if you don't mind just passing down the request I or we'll call the uh finance committee meeting for March 21st 2024 to order and I'll do the uh the special announcement first yes that are are this meeting is being recorded the listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting not all items listed May in fact be discussed other items may be listed May items not listed they also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law do you want to open your open our this is a meeting between selectman and the finance committee and uh we're going officially open this I need a roll call please uh good evening H is present no is pres and Peter Cameron is present can everybody please stand for the plge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation indivisible andice all okay guys want to take care of your reserve fund for first evening evening so you see a request um [Music] out of the ground no no this is it's a two post two post one out or something yeah it's actually was a 10,000 lb LIF and it's been stress over the years part of the fa is the bent over so this lift I'm propos a 12,000 okay more but we do have a low clearance so we kind of limited what we can do anyways on a height so that limits the models that we can buy [Music] El that's uh full full replacement everything to get it in replace and get you back up to where it needs to be correct and What's the total on that 18 93850 thank you any other [Music] questions a motion I make a motion we vot to approve the request for the funds needed for the auto in thank you I make a motion we vote to approve the fund requested the amount is $1,938 to replace the auto needed for Reserve thank all in favor I unanimous so that's good thank you that that was for the lift that was for the lift yeah so we have the other one for the for the wood for the trailer yeah you want me to just read this one time sure so another the second one to for $814 transfer from the reserve fund to replace a rotted trailer deck and weld the cross races as needed other than that it's going to be let just like new right perfect any questions for time on that I make a motion we vote to approve the request for $814 to replace the rotten trailer deck and well CR Braes as needed all in favor you going to startop that yes yeah just like in terms of an overview like we uh we really provided everyone with a very general overview when we met with school past week um oh oh yeah com of having written recommendations with recommendations on how we close out and how we balance out tell but oh yeah in terms of the opportunities we have to help us to help us balance out for FY 25 we G to like actually actually actually have additional information and details to both to to both the BOS and the um yeah when we oh yeah when we met last week we talked roughly about having a having a deficit at that point um oh an fy2 anticipated deficit of of approximately $450,000 we do have that deficit down like at this point to um to approximately 370 $370,000 like so like every day we're working to uh to make progress to revenues to try to identify try to identify what um try to identify what type of necessary expenses that we do have the funding sources like free cash to be able to use so we take so we take that pressure out from under our ly so as I me we add down to 370 $370,000 right now um so yeah we oh yeah we have like at least 300 and $7,000 more to to go to balance out and um so yeah so so yeah we will present ideas like recommendations like where we've been in terms of where we've begun with revenues what oh yeah what type of revenues we're actually projecting at this point FY 25 and how that oh how those and other ideas and how those other ideas will help us balance out as well so this whole process this whole budget I I is a very I is a very fluid and evolving budget it has been since we heard from the school district just over 3 weeks ago now when really our whole world changed and um so yeah like so yeah like want to come but we really want like at this point to oh yeah we really wanted to like at this point to begin the department budget review process so both the B and the finr begin to see the so both the fin and the B begin to see the whole picture in terms of the Z based budgeting oh yeah What expenses have been nationalized so far then where we go from there so does anyone have any questions and just in terms of where we are generally now in terms of the process and in terms of the overview in terms of you know yeah yeah like essentially 3 weeks ago we had we had like a $700,000 deficit we have essentially almost cut that in half right now um yeah I do I do think the other half will be much the other half the the other half of that deficit will be much more difficult than the first half however you know like we do have opportunities like there will be recommendations and we do have about like a month and a half really to go through and evaluate those recommendations as well so I think we'll be okay however like we do have our work cut out we do have our work cut out first is there anything you want to add um no that's a pretty good overview um as he said we we're analyzing um revenues over 5 year six year periods um where we could increase where we could decrease what we think we have coming down the line in future developments or um you know if anything's going to slow down on the permitting side or anything like that so we have done um some work on the revenue side and now we're just taking a closer look at expenses and you know other funding sources um but I am still a little cautious with the onetime funding sources because that you know will just dig us into a bigger hole um we are kind of stuck at this moment right now I feel like we're a little um up against the wall with our limited options but um we're exploring a few different options um maybe a few maybe outside of the box um so we're trying to see what we can do as far as you know bringing in some some true revenue for the town has any Revenue changed since the last time we met um I don't the only the only Revenue we actually brought yeah the only Revenue that we realized we may have been like a tiny bit ambitious about like it's increasing oh like it's increasing our Auto excise Revenue we did draw that back okay we did draw that back since last Wednesday um by $30,000 uh um so but even so but even in drawing that back even in drawing that back with the other adjustments with the other adjustments that we've been able to make we we have been able to reduce the deficit from the 450 down to about down to about 370 at this point um the revenue for excise tax shouldn't that a fixed amount we already know what went went out so why did we drop it by 30,000 if we just assuming they're not going to pay um so I was trying to base it closer on what was committed for the motor vehicle for this year you know what we committed is what we're expecting to bring in right um I did discuss with other towns and they usually do a percentage of that Revenue because there are in expectation that not everybody is going to pay and but at the same time people are still paying on older Motor Vehicles like the 23s and the 22 receivables that are out there so we kind of did a little over balancing between what was committed for 24 and then the trends that people have been like back paying on on the older ones as well right um I just wasn't comfortable at the amount that it was raised to so we discussed and um we brought it down a little bit just so we you know I'm more comfortable if they were actually going to meet that projection right so did you have a question I did have question so with the we had the school budget in front of us and funding for school budgets way well Governor proposed rates are lower the percentages U what are we hearing on the funding from the state on towns is there going to be significant change in the funding they giv to the towns um so we've only seen the governor's budget come out right now on our Char sheet um I haven't really heard too much about what you know the other Departments of the government are really going to okay so on the cherry sheet the figures look like they're in line with what we've gotten previously yes like can actually like in the governor's budget oh yeah the governor's house two budget like there's actually a projected increase in local Aid just like the unrestricted local Aid which is a n which in FY 24 is a 9 no FY 24 $920,000 Revenue there AR in the governor house two budget there they propos 3% increase of that um so that actually brings that brings that Revenue up to $954,000 whether that whether that 3% stays through the through the rest of the legislative budget process I'll get a question that you know hasn't been answered yet all right thank you thanks how much is the I've read um The Proposal School that there was funding that was given to the school during Co the S funds yes okay and they're going away yes all right and how much was that um I don't know if I know exactly how much the school was using and the reason I'm asking is that if we were to go back to preco and we knew what that budget was and we a zero budgeting uh process and we just had our um adjusted for inflation you know regular increases without that what's called Sr Sr so if that funding was never there and now that we're not getting it from the federal government and we're going to have to provide it plus Revenue increases what did they buy with that that we can't out being that it was temporary the uh the mind my [Music] under my my understanding about how about how how the school district not the town prioritized how the school district prioritized that they had actually hire some employees and so they went out they went out and used that oh y and they went out and utilize that onetime funding over three years to high employees so we're sustaining the hiring without the SR funding it yes and now and now you know how much of that is leading to this remaining 350 deficit that we're trying to cover and where would we be had we never gotten the assr and we never hire those people but we're just increasing the budget I'd like to read into the record communication from superintendent Willi Bill roomy to the D Ro at the regional school committee quote unquote the governor knowing that Essa grants were no longer available submitted a budget that actually provides $70,000 less to our district than we received in fiscal year 23 so we're talking $70,000 and and we're we're providing that without so getting from was it federal or state the funding the funding was Federal funding and that's going away now we have to come up with that Al and also we need to make up the we need to make up the revenue difference in Chapter 70 that school districts not receiving from the state and how much was that yeah oh yeah if all things had been even we if all things had been even we would have had closer to what to what our typical assessment increase has been over the last 6 years about half a million dollars instead we don't have a half a million do assessment increase on the school we have an increase of about $700,000 and the challenges our Revenue a year oh a year to year revenue is only yeah oh yeah a year to year additional revenues are only about $750,000 in total between the school and the town and so now we