[Music] hey Jim um I think we have everybody we're going to get um so I want to call to order the uh meeting of the finance
committee for the town of Halifax it is 602 pm on the 24th of February uh for the finance committee present are Michael Frank Johnston Ed Brian Bill Smith Mike Retta and myself Cheryl Burke is away so
um we have quarum and we will go ahead and get started so just a couple of housekeeping items before the meeting starts uh this meeting of the Halifax finance committee is being recorded by area 58 for distribution later and public review uh committee members uh
are are in attendance with the exception of Cheryl Burke uh r call vote for any items that will be approved um and two additional pieces so the first thing is is the budget reviews we're going to go over tonight uh is only to review and discuss the Department's budgets and no
decisions or votes will be made on them uh at on this specific call uh we do have a number of people on for for uh to from the public so in order to facilitate any conversations with that I would ask that the department heads stay
on the line uh and we will be pulling the public participation agenda item up uh to the uh to to be uh implemented after the uh third budget review of the police department so uh with that said
um the first item on our agenda this evening uh as a matter of course is to just uh go for the acceptance of the meeting minutes from uh 28 they were sent out one that evening after the call uh I imagine everyone has had an
opportunity to review them does anyone have any uh changes deletions or ads that they would like to go through with the meeting minutes look good to me Jim look good to me good look good to me I have a motion for approval so moved second thank you
roll call vote Mr Bennett yes Mr Johnston yes for meetings on 02 18 2025 very good thank you Sir Mr Brian do Jim I abstain I was traveling
last week Roger that uh Mr Retta yes and I'm a yes as well so the meetings uh will be approved as written okay so let's get into the meet of our agenda we are going to be doing uh several departments tonight the
highway department the library and then the police department so we will start with the highway department um so Steve I see that you're on and I appreciate you being being here so um why don't you go ahead and get us started Cody are you going to is there something being is or
is there a uh a file we're going to be looking at or um I mean I can pull up the sheets everyone should have access in the in the shared Drive um there really shouldn't be changes from there Beyond um anything discussed
with the Liaisons I think what what you'll see um in all the budgets tonight is very lean operations pretty much only uh increases whereas contractually required and um we've asked everyone to cut kind of where they can and I think
you'll see that tonight there's one line item when we get to highway that um Steve and I can give a little more information on and that is under the um storm water management but I'll let Steve get started okay Steve hello um so
like Cody said there's only a couple uh contract numbers that I have to go up on the rest I basically did the uh level budget um the first one is the uh where is
it line four I mean Article 4 line 83 it's in for level budget but that's one of the uh 10% Cuts M that you want us to put in for and do you have
the paperwork on all the you know what give me one second I'm going to share the spreadsheet with all the information so everyone's looking at the same thing sure okay can everyone see this yep y okay you want to start at 77 we go right
down at then instead I think so Steve yeah all right let find it all right well the I can't find mine now oh there the um line
77 is for the highway surveyor wages salaries and that would be the 2% raise $1,650 which would make it 84152 it it's different there than what
we're seeing yeah so Steve the salary from last year had gotten reduced at town meeting yeah I'm going off of the fiscal year 25 and then added the 10
2% from that okay I'll have to confirm what what that number is this is It's that's different than what I had yeah yeah because it's showing a 4.8% increase well that that's that's why I didn't
want to show this necessarily don't pay attention to that that that's that's based on what what my recommendation is that's not based on what the department requested so maybe keep going down the list Steve I'll confirm the that that
figure from 25 all right um the next one is the clerical the highway number 79 that is a 2% Cola and that's for
total of 56 2 I mean 56620 oh I forgot the uh $520 longevities that in there also so that's why I came up it was be
5610 Z 521 I mean $52 longevity which came to 56620 there there's also um I believe a a couple step increases in there so it's the 2% plus a couple step
increases sorry I didn't put that one on here I did I just have the 2% sorry no it's okay this figure in the um represents that all right line uh four where am I
at wages and Personnel I can't find my P I just had it too so the next one on this list is uh clerical Steve and I I think you only see a 1.2% in so contractually this position is part of the Union but um
we when we budgeted last year we had budgeted uh a little more than necessary we there we were in negotiations with that specific position with some of the duties that they were going to be responsible for so we budgeted a little more than we needed um because we were
within those negotiations so with that the increase for this coming year is minimal because we compared to last year um so that's why there's only a 1.2% increase there and that you that's the what I was just talking about the clerical
right uh for yeah for clerical for for Cathy's position yeah yeah all right and then the next one is the the wages not I can't find the number the line 78 is the total Highway
wages for all of the workers is that correct what I'm looking for is the 78 yeah yeah so that that represents a um 3.4% increase this is the they are all Union down there they have a settled
contract for 2% cost living adjustment for fiscal year 26 uh and then there's a few positions in there that um have step increases so that's why it ends up being a little bit higher because when you average the step and the colas um in
there so we we complete all of these wage line items we complete um we we project out what the actual wages will be for the next fiscal year and then we input what the actual number is so this is this is the actual what we anticipate
given the contract okay um so line 78 also includes the straight time and overtime wages is that correct yes yep it includes all wages for all the highway um labor is mechanic every everyone in the highway department minus
the surveyor and the clerical staff and the overtime is included in that number correct yes and to make it more complicated that could is going to be going down because one of our people with three years
experience so he's on step three is gone and I'm in the process of hiring a person that will be stopped starting at step one so that could go down a little bit so I'm I'm just curious how many so
the the two and a half percent is blanket across all employees how many are getting how many are getting steps no 2% Jim is a cola for all employees Right Said
steps yeah so there so the the this specific Union um is on a six-step system so there anyone who's been there six or more years is maxed out and will only get the 2% and we have is it two or three employees Steve that would be
receiving a step increase two two yeah and how long's the current CBA in effect we uh fisal 26 will be the last year okay and the two 10% cut which I put in for
there is the uh the park time which is 2350 and the fulltime position which would be the whole thing would change because I I after I talked to Cody I figured out a
different way to do this that might help us if we do have to do cuts yeah so Steve I wouldn't worry too much about the going into detail on the cuts at this point if um ideally just go over kind of what your level service request
is um within this and then at a future meeting if we're looking to have to make Cuts you know that'll be something we can talk about with the lead on and stuff but I don't want to create too much confusion I think the best bet is is run through what your requests are let the committee ask some questions and
then we can go from there okay so then that will be um the total on that increase as he Cody just said was the toll for the contract which will be
354 552 that's on there so I think yeah your next three Steve your expense your maintenance and your equipment your level funding so no increases there everything there is going to be level
funded and then after that we have storm water managements this is the one I wanted to talk about so we um the storm water manage this is a requirement of our ms4 permitting it falls under Steve's department but we really take a
holistic approach from it we have a team um but a lot of it the work just falls under the highway department so the permit uh ms4 permit uh regulations are being updated and with that there's going to be some additional requirements
so you see quite uh we work with VHB engineering and they help us prepare our budget for the fiscal year with this you can see they came in they predicted it was going to cost us $182,500 um I think some of the work that they've
included in the um bringing someone else in we can have the highway department do but we're still looking at a pretty sizable increase um there so um that's that's the reason for it and unfortunately there's really no way around
that what's driving that increase what part of the um change in the storm water um plan is um is being is going to have to be implemented this year there were was it is it two projects Steve that we have to implement
in the some sort of filters yeah there two two one right now that we have it engineered and we have to put in that's that's the uh first project and the other one is trying to get some filter systems or some something near the lakes and that's where the cost is going to be
coming in so as part of our permit we have to do one one project a year or one major task a year uh moving forward so this is just yeah the cost of that the cost of um street sweeping is taken um
into this we're fortunate that um uh McDonald Industries takes takes some of that for us um but it's still just an astronomical cost that you're seeing towns across the state are actually implementing storm water management
Enterprise funds where it's a fee that um it's a basically a user fee so residents based on your lot coverage and contributions to storm water are paying a fee because General funds just can't can't fund it anymore um so we're
certainly not in this alone we're working with VHB to see if we can uh negotiate better rates for their their contributions uh but we're looking at you know other engineering firms and they're kind of right right along that those same lines they're what they're
charging us um Steve um Frank here what's going on down at the ponds that you have to put in a storm water um collection system what what are you just talking about putting some filter socks in or what are you talking about some screen
