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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCMeetingMinutes_03.17.11 1 TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Meeting Date:011 17 March 2 Meeting Location: Town Hall, 2nd Floor Meeting called to order: 6:52 PM BOS Conference Room Mark Rodgers-MR, Chairman Thom Dugan-TD X X Ramsey Bahrawy -RB, Vice Robert Norbedo-RN X X Chairman Ben Osgood-BO Matthew Remis-MRem X X Alan LeBovidge-AL Herb Cunha-HC, Minutes X X Peter Besen-PB Pat Sifferlen, PS, Admin X X Bonnie Wilkinson-BW X Non FinCom Members in Attendance OTHERS: -Mark Rees, MRees-Town Manager -Municipal Dept Heads -School Dept Staff Note: All FINCOM votes are subject to change upon receipt of new information. Note: Documents used in this meeting are listed in Document Table, herein. II. Previous Minutes Approved DATE: III. New Business AGENDA ITEM: A.1. Health Dept Discussion: -Susan Sawyer stated that there are 413, 2 family housing units. Rental inspections will require more staff and time to schedule. Need BOH to begin inspections I July 2011. There are 1,800 units in Town at $75 per inspection. Health Dept does not make money on reported complaints. Inspection Program will start with landlords who volunteer to be inspected. Position upgrade for nurse, 30-37, depending upon job description, supervisor, and etc. Retirement costs will be a concern. Fund transfer was discussed; need to monitor trucks and sites. Merrimack College has video monitoring equipment. Health Dept personnel would operate this equipment. 2 AGENDA ITEM: A. 2. Elder Service Discussion: -Budget of $253k is recommended to be reduced by $42.7k. Support services to include Alzimers care will increase in demand and if Sr Transportation was supported by 250 volunteers providing 75,000 hours in FY2010. There were 5200 adults receiving service which is expected to increase to over 7000. Impact of reduction will be for a Staff member. A grant covers 2 part time receptionists, a driver and office assistant. A presentation took place addressing need for professional staff beyond the capabilities of the office administrative staff. Sr Center is open to all, no membership is required. Matter was raised to consider fee based services. Response was State Charter will not allow fees. Classes offered are fee based. They can tolerate a $7k cut in supplies but not staff cuts. Individuals who are not a resident can not receive services but can participate in classes and certain activities for a fee. AGENDA ITEM: A. 3. Veterans Services Discussion: -R.Santilli represented Veterans Services Director, Edward Mitchell, who was at another meeting. He stated that these services are level funded, $20k for additional benefits, mandated by the State. We share personnel with Boxford. ¾ (75%) gets reimbursed for services but not for salary. Projected budget is $220k. AGENDA ITEM: A. 4. Library Discussion: -Mary Rose Quinn stated that there is an increase in demand upon the Library. They have added computers. There were16.5 FTE 10 years ago, now there are 11.78. If there is a reduction of 1 FTE there will be difficulty in staying open for 50 hours, also problem for 2 nights and Sunday. They will lose 25% of state aid, $6000. Currently they are sharing positions. Volunteers provide 3000 hours to include use of kids, Sr Tax relief members (5) and Friends of the Library. There are added complexities for reference requests, needing to provide research skills. Reduce FTE from 69 to 50 hours will lose 1 night of coverage. They can meet minimum material requirements but not meet the required personnel reduction. They would have to request a waiver from the State for State funding: because of reduction from $829k to $825K; $30k is spent on s/w and h/w. If reduction in Staff, $28k, library will not be open on Sunday. It was stated that 13% of budget is needed to spend on materials, no waiver on materials needed. Priority is for Staff, books, Technical support, building and ELSO. Some people run a business and use library computers. Students take tests on computer and send them to universities. Suggestion is to cut books, but expects electricity to go up. 3 AGENDA ITEM: A. 5. Fire Dept Discussion: -Chief Andrew Melnikas reported that a have one. Chief was acting in both his capacity and that of Deputy. He has a candidate that is currently being certified. He is requesting funding to hire a Deputy who would be in charge of training and doing paper work. There are 52 firefighters including 8 Lts, there are no Capts and no Deputy Chief servicing a population of 29,000 to 30,000. If a Deputy is hired then there would be a need to fill Lt spot later. There are other issues to cover OT, Vacation, sick, personal injury and fill in time. A level of sick leave at $70k was inherited in the budget from previous budget. The 24 hours work shift should decrease sick leave. Projecting into next year, there are staff issues and 1 firefighter less. Including Secretary, Chief and Deputy, would be 55 members versus 54, 9 Lt and 1 prevention officer. 