[Music] April 30th 2024 do I have a motion to open so moved second all in favor I please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you this meeting is being audio and video recorded all right so we're going to get into um right into the the budgets that weren't voted uh last week um the board of selectman has had a chance to review the budgets that we are going to vote on tonight and we're going to get right into it if there's any questions or or if Mr Kelly wants to add anything uh as we're going through he can feel free to chime in so let's uh let's get started with the first one that we have in front of us which is a select board it looks like uh there's a 1.3% increase so 73 let me put my let me put my cheaters on 1.3 total see much better now7 in Sal 1.3 total okay um so it went from 271 233 last uh last year to 274 868 this year so that's just a that's a nominal increase motion second all in favor [Music] okay next uh next budget our town buildings and properties this budget actually decreased by 13 % from 25909 to 223 368 so it looks uh Jamie where's the big decrease from uh we are because of the financial stress uh we are removing the Foreman's position okay I mean that's the major item do we have a for we did no we it was just it was there but it wasn't filed okay we we knew what we were facing okay plus custodial Services right oh we transferred uh 15,000 from custodial services to do it in house I make a motion second all in favor I okay passes I can't answer that it's a bank that's probably a credit union um all right the next one is employee benefits and insurance so this is up 6.7% um this not a surprise the uh health insurance is up 9.7 we moved everything around as much as we could uh liability insurance increased but we trimmed everything and everywhere and uh so we kept it to a 6.79 increase total how much you can do with it I make a motion second all in favor I okay next one is uh pensions uh so this is uh this is one that we just have to uh approve not much control over this make a motion this is well I just this has gone up 6.3% that's primarily the Bristol County uh retirement board's assessment uh I just note that we might change the Medicare number during town meeting because that is a formulaic based on the total payroll so once we see everything then we'll be able to make sure that but it won't be it'll be like a thousands won't be tens of thousands we had a motion is there a second second all in favor I okay uh next one is Town accountant um this looks like it's down by about $55,000 um last year was at 237 819 this year it is 232 771 we made the assistant accountant parttime and uh we're still trying to recruit an accountant make a motion second a motion the second all in favor I Board of assessors has gone up 2.75% um it's primarily uh uh negotiated raises contractual increases y um license speed yeah so it went from 182 629 to 187 645 not a big increase than motion all in favor okay next one's treasur collect uh this is up 4.6% uh last year was 26037 this year it's 271 821 if you remember last year we didn't have a uh treasure collector MH and uh we also have some contractual raises there a big increase in Postage and and and uh both the uh uh treasure collector and the assistant treasure collector have a certification which is statutory M uh every time they go up this one of six blocks it's uh 1,300 Mr Kelly the uh increase in travel is that for training or classes that they have to do for certification it's in state I'll make a motion is there a second second all in favor hi next one is uh technology so this is up 88.3% uh last year was 217 925 this year it is up to 23625 one of the big issues here is uh the email hosting service that one from 4600 to 14,250 that's because all Cloud Bas now our well our email host Y is no hosting right and this gives you access to the office licenses and everything else on top of that as so yes that's where the biggest increase is in this budget and then the other stuff looks like it's contractual um with salaries I make a motion have a motion a second all in favor I town clerk um looks like it's up 4.2% part of that is uh we transferred postage both to the town clerk's office and to the uh uh one of the uh I've got to look to see if it's a I think it's regiz but it might be yeah it's register and the reason for that is every year since I've been here we come to the reserve and look for postage money when it comes out of the Town Clerk and the regist its functions so I decided to put it in there so for transparency and tracking purposes wasn't she looking for an increase in her budget for that for the postage well we're looking for an increase everywhere for postage no no no I know that so this is on top of that no this is we transferred the money mhm so now she has her own postage account right okay yeah so this is a uh it's a you know prettyy small increase it went from 151 151 309 last year to 157 783 this year and as she noted to you some of the increases for staff is contractual and then she included a raise for herself and she hasn't had a raise in for or five years mhm very modest second a motion to second second all in favor I okay all right next uh budget is elections we know this the reason why this has gone up this year is because there's more elections in the presidential election this year uh so that's the main reason