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2015-03-11 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 TOWN OF BERLIN BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, March 11, 2015 Board of Education Conference Room @ 6:00 p.m. A. CALL TO ORDER Chairman William Rasmussen, Jr. called the Budget Committee meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE C. ROLL CALL Those in attendance were: Councilor David Evans (6:05 p.m.) Councilor Brenden Luddy Councilor Margaret Morelli (6:27 p.m.) Councilor Charles Paonessa Chairman William Rasmussen, Jr. Mayor Rachel Rochette Councilor Peter Rosso Also in attendance: Town Manager Denise McNair Finance Director Jim Wren Budget Analyst Len Zielinski D. DISCUSSION ON DEPARTMENT BUDGETS 1. Development Services/ZBA/Conservation Commission – Account 1014, 1016, 1018 Conservation Commission Account #1018 Presenting the Conservation Commission budget: Michael DeLorenzo, Chairman of the Conservation Commission Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services Public Education – Acct. 53440 Requested $3,000 Page 1 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Michael DeLorenzo stated that the Conservation Commission is basically level with last year’s budget. They are continuing the public education for the hiking and open space areas. They have some trail maintenance issues and ongoing open space signage issues. Michael DeLorenzo added that our former Economic Development Director Jim Mahoney put a lot of effort into the open space grants, signage and the trails and they will need someone else to help if Jim is no longer available to help. Town Manager McNair stated that the Town has invested a lot in the acquisition of open space and it is important to have someone help with all the things involved with the open space. This concluded the presentation on the Conservation Commission budget. Zoning Board of Appeals – Account #1016 Presenting the Zoning Board of Appeals budget: Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services Hellyn Riggins stated that the budget is basically level with last year’s budget. Supplies – Acct. #53201 Requested $0 – merged with Development Services Commission Secretaries – Acct. #51305 Requested $1,225 – the ZBA tends to have very long meetings Development Services Account 1014 Presenting the Development Services budget: Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services Supplies – Acct. #53201 Requested $2,850 – this is a decrease from the last year’s budget – purchase the code books out of this account Professional Development – Acct. #53916 Requested $2,236 – a slight decrease due to the Asst. Planner attending less conferences This concluded the presentation on the Development Services budget. Page 2 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Planning and Zoning Commission – Account 1015 Presenting the Planning and Zoning Commission budget: Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services Hellyn Riggins stated that the budget is basically level with last year’s budget. Historic District Commission – Account 1024 Presenting the Historic District Commission budget: Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services Commission Secretaries – Acct. #51305 Requested $1,200 – reduced to $800 by Town Manager Hellyn Riggins stated that with the $800 the most times they can meet per year is eight times and she is working with that commission to reduce the amount of meetings but she is concerned that this figure may be a little low. Development Services Revenues : Hellyn Riggins stated that her Planning/Building Department revenues go into one fund and the Zoning Board of Appeals is separate from those departments. She suggested separating the Planning revenues from the Building revenues to better estimate the revenues. Planning/Building Revenues –  Building Revenues -$224,554 – of that Planning has brought in $17,800. Hellyn Riggins stated that this year the revenues are low compared to what she had projected, but they are going into their building season now and there should be an increase in their st revenues. She does not have any major plans coming up between now and July 1. The only major project they had this year was Depot Crossing. She stated that if the sport complex goes through then there should be a lot of permitting fees from that project. There is also the subdivision of the Petow property which will help bring in more revenues and they also have Beckley Farms project which is moving into phase III. Councilor Paonessa inquired if it is possible to combine some of the clerical positions. Page 3 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Hellyn Riggins stated that she does not have a clerical position in the Planning Office. If we went down to two staff in the Building Department, they would both have to be inspectors and then one would have to be trained to work the counter. She has to have coverage if the building inspector is out; she currently has 1.5 building inspectors. She would like to have the current Zoning Enforcement Officer as the full-time Asst. Planner and have a new position of Building Inspector/ Zoning Enforcement Officer because she currently has to send two people out for the same job to address different issues. She added that some towns have morning hours to do their permits and afternoon hours to do their inspecting; this would allow her to have a part-time clerk instead of a full-time clerk. There has been some discussion about building permits being purchased online, this would also be a big help. This concluded the presentation on the Development Services budgets. 2. Library – Account 2544 Presenting the Library budget: Helen Malinka, Library Board Director Helen Malinka stated that back in 1991, when their book budget was $80,000 they pretty much just had to buy a book ($9.82) however, these days they cannot just buy a book, they have to buy a downloadable e-book, the book on CD, buy the DVD, the actual book, the MP3, and a large print copy of said book ($277.67). They do not buy all formats of the book for every title but it is very stressful trying to determine what books will be needed in what format. Helen Malinka stated that their book budget for this year is $87,000 and that is only $7,000 more than they had in 1991. Last year, their book budget was cut by $6,000 and she put in this year to raise it by $3,000; she is trying to get it back to $93,000. If this is restored it will help them serve the people of Berlin much better. She stated that she would also like to speak about technology. By rearranging some of the duties of the Reference Department she was able to create a 17-hour position for digital services. This position handles all of technology along with working their reference desk and would like to add three hours to this position. Mayor Rochette inquired as to the amount of circulation for books and other items. Helen Malinka stated that the use of e-books has risen tremendously; other circulation is down slightly. She added that she was able to save a lot this year in technology costs. She also Page 4 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 explained that the library is a part of a global network of thirty libraries and things that they purchase can be borrowed by any of those libraries. Councilor Evans inquired