what will the selectmen use this user tax for? Article 6, How much is in the
fund balance? What will they install? Article 7, will this come out of only the
Parks and Recreation fund or some from other funds as well? Article 8,
$19,000.00 would pay the existing contractor and lawn mower costs. If the
Town took ownership of Floral Park Cemetery insurance and water bill would
go away. Articles 9-14, we still need actual amount in funds and the tax impact.
Revisited the Fund Balance see the Trial Balance Summary p.5 for the breakdown.
The emergency reserve fund changes everyday, Louie thinks that the
state recommends 5% be kept in this account. He will try to see if he can get
updated information from the state. It is difficult to get information because
they are under staffed at the state level. Because the State is so understaffed
no one is watching or checking town fund balances, it is important for us to
monitor it ourselves. How do we feel about Capital Reserve Funds? Should
they come from taxes or taken out of fund balances? Discussed truck replacement
based on usage and not just industry standards. Article 16, has no
dollar amount because union vote is not complete. We will hear the figures at
the Public Hearing next week.
We wrapped up our discussion on creating the two new positions, highway department
full time worker and part time office assistant by coming to the conclusion
that we need job descriptions and we need to know accountability.
The committee agrees we need backup for Administrative Assistant but still not
sure if 20 hours is what we need. It was noted that we lost two union positions
when we privatized the wastewater treatment plant, if we add two full time employees
they would be added to the union. The Budget Committee is hesitant
to make full time positions because the substantial added cost of benefits.
The Budget Committee can cut the budget bottom line and Selectmen can only
put back 10% of the total bottom line, with a few items that aren?t included.
School Budget: Superintendent, John Freeman passed out the draft Warrant
Articles for the school.! They will not be approved by the school board until February
5th. We went through all the articles and discussed Article V in detail
which pertains to the Biomass Heating System. See the handout which estimates
the total cost if we took out a 3 year, 5 year, or 10 year bond. School
Board thinks a 3 or 5 year would be best. What do we think? Budget committee
thought the 5 year option sounded the best. More discussion will be held.
If the Budget Committee doesn?t vote to recommend the Biomass Heating System
then the wording of the article will change. The facilities Maintenance account
has about $197,000.00 in it, so if $100,000.00 is withdrawn to help with
funding this, it will still leave about $100,00.00 in the fund. Article VI, dollar
amount to still be decided.!
Other Business: Next week, we will meet at the PMHS Lecture Hall on February
4, 2015 at 7:00pm for the Town & School Public Hearings. (snow date
Feb. 5, 2015) School Superintendent, John Freeman will be asked to present
the School Budget to the Public and Town Administrator, Mike Williams will be
asked to present the Town Budget to the Public. Members of the Budget
Committee will bring up budget items that we would like public input on.
At our February 11th meeting we will go through and vote on the Town Budget
and Warrant Articles. On February 18th, we will go through and vote on the
School Budget and Warrant Articles.
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm
Respectfully submitted, Faith Whittier, secretary