meshing what is it well that's the first is try to just get some of the filters like you just talk about to go into the catch Bas itself yeah talk about the on you drop just drop in and drop the Bas and back on top of it and yes but the bad part is is it takes
Manpower now we're gonna have to clean those more often because once those socks get full now now it'll be plugged up and going into the lake so we have to empty those more often that's something that our your
Crews can do correct yes we don't have to pay a contractor to do that nope nope that's one of the things we can just pull the filter out dump it in our truck and then put it in our contaminated pyot back yeah and then just drop a new filter in and put the um catch Basin
back on top correct yes but that's just like a temporary they we're going to have to have this whole I I don't know where we get the money for that but to re-engineer that whole basic street because we can't have the water running off the um the roads into the ponds and
that's what we have there so that's a future thing not right now but that's going to be an expensive undertaking when we have to do that yeah well that and being part of a state highway system
shouldn't they be contributing to that as well you think so but it's just a state numbered road they don't they don't help with our roads it's not like Route 80 and Kingston they do all the work on that on Route 3A
going through Kingston it's just we have a state numbered road that's all it is so I think the any other questions on the storm water manager before Steve moves on to snow and ice no no not for me so snow and ice
Steve you've level funded level funded snow and ice and then the next one this so street lights this one was a small increase um only because if you look at what we actually expended in 24 we went over budget we've since brought our
electricity rates down a little bit but it there still is there needs to be an increase here to cover that and then the um traffic lights Stree Warden salary tree maintenance and uh insect and Pest Control are all level
funded there any questions for Steve on his Budget on the highway yeah on the highway but then we can move on to uh Cemetery um just just a curious question Cody so Barn maintenance I'm I'm presuming
that's that that is indicative of Steve and his Crews taking care of their storage facility wouldn't that be under the Buildings Department for the town well under under this specific highway department they have a separate
line item um it's just historically been funded that way way yeah yeah we use that for like when we do the catch basins I mean the um the drains and everything inside the the barn we paid for that out of that uh that budget line
item and then we'll if we have some minor things we we can fix we use that money to do that so we don't have to go through build and maintenance so okay I I guess I understand that but it's but it's Building Maintenance
right they do the M yes they do the majority of the work it's just like I said if there's something that I don't know they're real busy all the time we will H if a door needs to be replaced or if we need to paint a wall something
happened on the that's what we use that money for I see so it's are and and Steve just correct me if I'm wrong or is it just you can't they're they just can't get you on the schedule quickly enough to get it done that's why it remains here no it's just it's one of
those things that's always been there and we we continue to do that yes it's just easy especially if it's something minor that we can just like do a quick paint or fix then it's a lot easier than having to leave it I
see so okay probably more let's we'll just I'll just have some followup questions on that Steve uh at a later point so anything else on the highway um line items no all right Steve you want to move into
um Cemetery so this the the um superintendent salary this is uh so even see position as Highway surveyor is elected the cemetery superintendent is appointed by the board of Selectmen uh
you may recall at our wage and Personnel meeting we're recommending a 2% Cola you guys haven't taken action on that yet but this reflects that if that if is that something you guys end up recommending so $243 increase there and then the same with the wages it's just a
2% COA this is a union position um and then supplies and equipment Steve has level funded it and that's it once again the cemetery wages are inclusive of overtime what was that your Cemetery
wages Steve um they're inclusive of um overtime as well or is that just straight time wages straight time wages no overtime on the cemetery work is that correct
yeah yeah the the overtime wages are on the bottom you can see it like $2,000 oh you don't have the same P sorry so so so Frank yes that line item does include overtime
wages okay so the 71,000 600 is inclusive of overtime wages yes why would we have overtime wages in the cemetery uh Mo they have a lot of burials on Saturdays and when we have burials on
Saturdays we need depend dep on the the kind of uh burial it is if it's a pration we'll have one person here if it's a regular burial we'll have two and if it's a double one of the double deep sections we need three
people because that's a deep hole and we don't want anybody getting hurt any questions on any of the cemetery items from for Steve I I I really hate to ask this but
how many of each classification have you had this year Steve how many what how many of each burial type have you had so far this fiscal year oh crap um
I don't have that paperwork in front of me but I can tell you last month we were uh at least I think it was nine barrels just in December before Christmas we average I think we average
about 26 27 barrial a year okay so two two burials a month on average yeah and of those how many are actually on a Saturday where we would have to spend
overtime oh I I really there's no no re Rhyme or Reason how that works it's just some people want to be bettered on Saturdays and I've never figured out how many Saturdays if you want me to we can figure that one out well the reason they asked is
because we have overtime wages to do it on a Saturday versus a Monday through Friday right but if it like say some that's another thing some people come in they want to be buried at one o'clock in the afternoon we get out at 3 and sometimes
they go over the 3 so there there'll be an hour of overtime right there or a half hour depends on how long they they go with their service right you would you say it's more straight time versus overtime then oh yeah yeah I
I believe so like I said that the the overtime it's not as much as it used to be it used to be a almost a lot of sday now there's sporadic s burials so so how is it that so far this
year you are over budget on your Cemetery part-time wages oh that was um when we had two summer kid help and we went a little bit over on that because it would helping basically
with the ball fields a lot and then they they were helping with the ball fields yeah that's our that's under us also that's not under Youth and wreck nope you'd think it would but it's not we have all the ball fails all the
soccer fails all the the lines around the building the any basketball courts like off the 36 and that gets charged to the cemetery that's who does all the work we have the lawnmower and stuff through there yes
we do around the school everything around the school Steve I thought those part-time wages fell under the highway for the for the Mowing and stuff no that's been out of the
cemetery should sweep that into the highway yeah we should look at that I I I wasn't aware of that Cody wait a minute you might have you're right I gotta find that one we don't have to do that tonight but
we should we need to look at that yeah Frank you're right yeah just kind of see how we're balancing that you know um put part of it's coming out of the
that but uh yeah the the parttime Wages that's the um recycle driver he works for us two days of uh a week and that's where that money comes
from from the cemetery as well well from the the highway wages part-time I went back to see when Cody said that about the parttime and that money goes is in the
contract with the Union that we have the you um recycle driver comes up here Monday and Fridays for eight hours a day we can look at it and and whatever the amount is that falls under Cemetery
we'll keep in cemetery whatever the amount falls under the the fields and stuff we'll move over to Highway that yeah yeah I would recommend that we can talk about that one I want to Circle that one all right all right what's
next you guys have anything else on the cemetery [Music] so that's it for the cemetery then did you guys want to do the um what was it the solid waste the recycle CU Ste is in here she she does a
lot of the work on that yeah take take a run at it okay so um recycling office clerical we're we're putting in a a 2% Cola um but know that this position is one of
the ones that is part of the new Collective bargain uh the new Union we have not settled a contract with them yet for fiscal 26 so there is um this is likely to change because this th they did not get a cola non-union Personnel
to not get a cola for the current fiscal year so this number is up in the air uh once we have figures on that we'll we'll let let everyone know so you can kind of ignore the clerical um line
item so do we just a quick question on that Cody I guess we anticipate having that CBA done before July 1 uh well it would actually have to be done before town meeting because we'd have to have the amounts to appropriate
um I'm not really sure we we we've had one negotiation um meeting and I I really have no clue if it'll be done or not okay and I think from our previous conversation you said there's only like
10 employees who aren't going to be in a union yeah around there might be closer to the 15 to 20 range ultimately our department heads um our COA van drivers recycling center staff um with
the yeah that's that pretty much and then some stien did positions so like youth can wreck um veteran services those types of positions but as far as kind of full-time positions to the town it it falls into that um like 15
range thank you uh the recycling center wages this is um the again these are non-union we're expecting a 2% uh Cola uh for these the reason one of the reasons for the larger increase
is to cover some um overtime and coverage there when it's necessary um Sue is looking at this we may be able to to reduce this down a little bit but we wanted to make sure that we had enough funding in place to to cover it um because sometimes an employee another
employee from the town from Highway or Building Maintenance or so on and so forth could could work it uh to make sure it's covered but they typically make a higher rate of pay so the overtime rate is a little bit higher yeah that's only usually like a Monday
night or a Saturday when we have to fill for that if the guy's out sick the um expense again this it's a it's a small increase um but a 1.1% increase there