for the increase from went from 18764 to 35343 I'll make a motion second all in favor okay when you look at that in the next budget and you look at General government uh half of the increases over half in general government are the increases between town meeting and elections and board of registers it's 33,000 in change yeah so the next uh budget is border registr so again this is this is increasing um postage you know sizeably because of the extra election and postage so it went from 24979 to 42225 17 of which is postage yeah I Y let's hope let's hope everybody fills out their mail and ballots properly yeah I'll make a motion is there a second all in favor okay next one Conservation Commission okay this is gone from 61,500 and it looks like the biggest increase is in salar clerical yeah what we did is at one Point Conservation split a the clerical person with Board of Health uh where there was one and a half clerical in fora health and a half in conservation especially the fact that we don't have a conservation agent right now and just how the offices are now running over there we figured it was better to have one full-time in conservation of one fulltime in Board of Health so even though there's an increase here there'll be a decrease somewhere else correct so it kind of Balan it it's going to be a wash is there a motion motion is there a second second all in favor okay next one planning uh planning is basically level funded it went from 9,75 58 to 90650 motion second all in favor I hi [Music] okay okay next one police department so it looks like a couple different columns here James the last column is the one that I'm recommending SEL been approved 2 mil7 95,000 that one correct so last so the budg the police budget last year was 2,737 this year it's going up to 2,795 170 so it's a a much smaller increase than previous years but this is basically out of necessity because of what we're facing um you know the big difference in this is not having two of the police cruisers in this budget correct had an increase in overtime the uh 25 grand for we looked at uh salary cost we looked at overtime costs and we looked at vehicle costs said we got to do it I'll make a motion is there a second second all in favor okay all right next budget um fire and EMS so it looks like it's gone from 1,109 186 to 1,1 161,50 9 for a 4% increase 30% of that 30,000 of that I'm sorry is the uh overtime where we rather than constantly come at the end of the year for transfer uh originally we wanted to go all the way up to where we thought it should be but we don't have the money so we split it in half where do we stand with the uh the new Rescue or anything you're going to be seeing a uh Reserve transfer next week for a new engine and the second ambulance we're 2 years out from getting the actual new what's that going to be 17 grand but you can't we got any money in EMS receipts to cover any of that or no that well we take it out of the reserve right now and we're still within we still have 59,000 left in the reserve yeah did we make a motion on this no no I'll make a motion second uh motion a second all in favor okay Mr Kelly quick question where do we stand on the call boxes is that all set the uh Replacements that needed to get done because we can't have the parts anymore the repeaters and the two alarm are in they're the only thing I'm budgeting for Capital cost out of free cash okay I just want to make sure that that hadn't got shelv because of financial W no that's critical yeah thank you just just so the uh the folks out there watching realize I know it looks like we're zipping through a lot of these budgets but we've already done a lot of the homework uh prior to today to get to this point where we've had the Departments come before us present their budget uh We've we've analyzed things uh the Town Administrator has has looked at these things the board of Selectmen it's been a collaborative effort to to pair things down to the point where they are now um and this is why we're able to to get through these budgets the way we're going through them right now just just to provide some clarification so the folks out there uh know that we've done our due diligence um in going through these budgets uh so the next budget is Emergency Management it is it's gone from 16,400 to 17,900 so just a all energy yeah it's all related to energy cost and we're seeing that's a common Trend in a lot of these budgets M make a motion to accept abstain all in favor in Cy we have one exstension uh next budget inspectional Services has gone from 144 237 to 156 782 part of it is contractual and the other part is we went from 30 hours to 35 for the clerical that way we man the offices especially in in an inspectional Services office if someone's out in the field dooring inspections you need someone in the office MH and uh with the way we're starting to uh design the development offices conservation planning building Board of Health that you want to make sure you get coverage for when people come in and they need to file their applications they need to get copies of plans that type of thing you've got someone there to serve the public so everything will kind of work cohesively together yep I'll make a motion to accept is there a second second all in favor I okay next budget uh animal control so this is gone from in 2024 from $ 57,8 to 5949 and this is