have an issue we have we have an issue because we don't have because we don't have any growth because we don't have any other broad-based Revenue screen we we have an issue with just with just the school oh yeah fire exceeds power seeds are power seeds are available powereds powereds are new available Revenue oh to the point of about $450,000 so I guess as a concerned citizen that's sitting on this committee I'm I'm wondering why we're not looking at where we would have been I mean that money was like like sugar and it created a sugar high and we spent that money and to be responsible maybe we have to think about doing something that's hard which is to curtail some of the stuff we bought with that money and buy what day is I don't have the schedule in front of me or here what T is the school on our our schedule yeah we want yeah we oh yeah we invited D early like so they had like an opportunity to really kick off to kick off this to kick off this whole bunch of process with us so we like any questions that folks had then we were hoping to to hoping to begin have answer then but I don't have any problem I don't have any problem inviting them back once with through every once we through everything else as well because this is a big chunk this is a big chunk of why we're having a challenges planning on the town side that we have yeah the school the school budget represents 40% of our entire budget and all these changes and everything else I think that's probably going to we're going to need a couple of at least at least another time and um if if we can meet with them at some point after the uh after the 28th meeting then maybe we got a better idea of where the state's going with with their budget the house budget out yeah the house the house budget comes out the week before school vacation the houseway means budget comes out the week before April school vacation okay so would it be better I know and not to jump into scheduling later on but um and week of school vacation I'm not around but would it be better for the board of Select finance committee to meet with the school after vacation at that point to give them a chance to go through the house budget the only challenge is I mean like you're not oh yeah oh yeah and I want to be and I want to be very realistic and practical about this like yeah based on everything I'm reading with based on everything I'm reading about the state budget picture I don't have I don't have like I don't have a lot of hopes that when the house re and means budget that comes out that will be hu hugely different from where we are right now to be be honest with you like I mean like I'm hoping it does but I just want to yeah I really want to prepare forward really being level right now so we're planning yeah yeah so we're planning on having the bottom line that we actually planning on now then in the future if anything improves we can adjust so we can adjust up I do think we have to be planning on the I me planning now based on the information that we have as basically a oh yeah oh yeah basically a worst case scenario because I don't have oh yeah I don't have a lot of practical hope that a lot of things are going to change unfortunately another thing we don't want to happen is their increases gr of the schools and their they take it off the backs of their increase to the towns right not their fund to the town although they can take our 30 if they give us 300 over well that would be nice so I have I have a question about this the overall the overview thing um the what the um total budget for the school uh both ROV and D the whole school district right is something like 55 million or in that vicinity is that true 52 5 yeah I want say 51 so 52 sounds closer about 51 52 million okay so and that subsidized down to something like 30 something Million by the by the state or federal government both by the state so Chapter 70 Revenue which is not actually keeping up with so you must have some history on how much the government has subsidized our school system right you were talking about this before in other words do they add in sort of like an inflation Factor every year yeah they do but the inflation Factor doesn't even come close to keeping up at all and that was my question was if we just had inflation factor from say 2020 before Co till now we wouldn't be facing these huge deficits of money that's now being taken away that we've been committed to spend that we probably never would have spent anyway because we would have sat there during those years and not had that money to play with yeah yeah yeah yes I agree with you however like I Al oh oh oh yeah like I also know like our district like every other like School District they also have other increases and basically non-discretionary items the the cost of special education just as an example in the cost of like in the cost of out of District special education and transportation has been has has been in increasing exponentious SLE have been increasing exponentious driving a lot of those costs up as well so so yeah I want to be clear like the school and the school district does have a host a budget Drive is oh yeah like actually impact impact where we are now is one of them however like it's however is only one of them the we have another one that that is special education that's out of District special education and transportation and then we have the chap then we have the state Chapter 70 funding formula issue as well like this District itself does does actually have a multitude of factors kind of happening and culminating at the same time as well which doesn't make their which doesn't make their situation easier so it doesn't make it and it doesn't make our situation easier but thing with our situation is we have is we we have a very defined ability to pay and that defined ability to pay is oh yeah oh is at this point is at this point basically having an additional $750,000 in Revenue per year and just the increase based on the factors alone based on the increase of based on the propos assess some increase of $1.2 million it yeah it crowds everything else out for the town how being how being part of a regional district there are how do we don't have the flexibility all we don't have the flexibility in terms of um in terms of if we had a school dist under the town of B and under and under the town of we would have we would have yeah we could have greater flexibility like that actually sounds awful but greater greater flexibility to deal with this challenge the fact that we do have the fact that we do have a the fact that we do have a separate governmental entity basically basically just proposing to pass through an assessment to to the town of dyon is I mean is basically what we have and that and that creates that extremely hard challenge when we have when we have a when we have huge limitations on our ability to pay from the beginning and if that money didn't appear and they couldn't have gone ahead and done some of those things that whether they're important or not we would have still gotten by with whatever budget we could have afforded and we're not able to get back there and now it feels like a bigger drain on the town because that money is not going to be provided through Chapter 70 or Esser extremely that point yeah I okay um so with the schools they have um you know the responsibilities to the unions and everything else so the problem is with a Regional School District we have to provide transportation and the state had said they would reimburse us at about 70 to 80% well that doesn't happen just because they say at one time it will depending on the receipts to the state and the money the budget they're working with also they have the ability to say we're not going to um we're not going to refund you your travel expenses up to that perc it'll be less um and again with our Chapter 70 you know it does cost a lot more than what they pay what they're giving us per pupil to educate these students and again with the Union responsibilities that we have in a lot of the costs are out of our hands but yet with State mandates for supplying special education and transportation all those costs are out we are mandated to pay and the even though the mandates coming down from the state they don't always apply the funding to do these things so a lot of things provide the funding we went ahead and hired other people to do other things and now that they're not providing the funding we still have those it's not it's not we it's Dr Dr still has those people right but dr's proposing us a budget and we have a chance to and so we'll schedule another time on us we have to address it and say look we're we're type two on that issue two point one from the same manual and it's really the Crux of the problem that the school department faces how District tuition specialized transport transportation is Skyrocket an 18 % increase coming 25 with only a 2% proposed increase in funding in those areas in the government's budget to answer your question about less money and adding more people over the past year knowing what you just explained they added two new position s in central office for over $200,000 the union president spoke out about that at the last who committee meeting but they added two new positions in central office for over $200,000 in toal and that was being covered by these funding vehicles that are now reduced or gone and no I believe those are relatively separate from but they were into the overall budget which made [Music] like but we do have you know really to begin Our Town process off we do have the treasurer collector here right who has various budget lines into his jurisdiction I believe you do have a hot stop at 7:00 so wanted to hit you in early thank you sorry sorry about that no no thank you very much if the board is left if you guys are okay we'll bring him up then sure thank you thank you all very much I apologize for having to be a little bit brief tonight I'm on the Conservation Commission as well we have ourly meeting at 7:00 but fortunately it's just across the parking while um so if there wasn't a preferred jumping off point with your permission be a treasur that's okay 145 yes 145 thank you very much situated and we working off of the budget sheet for the zero based okay sure sure sure so I'll start with the salary Lin set line 5101 which is the treasurer salary which was the 2.5% increase that was U those um communicated by the town administrator's office so that F $397 29 represents the 2.5% increase and then um please correct me if I'm wrong this I believe I'm looking might be looking at my old sheet that had the stien still in the Sal l00 yep I believe that was moved to the um the other line is that correct I'm going to create a new line yeah okay so so I'll I'll skip that one for now but I gu just touch on that one that was just for and Detro Trav things like the bank and also the uh gu you call the mail room manager for the town hall I I Pi up the mail and the mail um so those are just mandatory travel expenses um just so everybody is aware um on Monday holidays the bank um where when the banks are close our payroll company cannot guarantee that our payroll for those who get checks will be available by Wednesdays through a FedEx corer I go to pick those up I do not submit travel reimbursement for that that's just