um hazardous waste this is our hazardous waste day um that makes up this primarily and then disposal charges that's level funded and then the trash collection disposal this makes up um the basically the the contract uh for our
Solid Waste um we per the contract we go up $5 a ton in our waste for the coming year and our um overall collection costs increas increases um a a little bit we
were fortunate where we um are current year costs are coming in lower than we anticipated so even with those increases you're not going on the budget you're not seeing as much of an increase as we uh had anticipated
because we kind of we were very conservative last year um in our budgeting which is kind of helping to ease the increase in the budget for this coming year so that's why you see Su initially requested only a $500 increase but the trash is real Solid Waste is
it's so hit or miss it like if you look at our disposal tonnage there's some weeks where the town is disposing of 11 tons and then there's some weeks where we have 22 tons I mean that it's rare that we have that much but you just
don't know so you we wanted to make sure we had flexibility in this if you know if there's a high volume of trash that you know we it budgeted to get rid of it and and this is an Enterprise fund so whatever their costs are are covered by their user
fees so Cody this number is inclusive of curbside and um Town facility wide dumpsters is that correct yeah that's correct when what we do to offset the town usage is that the
general fund always makes a contribution towards it it funds part of the um Enterprise fund so if you know it on town meeting we always put a note uh like last year I think we funded $335,000 with the general fund and that
that pays for basically the town's trash trash usage because the user shouldn't be paying for the town's trash usage the general fund should be paying that so that's how we equate that out but this amount does include that yeah so it's all inclusive then yes incl also
includes the transportation cost for the rollof containers that get used yes that's the yeah Steve did we do a um hazardous waste collection in FY
25 25 we did not is 24 was the last one we did I believe trying to find another town to go in with us lot easier and cheaper right can't partner up with the Bridgewaters or Handover somebody yeah we've been trying
to get pimpon or somebody like that that's close next to yeah but it hasn't worked out yet do you think we're going to do one this year I believe she's trying to plan on one in um
I can't I don't want to say the date but I think it's this summer she wants to try to do one okay any questions any other questions on the solid waste Enterprise fund that's all for me right now okay I think that's it for you Steve
right you don't have anything else no not going for anything okay okay Steve could you just hang on till after we get through the public participation piece in case someone has questions for matter thanks thanks Steve appreciate it thank
you guys okay so I think next we have uh the library Jean hi I'm here how are you good how are you doing well thanks thank you for join
happy to be here yes I bet I bet I bet that's true all right see if I can grab this file so Jean's budget is made up of just three line items um we have her director's salary we have the wages for
the the remaining Library staff and then her expense expense account um again uh Jean's position as Library director is part of the um non-union positions so
it's the we're anticipating a 2% Cola um but there's also a step uh involved potentially now Jean has announced her retirement so congratulations to Jean so this uh Gan will not been be here in fiscal 26 but we don't know what we're
planning to hire you know the next individual at we're currently um involved in that recruitment so we're just I think it's wise to just leave this where it is uh and then if we hire someone under before the budget's finalized we can always reduce it if not
we'll just have some money left over at the end of the year um you know that that'll get certified to free cash and then her the same with her staff um Jean staff is part of the new Union so um this takes into account some steps um
and Longevity but we we don't know what's going to happen with the colas or any other uh potential imp appliations of a contract Cody how many employees are in that library for the union
um we have seven employees that's including me so we have six employees six that are going to be part of the uh new Union Yes okay thank you the library is open 40 hours a
week the library currently um is open 41 hours a week um we've been open 41 hours a week um for as long as I can remember um we are
only required to be open 25 hours a week so um I am anticipating to answer some questions on that which is um that's fine all right and that include Saturday
Jean that does include Saturday we're open um 10 to 2 um on Saturday we are open um we we open on we close on Saturday for the summertime we open the
Saturday after Labor Day and in June typically um we try to close the Saturday um after school gets out so that we're open through June on Saturdays for as long as the school is
in session basically the school session is when the library is open on Saturday yes yes and then but this year they they close quite early they close I believe that date is like the 13th so I think we
will probably only be open on that first satday Saturday which is the book sale um we are always open on that first Saturday um in June because we have a really big um fundraiser through uh
through the frel library and then Gan I just briefly if you want to go over your expense expense budget this is level uh funded from last year but if you want to just give a brief summary to the committee of what what that um so it is level funded from
from last year um my supplies from last year have gone down a little bit um and that's just because I anticipate my electric bill um I had to put down I I
put down that 14,100 as I look at my electric bills for this year I'm still up over about going to probably be around 14,000 so I didn't want to go down on that at all um
I know we're looking into a new electric thing but I I didn't want to base my budget on that um and I have and I have dues and that's just professional um professional dues um that comes out so I
I managed to level fund that but you know at the expense of that like we had talked about before um in order to stay certified with the state a library is required to spend 19%
of their total budget on materials it's just the nblc saying you know we want you to buy materials with the money that the town allocates for you because I am open the amount of
hours that I'm open I can reduce that I can fill out a form and ask the state if they can reduce that to 16% and still receive the full amount of state aid so my materials budget reflects
that I do also have um Network fees um last year I didn't I didn't put the I had the network fees and then I can't remember we took them out and I took all my network fees out
of my incentive Grant which my incentive Grant is um money that the state that the state gives me for being certified and it it it it's about $220,000 it has in the past been about the last two or
three years been about 20 ,000 I have it all documented um but that's not money that is guaranteed to be that that is obviously all on the nblc and there's a formula and you know depends on what the
governor gives the mblc so that's not just a gimme it will be something it's my incentive for being for staying certified but um I can't count on that so I mean how much did you get how much
did you get last year um last year I got a little over $20,000 in my incentive Grant state aid and that's for for improvements to the library um so my incent I can spend that
money how I best see fit okay um I can spend it on anything I can spend it on programming um the library has never had a line item for programming we rely very heavily on um the friends library
to um to fund our programming sometimes that doesn't work out we rely on staff um as part of their job to run certain programs um and then if I need um printers or I used to use that for you
know brand new computers uh but I I know now my computers are are coming out of the um out of it yeah the it budget um but when my printer breaks when um I had to buy especially you know furn if I
have to buy new furniture uh new um new story time Furniture because the old tables are kind of awkward to move um the other part of um the incentive grant that we look dad and I'm still
looking at just didn't want to spend any money until after town meeting and I know you know what my you know my network fees next year are going to run upwards of $188,000 so that's for the sales network
that's for the sales network so I just wanted to wait until after town meeting but I have been looking on at different things things um and a lot of that is the furniture for my you know Story Time programs um I
bought um the furniture for my new computer center from that um I was looking at um I got an email from a company that does story walks um outside the the building which is all part of
you know my community outreach um so things but it's things like that it's it's Necessities that the library has it's wants that the library has that are not covered in my budget um
so I don't have a line item but you know if a table breaks or I need better cheers for my you know community room or something like that yeah so besides office supply and
electric and dues everything else comes out of my incentive Grant and I also one of the thing I want to say is so I I was on a couple of um meetings in the sales network um I'm on their budget committee and I'm you know
part of the I go to the membership meetings and I asked the question on how many libraries as as part of their appropriation how that that the town pays for their
Network fees and I mean it was a small sampling um but it mostly everybody that I asked said yes the town pays you know it's in the regular Tammy it's in what the town appropriates so I thought that
was interesting so this year I want to kind of get back up there with with that where last year I didn't put that in my budget so I said well thinking we should gradually kind of reach that goal of that
um in in the past before all you know the before last year what I did was I put you know a percentage came out of my budget and a percentage came out of my incentive Grant um most of it coming out
of my incentive Grant my network fees so Y and and the incentive if I'm understanding what you're saying is you're holding that in a in like a separate account that's not part of the Town budget
correct um it well it's part of you know yeah it's part of the Town budget but like it goes into a different account yeah it's not part of my library budget right yeah so unlike other state aid gym
the library Aid is has to be directly put aside for the library it can't be used like offset the Li Library budget for instance so yeah so our state so if you look at our Cherry sheets it actually will say how much the library