looks like it's mostly Contra contractual yeah a question you got a line in here for telephone doesn't she have the town system now yeah but this is a hard line for weekends that type of thing goes right to to the house all right oh okay I didn't realize that all right let make a motion we're going a motion in a second all in favor I okay next one is DPW highway department and this in 2024 their budget was 1,6 6,213 and it has gone up to 1,676 so it's increase of about $10,000 energy and contractual you got that right yep motion second motion a second all in favor I okay next one street lighting uh Street lighting is up $5,000 from 25,000 to 30,000 energy yeah it's Rel to energy put on energy cost motion second most of the energy started out at above 80% increase and we got we've got it down when we negotiated down to approximately 30% we had a motion in a second yeah I think we' had I think we had we didn't vote on it yet you vote we didn't oh okay sorry all right so we had a motion a second all in favor I okay well hopefully next year the energy costs will uh will go down or stabilize if we become energy independent again so I hope we can hope and pray um next budget is Board of Health so in 2024 their budget was 202 964 and it looks like it's gone down to 15874 that's a shift in staff right that's it I'll make a motion second it there a motion a second all in favor [Music] next one Council on Aging um their budget in 2024 was 131 862 and it's gone up to 1367 678 so just a small increase looks like contractual increase and energy I'll make a motion second motion second all in favor okay next budget Library so in 2024 their total budget was $ 29979 and the request for FY 25 is up to$ 3098 it's within the Mars parameters yeah I mean it's just that's not a big increase no make a motion here motion a second all in favor water sewer and golf the we're take the board is taking up next Tuesday okay so we going hold off on those Enterprise funds and just so uh and this is back to the envelope figures General government including the increases for elections is just over $60,000 the increase Public Safety after the various Cuts is just over 15 15,000 increase Public Works is under around 85,000 increase human services is a decrease of almost 40,000 culture and wreck is an increase of approximately 13,000 de is gone down I'll have final figures next week where we break it out for principal and interest but it's down approximately 60,000 because as your debt goes down your interest goes down too Jamie can you can you give us that breakdown again just stop from the beginning I I I'll you have I'll send it to you all right yeah cuz I like that that's that kind of puts things in perspective well I'm jumping around a little bit Regional $55 increase uh the non departmental joint accounts is 280,000 increase but you have to remember that about and health insurance about 60% of the health insurance is we're ensuring the school side uh retirement about 20% is school side so uh that 282 really should be between school and town if you wanted to break it out and uh we're looking at somewhere around between Old Colony and a Kush at schools if 8 00 to 900,000 increase and right now my Revenue increases are about 830,000 so we've got more work about 500,000 to of red Inc we've got to change so there might be some layoffs or there might be some full-time positions that go to Half Time there might be some of my favorite rabbits in the Hat if I can figure alternate ways to do something I mean this that can only go gone for so long the town side the town side is paired down is I think as thin as it can go at this point I mean start look at the small increase in the police department um no Cruis it's we're going to need help from the school it's just the bottom line they going it's probably 250 increase when you average everything out and I don't know that exactly but it's probably that for the town side and as I said the two schools are between 800 and 900,000 increase so it accounts for roughly 80% of our increases the schools just keep that in mind town can only cut so much out of the town and we're there I'm looking the town is you know the town side they're you know pairing down positions not adding not adding positions um so you know when you when you add a lot of positions over a number of years the budget gets out of control and uh we've already we've had this discussion already so you have year your stabilization is right about the 10% of operating budget where it's supposed to be if you start to move less than that you're in danger of affecting our bond rating yep we're not doing that yeah we don't want that that's just snowballs their issues we're doing fairly well with the uh uh OPB we put it into a different investment strategy and looks like will probably be about a million too this year so when we were with the state grund opip we actually lost money but opep in general in the state is defin is still a no this was their investment manager oh so we get out of that state run program no because we'll look at the deficit they're running in in the state you know it was like $16 million yeah well they were they were not making any real income investment profit for us and they were feeing us to death so we get out of them we're in another group and we're doing fairly well Kelly I'm just curious uh how we look as far as