something that I don't want to take any chances of employees getting paid on time um so that's not included there's there's set aside for those that is something that we choose to do um the assistant Treasurer salary is the just 2.55 likewise forine 5116 which is the senior clerk salary at 14,407 20 which is a 2.5% increase um now to go down to the stiens I just touched on one of them um the other ones include a um for my staff who have a $50 by stien 7 $275 CPR stiens um those not M but those are those are for our staff which please correct me from I believe CBA contract contract contractual obligations um for repair 5240 um we put $400 and uh we're responsible for a variety of things including printer scanner uh my office also maintains the town's py bows machine that's for use by the um by everyone in the town all the Departments but uh my department maintains the machine we pay the leases and we do the maintenance upkeep on the machine we've got multiple PCS and un fortunately we um you know haven't run into any lengthy or expensive repair issues but we just think that this is someplace that some kind of budget set aside for repairs and maintenance is responsible so we put that at $400 for professional and Technical we're requesting $16,800 which is uh being broken down to approximately $88,000 for our payroll um I'm the FSA the flexible spending account administrator for the town and we get charge approximately $1,000 per year for that uh Bank costs including uh checks deposit tickets deposit bags like that um we frequently open uh bank accounts that require us to sometimes we need to get things like deposit stamps and things like that so we set aside approximately $1,000 a year for those related supplies um in fiscal 25 we are going to be having our uh gby actal evaluation which the actuaries will come in and they will um they will evaluate our opem and this one was I increased this slightly it was approximately I believe $390 $3,100 something like that um in the past so so this one we did increase a little bit um like I alluded to earlier I also maintain the Post Office boxes at the South Dion post office the uh the Tom clerk handles the north titon office but um the town's two boxes plus at the um at the South Post Office $200 we are required in order to maintain our bond rating f our Contin continuing disclosure um we use easi as our financial advisor um their cost per year for our financial adviser is $22,000 I did put in some Known Unknown because things do come up um as an example in last March we had our land auction however previous to that there was some sight engine ing that needed to be done which we were able to pay for out of the professional and Technical line so we did put in some know unknown you know anticipated $1,200 and then also um I maintain or rather pay for the transfer station credit card processing so now the transfer station is uh operational with you to pay and we pay that for a year we've been able to offset that with um consumer fees you know the town is not paying Merchant credit card processing fees because we charge those directly to the consumer to me makes more sense the person's using the service should be responsible for paying for it um but because it's relatively low volume still you know it's not high dollars so there is still an Associated cost but the user fees a large majority of it so that's down to $150 per year um the certification of legal fees is this one I have um this one I I did request an increase for over the last year so this m money ultimately does come back to the town at the end of the day so um this is used to pay for their the recording of tax title whenever we do um record a tax title lean we're required to pay $106 to record that r that $16 is added to the balance of the tax title account so the residents do pay off those balances we do get that money back but it's something that we're required to expense up front um and yeah so the fisal 24 taxes will go to in September so this is a placeholder figure that represents the cost of approximately 70 titles going into or out of 70 Pro going out tax title over the year and um as you know we have to make it a priority to collect Del taxes it's unpleasant but it's it's necessary so we want to make sure that we use um you know use our use the law that allows us need to um the postage meter the py B machine operates on a line of credit so this account advances funds into the machine it operates on a line so we advance the funds in and then the uh departments are able to use it and then we ultimately um we ultimately will run a report to see who actually use what and then swap these figures out so that the town departments that are actually curring expenses people p for it um for office supplies we request $1,400 um you office assistant chair is Bly need replacement my um my assistant Treasurer collector is going to be here for 9 years this year and I think that chair was old when she started so I did put in for uh for that and then um also in fiscal 24 we have uh utilized all of our toner so so we'll um be reordering some toner toner gets pricey I like got plenty of that and those could run a couple per per as well um for travel this reflects um IRS mileage reimbursement rate but also this is used for the for the most part what this is used for is um I pursuing a three-year treasur certification I'm a member of the M treasur Association um this August I will go into my third and final year Treasurer school where I will be pursuing the mass Municipal certified Treasurer designation I'm not eligible to sit for the exam this year because it requires three consecutive years in office so I'm fortunate enough to be with you again next year said um I will be uh planning to pursue it in in fiscal 25 but this will allow me to go attend the school um and book the hotel basically it's a three-day intensive a hour clap uh for three nights and um it's been an invaluable resource and um then Tu subscriptions those are um just we members of the mass collector treasure Association and the Bristol County collector treasure Association so let's just represent our dues for our industry associations um did you want to pause here for anything or would you like me to jump into question regarding uh is that does the s need to come out of the 50 101 line for a portion of the ston um so just to make it easier when calculating the salary I'm trying to keep the Sens in a completely separate line so then you know that 5101 is strictly you know base salary the the 37 39 729 that's after pulling it out yes okay another question the treasurer U I know many employers now require direct deposit if we went if we require direct deposit that's I would love that yes no so that would be um that would be the the board of selectman's prerogative and um I know that we have some um I'm not sure CBA language allows for that but um yeah AB absolutely I stand highly amenable to tr it and um so if that's an initiative that the bo select like to move forward with you you have like complete support do any idea between just just the FedEx savings right yeah absolutely um cut down on on postage mail ements it would would definit be great yeah you don't have a ball big oh the actual cost savings would be I I would estimate maybe $100 a year it's it's we have very few employees who still receive paper checks um just to put it in perspective we have an annual annual payroll of approximately or rather weekly rather approximately $145,000 roughly give take um of which fewer than $3,000 worth actually goes to paper checks for overwhelming majority is still U is direct deposit but we do still have a few people that do and I have definitely um I'm strongly in favor of moving to Alor deposit because it it does feel silly to be driving to a wh to be picking up what ends up being three or four paychecks but the alternative is that if you get them for the employees late and they don't receive them then they could be titled to damages or some other recourse not to men just the bad experience but yes so absolutely I'm highly amenable to that so any support you need from me in my office please consider it done anybody else any questions I want go ahead as I look at 5300 mine item um the number 11,161 is from December remaining budget um where is it now that I I would have to get that to you well I'm just curious you're requesting an $800 increase there's still significant amount of money in there is that money already in Ami to balance to zero at the end of the year to justify an increase of $800 that's my only question that I I'm sorry I didn't bring my I don't have it either I only have the three this number I didn't bring that but I I can Circle back with you on that and also um out of f next year you'll be sitting for the exam no the F oh the following okay all oh no I'm I'm sorry I apologize yes yes the fcal year 25 yes is this well that should be fiscal 26 because the exam will be in August okay sorry thank you thank you [Music] to an extent you kind of do acrw interest on interest but um I'm sorry kind beered off the left field and um to go into collector now um the salary lines I'll just Mir the treasure lines at 2.5% increases across the board um this one I did request $250 worth of overtime um you we do we do a pretty good job in our office of managing overtime a clerical environment so we um we don't have things frequently come up but occasionally things do happen um so that I just wanted to make sure that we had some kind of contingency in there just in case um the employee stiens that was that new line that Serena just mentioned which again just mirrors the other half of their the CPR sens and the mandatory work ready travel uh likewise again for the repairs that we we mirror to the other side because we want to again and have some set aside um the pity B ma machine Le that one's a contractual obligation that's just our annual cost um we pay $792 roughly every quarter so that ends up being just a budal balance um professional and Technical we wanted to have something in there we we don't we don't typically spend a tremendous amount of this but um we may end up needing potentially legal opinions and um one of the things that I wanted to make sure we have some technical in case we needed legal advice is because of the othery case the Supreme Court case um that found that potentially so right now in the law of the land is that tax possession foreclosures are all general fund Revenue so once they're sold the previous owner is not entitled to any proceeds from that sale above and beyond the the know their Equity their Equity is completely forfeit is the the law of the land officially however there's a Supreme Court case decided last year called the Tyler case which is now called that into question so there's a possibility that either the Supreme Court or know that someone may come down with a definitive judgment um DLS as of last year has now said it will not require but will not object to when communities do land sales if they want to set that money aside into an agency or a trust fund until such time as clearer guidance is available but right now um it's become a little bit opaque so I thought that it would be responsible to have some kind of professional and Technical in there specifically for know legal opinions if we need them for