Town of Pittsfield, NH
Budget Committee
Public Hearing
2015-2016 Town Budget
2-4-15
Meeting called to order at: 7:30pm in the PMHS Lecture Hall
Members Present: Chairman Louie Houle, Vice Chairman Robert Schiferle,
! Secretary Faith Whittier, School Board rep. Ray Ramsey, !! ! !
! Selectmen rep. Gerard LeDuc, Helen Schiff, Jo Anne Ward, Mary Thorpe,
! Fred Hast, Mark Riel, Cedric Dustin, Jacob Kitson, Josh Roman
!
Guests/Presenters: ! Town Administrator Mike Williams
! ! ! ! Town Personnel
! ! ! ! Members of the Public
Town Budget: The Town Administrator, Mike Williams, presented the proposed
Town Warrant Articles that have monetary impact. These and more articles will
be discussed and voted upon on at Pittsfield Town Meeting on March 14, 2015
at 10:00am in the Pittsfield Elementary School Gymnasium. Discussed Article
3 concerning funding the Town Budget and Capital Outlay and the amended
figure of $4,097,325.00 ($4,104,438.00) and a tax increase of $10.78 ($8.57)
that is proposed by the selectmen. Administrative Assistant, Cara Marston,
presented the amounts. Discussed Article 4, regarding closing out the Town
Hall Capital Reserve Fund and using this money for a security door at the Town
Office. Article 5, is a boiler plate article to collect a $5.00 user fee on all registered
vehicles to support highway repair and maintenance only.
Question by Paul Nickerson: Would it be only a $5.00 fee? Doesn?t this article
if passed the way it is worded mean we could have a bus station or a Park &
Ride in Pittsfield?
Answer/Discussion: The fee is not set yet, only if the article passes at Town
Meeting. Budget Committee Chairman, Louie Houle, explained that this is a
boiler plate worded article and there would have to be a public meeting before
a bus station or Park & Ride was considered. At this time, it is intended to be
restricted to highway use only. Paul Nickerson added the $5.00 would be to
help George with the highway department road budget.
Question by Kevin Foss: What is the number of motor vehicles registered in
town?
Answer/Discussion: Assistant to the Town Clerk, Amy Ramsey, said that with
the way the computer program is set up it is difficult to get an exact number of
just vehicle registrations for one year because it includes other registrations
such as trailers. Fred Hast said it would be approximately 5,000 vehicles or
about $25,000.00 in revenue for the year.
Article 9, concerning the adoption of Floral Park Cemetery as the Town Cemetery
was discussed.
Question by Andi Riel: Is the $19,000.00 for legal fees?
Answer/Discussion: Louie Houle, who is also on the Cemetery Association
Board, explained that the cemetery is not currently owned by the town and the
town is required to have a town cemetery. Revenue is way down for the cemetery
and the town helped with some of the expenses this year. If the town were
to own the cemetery, the town would not have to pay insurance or water costs,
and that would be a big savings. The $19,000.00 would be to help cover the
mowing, water, and insurance costs for one year.
Question by Maurice Wells: Didn?t the trustees see this coming? What about
the cemetery trust fund? Maybe Fire dept. could do a burn or Boy Scouts
could do mowing?
Answer/Discussion: Louie Houle said the trustees hoped interest rates would
get better, but that doesn?t seem to be happening. There are less burials now
because of more cremations and green space burials. Paul Nickerson added
that the Town would have to do something for a cemetery.
Question by Lance Houle: What about the cemetery behind the Community
Center, isn?t that a town cemetery?
Answer/Discussion: Yes, but it is doesn?t have adequate space for new burials.
Question by Denise Kitson: Is the $19,000.00 a one time shot?
Answer/Discussion: Town Administrative Assistant,Cara Marston, stated that it
would cost $28,000.00 per year to fund the cemetery.
Town Administrator explained that Articles 10-17 are for adding to the Capital
Reserve Funds.
Question by Dan Schroth: George are we saving enough for town equipment
replacement? Is the surplus growing? What about the Fire Department?
Superintendent of Public Works, George Bachelder, stated that we are saving
enough. Louie Houle stated that the surplus is not growing and $235,000.00
was used leaving $242,000.00 in the surplus account which is supposed to be
a rainy day fund. The Fire Chief stated that we are on track for fire equipment
replacement.
Question by Maurice Wells: What about the sidewalk grant? I thought we lost
the grant?
Answer/Discussion: Cara Marston said the grant amount is $250,000.00 for
Safe Routes to School sidewalk project and we didn?t lose it. Added money for
highway to do roads at the same time was recommended by George
Bachelder.
Question by Kevin Foss: Do we have a sidewalk maintenance line in the
budget?
Answer/Discussion: Superintendent of Public Works, George Bachelder, said
that we do, but we don?t fund it.
Question by Maurice Wells: Are we going to have storm drains?
Answer/Discussion: George Bachelder responded that they are already there,
3/4 of the way up Tilton Hill.
Discussed Article 18, which is to appropriate $25,000.00 to investigate and
evaluate the purchase of Pittsfield Aqueduct.
Dan Schroth recommended we support the Aqueduct purchase. He thinks it is
important we own our own water.
Question by Mike Wolfe: How many years are we going to keep spending
$25,000.00 to study the Aqueduct purchase?
Answer/Discussion: Town Administrator stated that we didn?t use the
$25,000.00 that was allotted last year, not encumbered, so we need to appropriate
funds again this year. Fred Hast gave some background information on
why the study didn?t get done.
Question by Maurice Wells: Do we have a set price for the Aqueduct?
Answer/Discussion: Louie Houle stated that the budget committee doesn?t
know the dollar amount but will have that amount before we vote on it. There
was a meeting regarding the purchase, but it coincided with the budget committee
meeting so none of us could attend. Paul Nickerson was at the meeting
and said it was originally going to cost about 5 million but it is down to 3 million.
Town Administrator said the select board rep., Al Douglas, stated it would cost
less if the town owned it, a $100,000.00 savings. Louie said it would be run by
an independent water district but the town would own it.
Discussed waste water treatment.
Question by Lance Houle: Is the Wastewater Treatment Plant fully funded by
user fees? Maurice Wells and Lance Houle asked about the $300,000.00
sewer fund which is 15% of the budget.
Answer/Discussion: Louie Houle said that it is now fully funded by user fees,
but it didn?t used to be. The sewer fund was set up for improvements, but was
not always used for that purpose.
Question by Maurice Wells: In discussion of the generators, What about the
sewer payers, will the town reimburse the sewer department?
Answer/Discussion: Town Administrator said he doesn?t have an answer yet.
Paul Nickerson added that the town paid for it to begin with, but now it belongs
to the sewer department.
Town Administrator went over the Town of Pittsfield 2015 Budget Highlights
handout that was attached to the Budget Recap sheet. He explained the two
new proposed positions and the back-up generators for the Police and Highway
departments in detail. He stated that it is a total of $221,500.00 for all the
highlighted increases on this sheet, which is a tax rate increase of $.78.
Question by Kevin Foss: Do we have a CIP?
Answer/Discussion: Louie Houle responded that we don?t know what is in the
fund balances yet.
Meeting adjourned at: 8:20pm
Respectfully submitted,
Faith Whittier, secretary
Budget Committee will meet next Wednesday, February 11, 2015, to finish going
over the Town Budget and if need be on Thursday, February 12, 2015. The
school budget will be done on Wednesday, February 18, 2015.