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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_06.28.06 Finance Committee ff inCom")Meeting Minutes June 28,2006 Attendance: Chairman Keith Mitchell was the only member not in attendance. Steve Dawe arrived at 6:50pm. vn Finance Director Linda Casey, Carolyn Dann of the Massachusetts DEP, and Citizen`B"Fink were also in artendance. 1. Call to Order: Vice Chairman Mike Batsimm("VCB") called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. IL Welcome New Member: Due to a family commitment,Ellis Fitzpatrick was unable to attend the meeting. III. Minutes of Last Meeting—June 22,2006: Mark Nichols made a motion to approve the minutes, with Mike Giarratano seconding the motion. The motion carried 5-0-1 with Eva Hamori abstaining. IV. Old Business—Special Town Meeting: VCB opened the discussion by providing the members with a handout on latest trash fee financial projections. He noted the PAYT will use this opportunity to be informative without advocating a position. Melinda Coppa("MC")questioned whether the yard waste falls legally within the definition of Solid Waste and the language used in Article 1. Carolyn Dann("CD") stated her belief that it falls in the definition of "household waste". MC then asked whether the PAYT Committee discussed establishing a separate fee for Christmas tree pick-up, leaf and yard waste,hazardous waste and bulky items. She expressed concern these additional items was deviating from a"trash fee"as presented at Annual Town Meeting and would send the wrong message to the Citizens. MC further added that she would like to see these items have separate fees attached to it. The group briefly discussed the option of moving Hazardous Waste costs over to the Water Enterprise Fund. Paul Stewart("PPS") added this cost would only be borne by the Town until the agreement with the Thompson Family("TBT") starts. CD walked the members through each line of the financial projections. The members asked questions along the way. PP S requested the details supporting the indirect costs and added he would like to see many more lines that add to er numbers in the budget. CD provided a handout to justify the hiring of a Recycling Coordinator by comparing ash Tonnage in Towns with Recycling Coordinators;based on this schedule North Andover could save an additional $112,686 to $119,030 from creating this position. The group returned to the financial projections where Linda Casey added$20,000 in one time costs for improvements to the existing billing system. CD did mention possible Grants available from the DEP to cover the publicity for implementing this program; approximately $4/household. MC then suggested separating out the one time costs to show the Citizens fees in year one, year two and year three or four. This would show the decrease from one time costs and then the effect of the TBT agreement kicking in. The members discussed the programs viability should a significant number of Citizens opt out. CD responded by stating all fixed costs are covered by the flat fee while the variable costs are covered through the sale of bags. p p :is not a She er added it would be hard to compete with the Town's price. Steve Dawe("SD"} added trash _._.... lux but more an item that is mandq= since one must prove alternate dis oral to be allowed out of the PAYT ren? Also. SD asked what is it about 33 gallon trash ba s that disqualify them from being "bulkf, and therefore able to be tluown out alongside the certified trash bags purchased for Town pick-Lip. Mark Nichols then questioned the allowance of one"bulky item" per week. SD then asked what is stopping a person from recycling less and discarding more to support the Town; why not ask to make donations instead. PPS diverted the conversation back to the indirect costs. VCB then added the PAYT Committee will make a recommendation at Special Town Meeting. MC then asked if the BoS would still have the authority to charge a Solid Waste Fee or implement a waste reduction program like on in Topsfield, should an override pass. Based on the current language,the change only goes into effect when the override fails. A brief discussion ensued on the timing of the ballot vote for an override. PPS noted the TBB added$125,000 for the implementation of the fee and requested further details on the overhead allocation. Linda Casey then informed the group that these are the same numbers used by the Enterprise funds and were double checked by the Town's auditors. "'' then noted the 15%Diversion and 25%Diversion financial scenarios both operated at a loss which didn't make sense since the projections using a 20% diversion made money. CD agreed some formula was not correct and would send out a revised projection. VCB then asked all members to funnel questions to him so he could forward onto the PAYT Committee for comment. The members then began reviewing the Articles currently on the warrant. The focus of the discussion was to understand what each article was trying to Finance Committee Meeting Minutes for June 28,2006 Page 2 Old Business—Special Town Meeting (Continued): accomplish, especially those which are similar. Paul Stewart made a motion not to recommend Article 8, Stabilization Funds. Mark Nichols gave the motion a second and the members voted unanimously in support of the motion. PPS then asked the group whether there should be some form of Public Information or Education done by the FinCom. The members agreed that the PAYT is spreading the word and we will need to be clear the vote only gives the Board of Selectmen authorization to set a fee. MC stated the need to be careful not to set the Selectmen up to fail should the fee significantly change from the way PAYT presents at Special Town Meeting. V. New Business: Linda Casey provided the FinCom with requests to waive the 1112th spending rule for both the Town Clerk and Department of Public Works (DPW). The members agreed to vote on each request individually. The request from the Town Clerk is due to the additional costs incurred from extending Annual Town Meeting and then a quick turnaround for a Special Town Meeting. Mark Nichols madea motion to suspend the FinCom rules to vote on new information. Paul Stewart seconded the motion and it carried 6-1-0 with Steve Dawe voting against. Paul Stewart made a motion to issue a waiver of the 1/12th spending rulefor the Town Clerks request. Mark Nichols seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. The members then moved to discuss the DPW request. A number of members noted disappointment in the lack of specifics and sited previous requests provided dollar amounts. Melinda Coppa made a motion to take no action on the request due to the lack of information. Paul Stewart provided the necessary seconded. It was noted, the Town Clerks request,while lacking numbers, did have a specific purpose. VCB noted that voting to take no action was not responsible since the department is not exceeding the budget. PPS reminded the members the purpose for this in the Charter was to stop having the departments spend their full amount of the budget. MC noted worse case the unspent portion would fall to free cash and then get paid at the next Special Town Meeting prior year bill article. The motion carried 5-1-1 with Vice Chairman Batsimm voting against and Eva '^wori abstaining. SD brought up a concern that these expenses may relate to the flood and our vote could cause b.,dous problems for the department. The members then agreed to meet tomorrow to vote on this request; provided Bill Hmurciak could give more details. Paul Stewart provided a brief update on the Board of Selectmen meeting. Those who watched from home added comments. Citizen"B"Fink then offered the FinCom a summary of the School Committee meeting. It was noted the audit is still not available and a brief discussion ensued about the audit. In addition the School Committee voted in favor of the following items: 1)The finding for their remaining deficit should be borne 113 by the municipal departments and 213 by the school department; 2)the school department should receive credits for the indirect costs made by the cuts previously voted; 3)Approved the Administration Council cuts (with Dr. Ormsby the only vote against); and 4)to accept the To Be Balanced Budget. VI.Next Meeting: The members agreed to meet Thursday,June 29, at a previously posted meeting, and Thursday, July 6. VII.Adjournment: Steve Dawe made a motion to adjourn at 8:45pm. Mark Nichols seconded the motion and it unanimously passed. Approved: Vote: X: