April 19, 2016
Westport Finance Committee (Fincom)
Meeting Minutes
Westport Town Hall
April 19, 2016
Present: Tracy Priestner (TP), Gary Carreiro (GC), Dick Brewer (DB), Charles “Buzzy” Baron (BB), Hugh Morton (HM), Bob McCarthy (BM)
Absent: Karen Powell (KP)
Attending: Terry Provencal (TA), Tim King (TK)
BB opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. with the traditional salute to the flag.
Due to the resignation of Shana Shufelt, Chair and Mark Carney, Vice-chair, BB made a motion to elect HM as interim Chair until June 30th . BM seconded it and the vote was unanimous. BB also made a motion to elect GC as interim Vice-chair until June 30th. TP seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous.
Minutes: None
Reports:
Administrator: TK handed out new revenue estimates for FY17.
School Building: None
Accountant: None
Liaison: None
Annual Town Meeting:
Article 12: This is to allocate $40k for the further reval. Balance in the account currently is approx. $55k and they feel they will need this plus the additional monies. TP motioned to recommend at $20k instead of $40k and BM seconded it. The vote was unanimous to recommend at $20k.
Article 3: Transfer for Treasurer in the amount of $1,600 was motioned by BB and seconded by TP and the vote was unanimous in favor.
Transfer for Registrars in the amount of $10,165 was motioned by TP and seconded by GC and the vote was unanimous in favor.
Transfer for Veterans in the amount of $35,000 was motioned by BM and seconded by TP and the vote was unanimous in favor.
Transfer for Street Lights in the amount of $5,500 was motioned by TP and seconded by BB and the vote was unanimous in favor.
The transfer for Snow & Ice was tabled awaiting a final figure from the Highway Department.
Transfer for Fire in the corrected amount of $68,248 was motioned by GC and seconded by DB and the vote was unanimous in favor.
Article 4: The vote was postponed awaiting revenue numbers.
Article 8: This is to accept the Fire Union contracts for FY15 with $14,031 from free cash. BM motioned and DB seconded to recommend. The vote was unanimous in favor.
Article 9: These are for certain capital items:
$160k for Information Tecnologies was motioned by BM and seconded by BB and all were in favor for recommendation.
$100k for the Macomber School parking lot was tabled for more information.
$15k for a new well at the Briggs Rd Fire Station. Tabled for more information.
$133k for the Highway barn roof from Chapter 90 funds motioned to recommend by GC and seconded by TP and the vote was unanimous.
$160k for a Highway truck was tabled until final budget numbers.
$126 for Police cruisers to come from free cash of $100k and $26 from the general fund was motioned to recommend by GC and seconded by BM and all were in favor.
$37k for a Fire Department SUV was motioned to recommend by BM and seconded by DB and all were in favor.
$50k for the Senior Center parking lot was tabled.
Article 14: BM motioned and DB seconded to recommend $15k for the Cemetery maintenance. The vote was unanimous.
Article 16: This was tabled to another meeting.
Article 22: This article is to approve the $8 million for the new Police Station to go to the ballot for a debt exclusion. Tabled pending the Police Chief attending the next meeting.
Article 42: This article is to move money to the Stabilization Fund which normally gets passed over due to no funding. TP motioned and BM seconded to defer recommendation to Town Meeting. The vote was unanimous.
Other Items:
Bob Grillo and Steve Medeiros, Assessors, were in attendance to discuss the setting of the tax rate for 2016. They discussed some directives put forth by DLS to accomplish over the next couple of years. They spoke on the next reval being in FY19.
Adjournment and next meeting: There being no further business to come before this meeting, a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 p.m. was made by TP and seconded by BB and the vote in favor was unanimous. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on April 21st at 7 p.m. at the Westport Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicole Botelho, Recording Clerk