um contribution is yeah but we always subtract that from our total stateid because we can't use it in our general appropriation from the state how much how much how much how much incentive Grant do you have in this account what's the value of um in my
account now um I think I have about um 40 4 and I know we we've talked about that and [Music] um but like I said I'm hesitant during this time to just to
spend that money um because at at $20,000 a whack and yes I will get additional state aid as long as I remain certified but that state a is is a fluent number so I just thought it was
prud to kind of um wait and and spend that you know wait until after town meeting to see what's happening um the trustees have asked me and it's part of my long range
plan to put lockers out front for um off hours when the library isn't open people will be able to pick up their holds and I looked into that and that's about um anywhere between a $15 to
$220,000 purchase so that's on my priority list but I don't want to you know I told the truste I don't want to make that purchase and commit to that until after town meeting but if you have the
money why aren't we spending it it's been granted for the last two years and you haven't spent it so I've bought some things over the last last two years um like I bought that computer furniture
and things like that um but you still have $40,000 I think the build the the buildup so Gan is back to spending it um at a regular pace so this year so far she spent over 24,000 of that what what
happened I think and genene correct me if I'm wrong is during covid there wasn't a lot going on in the libraries I mean they were doing a lot of as much as they could but they weren't spending as much of this grant as they would in normal times so you had a couple year buildup of that so it's not that she's
not spending the annual amount I mean this year alone she's already spent more than the annual amount is she spent 246 and we got around 22,000 um it's just di dipping into kind of that little bit of amount that had built up during covid
yeah because I thought last year we were somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 or something right yeah and we still have a balance of 40,000 right and with my you know my network fees um with that that's going
to be about 188,000 so yes I I I I am saying I do have money to spend I'm saying that I have things that I want and that the board has asked me to spend it on um I just think it's a good idea to wait till after town meeting because
I state aid is is fluid I I anticipate that we're not going down on state aid if I don't want to leave this building anticipating anything um and so after town meeting I have quotes and I'll be ready I'll be
ready to go Jean I DJ I have a quick question for you um so you mentioned earlier and if I if I remember the numbers correctly um the in order to stay licensed you have
to spend I think you said 19% of your budget on materials yes um okay and then um you you're able to get that to Red reduce down to 16% based on the amount of hours that you're opened yes okay so
two two-part question for you the first is what do you know by chance what the threshold is for that percentage reduction to remain in place so in other words do you have to stay open the 41 hours are you is it is that valid at 35
hours what's the cut off for that so um I can't um I I actually just thought of that question today when I was talking um with Ellen from the Board of Trustees and I was like oh what is that threshold so I can't answer that question directly
um I do know that if I go down to my 25 hours my materials have to go up so I'm no longer able to um you know to spend the 16% so okay and the difference there
[Music] um the difference there is a little over $1,000 in materials so that's kind of a lot of money a lot of materials and I would be very happy to put that money back in materials because materials D or
direct service to the public right and I'm not and I'm not implying that the that the um the library should reduce hours I think we have to have a big conversation you know at a later date about everything but um it would it would be really helpful to understand though if there is a if there is a
trigger threshold for that reduction though because if we're if we can if we had the ability to reduce six hours and still get that 3% reduction that's helpful right yes so now the second part of my question is if at some point just
um I will find that information out um I will um email tomorrow and um forward that information um as soon as I can awesome thanks Jean and then the the second part and I I think this is the more important for the community if if
for some reason we do have to entertain a reduction in hours for the library at some point can you sort of talk about what the impacts would be to that for the programming specifically that you do there I just I want to get a sense of what reduction means for the the
programs that you offer to the community so our reduction in hours obviously we would have to take a good hard look in that but in order to save money doing that I would have to reduce my staff if I'm going to reduce my hours
um there's there's no way and then each staff you know I would have to look at the least amount of impact I could have in order to read you
know on the on the um like where I can help like on Wednesday nights we're open till 8 I have programming every Wednesday night um and I have programming on Wednesday mornings so Wednesdays is kind of a tough day to to
I wouldn't be able to reduce there could I reduce on Friday afternoon when there's no programming sure um Monday nights used to be a very slow night I am now
booked all through March on Monday night with um an author program uh a brain um somebody that had a um a a brain injury
program I have a um LCC prr program coming in and I have a community group coming in so every mon every Monday night in March and every Wednesday night I'm I'm booked in the community room
okay so so it's at least fair to say though if if reductions need to come into a conversation there's a way to look at that without having too much of an impact on the programming depending upon how yes yes yeah okay all right great perfect thank you Jean I appreciate um and I just want
to um I don't know if this is the time for all the statistical information that I that I forwarded earlier so in FY 24 the library held uh 379
programs um throughout that whole year with the total attendance of uh 3,589 people already in FY 25 through January we've held
225 um programs with a total attendance of 2,473 so we're right on track to be to to have uh and these numbers I have to report to the
state um community room uses 359 in FY 24 and in fy2 um it's 240 already through January um so and just another um tidbit
on building attendance now yes this is this is a a figure it's based on a people counter you know the accuracy is the you know it there's a margin of error here but in FY 24 I had
28,2 49 people into the building and already I've had 18,1 35 into the building and I keep track of this on a month-to-month basis because after years of doing the aist report I know the questions that they're
going to ask so it saves me a lot of time if I keep track of this stuff on a monthly basis but yes the community impact on on closing the library I would imagine would be programming it would be staff hours
um do do you have those numbers classed Jean like students versus students of the elementary school versus students from other schools parents from the students so I know so I know that
um so the these programming numbers um on my erys report it does I do separ sear at that I didn't for the sake of this separate those because I didn't want to be like really
confusing um but there's like children's programming which is all story times and those are morning programs and then there's you know programs for um adults the yaas are tough to get in here you know we try that's always kind of a low
number but um so this is these attendance numbers that I gave you um were just a combination um and there's also um Community programs like so for all ages like you
know LCC grants that come in or um I have the senior singers coming um in March use the room on a Saturday my Saturdays are getting um very busy with programming at least you know 3 out of four Saturdays have
programs so all of those very many programs would be affected but so I my one other thing is I have my community outreach which is um visits to the school um visits to the middle
school when they're um talking about summer reading books um and things like that um it's social Community Action um holding stem prog programs or um kindergarten Readiness programs during
the summertime um so for my community outreach um I in fy2 24 I had 22 and already through January this year I have um 17 with a total attendance in FY 24 of
341 and um already um 132 um and yes I I understand it's not an exact science but we do the best we can and counting numbers so but yes I will get that information as far
as how many hours I can close not to not to mess up that material um waiver so if I understand correctly you can the 16% would go back to 19% if you
were only open 25 hours a week yes okay and I have um so my materials budget now is um 60,000 6 600 um if I have to go back up to
19% um the difference it it would be 71,9 41 so a difference of over $11,000 that I'm going to have to try to find in my already beer budget beer bones um expense
budget yeah and Jim I I just think we would need to look at um the holistic view of the the financial impacts of the reduction right so there's a staffing piece but what other savings amount uh within any type of hours reduction and
balance that off between the 16 and 19% yeah no it's that's I I agree it's it's we we have to have a much broader conversation thank you Jean that was that was impressive with all the numbers you had handy there we appreciate that you're
welcome my pleasure I love to come to finance committee meetings all right so those are the only three lineup items Cody right that's it for the library yes yep okay all right Jean
thanks um so just hang on for a few minutes really appreciate it and appreciate all the all the uh effort you put into this thank you Jean welcome so I think our third department is the Police Department chief I believe
you're on I am thank you very much for having me tonight saving the the war philosophy I see it's good um if uh okay so Cody's doing his uh stuff all right so uh first uh is U line
item 44 that's uh contractual that's the W and salaries for uh the deputy chief and my salary um combining increase of 4.4% um combined so you're adding up both you
and the deputy chief that's correct as of a couple years ago they uh they they've combined the the salaries on on on this line so that's is two point is it 4.4 meaning 2.2 per person or one is no that's just that's just from from
from from last year's um okay okay thank you sir yep it's just a combined overall increase 4.4 yep um line item 45 is the wages so the
wages are actually uh decreased from last year of 8.5% and that's due to the fact mainly that uh two of our most senior officers retired last year um so that helps us quite a bit um wages parttime um