if the cost for the e-books represent one year. Helen Malinka replied that some publishers do allow them to buy a title and it will last for a certain number of checkouts, some limit the title for only two years, and others sell the title outright. CAPITAL OUTLAYS: Helen Malinka stated that the meeting room is heavily used by outside groups and we also hold group meetings there. The sound system is very poor, the microphones are broken, and there is no way to assist hearing impaired patrons. They have obtained a few estimates from local companies for the upgrade to the meeting room. This concluded the presentation on the Berlin Peck Memorial Library budget. East Berlin Library Presenting the East Berlin Library budget: Joanne Clark, Librarian Joanne Clark stated that all they have at the East Berlin Library is books; they do not have any CDs, e-books, DVDS, etc. The library is attached to the East Berlin Firehouse and they kindly pay for the heat and the electricity of the library. She is here to ask to have the $500 restored to their budget that was cut last year. They are only open 8 hours a week but they serve a lot of people, especially senior citizens and children. The large print books are borrowed from the State Library at no cost and they no longer purchase any magazines. She would like her budget restored back to the $3,500. The library does receive donations throughout the year and they donate some of their books to other libraries. This concluded the presentation on the East Berlin Library. 3. Nursing, Private Schools, School Expenses – Accounts 3053, 3559, 3561 Presenting the Nursing Budget: Linda Colella, Nursing Director Page 5 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Pamela Bobrowski, President of the VNA Board Sharon Lyons, Vice-President of the VNA Board Linda Colella stated that last year they had a decrease of 8% in patients and they are in major competition with other agencies in the area. She has put in a very aggressive market plan and went out and spoke with the people that had sent them referrals. They were averaging about 80- 85 patients but now they are averaging 100-105 patients and this is the highest they have ever been. She is working on trying to maintain this increase in patients. Due to the Affordable Care Act, Homecare has received 17% less in Medicare reimbursements and they are constantly auditing information and denying claims. This year their Medicare Revenue was up and 58% of their revenues were from Medicare; in addition their costs were down. Their Medicare profit margin share was 14.17% and this was an increase over last year’s 10.38%. They are scrutinizing every Medicare chart looking for accuracy and keeping their patient costs down. This year she has also included the total costs of unreimbursed services and the total was slightly over $86,000. They continue to provide informational sessions, flu clinics, blood pressure clinics, and family meetings about Homecare. They have received an award for their services and for their best practices that they provide and they were in the top 25% of patient satisfaction. She stated that the other major change is with the telemonitors. They have been leasing the telemonitors from VNA Healthcare but she has a feeling that she will not be able to get these monitors from them anymore. She would like to do a 3-year lease with Honeywell for six telemonitors with a cost savings of $28,107.00, and after the third year is completed they have the option of buying the telemonitors for $1 each. The current telemonitors they are using are over eight years old. The last major change was removing the Medical Biller position due to all the problems they had and to go with an outside company to do the billing; they are working out very well. Chairman Rasmussen, Jr. asked if the Nursing Director is comfortable with the revenue projections for the upcoming budget. Linda Colella replied that she has kept the revenue projection the same for the past three years and she will do her best to reach her projection. Typically agencies were allowed to give Home Health Care; whether it was a shower, or bath, or a little homemaking. The State has now changed that the Home Health Aid Services and the Page 6 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Homemaking need to be separate entities. They currently have 17 patients that are getting homemaking because Medicaid will still order Home Health Aid Services, skilled nursing and homemaking. She would like to continue offering all three services because it is an opportunity to make more revenue. They will have to separate the services and the documentation associated with it. Private Schools – Account 3559 Presenting the Private School Nursing budget: Linda Colella, Nursing Director Linda Colella stated that this budget is basically level with last year’s budget other than the increases in salaries and benefits. School Expense – Account 3561 Presenting the Private School Nursing budget: Linda Colella, Nursing Director Linda Colella stated that this budget is basically level with last year’s budget. This concluded the presentation on the Nursing budget. 4. Recreation – Account 2542 Presenting the Recreation budget: Jim Capodice, Director of Community Services Debbie Dennis, Asst. Director of Community Services Jim Capodice gave a brief overview of the programs that are run by the Parks and Recreation Department. The overall Parks and Recreation budget is up 2.8% over last year’s budget due to salaries, benefits, contractual and part-time accounts. Computer Support – Acct. #53813 Requested $3,222 – Increase due to the cost of their software program Summer Pool Programs: Jim Capodice stated that the Summer Pool Program runs about eight weeks and his Asst. Director will give an overview on the program Page 7 of 8 Budget Committee Meeting – 2015-03-11 Debbie Dennis stated that the Aquatic Poolside is trying to provide general swim for people and last year they had almost 400 hundred children in the swim program with 14 swim instructors. The Swim Team is very popular; they have 115 members in the program that includes both Juniors and Seniors. She thanked the Council for giving them funds to hire additional staff for the Summer Program last year and the participants went from 105 to 122. Jim Capodice stated that due to the construction scheduled for Griswold School this summer they will be forced to take that summer program out of the school and bring it over to the Community Center on Percival Avenue. Councilor Evans inquired as to how their costs for these programs compare to the cost of child care. Debbie Dennis stated that their prices very low and they may look at increasing the fees in the future. Councilor Paonessa inquired about the Extra Duty Police Officer account. Debbie Dennis stated that the amount in this line item is for the Police services for special events. The Tinsel Run requires for officers and the other events require only one but they have to pay them overtime for these events. This concluded the presentation on the Recreation budget. E. ADJOURNMENT Councilor Rosso moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:57 p.m. Seconded by Councilor Evans. Vote being 7-0. (MOTION CARRIED) Submitted, Kathryn J. Wall _____________________________ Clerk of the Meeting William Rasmussen, Jr. Chairman Page 8 of 8