something um next down we have tax bills which this one um I know we had a postage increase recently I believe there's a there's another at least one more plan for this year I believe um so this just reflects postage increase and U you know inflation has hit a lot of different aspects so we wanted to make sure that we have B enough to um to get the tax bills out I do feel pretty safe in saying that that money definitely comes back to the town and so you have postage already and then why is it included again on the tax bills yeah yes so the reason for that is that we work with a printer so the postage covers the postage that gets run through the 50 B mail machine yeah where this is postage that is um that is sent out specifically for tax billing and then additionally this paays for the printing the envelope stuffing the Labor uh we have an additional insert for the elderly and disabled voluntary tax contribution fund which so it's not post in tax bills yeah correct exactly that was so there was some um some additional um just inflation that's you know risen prices across the board but the mailing of the um the mailing of the tax bills the primary drivers for the uh the postage increase was one of the primary drivers just because there so many mailers uh 5420 under office supplies uh we put 1,250 U you know we go through Just A Sign significant amount of supplies we're busy office binders binder clips office supplies set the monitor um I fin just finally at the end of last fiscal year the beginning of this one just purchased a monitor I was literally working off of a 10-inch notebook with a magnifying glass and um I would like to get a second monitor if that's possible um so I did include that in my off supplies as well um we put 400 in for travel um because again that's just theual trip to amher there's um there's parking expenses a parking garage there and um that's basically just designed to offset those those expenses and then um just $100 for uh do subscriptions which again is the other half for uh brist County collector treasur Association and then also um there's a variety of conferences and things like that and sometimes they have nominal nominal fees 2030 $50 and um they have been invaluable as a resource in learning the functions responsibility of my job so I would be deeply appreciated for the opportunity to continue to uh to attend those for professional development and um were there any questions on this or would you like me to jump into tax title for tax title uh we have uh we have requested so I've requested 25,000 U the reason for this is that we put 32 properties into tax title 32 and 33 top my head that in demand at the end of fiscal 22 uh we sent our fiscal 23s to demand and um we're going to be performing another set of Tak in the spring so um this is the budget gu is historically limited the um the progression of our land court cases obviously foreclosure is a last resort um we we work with people who try to negotiate payoffs who try to negotiate payment plans we don't ever want to end up in forclosure but the sad reality is that we do and um we want to ideally to either get these properties back in the tax roles as quickly as we can or if they are going to be um become the property of the town then we want make sure that we are efficient about doing that so that they can be used for some sort of productive purpose um so we've requested 25,000 for that um because again that that is St to need the Foreclosure um pipeline for the town is that simply run out of money and I would like to be in a position where we can we can drive the things that we have to drive in order to get them across the finish line and ideally get them back to the taach r um there any questions about the tax title pay things like land Court expenses um a lot of these are landed that the owner is deceased and is left to someone who was deceased who inherited it and is now deceased and a lot of it is playing you know request the death certificate and um and then title surges the title seches become pretty pricey because um it's just this Serpentine L of who owned what at what point um stay on the rest now to Opel um Opel we requested $35,000 uh I believe you're all familiar with it but I'll just touch on just in case that's our other post employment benefits essentially it's money set aside in trust in order for us to have the ability to fund the employer portion of costs for our retirees um this is I believe say the best time to plant the tree was 20 years ago and the second best time right now um you know this is something that I feel very strongly about I believe that it's it's responsible for us setting aside money for our our um for our retire Healthcare but additionally it's also necessary for us to maintain our bond rating uh when moodies does our opinion for our blond for our bond raing one of the things that they did mention as being a credit to the town was that we have a we've established history of putting $125,000 in that's the amount they that they like to see uh we're operating with constraints Andy limit I didn't feel it was prudent to request $125,000 in the operating budget I just think that that's too much um but I wanted to make sure that we are um we're starting off in the right direction and um s full disclosure I had every intention of requesting 90,000 at special meeting if free cash allows for it um again it's important maintaining our bond rating but also um but we've got great employees great retirees and um I think that everybody deserves retirement with dignity and these people care about the town and knowing that their health care is not be AB to the town because we properly budged for it is something I feel like we mutually owe each other um there questions on that line actually just a quick question in regards to that using free cash have you discussed that with seren I haven't seen um any article requests come through for that yeah just question the soundness of using free C to pay for um so we typically do have an article for to F opab at 90,000 in the fall in the fall yeah it's usually in the fall meeting thank you make sure I'm staying on my so Group Health [Music] Insurance night1 14 I line item 5174 uh we have a request for 1, 37,3 48 uh Southeast Massachusetts Health Group voted to increase the active employee health interest by 5.7% for fiscal 25 um we have we have had some increase in our healthcare costs the initial increase was going to be approximately 9% a little bit more than 9% um as some of you may know especially if you have health insurance through the town mhg U does have a trust fund which is um which they drew on last year to provide a rate holiday which allowed people a couple of months no premiums which of course fantastic for employes Town um however this year rather than do that they voted to draw on some of those trust funds to defray the increase in the healthcare costs um what further um has been beneficial to this is that um we also have changed carriers for our Medicare eligible retirees as well so now Medicare eligible retirees have transitioned over to Etna and the feedback I've gotten from has been absolutely fantastic we were able to actually um get better health insurance at lower costs they're both medx plans they're both Medicare supplemental plans Apples to Apples they're it's just a superior product it's everything that the medic 2 did the new e thex does with the exception that a few of the programs are actually more generous and um couple of benefits that uh the cross plan is didn't have which included things like um up to 14 meals after hospitalization gets not meals that can bring you uh bring you meals um know God forbid somebody's dealing with cancer or something else and um would would feel better needs needs um a wig they actually provide that that's actually U you know hair services or something they provide to um so that did have a positive impact on this however we did have a substantial increase additionally um we have $100,000 buffer in this budget for qualifying events and uh in um EXC me 100 in fiscal 24 we $100,000 buffer excuse me I apologize the open enroll that's to absorb things like open enrollment or um changes to qualifying events under the Affordable Care Act there are things like affordable um there are things that are qualifying events birth of a child marriage divorce um things that someone to jump in or out of health insurance during an off time when it's not the open enrollment period so we wanted to have some contingency in there to ensure that we have the ability to pay for that some of our benefit eligible employees do need to pick up Insurance um because that is something a lot law would require us to pay for it so I think setting some money aside for it it's responsible I we set aside $140,000 which is roughly the um employer share for approximately five to six family plans so that gives us some flexibility between know someone who's um a single plan gets married becomes a family plan or somebody who's currently uninsured or has coverage with spouse's job and then comes on um do change of work or something like that for their spouse so that does give us approximately five to six family plans work of fall events yeah just to be clear on that like you've already heard from two employees so we already have two going to be so be happy to increase this if you'd like um for life insurance those ones are those ones are small dollars mgl requires us to pay for um 50% of um life insurance for our employees we do not have a huge um pool of people that can Advantage this we've got probably I don't know 60 65 people that it actively picked this up we've got very small plans we've got I believe the smallest that the law allows us um $44,000 life $4,000 accidental death and dismemberment employees are eligible to keep these at retirement however it drops down to half it goes down to 2,000 and 2,000 so the amounts are relatively small and the total um the total cost for the employer share is I budgeted for $2,000 um that has been a um a place where a lot of insurers are leaving this industry because generally the folks who are picking up Insurance are doing so frequently because they can't get insurance elsewhere the um the coverage relative to the premium is is frankly not great so that becomes kind of a cycle where if it's not great coverage because the demographics of the pool that're using it which puts the price in a position where only one demographic is going to want to use it so it kind of becomes this this spiral that itself a little bit um but the silver Learning is that it's it's still relatively inexpensive on the so we we requested $2,000 for that um a long and shortterm debt is just proceeding along debt schedule got here for the uh short-term debt we don't have any which is great um for our long-term debt we've got that's um Department 710 5905 which is our um our w p note to the Massachusetts C water trust um 6,668 year and then we've got the maturing principle on the police station $235,000 uh matur fiscal 2038 and then we've got the interest on our long-term debt at $1 19,42 which represents a decrease of $11,750 due to the um portion of the debt being U being having retired any with any questions on the on short-term [Applause] debt then to move over to employer contributions um this was Med so this is the uh tax we required to pay um the employee pays a portion of Medicare tax when we get pay stuff you'll see pay Medicare tax we all do there's also employer portion that we need to pay so this is basically just to set aside we've requested 95,000 um this is just to set us to make sure that we have enough in there um know we have some things that we sometimes can't force control at police and fire overtime and we just want to make sure that we've got enough set aside to be try to a lot basically um were there any questions on that one so that takes into account we're kind of running more over time than we had in the past right right exactly and that um you know from from having talked to um some of the folks in in public safety that's what I've been told is that that overtime is um seems to have increased and um yes we just wanted to make sure that we had it enough and if there are any um retirements next year I don't know if there's any planned retirements um those will come with vacation and Si time buyouts which are also going to require Medicare taxes on that so if you have somebody who's retiring is going to be you know if you have three or four employees who all retire they're each going to get paid out for 10 or 12 weeks collectively of all that time we want to make sure that we have the money to to pay for it um and then our retirement assessment which that is driven by count retirement and the ass re from them was 1,968 which represents the $61,000 increase over last year um were there any questions on that one better better than FY was happy to see it and if there were no um other questions that concludes my uh budget questions on any of the budgets that presented do any of them contain um classes that your assistants are taking no we ended up taking that out and um after confirm with the Town Administrator we decided that it might be more appropriate for them to um to pursue that through the tuition reimbursement through the that's been remov all right thank you thank you thank you all very much great to see you all we um we we next um we do have we do have superintendent M I'm Rose from BP on Zoom joining us good evening everyone one are you guys able to hear us now yep we can hear you fine okay we have a volum it seems just let me know when I that sorry about that is that yeah we can hear you now I think okay great okay good evening even evening with me I have naen Rose as well our business manager and um happy to go over the budget with you um just so uh as we begin again uh this is a minimum contribution uh budget as required by the state uh with the U along with capital and transportation assessment as as well as the ban principal interest that I'm going to um go over and I'll stick to mostly to D dyon's um assessments but the overall fy2 budget of Bristol P has an overall increase of 5.9% a total budget of 30 3,557 24 uh D's assessment for fy2 is 1,437 737 which includes the ban principal interest of $277,745 uh the good news is D's assessment uh 4 I25 is $3,697 less than last year which is a decrease of 2.1% uh over the previous year so um for the money standpoint I think that's in a um kind of better situation uh as far as D students we the one of the reasons why it has gone down we we um decreased by two students from last year so the total of um number of students at D is 110 students which is about uh eight% of the total population of Bristol Plymouth um that's kind of where we are we did we did provide you with a um some some schedules if you want to look at you know your past schedules and how things have broken up there are on uh schedule three has all the towns broken up but if we look just at Dion uh you can see what the uh the region Transportation Capital assessment and ban is broken up on page three and the page of four you can compare from um year to year from last year to this year as far as your increases so does anyone have any questions yeah if if is the state aid is it based separately by town or is it PP what the the it's by it's what you mean the state aid by town as far as our uh so so yeah when I look at look at the um percentage student percentage by town I see ta has 40% yeah the member Community percentage taunton's only contributing is at 26 and a half% right so and and some pay a little more that all depends on the the um the assessment by the state the state state puts the uh number on uh the percentage of uh students from each town on City so they're they're giving out Aid not as BP but as the individual students correct so you every other town in your in the school pays more than Taunton does more than their percentage of students uh represented by the school that is correct okay as you can see some towns pay again it's we don't make this formula right um You can see your your neighboring Town rth pays a whole lot more per per student and it's just a formula of what they use for um you know what uh towns can afford and they base on land and and uh economics on uh each town so that's how they do the form up so so really in their anticipa in the in the revenue that's coming from the town that that money is coming into you allocated to dyon to mova to ton to Lakeville to and then the calculations is done from there yeah okay Regional but not some okay uh any any questions for BP overall it's 12 12,000 12,000 students we're paying for 110 students based on the last last Falls last fall yeah and then oh yeah and then from the from the DAT assessment information I'll I'll again from the 30e de schedule we see that it rises and falls with the moment as well that's correct I missed that question yeah know I was just mentioning where the changes in enrollment based on how that impacts like a debt schedule for the project itself like get oh yeah that assessment Rises and falls with enrollment as well 51 students from Freetown already Yes uh as of July 1st uh we're there'll be 51 students wow that's a good good job well that helped a lot of other towns as well I mean you know it's it's it's it's a give and take right save some Town some um you know population but at the same time it um you know it kind of squeezes some students out as well so that that's the the give and take but there they're now going to be you know as we had talked about um you know they're going to be responsible for some of the budget uh school projects and so forth so any questions for DP well thank you Dr Miguel he's and thank you Nan as well yes thank you have a good night you're welcome have a good night thank you everyone next we do have the superintendent who came over the r through the woods didn't even have an opportunity to congratulate Alex on and a new building Pro that they're putting together as we just finished ours and it's kind of a a blur already as we move on to the next stages of our of our growth thanks for having us um we appreciate it um coming in too my second year as a superintendent and uh my year at the school itself uh appreciate to see some familiar faces and some news too so a couple of just updates uh from the school's perspective and I can get into the finances I think many of you are in probably Aven your hands in place thank you for many of you who have come for us for a campus tour um have encourage all of you to spend some time on the aie campus if you haven't been on the aie campus I encourage you to take a tour um my door is always open and obviously administrator almost knowns that and you're more than welcome to be able come join over the last last uh four years we put together um and we've discussed this as I visited um the select board and finance committee four year strategic uh Master budget and we've really take a look at that in a more Collective way uh we've had a 40% growth on our student population and the 40% growth on our staff population so just to put that into perspective we were little over 400 students and we're going to be at 500 sorry 640 students for school year 24 and 25 so as you can tell we obviously have significantly increased our square footage of our facilities and part of that increase comes with uh expenses that are associated to um not just Staffing in our in our student body um but also the equipment and the maintenance and the uh utility expenses that have to to work our facilities so we've developed a four-year plan and uh we're now in year four so we we're in a really good position I just it's amazing to see how we've moved ahead by doing it we've also put aside some Savings in that in that budget through some of the competitive grants that we were able to secure uh we spent the last five years working very heavily understanding that we wanted to offset some of the expenses to the cities and towns um and we were able to secure just almost shy of $5 million in 5 years is got better grants for our equipment um for our services on the campus and for some of our assistance for um our programs which offsets the debt assessment expenses because we didn't have the Bond as much because part of the msba project that just concluded now I would put any of that F Project work onto um on cfy town so we hope that that alleviated a bit much and a bit more financially responsible to that um updates within the last couple years we've now moved ahead thanks to the town's stewardship and assistance on two solar array projects on the camp rops um we're connecting that uh through an interconnect agreement with solar select or select solar I should say and um we can see by about May or so this year to have a finance transfer over to the uh subsidiary company and start seeing some yield in June July AUST some our heavier months the goal is to have our Dairy Bar facility which houses one of the arrays to be um to be Net Zero so that's an important place for us to be and hopefully offset some of the energy expenses that we have across we're able to uh successfully reach lead gold certification in our science facility in in our um gilbertt Hall which is Gilbert Hall's a 1912 facility completely renovated um by working very closely with the ARs and the msba program we're able to reach that certification which is huge because it's a reduction of water expenses um you've heard before about our program that we have again we work with the town to look at our sewer program and meery system from Waters now um we've heavily increased our population we're trying to reduce our expenses the amount of not being the third largest producer or user of water in your town sother down place um you've seen our vet science facility open up where good as we spend as in collaborative work actually with the town um and with um the health agent along with the um control officer and um Mr a so uh hopefully putting together a clinic that's going to work directly with the town itself for R CL that was prly announced that we just met today about that I think we want to serve as a a good Steward in neighbor we have the facilities available here uh we met with our local vets in bristell County we visited 50 plus of their facility offices and offered them to visit us and along with some of the local shelters to really not compete with the vets in our Bristol County facilities but really help and understand what we can do to better serve um their population of technici that are and veterinarians that our can be able to start helping so it's more of a collaborative