Town of Dublin
Budget Committee
Minutes – January 22, 2008 Meeting
Present: Nancy Campbell, Charles Champagne, Edward Germain-selectmen’s representative, Rich Scheinblum-chair, Leslie Whone, Ken Woods
Also Present: Selectmen Sterling Abram and Anne Anable, William Raymond, Town Administrator
Absent: Judy Knapp
Rich Scheinblum called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Motion made to approve the minutes of January 15, 2008, with one correction, page 2, next to last paragraph, add a t to he, seconded and passed unanimously. Rich also reported that the revised budget is 11.04% higher than 2007 and 2007 actual figures have been added to the budget. It was pointed out that this budget did not reflect the $11,000 reduction in Capital Reserve funds made last week by the Selectmen.
Ken Woods gave an update on the health insurance issue. He will not have any information until 2nd quarter rates are available, which should be mid February.
Ed Germain presented Selectmen’s changes as follows:
Highway-Road Construction: reduce by $35,000 to reflect no paving on Windmill Hill Rd. This line is now $85,000.
Cobb Meadow Road culvert: bid is $69,000. An outside contractor will do the work because the culvert will be grouted which is a specialized process. The Selectmen propose to take this expense from the unreserved fund balance.
Town Hall Painting: Macmillan bid $27,000 to do three sides. At this time, the project is on hold until 2009.
Fire Training: reduce by $3,100. This line is now $6,000 which allows the Town to pay tuition for 2 firemen/year for firefighter I training, but not for hours spent at training.
Advocate: reduce to $6,000 for 9 issues a year instead of 12. Revenue reduce by $673.
Old Marlborough Road Bridge: Take $20,000 out of unreserved fund balance.
Bridge Study: $19,125- Selectmen recommend taking expense out of Remediation Fund.
Three phase power, bucket repair and phone line: $5,075-Selectmen recommend taking this expense out of Recycling Fund because these are capital expenses. All warrant articles at Recycling Center to come out of the Recycling Fund.
Water Testing: $30,000-Selectmen are leaving it in the budget and still working on finding grants to fund it.
Executive Clerical: Selectmen are proposing no reduction in hours currently in budget. Discussion continued on the need for additional hours. Bill Raymond will email the Town Administrators’ job duties and logs of assistant’s hours.
Traffic Calming: Still on the warrant for $510,000 with offsetting revenue. In response to a question, Sterling Abram said the Town would get the revenue as long as the Town acted by March.
Nancy Campbell reported that Solid Waste-Part-Time Employee had been incorrect in the 2007 budget. This line needs to be funded at $14,560. Bill Raymond is to verify the actual hours and rate of pay and get back to Rich Scheinblum.
Nancy Campbell asked about the number of children attending Summer Playground-it was thought to be 30. The cost is $150/child with scholarships available. There had been no communication from the Director on a budget, so the 2008 budget is the same as 2007 with COLAS.
Discussion on the use of the fund balance to reduce taxes. NHDRA recommends a balance of between 5%-10% of a Town’s gross budget, including Town, County and School appropriations. The Government Finance Officers Association recommends this balance be between 8%-17%. Should a Town policy be developed in regards to fund balance, so no Board of Selectmen can drain the balance. Rich will draft a policy for the Selectmen. He also asked the Selectmen to ask the auditor how they would calculate the balance.
Meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
Next Meeting: January 29, 2008
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy E. Campbell
Co-Secretary
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