13 members work per shift. With a $55k cut, there will be some reductions in service with staff cutting of 4 members to 3 per shift. AGENDA ITEM: A. 6. School Dept Discussion: -Christopher Hoffel stated that special education outplacement is $53k, at Lawrence Technical $20k. We spend $10.9-11k per student, 200. There are 40 students in alternative program to graduate. We are 18 out of 24 for expenditure per student. Budget cuts will increase class size, could reach an average of 25. Discussion followed with a prioritization in reductions: one person at elementary school library, instruction material is 2.56% of budget excluding what teachers contribute on their own. Staffing has 3 there are IET meetings by the Education Team Leaders, 3 per year per student. Special Education has 550 students, 75 are out of district. There is $458k Federal Aid for job funding. With 3.5 cuts it will impact case average of 18-20 where we are now at 21.8. There are 42 special education teachers. At the high school, 60% personnel teach and 40% for other. Budget cut will impact 4.6 position reductions. Town budget split is 68% for School and 32% for Municipal. Health increase to be 14.8% for FY 2011, support services 18%. More reference to staff cuts and impact to class size: we must pay for kindergarten, ½ person, and paras in each class from the revolving fund. Operations/grant of $42.5M, 87% is for operations, 8% for grants and 5% revolving funds. Question was raised regarding $151k full day kindergarten as to consideration to increase tuition by $500. The worst case cut is 9 positions; class size will have some go to 30 students. -A comprehensive report was provided by the School Dept for all of its financials and impacts. 4 AGENDA ITEM: A. 7. Police Dept Discussion: -Chief Richard Stanley reported that the Budget reduction, on average, could result in shift reduction of 1 officer. Budget reductions were highlighted. Since 1977 there are 4 officers on the road. One detective pulled out to do police work and one officer from school resource program would be impacted. A $40k cut impacts OT related to staffing. We run 3 shifts per day, 1 shift is OT. -Question was raised about priority of cuts, looking for where cuts will be made. Response was we only fill 1/3 of the shifts. In service training is taking place on shift and in house, coordinated between our Town and Andover. -Question asked about crime statistics, Chief will provide. AGENDA ITEM: A. 8. General Government Discussion: -This topic will be addressed at a future FINCOM meeting. AGENDA ITEM: A. 9. Youth Dept Discussion: -Rick Gorman stated that the Budget reduction would impact some line items and 1 person. There are 4 FT paid by the Town, $203k. $530k is required to run the Center, 2/3 from fees, grants, fund raises, etc. There are 71 kids on scholarship to increase to 93. Center will have to depend upon revolving funds, using this to pay for maintenance, 2 vans need replacement. The Joseph Herman Inc provides funds for paint, weight room and structural improvements. Revolving funds cannot pay for FT personnel. There are 700 paid members, 400-500 attend at any one time and 3300 participate in the annual summer program. There is a meeting on 29 Mar with the Joseph Herman Inc organization. AGENDA ITEM: A. 10. Public Works Discussion: -Bruce Thibodeau stated that some OT is being used for streets, sidewalks, vehicles, structures and grounds. Reduction can be handled with the exception of losing 1 person. Activities needing attention and monitoring are storm water entering water bodies, catch basins and 900 outfalls into rivers. Monitoring includes testing for contaminants. $40k is for MPDS compliance, needing a full time person. There is the potential to charge fees for leaves and brush at the dump site. Also energy savings are being investigated. 5 IV. Next Meetings st 22 Mar 2011 Town Hall, 1 Floor Conference Room V. Adjournment- Motion: BW Yes Unanimous Seconded: PB Time: 10:47 PM DOCUMENTS PROVIDED AT MEETING TYPE FROM TO SUBJECT COMMENTS ITEM # 1 Report School Dept General FY2012 School Committee Budget Process 2 Sr. Center Budget Report 3 Sr. Center FY11 Statistics 4 Health Dept Health Dept Rental Housing Regulation and Budget Information 5 Letter Fire River Survey Information of Personnel in Neighboring Towns and North Andover ACTION ITEMS C=Complete ITEM # ACTION ITEM INDIVID. COMPL. STATUS DATE 1-28 Completed items are shown in FINCOM Mtg C Minutes of 4 Mar 2010 thru 28 Oct 2010 and 27 Jan 2011 for review. 30 Obtain copy of Osgood Landing sewer Budget from RB 17 Mar Lenny Degman, Asst to Mayor of Lawrence. 32 Provide CD for New FINCOM member handbook. MR 16 Nov 33 Put on the Agenda, Minority Report and the MR 16 Nov formation of a FINCOM Article Sub-Committee. 34 Input to Mark Rees 2 scenarios, First- 5% in 2013 and MR/PB 3 Feb Second-Otherwise scenario in 3 years.