Finance Committee Meeting Minutes February 4, 2019

Buckland Finance Committee Minutes

February 4, 2019

Meeting Called to Order at Buckland Public Library at 7:01 p.m.

Committee Members Present: Karen Blom, Ciara Hayden, Paula Consolo, Raymond Lanza-Weil,

Larry Langford

Others Present: Barry DelCastillo, Marilyn Kelsey

1. Motion to accept minutes from 1/21/19 – by Karen, second by Raymond, unanimously approved.
2. Review of Department Meetings from 1/26/19
   1. Arms Library – need to redo their budget sheets to make corrections. Budget will be slightly higher than last year. (2.5% increase)
   2. Police Department
      1. New vehicle request ($49,554 plus $800 for logo painting, $50,354) submitted.
   3. Buckland Public Library
      1. They are level-funded from last year. The same 2.5% increase is needed for certification and funding by the state, but the increase will be found later

High speed internet more widely available may reduce internet usage in the library. To mitigate this impact they will engage in more aggressive marketing and awareness of activities/events going on.

1. They have asked for an increase in assistant hours since librarian’s hours are capped at 18.5 hr/week
2. Highway
   1. There are two vacancies, making four employees not six. And they’re down one truck.
   2. His request is different from last year: using Chapter 90 funds for design costs for several TIP projects.
      1. Asking for $242,000 for local road paving
      2. $1.25/hr increase immediately for the highway crew approved by BOS
3. Schools
   1. Governor’s budget discussed. $200,000 negative impact from the proposed state budget. Three plans in the State House for Ch 70 revisions, but they will take time to work through.
   2. Barry is pressing MMA to get behind the reform effort.
   3. Fin Comm was asked to provide School Committee with desired loan term (5,7,10,15 year repayment plan) for the BSE asbestos remediation project. This is a project in two parts. This amount is for the second part.
      1. Fin Comm wished to finish the first part before funding the second – no overlap in the debt repayment
      2. School Committee wants to do it as soon as possible.
      3. Term of the loan affects annual repayment amount. Faster amortization has slightly higher annual amount but saves money in the long run and it’s finished sooner. It’s the sense of the committee to recommend a five-year term.

1. Review of Senior Center Expansion Committee meeting on 1/24/19
   1. Presentation by architects on their process for site reviews and how they down selected to four properties: Mole Hollow, Arms Academy field (new construction), Buckland Police Station, King/Bishop property (new construction).
   2. Mole Hollow would cost $4.1 million (There is no retail revenue model). Arms Academy costs $4.7 million. King Bishop $4.2 million. Police Station $3.4 million
   3. Expansion Committee voted to approve Mole Hollow as their pick.
   4. Operating Budget is estimated to be $220-230 per year. Apportioning that means $68,000 per year for Buckland.
   5. There is a public presentation on the Senior Center on February 13^th, 7:00 p.m, at Mohawk and Monday the 25^th, 2:30 p.m., at the Senior Center.
2. Discussion of Draft Operating Budget 2/4/2019 (New Worksheets)
   1. Town Administrator, Bob presented new format worksheets and updated data. The new worksheets were reviewed by the Finance Committee line by line. The comments made will be reflected in an updated version of the worksheets.
   2. There are several numbers missing, which Bob will obtain and share back with us. It’s been hard to get data at this point in the calendar.
   3. Veteran’s accounts are reimbursed at 75% and could be put into a revolving account which would allow for spending the money in the year it is received.
3. Public Comments Section
   1. School Budget questions about debt projects (Marilyn Kelsey)
4. Motion to adjourn made by Karen seconded by Raymond, unanimously approved at 9:07pm

Respectfully submitted by Larry Langford