2010-03-18bud
Budget Meeting – 3/18/2010
TOWN OF BERLIN
BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Board of Education Meeting Room @ 6:00 p.m.
Minutes
A.CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Robert Dacey called the Budget Committee meeting to order at
6:07 p.m.
B.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
C.ROLL CALL
Those in attendance were: Chairman Robert Dacey
Councilor Karen Drost
Councilor Stephen Morelli
Councilor Rachel Rochette
Councilor William Rasmussen, Jr.
Mayor Adam Salina
Absent: Councilor David Evans
Also in attendance: Town Manager Denise McNair
Finance Director Jim Wren
Budget Analyst Len Zielinski
D.WORKSESSION 2
FY11 BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS:
Expenses:
Wage Negotiation Impact of Chief/Deputy Chief -
Increase of $9,512.
Chairman Dacey stated that the request for the Police Chief and Deputy Police
Chief salary increase was an 8% increase. This was due to fact that the two
Lieutenants’ salaries are very close to the amount of the Police Chief and Deputy
Police Chief’s salaries. He feels that this should be addressed but the 8% increase
is too high, especially during these economic times.
Councilor Morelli suggested that since the Lieutenants’ salaries are going to be
closer to the Deputy Police Chief’s salary perhaps the Police Chief’s salary should
be a 3% increase and the Deputy Chief’s increase should be a 5%.
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Budget Meeting – 3/18/2010
Councilor Drost expressed her concerns about giving a 4% increase to some
Town employees and it becoming an issue with the three Union Negotiations
coming up this year.
A discussion was held on Top Management salary increases and merit raises.
Town Manager McNair stated that in the proposed budget the Top Management is
getting a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment raise and an additional $10,000 was put
into Wage Negotiations for their merit raises.
After a lengthy discussion it was the consensus of the Budget Committee
members to have the Top Management raises be all merit raises and to fund for a
4% merit raise increase in the Wage Negotiation Fund for each Top Management
position.
New Cart Lease –
Increase of $38,000.
Len Zielinski stated that he met with Golf Course Superintendent Jonathan Zuk to
discuss the new Cart Lease. He presented a summary sheet from Jonathan Zuk on
possible cart leases.
?
Two companies - Club Car Co.- $64,000 a year or East Go Co.- $51,000 a
year.
?
GPS Option – Club Car Co. $36,000 per year or Easy Go Co. - $25,000 a
year.
?
We currently have 55 carts with 20 supplemental carts – Would like to go
to 60 carts and 15 supplemental carts
Len Zielinski stated that we are currently paying $44,600 and in this proposed
budget it has been increased to $57,600. He stated that most of the golf courses in
this area, that we compete with, offer golf carts with GPS systems. The total cost
for the GPS option is a $25,000 annual fee.
Chairman Dacey stated that currently the cart lease generates a profit of $50,000
based on sales of $300,000. With the proposal to lease the carts and include the
GPS option it will reduce the profit to $12,000.
It was the consensus of the Budget Committee to revisit this item at the March
nd
22 meeting.
Dispatcher Adjustment –
Increase of $7,705.
Finance Director Jim Wren stated that he received information from the Police
Department that a dispatcher had resigned and they were able to put a lower pay
rate in the budget for a new dispatcher. The dispatcher that resigned decided to
come back and now the budget has to be adjusted to her salary rate.
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Budget Meeting – 3/18/2010
BOE –
Decrease of $170,000.
Mayor Salina stated that what is hurting the BOE budget most is the tuition fees.
He would like to invite the Board of Education back in on Monday and discuss
reducing their operating budget by $150,000 which would reduce the overall
budget increase of 1.91% ($696,466) to 1.5% ($546,466) for the Board of
Education.
Site & Building –
Increase of $200,000.
Chairman Dacey stated that this request for $200,000 should be allocated for the
loop at Griswold School due to the safety issue and it being a #1 priority item.
Mayor Salina asked if there are any design plans for the loop at Griswold School.
John Pajor, Superintendent of Building Maintenance stated that there are no
formal plans for the loop.
Finance Director Wren stated that we should look to see if there are any funds
available from DOT to do the loop at Griswold School.
John Pajor stated that the Board of Education decides on how the funds in the Site
& Building account will be used. He stated that he does meet with the BOE
Business Manager on a regularly basis and they discuss what projects need to be
done first. Back in the 1970’s, the Board of Education determine where and how
they would spend their funds and there was no input from the Town. The Town
did eventually add the Site & Building Dept. #61 to the budget so that they could
designate funds to be used for site and buildings but the BOE would still chose
what projects would be done with those funds. If the funds were put into the
Contractual Services & Projects line item then the Town could designate what
projects should be done.
Mayor Salina stated that if we take all of the #1 and #2 priorities in Site &
Building, minus the Griswold School loop (will pursue through DOT), it would be
approximately $150,000, and all of the #1 priorities in the Capital Equipment
account total $168,000.
Animal Control Vehicle –
Town Manager McNair stated that the cost for the
Animal Control vehicles is now down from $55,000 to $38,000 but it would have
to be purchased immediately. Our Fleet Manager has located a used vehicle for
the Animal Control Department for $38,000 but it would have to be picked up in
Pennsylvania. The suggestion is to use the funds in the Vehicle Reserve Fund to
purchase the vehicle now and still fund the $38,000 in this line. After the vehicle
is purchased we could transfer the $38,000 from this line item back into the
Vehicle Reserve Fund.
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Budget Meeting - 3/18/2010
Chairman Dacey stated that there are other funds that should be transferred into
the Vehicle Reserve Fund because a lot of things are coming out of that fund. He
stated that most of the funds in this account are already committed.
It was the consensus of the Budget Committee to go forward with the r~eduction to
the mill rate increase to a.98% mill rate increase and to discuss the rernaining
adjustments at the Budget Committee meeting to be held on Monday,lNlarch 22,
2010.
Chairman Dacey asked the Budget Committee members if they have all had
enough opportunity to put their input into the budget. All the members present
confirmed that they did.
E. MINUTES
No action taken on minutes.
F. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Salina moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:25 p.m.
Seconded by Councilor Rochette.
Vote being 6-0. (MOTION CARRIED)
Submitted,
,~
Kathryn J. Wall ~'~,,,~ '" ,. ~
Clerk of the Meeting Robert Da ey, Chairman \';
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