approach with them so we hope to work more closely with the town see if we can offer some of those resources here on itself we also just finished doing um a training with the public safety department both of the Town fire and police on NE so we trained them on how to be able appropriately work with animal handling and um specifically working with um with dogs the new law that is passed for new yor um and we've successfully worked on a a on a large entament animal um horse um and call it large animal with your public safety department also too and other local agencies on how to be able to visit local farms if there's an issue or concern that they responding to with there is a place where someone may be hurt on your farms in the town itself in local region I would like to give that back and we were able to successfully have that training too so just a couple of highlights on some of the Town um work that we've been working with specifically with this school um I know uh t m b also shared with you our debt assessment um and our tuition uh projections um we're happy to say that uh D for next year has increased their pupils to 28 so remember we're building in the rear so that would be students that had attended October one numbers of the dur this year so um in that upcoming school year um there'll be 28 students uh that will be built to the town of Dyan um and that's a successful growth over the last four years where we had 12 and just 22 16 and 23 25 in 24 and 28 2 it's great it's wonderful to see the town's numbers going back up again from where it was um half of four years ago um we finished the U msba audit and we just were able to receive the results of that final reimbursement of our grant veryable now successfully put together our final bond package um I know we've had some shortterm Banning that we've had in place and then we've also had a larger bond that we took out for it so we've tried to really maintain the cost for pupil at uh about $ 5979 $ 5,979 per student so similar to other assessments that you're receiving it's uh your charge is based upon the per people amount that we have so this upcoming year it's uh the projected amount is $167,450 48 that we have in place for the 28 students and then in addition to that we have our tuition assessments that we put moving forward um this is our fourth year and we're working with our Board of Trustees to review and determine if they'll be increase at all we've shared that we've projected a either a two $200 or $400 projected increase on the per pupil and that's a lead us about $4,000 $417 um over the amount of um 28 students so it's $2,476 which would be that we're projecting as a possible increase that hasn't been voted by the order trustees we presented that forward um we wish that we would be more aligned with your proberly your budgeting period but that's why we shared some projected numbers in place um and then just in general some of the highlights that within the budget itself just so people can be or aware of it um we really took a strategic Approach at looking at our expenses in general other than the common Transportation expense costs we're obviously a county school we cover 500 square miles we do the best that we can with the 11 buses that we carry for the population that we have which I think is pretty small and particularly amount of mileage and that we cover per day um our expenses in transportation are going to be going up we're in the um we're in the fourth we're we're executing an optional fourth year of our contract so we we did a threeyear plus two plus contract and uh that allowed us to not have to put it out to bid which the market now is showing around 35 to 40% to school districts Transportation increases through the future so we're able to um allow us to get another bus included in that additional one to1 services and a light bus service for our students who are staying after school for um additional twoing services so that increased the budget in the area of Transportation specifically by about $26,000 that we had from the previous year I'm only highlighting that you don't have that specific number but I just wanted to pop off a few specific areas that you know and be aware of where we're trying to manage through the increased costs of inflation and the cost of our contracts in general um our utilities have we tried to model our utilities as best as we possibly can given the new facilities in place um we we have very which a little a luxury of air conditioning now but there's also a cost and expense that go into that so we're trying to dial that down a bit to keep our utility costs um lower so we're able to cut some of our facility related areas um we' done a good job at um maintaining facilities we took an approach of the last three years of having service contracts with our new buildings so we're making sure we're addressing our prent and maintenance in our facilities that are under warranty but while we've been doing that we wanted have some teachable time for our staff to learn and flip back to them in a moderate period we need to be patience we can't just give our facility staff brand new systems without them having the common knowledge and understanding of the sophistication of it so we wanted to pause use some service contracts and then come back in So there'll be some Savings in the future um as we eliminate some of our service contracts that we have which helps us on offsetting utility costs iny place and um and in general um our contractual agreements for our payrolls um that we have and we have one contract in collected bargaining negotiations now but we put a a percentage on hold on the contract itself again we've done our bestest in maintaining the increases uh still uh stay within budget and we're looking at this point in time uh for our increase just a little shy of 7.9% overall increase in our budget that we have in place which I think is pretty healthy with inflation riding between 9 UM and 11% and um looking at most in school districts uh in the position that they're in right now uh anywhere above their level service budget being anywhere between 9% and 15 to 16% over um that so um we're right there and managing what we have as facility than so the 5979 does that already include the proposed increase of the um 2 yeah so that's a good question so the 5979 is the assessment for debt in addition to that the town is assessed a tuition assessment so there's a debt assessment and a tuition assessment the tuition assessment is what you're referring to the tuition assessment is right now is assessed yeah projected $4,000 so it's uh combin them together y okay questions thank you yeah thank you little bit behind the um just feel going just feel going basically basically generally like a level the level funded budget for yeah we do have we do have variance and we do have variances in offset that I just want to I just want to fully explain out um we have in terms of in terms of the we for the chairman and the two members that have been Lev funded uh we do for the executive uh we do for both our executive assistant and administrative assistant that they both contract employees so we do so we do a contract with them I can turn to the executive assistant total salary actually split between the BOS budget andr budget so that's why just in the B budget 51 5110 like only half of the salary is in the B budget like as it always has been but the full but the full salary for the admin assistant like is included in 5111 um oh yeah we do the executive assistant does work does work like it does work approximately it does work approximately 1 and A2 hours every other week like does work doesn't work an extra oh yeah like 1 Point 5 hours every other week like for meetings um in terms of our professional development we basically have essentially a level uh pretty close to a level funded budget there and we do we do throughout the year we do have to do filings with the registry of deeds um we have work as compensation um I work I work as compensations from make we have two required meetings we have we have to attend every year so yeah our executive assistant is now ALS our executive assistant is now also H coordinator and like oh oh I can I can and part theen as part of the part part of the credential for like a human resources professional is getting sh credential and so that has a cost projecting [Music] um 2525 we we do we do we do have and we do attend like MMA meetings Max minicipal Association meetings throughout the year so so we do so we do have we do we do have four those meetings $500 the Tristan the 20 the $2,100 for Tristan is a drug testing oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah that drug testing is a mandatory program for all the employees that we have in town with CDL Drivers yeah oh we every and then every year we have an updated requirement we have updated requirement to post updated label La post as well um Communications we actually brought that down like an FY oh yeah oh oh yeah like an F FY oh yeah FY 23 I'm sorry fy2 bring that line down by about 30 I about $3,200 oh yeah oh yeah including that like offset in the following line moving that 32 I actually that $3,200 and I I into the communication line yeah oh yeah oh communication oh yeah oh like another Communications com line for the Last 5 Years um for The Last 5 Years at line for the last 5 years that L been undefended um oh oh oh yeah oh na after October 2023 like special to the October 23 oober 2023 speci town meeting we made the first attempt to get to Tri in to get closer to get closer to a tri in budget there we actually added $6,000 know in top of that and closing out and top of that and closing out FY 23 we also had to do a year and transfer that account to the about $8,000 so basically where we were with halfway through the year Trends where we were and halfway through the year Trends and F like oh December in December 2023 having those trends that brought us to a real that brought us to a real total bottom line there of $65,000 now yeah as I mention like that oh yeah includ oh yeah oh yeah includes the $3200 from the pr line but it also includes the six it also includes the additional six it also includes the additional $6,000 we added in to the budget like in oh in the c f f like 204 like I like well oh y y at the same oh yelling at the same time at the same time act and at the same time actually like today we be like a municipal fiber project which will hope to consolidate a lot of our cans the construction actually that project start it today so so we anticipate so we anticipate we do anticip that halfway to 25 we'll be able to we'll be able to restart all that we'll be we'll be able to drop a lot of our Comcast accounts we'll be able to drop a lot of our Comcast accounts move them into one bigger one hopefully realize additional savings the only challenge is we don't know what yeah don't have an idea like at this we don't have an idea like at this point what type of savings will'll be able to realize at this point um 5420 we went 5420 we were able to decrease our we were able to decrease our office off supply line from 2800 to 1500 if anyone has ever been count at the end know that they recycle and they recycle and they recycle for everything so I do want to thank them publicly for that um we we yeah we were we were able