it's um we we've we've uh budgeted about 10,000 the last couple of years um we only have two special police officers right now that uh work overtime and so
they fill in for shifts um at a lower rate so it actually benefits the town um but that number you know uh can be uh adjusted um the overtime wages the uh average for the last three years for overtime was
245 um 034 so um we're requesting 225 which is uh level funded from from last year um um so so obviously um we have the uh
the shifts to backfill we have the uh backfill of the over of uh the training when guys go to training um so um like to keep that number you know about where it is right now um to be able to meet
our our um requirements to the town um the other stuff is all level funded the only thing I just want to bring up your attention is the uh the wages for unused sick buyback so that's a contractual
obligation um but in the past um it's so it's basically a bonus for for the officers that don't take sick time um so um what happens is uh I don't think
we've ever paid that bonus off so again it'd be uh something that the finance committee could look at um when it's doing their analysis um so that's $1,792 that contractually if EV if everyone reported to work every day that they were
supposed to at the end of the year that's how much we'd be paying off um on for sick B sick buyback incentive for the officers um you guys have any questions on that before I move on to the next page okay
um I think it's so train so our training is uh um level funded again um oh Chief I when we met we had talked about increasing that at 12 um on the training
yeah oh yeah that's right yeah I'm sorry yeah you're right so yeah so uh I'm meeting with Cody and Cheryl um we're looking at increasing up to to 12 um so basically we're spending less than $1,000 per officer we have 15 officers
that have have to at the 10 training uh post mandates uh are putting a real burden on us to meet um to meet those training needs um the officers have to you know get a certain level of certifications and uh so we have to send them to the training and obviously that
cost that um you know costs money um and uh so um you know one one class could could be know $400 in in tuition and so basically our um our training budget is uh made up of the
tuition um and then some supplies and then um whatever we have left over we try to to uh to spend on our ammunition for our yearly qualifications the state requires us to to qualify twice twice a year um so so we have to budget for the
for that those um amounts of monies uh for the um the ammo obviously you know things have gone up on that so that was kind of one of the reasons why why we tried to increase it we're asking to increase it to 12,000 we we've also been very fortunate
in when we've needed to recruit we've been able to recruit officers that have already been to the um Municipal police training uh Academy but you know we don't know that that may not continue and if we have to send somebody I think I was just reading today that mptc was
proposing to increase their fee from like $3,000 to like 6,000 so yeah so we have to take that into consideration where we've been very fortunate but there's certainly a shortage of police officers around the country um particularly you know pulling
from one Department to another so again if if we had to send somebody to an academy which is a very real possibility that's $6,000 potentially right right there there's half of your training budget so um we just want to make sure we're cognizant of that so you mean an
academy like the new recruit class like a six-month Academy yeah yes that doesn't that doesn't include equipment either right no that's just for tuition yeah and do we do we pay wages on that chief for the guy for the
guys and gals to go through the classes why they oh yeah doing that yes yeah they it's a step one uh uh police officer wage while they're in the academy yeah um line item 47 is a clerical line
item so that's us wages salary and Longevity and she is going to be a member of that Union that um clal Union that um Cody uh spoke about um so um
this amount um 57 910 reflects the 2% Cola for 26 um because again uh she was a member of the waging personnel get a um an Eola at the last time meeting and again it's a you know they're going to be
negotiating a contract so that number that figure could change um as Cody spoke about and she has entitled to a longevity of 7 750 again I don't know if that's one of the items that they're negotiating so obviously that could that could also change so um that whole
entire amount could could uh increase um depending on negotiations um expense account all right so my expense account again it's level funded
um uh some so so the higher amounts that uh that we've been budgeting for is basically my internet service and data processing uh line um that's uh probably a third of of my of my 70,000 that I
have to um budget for that um office public the um recruit expense first issue unless we're sending somebody to the academy um I wouldn't uh be really um dipping into into that um and also I
we're going to start using the postage at uh which a minimal um amount but we're going to start using the postage uh machine at the Town Hall so that uh should thought you were doing that already I'm sorry to interrupted Chief but Cody I thought last year we pulled all postage from all departments and put
it in one line item well we did for the major departments police is is so so there's a couple departments that are so small like like 50 bucks 100 bucks um where they may have to you know run out and send something certified or something like that what we're doing at the Town Hall
is like everything that would go through a postage machine um just in you know standard first class mail but there could be things like if we have to send something certified that that wouldn't be in that account that would come out of a departmental account if we needed to
send something FedEx ups that would be postage that would have to come out of an expense account in a department all right thank you you good Chief I apologize for interrupting that's okay and then so my my um my other three items that are um
costly is the DU sub subscriptions and memberships Publications that uh um that um we have to pay for for licensing and all that all that other stuff um and um just office supplies stuff like that as
we all know the office office supplies are going you know keep going up and stuff like that so we we're going to try to keep it at at the at the 70 um obviously if it comes to crunch time we might be able to to you know move some numbers around and and and make some
some further Cuts but it is very uh razor razor thin um I mean I think 7,000 for my expense I think it's we've had we've been at 70 since I think a fiscal 19 so why um wider number of years that uh it
hasn't hasn't increased at all and obviously you know everything everything come else comes out of my expense account um for the operating of the of the department okay [Music] um station
maintenance so station maintenance um we um with the meeting with Cody and Cheryl we've um asking to increase it by a thousand because of the electrical cost um so right now uh the last the average we
average about $2,200 the last 12 months uh and in fiscal 24 the actual that we spent on electricity was $3,176 so um you know our our request was 20,000 obviously uh we but now we're
increasing at 21 I know that the town is uh in you know discussions with Brock to try to get some electrical credits and I think um um Cody's also doing some um some um you know other negotiating with
uh with other uh you know companies and stuff to try to keep our electrical electricity um you know at a decent um rate so hopefully that 21,000 will cover it for fiscal [Music] 27 so ke or Cody even probably on this
question is there um so that increase that thousand increase for electric down at the police station is that consistent with the rate of increase that we're doing for other departments for electricity yeah it is we made some increases um last year in some
departments in and we looked at based on Trends we didn't increase in some so like police was one we didn't increase and then when we actually looked at the data from the actuals of 24 we probably should have you can see we went over so um when we're looking at usage the the
increas is there so it's it's on par with the other departments there's other things we're taken into account too um where we're putting in some uh Energy Efficiency equipment that may use more electricity but less like oil for
instance so when we get to like the town hall budgets you'll see our electricity increase is is a is a larger percentage than like a police department but then we're reducing oil because we put in some efficient heat pumps and things things like that and and that's actually a small example at the police station
we're putting in a a new heat pump in one of the offices um so we got to take those things into account okay yeah and I'm actually asking because it looks low to me compared to others so I just want to make sure that we're we're not under
budgeting yeah out of no no I think we're good because um if you look at fisal 24 about three quarters of the year um or maybe even a little more we were paying a higher rate we hadn't contracted for the lower rate we're
paying now so just right there is um is probably like a almost 10% reduction in what we're going to pay um just in our contracted rate this year compared to fiscal 24 U so yeah I think I think we're good and then like I said with the
like the heat pump alone just the fact that we're replacing it with a new efficient heat pump um for the one that compared to the one that was there should we should see some savings okay perfect thanks codyy um contining on our last is uh the
line itm 50 which is the uh uh Cruiser maintenance um so that's uh level funded at 13,000 I'm sorry that's an in yeah so U yeah so we're gonna we're going to maintain it at 13,000 uh obviously um one of the
articles that um I'm going to put forward to Tom meeting is going to be uh continue our Cruiser replacement plan uh plan or the two Cruisers per year if that doesn't um uh get pass or or Finance you know if you the finance committee decides that that they can
only uh purchase one Cruiser then we might have to increase this um we've had we we've had kind of a run of uh of some uh maintenance issues uh recently with some some of our Cruisers um it's almost almost like a every week you know one of
the cruises is down for whatever for whatever reason we've been fortunate they're all under warranty so so the work is not costing us you know that much but um if we we're if we're extending out these cruises you know more than three years then we're going to be running into into some higher
costs um to to repair them um the um other thing too uh I I think uh finance committee is aware of is uh one of the articles that also we're going to put forward is going to be for the uh um the police boat so that's going to um going