funding I know all the the past several years we've different departments different accounts have set up their own Reserve or stabilization accounts are we still funding those we have uh we have a St ization account in case health insurance goes away so okay that's we've got uh I thought we had like didn't we establish I want to go through last year so we have in the health insurance about 207,000 and that's our Reserve right there uh for uh BuyBacks when we get if you get a bunch of major retirements you get 52,000 is there a targeted number that we were trying to get in these accounts like uh the town stabilization well the total the general stabilization you have to keep it around 10% sure the uh health insurance stabilization I'd like to see around 300,000 hold the uh uh buy back one at somewhere between 50 and 75 so uh you've got a ms4 one of 50 for engineering costs if we need it in a stabilization account because I know when I was in Milbury we ended up getting hit with one bill from the EP EPA Mandate of 400,000 take a bond for that so uh we we're making sure we keep current on our ms4 too and uh we also have an infrastructure account that'll definitely be used for our uh slen Street project how much I don't know yet now with the slen street project we have the arpa money we're meeting tomorrow with the legislative delegation about our transportation Bond money which is 1.5 million and then uh we are having various articles that we'll see in in the uh warrant to pay for various parts of it that is going to be somewhat like the ambulance we are justifying that but we might resend it because Bristol County has a different system than most of the state on the arpa money we get half our arpa money from the state and half goes through Bristol County okay now when at the end of June any arpa money that is not assigned or that a town hasn't used and encumbered and have a shovel ready project the Bristol County will take that money from all those other communities and give it to a community who has a shovel ready project we've already applied for that money that money now you last year mentioned what the insurance increases but you would expected that to kind of taper off after a few years yeah given our financial situation right now can we use some of that stabilization for the insurance to fund the insurance for this year you don't want to do that okay why not because you want to hold that for if you're going to need to transfer transfer it to our Reserve in the master strategic Health Group because each Community has their own Reserve in there we haven't been in there long enough to benefit from all the rebates of the Pharmaceuticals once we start to get that flow and our Reserve stays at a certain level then everything will stabilize okay but uh I'd say in the fall if we have free cash to 75 or 100,000 put it in the mass strategic Health Group Reserve that'll take care of us and we'll just keep bringing that we've brought just by contributing each year we've brought what would be a normal rate MH for new people joining the group we brought each year it down about 3 to 4% there's a little method to my m yeah I know I I just man yeah I was just wondering if you just use that as like one of your rabbit hat well you want to hold that back that's really for when you know if you had a couple super catastrophic cases in town yep mhm you want to have that there to kind of uh mellow out the whole loss ratio yeah Mak sense one last question I have I'm just wondering has the select board discussed or U approached the assessors on overlay Sur yes today we voted to request that they release and I'll get the exact figure on one of my [Music] papers 67 2 6,954 and and we even with that that putes where well that still they'd still be at like 1.1 1.1 and half million uh and that would we're looking to all of the collective bargaining agreements retro payments which would be just north of 500,000 that's right and then we're looking at uh paying some debt with the remainder is that the Old Colony yeah now is that including like a steel worker so did that get ratified not of them are ratified yet okay but I've got assume that they will do you plan for that in these salary increases for those department heads so that is part that's big it's budgeted if it doesn't get ratified back yeah it's also not only has to be ratified by the union and then the final Mo MOA voted by the board of Select and then it has to be funded by town meeting okay okay um the Articles so how many more articles do we have to I think those are you guys voted on some articles last week right voted on most mostly the storm water bylaw we received at 3:00 uh today from the planning board the recommendation on the storm water bylaw where they approved the one that was submitted uh I've got to read it over to make sure it's the same uh the third time this has changed huh it's the third time this has changed but it's only one sentence I'm concerned of about yeah so in this updated version Jamie we're not that doesn't have it so we're not taking anything up in this no I'd advise you wait until next okay but I wanted everybody to see it and see where we're going so we we can take a look at this before before we meet next week yep Cu uh I mean I'm looking at having to send the warrant to printer by sometime probably the 16th of May 15th of May somewhere in