to level fund that travel line how how like however as I mentioned earlier like at HR has been going to a lot of trainings she actually has trainings up coming on investigations and things like that so we have an ability also by training to do Point investigation we also have an ability we also have an ability in the future to we also have an ability in the future to help to F our legal budget as well because we'll be able to do all that in house um so that's there then 5730 we have typical dues and subscriptions we yeah we have a we have a membership with the MMA uh we have the we have the HR coordinator we have the HR coordinator membership with the master Min or human resources Association uh we have a membership with HR Association as well uh uh the to are the to chamber like chamber like um we do have our an Zoom subscription yeah oh we do also have our annual subscription with the American application Association as well hopefully we never have to use it but like it's there if we need it so have any questions on that at this point that at this point 51116 salary Reserve yes $20,000 20 yes we did have that we did have that in the FY 24 budget based on where we were with bargaining with a clerical Union there at that point oh yeah in death the clerical Union a union agreement like at this point has been B it's being implemented and yeah like as we go to close out especially the last part of the year uh yeah we will be drawing on that even more to close everything outse because that is oh yeah oh oh yeah that like oh yeah that is a reserve that we have to really like fund the difference in the FY 23 to FY 24 cost the clerical Union B I don't see it 25 so we don't need it we uh we oh we won't for the clerical Union but we are in bargaining with three other unions right now and oh yeah we're actively working on a case hold for them so we have um so we do so we are able to have really a General funding plan to help with our projections and forecasting as well so as we get so as we get closer so we do get closer two time meeting based based on where we are in those processes we might we might have an ability to propose a salary like we might you know have have a place hold where we go forward to uh to a special time meeting in the fall to fund those issues as well it's too early tell at this point too late to tell at this point have to have have to need the salary Reserve oh fy2 going into the meeting it just really it just really too early to tell about that this point I mean by where we were yeah oh yeah where we were at this where we were at this point last year we didn't have to close any deficit so we did so we did have more time and we had a greater ability to be follow along those processes than we are now how however we're working we're working at all these processes at the same time right now it just yeah there's just not enough hours in the day right now so we don't need anything there yet you just do a supplemental later hopefully yes yeah but that yeah that's an unanswered question like at this point we may need one we may have an ability to win feel it's not possible that the that this point soly and then down in 5341 we have um over 24 budget the 20,000 increase yeah same amount as we're not funding for that Reserve yeah it basically offsets itself with that yes but we probably will need not on purpose but we probably will need something in the reserve we just don't know what it is here probably likely yes I just I they don't have that number yet and like it's so early on in negotiations as well do those contracts end this fisal year yeah they end on June 30 you think we're likely to use that Communications increase or hopefully with everything we're doing through the F project and the savings that hope mid next year will be able to realize hopefully we won't have to draw on that thing like that also related to point unfortunately I'm just trying to think of like when we have to do the supplement yeah oh yeah at that point maybe we'll have a better idea we'll be able to just really do like inter budget oh inter departmental budget transfer without even needing to go forward to have anything at town meeting as well or I have a reduced amount of to meeting uh so that takes us through 2022 um moving into the Town Council budget uh uh we have proposing to like level fund the Town Council budget at $55,000 in2 if you look uh uh if you look at the budget amount expended halfway through the year first it will only show that we've only spended that we've only spended 31% but our legal bill always [Applause] behind [Music] oh like halfway through the year anal and halfway analysis actually showing that how that exactly that we were that we were exactly halfway at the end of the that we were exactly halfway at the end of the calendar year and we're trending oh yeah like essentially right on track to fully expand that line at the end of the fiscal year yeah we've we've had as we have also had the last few years we we've had a few unanticipated issues that we can never predict that we just have to manage absorb and yeah like uh yeah I mean h having a c budget the way we do it it also provides us with an ability to to deal very responsibly with the situations that we need to deal [Music] with questions on that okay moving on to [Music] the one4 [Music] the4 the um the line line line 515 and 5 110 all all 5110 those represent lines and a salaries um I like I I like oh you may have noticed I have I oh yeah oh yeah I am actually recommending moving this typ for the for the ab coordinator from the cons disability line to my budget wellish here yeah we really want yeah we really want to make sure that we have adequate over we really want to make sure we have adequate oversight over that function oh yeah can yeah can in terms of the operation in terms of the operation of the function but also the can and also and also how long with the operation we manage the hours there as well and um the represents oh oh oh yeah repres oh yeah represents a budget in amount of approximately 10 hours a month with like a 2% increase on top of his current of on top of his on top of his fy2 full hourly rate of $25 an hour that does anyone have any questions on any of that at all yet okay he me none we we do ALS we do we do also in the same we do also Al in the same way that we do also here like in the same way that we did in the BOS budget we do have like a very very very like limited additional hours and over time an overtime line for the executive assistant just because her job and the fluctuations now with a job is always evolving um so we do so we do have a five so we do have $500 like over time line there you do have a $500 overtime line there which you typically uses at the end of the fiscal year can typically want I can typ oh I can typically once like typically one she draws on the line she draws fully she draws fully on the line in the B budget um uh we do uh we do I'm sorry we do all so like I have I have 2450 for Contra negotiation typen oh electrication type in and also vehicle reimbursment um that that is inl 5161 uh like I have a I I have a 20 $600 professional and Technical line really to maintain to maintain to help maintain the certification that to help maintain the certification that I can need to maintain as a certified procurement officer oh yeah and I'm actually I'm going to have to go through I have to re up on my professional development with my cus next year as well so um $2,100 of that $2600 line with $2,100 I'm sry yeah $2,100 of the $2600 with fund that and then um no I'm sorry I can't do math and I'm the one talking about budgets this is great um yeah so so like so you part of the $2,600 so I like would be like part part of the $600 would be like part of the $2600 would be for my mCP certifications how however the a coordinator he does also he does also have like a legally required auxiliary Aid um that we that we have funded that we've always funded in the C actually funded for about the past three years in the Cod budget to the tune of about $1,500 a year that is regularly required um uh that brings us next to line 5340 5 like 40 to pay uh to pay for my provided a cell phone um we also like we do have we also do have have a service agreement with jtp joh foil John GI fo public relations John GI fo public relations The Entity that runs that they're The Entity that runs they're The Entity that runs the site of the d portal that as of by newsletters our news update on it as well we have the pay there been increased in website and there have there been increases in website posting for that as well which represents a difference an increase just over $1,000 from last year and then my sub my subscription we do belong to like a re we do belong to a regional collaborative which actually helps tremendously with bu all I help I I it help it helps it helps tremendously with viol DPW supplies and services and you know oh oh yeah also also it also helps to your office things like that so we don't have to go up to on our own for that and so we I like I like I like we I like I like we like we we have annual do there of about about $4200 um am I am my contract with the town I have been a member for the last three years of the M Municipal man Association which is my which is my professional development organization [Music] um I oh EXC me S part of the $7,600 part of a part of the $7,600 part of the 4600 oh my God part of the $7,600 would oh would fund that as well like as well as a membership in in the Greater Boston in the Greater Boston Greater Boston purchasing a Consortium that is a group purchasing group that we buy our these cres from as well [Music] um can also along the lines of bring everything from this EOD budget the the coordinator represents $500 in training for him as well that he's requested any questions on any of that so um 5161 benefits car cell phone education yes and then I see down on 5300 professional and Technical again and then the cell phone was on that line under the 2450 but then under Communications I see another 2600 yeah no like I no like I like I like I like the 5503 40 like uh under 5340 I you have $600 for to provided cell phone like $600 to propose for the 25th budget you so five 5 5161 the description is benefits car cell phone education s $2,450 proposed and then under professional and Technical and 5300 so the education statement is not part of the 2450 it's a separate item down here no it's actually part of the 2450 okay and then there's more professional and Technical is that is that also education professional oh oh oh oh oh oh oh that like ongoing like oh that like ongoing like cus how however like in the education like I do receive a 12 I do receive a $1,200 St in a year because I already have a master spre and that's part of the 2600 or part of the 24 2450 part of 2450 y okay and then and then this is for other professional yeah yeah like under 5300 have certified and that is ongoing requirement that I'm always having to fund and take cus and everything and um the cell phone is in addition to Communications these are other types of Communications number 5340 yeah yeah oh oh yeah like oh yeah like all that all that 500 all that 5,675 line like up only 600 that only 600 that is is still $5,000 jgp oh is that which is actually split between my office my office and