to be in an article but obviously and part of the article is going to be a um an amount for for for maintenance and and and of and supplies to to to you know have that vessel on you know on the on the water if if the town residents decide to approve it at town meeting but
obviously um we got to put it Forward I'd be remiss if I didn't put it Forward since you know the town was uh very clear on on type of enforcement they wanted on on the lakes and obviously we need a a vessel to be out there um to conduct that
enforcement um other than that it's um kind of beborn budget um if anybody has any questions that I can how Cody have we heard back from the AG on the the uh permit on the lake for jet skis no we
haven't Chief I'm sorry no I was just going to mention that the articles that the for mentioning are part of our Capital planning process so Capital planning committee is meeting Thursday actually we'll start reviewing those and meeting
with departments the following meeting so not everything that everyone presents is going to make it town meeting right Capital planning committee is going to review and say these are the things we recommend so if you for instance don't see a boat on the capital planning Capital plan for town meeting it's it's
quite likely that that the capital planning committee says you know we have a lot of other Capital needs um and spending $150,000 on a boat does doesn't make sense because we can't present more items for town meeting then we have funding for right so even if
town meeting votes it down we just we can't present 10 things for $5 million if we only have 1.5 million for instance so that's what capital planning will do to to work those things down and make a presentation but the chief is planning to get all that submitted has submitted most of that for Capital planning to
make to review so I just wanted to clarify that Chief um Frank here Frank Johnston Chief if um you do get a boat to town meeting um
where is the training cost for in the equipment cost because I know we've talked in the past about you know they have to have certain flotation devices which have to be um also be um Kevlar whatever that is you know and
also training to operate the boat and all that where would that money come from so all that all that is being budgeted in the article we we've calculated um um all all those um recurring costs and the uh setup cost to get to get the the boat um you know out
there on for the first year and that boat would also include the trailer and that cost as well right it's the trailer the boat the the training um the uh equipment like you know you mentioned the float flotation uh flotation U devices for the for the officers that
are going to be out there um and all that so that's all Incorporated in the in the amount that's going to be on the article that includes the light kits and all that for it correct but what about mobilization of it do we have the vehicle capability to mobilize that
right so any one of our Cruisers will will be able to to that boat we're not we're not we're not asking for a uh you know no Miami viy cigar no no so we have the we we don't have to
purchase a vehicle that can move the boat around the Cruisers and or the pickup truck could do that right that's correct okay so CH Chief um I want to kind of reverse engineer where we're where we're
at right now if the if the boat doesn't make it to town meeting on the ballot and doesn't go through for enforcement on the Lakes um what impacts does that have to you from a staffing standpoint because I'm assuming based on the
article from the winter or the fall we've we've got to have some enforcement out there right and then there was also something with registration processing where that may come into a Manpower issue as well so how how does all that affect things aside from the vessel so obviously we would have to uh
uh the budget for for overtime to have the the the officers out there on on weekends um or um if like I think the town this past year did the um did like a a det police detail there um so it would be an
overtime Personnel thing and then obviously uh again Personnel at the station to be able to uh to be here when the when the when when the residents come in to apply for the they affirm it so yeah it would be a staffing thing it'd be an overtime
um okay that we would have to uh uh work on now does any of that live in the budget right now as we're seeing it today no no so we'd have to make do what we have now in the budget currently okay thank you I just wanted to make sure we
understood that thanks Chief you're welcome Chief one more thing on the boat is that required uh two officer minimum on the boat I would require two officers yeah off for officer of safety for just for you know just for you know for everyone
everyone's safety to have one officer obviously would be uh operating the boat the other officer would be doing interaction interdiction um and enforcement out on on the leg so it' be two officers per shift thank you you're
welcome and chief just to just to ask the same question and the the two people two officers per boat um I guess how is the budget written that we're looking at right now is it including the vessel going through or not so it's level funded so it's it's
not um including the uh the operating of operation of that vessel okay and then the any any of the Articles at town meeting going to reflect um Personnel cost so the article that the is being put forward will have Personnel cost
training and supplies Ju Just as as a note that could only be a one-ear thing we probably shouldn't even do it in year one you don't typically use Capital funds to to fund operating costs so you could we could probably allow it for the first
year you know let's say if Chief said it's going to cost $150,000 this year to get the boat training so on and so forth we that would cover us this year but then next year you'd have to add that into your into the police budget you know go operating cost at least right so
um yeah and and it probably if we weren't in the kind of difficult financial situation that we were now we would break it out this year and say okay what are those operational costs include that in the operating budget this year and just the boat and equipment in the in the capital um but
there's just nowhere to do it right yeah sure yeah we don't even know if we're going to make it to that point yeah okay thank thank you everybody well right Jim I believe a couple of people had their have their hands up I'm not sure if you see him no I I do see
him sir thank you for that you're welcome just wanted to um make sure anyone from the finance committee had anything else for the um uh for the police chief and the police budget I just
sorry excuse me the only other thing that um it's kind of um outside of my department but I'm responsible for is the ACO but that's a contractual thing and I think Cody can speak to that um so that's negotiated with a private uh contractor for a
certain amount um so that's um so his so basically his salary comes out of uh we you know we we we uh do the turnover for his salary um but that's a contractual uh um with a private contract that um
the town uh you know gets in and we split that right no it's just we don't split it with anybody it's it's our cost so we're paying for the entire salary for the Animal control officer that's correct well no we pay the town's full
share but the we we use a contractor yeah we so this this is an employee of the town and then the same contractor does it for East Bridgewater as well okay but they just charge us in know fee and they provide the service we're just paying a we're just paying a contract
value yes yeah yep okay it's the same contractor going to be taking the new contract again when it expires um we haven't had that discussion yet we're working on that we we were able to work with the contractor
last year and he presented no increase um he level funded it so we'll be speaking with him again um to see what you know what the service level is call volume and you know what would make sense for both for us and
them also on that Cody is that contract on our fiscal year now or is he still on the calendar for December 31st no it's fiscal year it's fiscal yeah because originally I think it was December 31st or something first generation of the
contract okay and you've you've allocated a little extra money for that uh increase is that correct um in our internal budget that's a working document yes yeah okay yeah we're we're in negotiation still with
him right okay Chiefs did we use that quite a bit yeah I mean we we have I mean we've had a lot of calls I mean recently obviously with the with the water foul last year with the Bears so um you know
we we do use them quite a bit I I could get you numbers I don't have them um actually I I I might I I can get them for you if you if you want them um no I don't need a count I just want off top of your head so we do we do utilize that contract yes yes and we utilize it more
than just domestic animals right so he he does um he he'll respond to to basically to Wildlife to domestic animals um you know any and if if it's if it's something like which
Wildlife um they'll make some recommendations obviously you know they're not uh um but yeah so pretty much the whole uh Merit of of of animals out there and what about the um you mentioned the um water
foul um did he respond to any of that or how did that get managed so he so they he responded and then he reports out to um to the to uh the state and um I believe this they're making some arrangements um once the uh
the pawns um the uh far out that they're actually going to go out there in canoes or kayaks and try to retrieve some of the dead dead animals right okay but he's part of that then as well under his contract yeah yeah
okay chief does he um if you like a deer gets struck does he euthanize a deer or you guys that no we'll we'll do that he he doesn't have a firearm um we'll do that and then we'll he we'll contact highway or he'll contact Highway and they you know in case it's if it's a
large deer the highway will give him a hand you know uh uh disposing of it but we'll euthanize the animals okay anyone else the only other thing that falls under Chief shobs and sheep with them is our dispatch um we pay a
annual $200,000 to the Rock that's been the same for the past few years we were anticipating an increase this year but they've been able to um keep it the same which is excellent news for us so that's that's level funded as well excellent good
news thank you for that Cody all right anyone else from the finance committee have anything for the chief thanks Chief you're welcome thank you Chief thanks Chief we appreciate the work you do every day and the effort you
put into the budget all right so we will close out the budget review session for these three departments and we will move on to the public participation part of our agenda so um I will uh let's start with
what's on my screen as first so Ellen you're the first one in the top of the line with your hand up so please go ahead mute there we go I'm a truste of the library Ellen snow and bu 106 South Street and I just wanted to underscore a couple of things um I've been in a
