March 15, 2016 Minutes

Meeting date:

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Westport Finance Committee (Fincom)

Meeting Minutes

Westport Town Hall

March 15, 2016

Present: Shana Shufelt (SS), Dick Brewer (DB), Gary Carreiro (GC), Charles “Buzzy” Baron (BB), Tracy Priestner (TP), Hugh Morton (HM), Bob McCarthy (BM), Mark Carney (MC), Karen Powell (KP)

SS opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. with the traditional salute to the flag.

Minutes: Tabled til next meeting in order to get started on budget hearings

Reports:

Administrator: None

School Building: TP stated there was a meeting the next night, March 16th at 6pm to open bids for design services.

Accountant: None

Liaison: BB made a motion to appoint the following to the BAG for a term to last until they are no longer a member of the committee they represent. Craig Dutra, BOS, R. Michael Sullivan, BOS, Michelle Pacheco, School Committee, Nancy Rioux, School Committee.

MC seconded the motion and all were in favor. DB suggested that we also invite the Police and Fire Chiefs to those meetings.

FY17 Budgets:

Library: Sue Branco, Library Director, was in attendance, along with many trustees, to discuss the FY17 budget. The small increase is for the part time aides. Then request and TA recommendation is the same at $228,012 plus an additional amount from Trust funds and Grants. The only other request would be an additional $6,715 to increase the Assistant Director to 40 hours which is in negotiations. This budget covers the minimum required to remain a part of the Sails Network and the Commonwealth Catalog.

Historical Commission: William Kendall, Chair, was in attendance as well as Jane Loos and Geraldine Milham. The FY17 budget is level at $725. They are looking for an additional $1,575 so they can hire a clerk at $20 per hour to do the necessary filings with the state and keep track of the hearings. Currently they charge $50 for a hearing but only for those that have to be filed with the State. BM suggested looking into the fees and charging for all hearings and making sure we are up to speed with what the other surrounding towns charge. BB praised the volunteers for their selfless hard work over the years.

COA: Beverly Bisch, Director, was in attendance to present the budget. The original request was $183,841 and the BOS approved $166,988. She chronicled the change in revenue and expenses over the years and the fact that the audit had them spending down the revolving accounts and now some are drastically low. The SRTA grant is no more. She is worried that they will run out of money as the grants are not as abundant as they have been in previous years. Transportation alone cost $86 and only had revenues of $26. They don’t charge a fee, they ask for a donation and most are generous but some seniors are on fixed incomes and cannot afford it. Donations have increased over the past year. BM would like a detailed chart of exactly how many seniors in Town utilize the COA broken down by program. GC asked about a senior work off program, Bev said she would look into it. Article 9 of the Annual Town Meeting warrant has $50k request for the COA parking lot. Bev said this was just the beginning phase to streamline the lot to make it more accessible. This first phase would be to clear and gravel and do the engineering. The BOS recommended $0 for this project.

Veterans: Brad Fish, Veterans Service Officer, was in attendance to discuss his FY17 budget and request for additional funds for FY16 which are included in the Annual Town Meeting warrant. His handouts showed benefits paid for the last many years. KP pointed out that his benefits have increased 400% in the last 4 years. This is due to the increase in Veterans becoming eligible for benefits and moving into Town. The Town does get reimbursed 75% of what is paid out but there is a year lag. BB questioned whether anyone has approached the legislature to change the percentage. The budget present is short approximately $43k and that is if no new benefits are paid out. Each week he could have someone new come on or someone come off. It is very unpredictable and therefore hard to budget for. It was asked to analyze the last couple of years and come up with a growth percentage to determine a more accurate number for FY17 which could fluctuate month to month during FY17 based on the need of Veterans in Town.

Police: Keith Pelletier, Chief, was in attendance to present the FY17 budget. He reported on a level budget with a change in clothing allowance from general expenses to being part of their base salary. Their is an article on the annual Town meeting warrant for $126k for new cruisers to come from revenue and free cash. The new building project manager should be approved shortly by the BOS and we should have the design before Town meeting. The new building is going to cost $8 million, which is less than the original figure due to the fact we can tie in to the existing fire station septic system.

Animal Control: Chief Pelletier also presented this budget which is level in the amount of $49,901. He stated they have finally got the budget on track due to a generous donation of the new vehicle and money to run the spay/neuter program for feral cats.

Reserve Fund Transfer:

Brad Brightman, Treasurer, attended to request a transfer of $15,243.48 to cover the buyout for the Assistant Treasurer. After much discussion of the aesthetics of running the office, GC move to approve the transfer for the full amount requested. BM seconded the motion and all were in favor.

Adjournment and next meeting: There being no further business to come before this meeting, a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:40 p.m. was made by TP and seconded by GC and the vote in favor was unanimous. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on March 22nd at 7 p.m. at the Westport Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Nicole Botelho, Recording Clerk