there but it all depends on uh what happens tomorrow because otherwise and it's we might end up having to cut some positions in half do we have any update with our collaboration discussions with Fair uh I'm going to I think it's Thursday their representatives are coming in to talk to us again we're going back and forth uh down the road they want to enter into a discussion about increasing the size of their sewer system and they're looking to see if we're interested in the south side of the town that would be the state wouldn't it no it's Fair Haven has their own silar treatment no I know but if we tie in have to get the stting ball cuz we're going through South Main right it doesn't have to there's a number of ways you can there not too many streets there's not too many streets that connect with sayen no but you don't even need a street I suppose yeah but there uh we're also looking at besides Golf Course Beach shellfish we're looking at uh maybe sharing one or two positions like we're doing a map po it now that the Selectmen and the finance committee have approve the planning budget I am going to be sending that notice with the money's amount in the planning budget as you saw there's a salary amount for a planner but is also 10,000 for benefits because we have to sh shift uh the possibility and we'd have to pay them for their health insurance because it's their employee yep so we agree to half the benefits but uh we also are meeting with uh the surpet folks are getting going on the whole update with the master plan we have two funding sources for that uh and then we uh both of them the ear mark one two ear Marks One on uh water and clean water and uh then the other on uh just the master plan itself that came out of the legislature and then short money that we've got in an article and then uh just on slokum Street in the house version of the budget uh representative Schmidt and representative uh stuss put 150,000 in for sidewalks and ADA Compliant ramps on slen street now is the person manap poison going to do our master plan or what is the the planner that we're going to end up sharing is he going to take or she going to take care of us that would be just to oversee Serpent's efforts because it's doing a master plan is not just walking in and writing the plan you've got to hold public meetings you've got to uh ascertain all sort we had the briefings over the years about the involvement of it all the surveys and his Comm IES subit there a open space Recreation uh clean water uh growth Economic Development uh zoning just if you're zoning is right so it's not something that uh one individual can do part-time is a reason it's a 10year plan cuz it takes that long but you've got uh over $150,000 with all these ear marks and everything and ciruit owes me 30,000 in Free Labor so we can start the ball rolling substantially with that and there the professional planners so they know what they're doing they've done in the last 3 years I know four as plan updates they've all successfully completed in uh 2 and a half three years okay okay um we have no more budgets we're going to go through tonight we're not going to do any articles uh so we're going to take up the the rest of these next Wednesday day um and you've got a couple transfers coming in there'll be some transfers next week too there's one on for the from the treasur collector's office for we just got a bill from Bristol County Retirement for the three police officers that were overseas in the military Bristol County Retirement is finally caught up with what we owe Bristol County Retirement because you have to make them whole while they're overseas so we finally get the bill for that and then there's the uh fire engine uh and the ambulance both of which need work and uh if you want the chief here he can explain it a lot better than I can but that's uh 18,000 and 177,000 selectman approv them tonight and that'll bring our Reserve down to about 59 I okay and change uh update on town meeting date June 17th the board will decide next week okay Bunker Hill Day fire if you see the whites of their eyes we're pretty much on hold until after tomorrow yeah all right does anybody have any old business to discuss uh new business no new business okay um our next meeting date is going to is not going to be this Thursday um we're going to wait until next Wednesday which is see is on that 8 May is that what it is yes yeah May 8th so we'll take up Kathy you can add those minutes to the agenda for that next meeting we'll take those up next meeting uh just if I can use the uh public television uh the annual open enrollment for our health insurance starts to tomorrow and goes through May 24th and so if uh anybody needs health insurance unless there's a catastrophic event in your life you've got to change your health insurance or uh sign up if you haven't between those dates or you're not eligible to that's for employees not for residents I can just see now the phone calls know I come I thought I could sign up for I want to get on the group discount yeah yes that's their window of opportunity Al have to actually watch this and may may one's tomorrow so we'll be looking at the accounts all the way across town and if we need to do any departmental transfers stuff like that we'll be looking at that okay is there a motion to aurn motion to adour Second all in favor we areour [Music]