library director myself in West Bridgewater and a trustee here before um and also worked for 25 years in the library um in the field of the library and one of the things I wanted to underscore that Jean told told you she's is presenting a level funded budget
already to you and um the idea of cutting hours you know we looked at that a little bit and even cutting um a few hours you know we're mostly a part-time staff so you're cutting back from a part-time frequently a part-time job to
even smaller part-time job so Staffing you know it would put you know it would it would be kind of put us in a in a questionable position in terms of maintaining staff and the other big thing I wanted to mention which I don't think she really UND um uh brought up
was even when there's no programming in the library you've got kids coming off the Silver Lake bus after school because we're right on the Silver Lake bus line they get off the bus at the library they get tutored they they read they do their
homework so I know we're looking at some tough times for the school and I just wanted to remind people that um the public library is a safe after school place for kids to come um and they get a
lot of homework tutoring done they do their own homework they do they read they they socialize with their friends so even cutting back hours like the town has been so used to having the number of hours we have already I just am wondering I just think it would be good
to remember that um that the damage to this the services to the town might be greater than the amount of small amount of money you might end up saving by cutting hours that was my basic point Thank you thank you
Ellen appreciate your input um so I also have on my screen Erica you have your hand up so the floor is yours hi thank you Erica Russ six stun Road I have questions for each um
department for the highway department what year was 58 repaved over by the Lakes would you like so you just talking about how the catch basins were going to have to be
changed over to um have like the mesh and I wanted to I know that that area had had recently be been done I didn't know what year though is everybody else getting an echo yes Steve you got a lot of echo
there what was that that I I think if everyone can make sure they're muted if you're not talking I think it's catching it into someone else's speaker causing an echo the lake in
2019 section was done in 20188 at the beginning but we didn't
all storm water and we didn't they didn't to okay my other question we still didn't have money to do I guess I'm
GNA I'm gonna um not ask the questions for Highway since is echoing um the library umy Erica here hi just a couple of
questions um if the hours I think this was already discussed but if the hours were cut we would still be certified as long as we were over 25 hours so we can cut our hours all the way down to 25 hours and still remain
certified okay when we do that um currently we're asking for a waiver so my my materials budget what I budgeted for materials is um $6,600 if I go back back to cutting to
25 hours um in order to receive full state aid I will have to bring that material budget up to 19% of my tamy of my overall budget [Music]
um so the difference um a 16% materials on the budget that I'm submitting is 6,580 28 um a 19% of my budget would be
71,9 4122 so that's over an $111,000 difference that I would have to put in my materials budget got it my other question is when do you learn what you're getting in that um
Grant you you were talking about the grant that you get that it's like my incentive Grant yes yes when you learn what you get what month um so we learn that my first payment comes in it depends it's different on every
library and it kind of depends on like when you get your aist report submitted but in the past um it's it's the first payment comes in in um in November and the second payment is
due here in April okay so I learned that um it's after October and and then sometime around November okay and then my other question
was um has the library ever thought of in order to like raise fees and I don't even know what if it would even go into your budget line but if you did something like processing passports I know that I've gone to get my passport
renewed I've paid a fee and they is almost like assist you with doing that is that something the library would ever think of doing just to raise additional funds um so I'm not sure and maybe Cody
can answer that um answer that question I'm not sure where those funds would go to and if it can go into my budget so the thing with your Tammy is that that has to be what the town
appropriates out of their budget so the the nblc is actually saying this is what the town has to give you and you can raise all kinds of money the friends can support your programming the friends can sponsor this you can raise money um by
passports I get which I'm I'm not really sure where that money would um would go to but it wouldn't go towards my Tammy got it to my appropriation okay okay I think that's
it I that's all I have for you and then just one two questions for the police thank you Erica thank you yes um sorry would the fees that we're charging for the um that was just passed for the
lake um would that money the fee money go towards the maintenance or the line items for the boat uh Cody can Cody can help me with this one but I think the fees would have to go into the general fund okay and uh
um and then um be be distributed um you know that way I don't think the the police department itself can take uh custody of that of those fees uh individually yeah that's correct Chief and then of that article what is the
total of that article that you're putting forward for the boat and the the training and the Lifeguard stuff y hold on so the uh cost of the boat is $56,000 the personnel
would be um onetime cost of 10,500 then annually 18,6 193 the utilities would be 2,000 supplies 500 and others which would probably would
mean the um uh you know the life jackets and all that other stuff and the other miscellaneous items would be $4,000 so Al together it would be um the article itself is so it' be 56
plus uh $66,000 something like that looks like looks like I have 75 here chief for everything 2ed off 75,000
yeah all right thank you for all your um answers you wel and is um is Steve can you try to come back on and see if it's not eoy yep that that's Steve right is it kind
of I don't know so Steve when you're when you're talking when you're answering you should probably turn down the volume on your speaker okay let's try this again um for the recycle center how much were fees brought how much fees were brought in
for like when you get rid of your mattress or a TV or anything like that how much funds was brought in meeting sorry sorry okay and then of the funds for the maintenance on the barn the
13,500 what are some of the maintenance items that you already have that need to be done you're the money we have them um and then we
like something issue all right thank you appreciate everybody right thank you Erica appreciate the questions um next up we have Mary you have your hand up the floor is yours Mary you're on mute sorry I just had a question about
oh Mary graines 98 Clyo Bosworth can you hear me oh it's not working hold on you can hear you Mary I just had a question about the highway department and projects that they've put in for um
articles in the previous years asking for money for certain things and then what by the time they purchase it like last year I know Steve had said the um the bucket truck or the back they wanted was $25,000
less um what are they supposed to do with that money are you talking the yes was and Steve I can't understand anything you're saying I'm
sorry if you want you can call me me tomorrow I think my well I think my question is if we approve an article for backhoe as presented and it's say $100,000 and we give you
$100,000 and you find that it what you want only comes to $75,000 shouldn't that 25,000 return to the town immediately instead of kept by the highway department to purchase something else
for that back or other machine so it it does it does now Steve can you could you mute yourself there we go so so it does the way it is going forward Mary is it does the back up for instance when Steve got a proposal it it included several
attachments it wasn't just a barebones backo there are certain attachments that he he gets quotes for because that's what he needs to do the job so the sweeper is one maybe one of them whatever the attachments could be and and Steve could probably give you more
information on specifics of those um and it's certainly not uncommon that the backro itself may come in initially and then you have to order you know an attachment for it but if if and it happens um if something comes in under budget the article gets closed out at
the end of the fiscal year and then that money gets recertified in free cash again uh the following year so free cash is a reoccurring thing so you see our free cash is let's say $1.5 million this year that likely isn't all
from our um undesignated fund balance of the current fiscal year a lot of that is things that have closed out from prior fiscal years that just continue to to grow and grow but the state law doesn't allow um if it's not within the scope of what town meeting approved it can't be
the the funds can't be utilized for it so and that that we go through a purchase order process our accounting process treasurers process to make sure that it it it matches what the appropriation was for and there's there are sometimes where we we reject and say no that you know that's that wasn't what town meeting approved that's beyond the
scope of what town meeting approved who rejects that when it comes in because I think it was last year or the year before that we approved this backo for however much it was and it ended up being 25,000 less when is the time limit of when you get it or when you get that
that amount of money that it's going to cost and what you buy it and then how long does he have to say oh well this ended up there got be a time limit yeah so we typically at the end of the fiscal year we look at all of the Articles um and we'll if there's things that are
open we touch base with department heads what's the status of this if it's something that you've already spent some money on you know what is maybe there is a reason that it needs to stay open right if it's a building project or um if it's a police cruiser right the cruiser maybe comes in but then we need
to outfit it and you're in the middle of that process so that could be an example of why it would need to be carryover year to year and if it if it's if the Project's done with if you've gotten everything you need then we're going to we're going to close it out and send the money back if it's something there's been a delay where you haven't spent any
money um you know what what's going on why is there been a delay do you need this still and what's your plan to to make sure that this is getting done and getting ordered um right so so we certainly are looking at those through the accountant's office
