HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_03.16.06 Town of North Andover—Finance Committee Minutes
March 16, 6:30 p.m.—Town Hall
iTTENDANCE: Keith Mitchell, Chair; Mike Batsimm, Vice Chair and Acting Secretary; Steve Dawe; Mike
Giarratano, Eva Hamori; Paul Stewart; and Jack Watkins_ Town Manager Mark Rees participated in
the meeting. Private citizen Peter Reed attended.
L CALL TO ORDER: The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
II. MINUTES: Paul moved to approve the minutes as printed in the handouts. Jack seconded the motion. The vote
was 6-0(Steve arrived after the vote).
III. OLD BUSINESS:
A. FY 2007 Recommended Budget J Manager Update: Mr. Rees presented the Committee with a schedule of 16
foreclosed properties, two of which could be combined into one usable property worth approximately $250K, and
the others not worth anything because they could not be built upon. Additionally, the Town has sent letters out to
76 property owners, requesting payment on outstanding property taxes. Of those, 40 have responded. So far, the
town has received approximately$162K. Mr. Rees explained that the taxes would go into tax title revenue and be
closed out to free cash. Mr. Rees then distributed an update on current year snow & ice removal expenses,
showing that we are currently at$762K,or$77K over budget.
A discussion then ensued about several FY 2007 budget items. The Veterans' Service benefits number needs to be
increased from $$5K to $132K to meet current expected service levels. Paul asked about police coverage ---
specifically,why there seemed to be dozens of officers on the payroll,yet it was hard to have four officers on duty
at .night. Jack stated that he would follow up with the Chief Mr. Rees noted that there is a formula used to
calculate the number of officers.needed to maintain coverage, and that Asst. Town Manager Ray Santilli could help
with that. Melinda (in absentia,via Keith) asked about using ADP for payroll service instead of hiring people for
it. Mr. Rees feels that ADP will not save much time, as the departments will still need to keep a list of hours, etc.
Melinda also asked about having all town trash picked up on the same day. It was agreed that there wouldn't be a
significant savings. A brief discussion then ensued about trash pickup/disposal and recycling.
B. Budget Analysis — Initial Report: Mike G. told the Committee that he had contacted Superintendent Harry
Harutranian about his budget requests, that Dr. Harutunian had promised to send him information within a week in
electronic form. There was a brief discussion about school spending and SPED.
C. Public Hearing—March 21,2006 @ NAHS: Keith said that the FinCom's public hearing would be at the High
School next Tuesday, joined to the School Committee meeting at which the state representatives would attend.
The FmCom will start the meeting by presenting a brief slide show, which Keith and Jack previewed for the
committee. Keith asked for comments today or tomorrow. A general discussion ensued about, among other
things, the stabilization fiords, the leadership capabilities of the Selectmen, and the concept of a structurally
balanced budget. The members agreed to get comments to Keith today or tomorrow.
D. Warrant Book Issues: Paul passed out a large and colorful schedule filled with revenue numbers and led a
discussion about various line items. Mr. Rees explained that the town was receiving less for state-owned land for
three reasons: 1) to correct an error in appraisals from 2000; and 2) because there is more state-owned land
competing for the same money, especially Blue Hills in Milton,which took up $1 million. The issue is still being
investigated. Mr. Rees stated that he had discussed the issue of the Hopkinton bill with Framingham's town
manager, and will bring it up to the Selectmen at their next meeting. In total, Paul's proposed revenue budget is
approx. $1lK less than the Selectmen's proposal,but doesn't use the stabilization money. After a brief discussion.
Jack moved to have Melinda & Steve meet with Garrett to discuss the new growth amount. Paul seconded the
motion. The vote was unanimous.
There was then a discussion about the configuration of the budget, whether it would be more oriented towards
priorities, or an equal distribution of money available. Paul noted that the real budget would probably be
somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Keith noted that some departments had expressed concerns about
which cuts were made by the Manager, and asked if he would agree to redistributions of cuts_ Mr_ Rees responded
that in general he was amenable to such suggestions;however,he stated his opposition to moving cuts to items like
utilities or office supplies(because they are basically uncontrollable).
Committee liaisons then gave reports from their respective departments. Jack had a discussion with Fire Chief
Dolan, who indicated his interest in shutting down the second ambulance during non-peak hours_ However, the
Selectmen have always rejected this proposal. Mike B. met with the Library trustees, who expressed their
concern/outrage over the proposed cuts, and while they did not prioritize,noted that the inter-library loan,which is
extremely popular in the Town, would be lost. Mike G. met with the Community Development people, who said
that fees are below other town's averages, and could be increased. Mike asked them to put together an analysis
that could be proposed The biggest piece of this is inspections at Merrimack College and Brooks School. On the
expense side, their big priority is saving the nurse. He relayed concerns that the health and planning departments
may lose additional staff from employees leaving as a result of the proposed budget cuts.
Paul then discussed the warrant book timing. The book is due to the printers on April 3. Next Thursday, and the
following week,the Committee will need to develop its recommended budget.
NEXT MEETING: The next meetings are scheduled as follows: Tuesday, March 21, at NAHS; Thursday, March 23;
Tuesday,March 28;and Thursday,March 30.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Mike moved to adjourn the meeting. Eva seconded the motion. The
vote was unanimous. Time of adjournment: 8:35 pm
Approved: Vote: X: