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Warner Budget Committee Meeting Minutes April
30, 2007
Meeting opened at: In attendance:
Mike Cutting, Marc Violette, David Karrick, Barbara Bartlett, Harold
Whittemore, John Warner, Pete Newman and Selectman Richard A. Cook Members Absent:
None Recorder of the
minutes is Mary Whalen Others present: Laura Buono –
Town Administrator Selectman David
E. Hartman Martha Mical 1. MEETING MINUTES Marc Violette made a motion
to approve meeting minutes dated 2. VOTE FOR CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR David Karrick made the motion
to nominate Mike Cutting as Chairman.
Motion seconded. Mike
stated that he has been Chair for many years and is concerned that the
Budget Committee takes on the persona of the Chair.
Mike does not feel that it is fair to the Budget Committee or the
Town to have the same Chairman all the time.
David Karrick added that the persona is a good one, Mike is not
heavy handed. All were in favor. The
motion passed. John Warner made the motion
to nominate David Karrick as Vice Chairman.
Motion was seconded. All
were in favor. The motion
passed. 3. BUDGET PROCESS FOR 2008 The Committee will look at the impact the
Town Meeting had on the budget for 2007.
The budget process will be discussed for 2008.
The last two years a goal was set.
The Committee will also discuss their position on employees going
before the Town regarding wages. John
Warner presented questions for the Committee to address; Are there any
negative effects in continuing to use the approach of adopting a fixed
upper limit to yearly budget growth at the same time allowing certain
segments to float free (health benefits, Capital expenditures etc.).
The same question was asked last year and the answer was unknown.
The real question is who gets hurt, is it infrastructure,
services or employees, what is the impact to that approach. The next
question is was there a broader message to the event at the last Town
Meeting, was it a Enron approach by a
single department who saw a chance to improve their wages because
they had support or was it a sign that maybe in the last few years
budgeting has slowly squeezed town workers pay. Also,
did the Committee see support for improving the overall wages of the
employees? Third question is
what the appropriate approach to yearly pay raises is, is there a
standard that can be reference like State guidelines, techniques
followed by industry, what’s the reference point, and what’s the
philosophical basis. The
last question is what we consider compensation, the argument that wages
plus total benefits equals compensation leaves open the conclusion that
by strictly controlling levels of total compensation we allow take home
pay to suffer because of uncontrolled increases in medical insurance
costs. David Karrick asked
if the Wage Study Committee should be reconvened to consider some of the
questions. Harold Whittemore
does not recommend reconvening the Wage Study Committee, having been on
one of the Committees, he does not see where it does anything more than
what it did and the Town still ended up with a petition.
Selectman Cook agrees with Harold, the approach that was taken
was the same approach that the Wage Study Committee set up, keeping pace
with municipal wages. The
questions put forward this evening are good for discussion by the Budget
Committee but they’re decisions for the Selectmen that they will need
to make. John Warner is
suggesting the Committee chooses an approach and to work through the
implications. Marc Violette spoke about the percentage
that was worked toward last year, the lower number of 1.8% that was
presented was never adopted by the Committee, it was voted down.
Laura added that when the Committee speaks about wages in
2005/2006 everyone received a 2.75% increase, 2007 it averaged about 4%
per person accept for the Transfer Station that received 22%.
Laura added that if you look at 2.75% and 4%, those are not
inadequate percentages when you are also looking at the increase in the
cost for insurances and benefits, if it was all rolled in together, the
increase is substantial, even separating the benefits the percentages
were fair. The wage scales
that were started by the Wage Study Committee have been increased each
year. Laura believes that
there is nothing to stop a large group of employees if they want a large
wage increase to go before the voters no matter what is done.
Marc Violette added that it is the
Selectmen’s responsibility to address the wages; it is not the Budget
Committee’s job to set policy. The
Budget Committee has in the past years set a percentage of what the
Committee would like to see for an increase in the budget and present it
to the Selectmen. Marc
believes the Committee should let the process work.
Marc does not believe what happened at Town Meeting can be
avoided. Mike is concerned that the Committee can
spend the next several months developing a budget that is felt to meet
the needs of the Town resulting in a total change at Town Meeting.
Mike would rather help the Selectmen find some approach so that
does not happen. Mike has
recommended publishing in the Town Report what the actual wages are for
2007 and the proposed for 2008 both wages, overtime and benefit costs.
This would give the voters a better overall understanding.
John Warner asked with regard to all the
questions, wouldn’t it be useful to ask the Selectmen what their
concerns are this year and their goals. Selectman Cook explained that
the Board has not given full thought yet.
As far as last year, it was believed that there was a good
process in place where everyone had an opportunity to comment on the
process. The Transfer
Station chose not to participate in the process and disseminate false
information. Pete Newman
disagreed. Selectman Cook
referred to the signs that stated “no pay raises for the Transfer
Station” which was not true. Pete
explained that was how the Transfer Station felt.
Selectman Cook added that the Transfer Station is in a unique
position, they have access to the public, and other departments do not.
John Warner asked if anything broke down in the process.
Selectman Cook said yes it broke down; to summarize the Transfer
Station did not follow the process.
John asked if any kind of mediation would have helped.
Selectman Cook stated again, the Transfer Station should have
participated in the process. Laura added that when the petition article
came forward the frustration was she was there for the Transfer Station
Department Head, Paul Fouliard, he knew it, it was not a controversial
discussion, and it has affected the working relationship between
departments. Barbara
Bartlett asked if there was a time line problem.
Laura explained the wage scale was distributed in October and it
was in October that Paul Fouliard told her he did not agree with the
scale. Mike suggested as the process moves
forward this year the Committee should be cognizant of the fact that the
potential for a wage petition could happen again this year.
Martha Mical believes that if wages are
addressed in the beginning of the process rather than the end, there may
not be as many issues. Marc does not believe the Budget Committee
should be cognizant of a Department Head or a group of employees coming
before the voters asking for more money.
The Budget Committee negotiates with the Selectmen to develop a
budget. Mike agrees that the impact on the
infrastructure of the Town based on the decisions that the Budget
Committee makes needs to be looked at closely.
The Selectmen need to inform the Committee the impact by setting
a budget cap. Selectman Cook
reiterated the steps that were taken going into the budget in order to
keep costs at target, for example changing the health insurance.
John Warner added that the major
motivation for holding the lid on total costs is the tax rate. Mike asked the attending Selectmen and
Laura their position on the Committee setting a percentage goal as
opposed to the process taking its course.
Selectman Cook feels that a goal is helpful, along with having
Laura create the budget. Laura
explained that even though there was a goal, she had asked the
Department Heads to present exactly what they need regardless of the set
percentage. 4. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM The current Capital Improvement Program
changes from year to year making planning difficult.
Marc recommends from the Budget Committee perspective using the
CIP as a tool to plan and keep it specific.
The goal of the document should provide the Budget Committee with
the information they need since they use it. The Committee asked why the
Selectmen’s office doesn’t take a more pro-active role in the
preparation of the CIP. Selectman
Cook feels that it would be beneficial for both the Board of Selectmen
and the Budget Committee to give an indication prior to the CIP
sub-committee of what is expected. Mike
recommends presentation of the CIP to the Budget Committee by the end of
August, at the front end of their planning process.
Selectman Cook recommends a letter be sent to the Planning Board
explaining the need to have the CIP early for the budget process. John Warner will be the Budget Committee
representative on the CIP Sub-Committee. 5. ROAD COMMITTEE The Committee asked for an update.
Selectman Cook as part of the Road Committee will have a report
that will be placed before the Selectmen and then would go to the CIP
with the Selectmen’s recommendations. 6. GENERAL COMMENTS The status of the last flood that took
place in April 2007 was discussed and the impact to the budget.
The status of the Field Maintenance position was discussed. The
received applications need to be reviewed by Parks & Recreation.
7. MEETING SCHEDULE The Committee will meet in July to
establish a goal. Laura
asked if the Committee would be interested in limiting the amount of
meetings and rapping up by the end of December.
Different scenarios were discussed.
It was agreed to reduce the amount of meetings. Marc recommends knowing the Town’s
increase/decrease in valuation in order to set a goal.
The next meeting will be scheduled sometime in August.
Selectman Hartman is not clear as to why the valuation of the
Town is a factor. Marc
explained there is a direct correlation between property value and tax
rate. Marc’s interest is
to keep the tax rate stable. John
Warner feels that the amount raised by taxation is what is important,
Marc agreed, that is the number that he wants.
Selectman Hartman explained that using the Town’s valuation
would not work two years ago. John
Warner added that taxes would have risen by 30%; in the cases were the
Town’s valuation jumps the argument fails so it needs to be based on
something else. Marc is
open; John recommends looking at a ten year history where the total
budget number could be looked at, also what is raised by taxation could
be looked at. Laura will generate a seven/ten year
history of what has been raised by taxation, the valuation of the Town,
tax rate and the total budget. Martha
Mical suggested beginning with 2003 because that is the revaluation year
that took a large jump. John
disagrees; the amount raised by taxation will not be affected.
The Committee discussed if the cost of living increases should be
included in the history. It
was agreed that the cost of living will be within the total budget.
Motion to adjourn
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