and my office on an annual basis we've gotten a lot better over the past few years uh still working to clean some things up from the past but it we really you can't apply a a one a policy with a set time frame to every to every single project because they're just so
different um projects are just so different you know i% agree but like the other situation like the fence around the town Barn they put in for that they got the money and then they didn't need to use it because some and a butter or somebody else put the fence up and now
they want to use the money for a gate I don't really think that's what the town wanted so no the the what happened with the fence was um there was a need for the fence but then the town started investigating solar putting solar on the landfill and if we're going to put lease
out the land for solar the a requirement of that contract would be that the solar vendor put the fence on so we wouldn't necessarily have to use the town funds we're still negotiating that contract but the fence was inclusive of a gate for that area as well um but that
wouldn't be something on the solar vendor that would be something on the on the town to do the gate because the gate would directly bought the highway Barn so that so that's the reason for that one um and why that wasn't done because Steve didn't want to utilize the town's funds if if there was an alternative
where a you know solo developer could include that in a contract right I just feel like some of the stuff should be if they ask for the town meeting to us I think as towns people it means it's it's an immediate need I understand with the police boat and as much as it is expensive but we've
had some major life loss over on the lake so the boat thing is one of those pressing needs that they think the police station is doing their due diligence to keep the community safe I think like something like that we a fence and you say oh now we don't need this with however many thousands of dollars let's give it back to the town
till we figure out what it is we do need instead of using that money and setting it aside and freezing it for a project we don't know what we're going to need I know we can push that is that crazy am
I no anyway those are my questions that's all I had um thank you all right uh thank you Mary appreciate the the questions and the feedback um okay uh so anyone else from
the public wish to ask any questions to the finance committee or any of the department heads since they are here on the phone all right okay going once going twice all right we will close out the
public participation part of our meeting so I want to thank all the department heads for being on and reviewing their budgets again thank you for the work you put in to get the budget ready uh for review by the finance committee um you can certainly stick around if you wish if you don't want to stick around you're
certainly welcome to leave at any point in time um so far as the public you don't gotta tell me twice bye night good night good night have a great day okay you too um and uh for the
public thank you for joining and thank you for your feedback we certainly welcome all public commentary on on these calls uh that we have weekly um so moving on from that we'll move to our next uh line item which would be the FY
26 budget liaison updates um so I don't believe there are any as we're in the middle of all the reviews unless anybody's had any ancillary meetings which I don't believe they have had at this point um so we Pro I will make sure that this isn't on the next one so
committee liaison updates um again as I said uh last week we did meet as the zoning bylaw committee um last week uh to review a couple of the uh to review the bylaws that we have gone over I think we have one or two outlining
changes but uh most of everything that was done we made a few amendments in the meeting uh and they are currently with the town attorney getting fixed at this point but I believe that that's kind of where we're at with that um I'm on the government study committee so we also
met last week and we're kind of going through a discussion with all the town departments regarding um you know where they're at how they you know how their their department works functionally and and and just getting a better understanding of the
structure uh so this week or last week we met with the town clerk the treasurer collector the town accountant and the principal assessor um we have another meeting set up for the 6th of March with some more um individuals from the town offices to talk about their departments
so that is just uh currently um you know we're kind of hitting our full stride here at this point with talking to the town departments Cody you have anything to add you're you're there at those meetings no I think you at the nail on the hand all
right um correspondents and as may arise so Frank thank you for sending that email out that went into your junk file I looked at my junk file and that email was in there also um so it was just a uh we had um we had an individual from the town
send an email where is that I will send this out to the rest of the committee so you guys have a copy of what we've got um so the email came from
uh Julia whan uh she says that she is a lifelong resident of Halifax a graduate of Halifax Elementary School and a teacher of five years in nearby District she's writing because uh she was appalled and deeply concerned with the budget cuts being proposed at the
Halifax ele School the measures that are currently on the table are not conducive to a safe supportive learning environment incredibly large class sizes and removal of supports and termination of specials is not what the children of Halifax need uh I worry for the future
of the Halifax Elementary School staff and students the proposed sound the proposed plan and sounds extremely unrealistic given the fact that the school is already operating at a bare minimum with previous cuts I asking you to please do everything in your power to
find an alternative way to fix this situation thank you for your time and consideration Julia whan and I will forward this to everybody now so I think we're all well aware of the school committee's request
of us we're also well aware of how much how much budget and dollars that we have uh at our disposal to fund these um it's going to be a tough year that's that's really all I can say Cody did uh
did the did Silver Lake get their end certified yet uh not that I'm aware of but it was school vacation week last week a lot of the administrators were out so I I haven't heard okay can I can I just add to your
response there Jim absolutely sir um you know the the only thing that I can say is that there's been a lot of work between a lot of departments to do everything that can be done to avoid the cuts that were mentioned in the email um
and I think that remains everyone's goal and that's it's important to realize that the responsibility of the group that's here and the school committee is to put forth a plan to the town as to what achieves that goal it's up to the
town to vote that plan through right so we we are 100% committed to finding a way to to reach that goal but there are going to need to be sacrifices along the way and it's up to the town and the community as a whole to decide whether or not they agree or disagree with those
decisions so I that's the only I just want to make sure that people aren't thinking that we are making the recommendations because of the situation and just saying okay this is the way it is right so that's I just wanted to clarify that point no I think it's a it's a it's a good point DJ and I
think just to just to kind of dovetail into you know what what you were saying is is you know along with the levy limit you know plus new growth and um plus probably a few other categories and that
gives the town the the dollars that they can spend uh on services and yeah I believe and and this is just my opinion unless I'm mistaken you know there's it's it's all about tradeoffs at this point so the town has to not do
something to do something else to move money around uh based on the dollars that we have so you know and yeah I think we need to be deliberate in these decisions um and uh you know try to present the best the best possible
scenario to the town residents um for them to vote on thanks Jim yep now you bring up good points so thank you for that okay um so that's the only correspondence I got Cody I don't know if you got anything else other than that
um uh anybody have anything for as may arise anything you want to discuss with the finance committee while we're on the phone okay so um next meeting planning um so next meeting planning will be March 3rd uh that'll be in
person at Town Hall um Cody who do we have for budgets coming in for that Monday uh just the fire department okay all right very good Okie do depart
[Music] and then the plan is to try to do another joint meeting with the board of selectman on the 25th of March at that point I'm hopeful that there we kind of need a final budget at that point so the idea would be to share
or budgets I should say right one would be an override uh budget one would be a non override budget share those with the board um just walk through those and then if there needs to be adjustments do that but really would like to have a final budget at that
meeting on the 25th okay will a decision be made at that meeting Cody regarding the override uh I hope so I you know I hope we have a pretty good idea at that point
so the that's when they're we put a tenative calendar together and that that's the goal is to vote the budget then and then the final warrant um gets voted on the I think it's the 11th uh that second Tuesday in April let's see yeah the 11th is when the final warrant
gets voted so you need to know pretty much on the 25th um what what the budget looks like Cody give given that time frame I know we had talked about doing some public meetings yes what would that time frame look like between would that be
between the 25th and the and the town meeting yeah yep so the the public meetings will be based on the budgets that you're that that's being recommended and printed in the warrant so we'll we'll do our due diligence in between fin but you know
final budget recommendation and town meeting um because that's when we'll know what the budgets are going to look like we we just don't want to we don't want to jump the gun too much because we want to make sure we're presenting what people are actually going to see at town meeting right right so sometime in
April yeah the goal would probably be later portion of April um to do a couple of those meetings yeah it's a short window coming up here on town meeting y yep all
right so that's the next meeting planning uh anybody have anything else for that agenda item all right hearing none I have a motion to adjourn motion some
move thank you thank you very much so uh roll call vote Mr Bennett yes Mr Johnston yes to adjourn Please Mr Brian
yes to adjourn you sir Mr Smith yes sir Mr Retta yes and I am a yes as well meeting is adjourned 8:10 p.m. have a good night everybody night night everybody good night everyone
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