the two Public Safety departments as well is that the website the town website that like you go on to departments and all that stuff that citizens use or is that a website that you guys we it does like we have yeah it's full actually like I mean like it's in serving like so it's an internet yes um okay so any other questions on theist budget we budget we have actually working with the town CLK we were able to F F4 that budget has been funded has been has been funded to run out two time meetings at amount of $4200 and fy5 and f25 f 25 we're proposing that that be $300 just friends all what we have typically with Checkers and Al and also with police details as well that like a $400 reduction [Music] that any have any questions on that moving on to I believe insurances that 945 and the fy4 budget react the fy4 budget react combined all our insurance L build Insurance liability insurance building liability work um so in there we actually we met we met we met actually without insurance AG last week and he actually recommending based on where everything is like in the insurance Market to increase all our insurances by% actually yeah so he he and they are recomending that we he he and they now part of ours are recing that we increased we increased by 6% of cyber insurance oh building Insurance not liability insurance what we do have an ability to what we do have an ability what we do have an ability to level fund our work as comp insurance based on our experience there so that I believe oh has our experience oh oh uh uh oh uh yeah can work as a comp just just with a regular nonpublic safety employees it's actually it's actually I don't want to jinx it but it's actually been really good we we have had two issues in FY 24 two issues in f 2 FL with that Public Safety workers comp insurance that will probably Drive our experience up for a while so we'll probably have we'll probably have increased rates we'll probably have increased rates with 11 in with 111 in that basically work as basically work as Poli however it is what is unfortunately though was just the unevitable and but but oh yeah however we've been trending fairly well these last few years which has has helped work comp PL on mod Factor has been decreasing with which actually allows our work comp insurance to be discounted and yeah like which is why going in oh yeah oh yeah going into like FY 25 like we're able actually level oh yeah going into f25 going into F525 we will be able to level F just straight questions on that uh the uh uh the town of flz that is a $2500 line that represents no ch budg 195 like we actually like expend out of that like in May of every year that's why we don't have any expens right now we're not projecting however we're not projecting any expense or any increase yeah any increase expense in FY so that takes care of that um I have I I've already talked I've already talked about the work comp into 945 thankfully we don't have any settlements than we don't have any settlements zero we don't have any Court judgments yet either oh yeah oh yeah that oh yeah that's also the we talked about liability inance agent somebody we've been with for a long time we have uh we've been we've been with our insurance agent for now proba 4 years we switched about 4 years ago now and yeah they have actually they've been pretty good but like I mean how we decide to revisit that we oh yeah oh yeah Bas Bas based on issues we have in things if we had any uh yeah I mean like if we yeah like I mean if we have any crazy exorbitant increases in premiums if we have any crazy exorbitant we have any crazy ex increases in premium premium that's another option or we could yeah it could be yeah it could also be healthy to really change it up every five six seven years as well just keeping everything fresh so we're kind of getting up there for with this one for yeah yeah we've been with [Music] years one like and then we had a claim our experience with that claim was not it just didn't go well at all no no it believe me [Music] anything else Jesus I'm sorry I thought was going to be quick I'll Beck I have accting this department 135 so the first two salary lines um are contractual and then I did have that new line for Education stens um my assistant has a degree and certification with CPR and I have a bachelor's degree um there's just a little typo in the zero beas budget 400 it's not double dipped I ended up taking it out of the assistant line and putting it into that next line um and then additional hours I budgeted at 650 which is about two additional hours for my assistant a month um she's been with me since the end of August I may have only you know I've only used 6% that's probably three hours um through the end of June um for this budget I do not have anything for equipment repairs and maintenance I had budgeted $200 in Cal year 24 um but thankfully the printer has been okay so I took that out this year refresh and Technical um those it's just what we use our Vadar system for and some Postage and um the customized data does our um 1099 reporting the audit amount for 28,000 is contractable the office supplies I decreased it by $250 um the same thing as the select men we reuse a lot of things that we have we have you know a lot of paper clips and just extra things that come through our office naturally so I felt comfortable decreasing supplies the professional development and continuing education I left that local Fund in um for my assistant and myself to do some mmaaa trading and then we are also both part of the P&B organization which meets twice a year um and then the mcpo is my certification I'm currently um an associate certified of mcpo the procurement I sent for a class this fiscal year which starts in May um and then I believe there is some type of exam or it's at the end of that class and then I will be on procurement certified um and then if I have to keep up that certification on same thing as Mr Mullen to continue that procurement between the two of us you know invoices and the contracts that come through our departments just to be up to date with all of those regulations the travel I also decreased that um things it's just I didn't really think it was necessary um I know at the end of February it shows 0% but um I did just come back from the MMA is always in March so that's really the first one that um happens that is you know Mur and significant you know distance I don't put in for the local ones I'm just going to Kingston or you know something under an hour I'm not going to put in for um and then dues in [Music] subscriptions I also decreased that and I wish I had my paper from last year um but just the pnb and mmaaa dues um I didn't spend a lot of that so that honestly might be want to have Tois if I was calculated that um and then additional equipment the 600 budgeted this year was for the printer um to see if I need to actually replace the entire printer but it's been hang it on so that should be okay does it lease that equipment no that one mine in my office is not least and um do we have like a subscription of like a a Geek Squad or something for maintenance I don't believe so not for the one particularly in my office it's a smaller printer it's not just wonder what we get for friend like taking care of all our stuff each department have yes squ would be more everything will be more yeah it's way it's much cheaper right what each department because I just noticed each department seems to have a maintenance Bud for their well it all depend on what you're covering like if you're covering they have any recoil printers right and copers lots cover them all no no it's it's not bad it's we have like with Rec we have a major coverage but it's because you have so much women one printer so I just have a small little printer um and even if even if you didn't have that uh I would say what is it what's the amount of printers um so I am us able to use a big zerox copy a printer that's in the copy room that um you know a lot of town hall departments do end up sharing if I print like large reports or um when I was printing out the monthly reports for every Department because it covered every Department I would send it to that printer which does um have service agreement under it so I just my question wasn't like your printer specifically this just like we've got different offices and different equipment yeah know individual office is like their life my phone and my personal computer you'd be surprised I've got one through best F it's not that much it covers everything I own that's electronic yeah they do that different I do believe with with yeah I don't think it would be the same okay so are there any other questions I do have a question sure as far as certification St and all this um so you have your salary and then the raise for this year and then the certification St is that every year oh so that additional 3,000 um so I'm in the middle of being governmental certified and within my contract there's two tests and I passed the last the legal exam so that increased it and then I just that for the Practical exam so if I do pass it that is an additional amount that will get R en rolled to my base but that is one time for each test yeah like once I pass it that amount gets rolls into my Sal oh okay thank you no good okay thank [Music] you [Applause] [Music] uh veterans we have three new chapter 115 uh cases that we've just taken on it's going to finish this year FY 24 and then transition into FY 25 so that's why you have the increase in that that's the biggest increase in the budget keep in mind that's 75% reimbursed by the state but they pay us a year later what's chapter 115 chapter 115 is a uh benefit mass is the only only state that has it and what it is is an alternative to like a welfare program uh so veterans have a different uh level it's income sensitive and there's a test on income and assets before you qualify but it's been around since the Civil War and um it maintains a an adequate living for for veterans that a very very low income uh it pays fuel for them even if they're on citizens for Citizens fuel sens they can also get that also and it provides complete medical for instance uh if they have 100 I don't know what this these days $148 deducted from a social security check they'll get that re and they pick up all co-pays and um if we have a younger veteran that ends up on it because it's not age sensitive we would have to put them on a Blue Cross or some type of medical but it's all 75% reimbursed by state so like I say they pay you back a year from on transfer you'll see another cherry sheet question yes um the number of veterans you're helping is there much uh right now uh we're at six we just put three on and dur across of FY 24 was too thank you that's it any you like we're able to communicate to those who may need the services and that we're reaching them the Outreach um is limited um I think it's adequate um D does a tremendous service for their veterans we have a lot of uh people almost like in a volunteer area that get the wear out I know the selectman get the wear out and we have uh other things we have veterans breakfast every year and um the wood on the street and we also uh do things for veterans that do not need chapter 115 we handle all the disability claims and uh you know we've had a lot with you probably see on TV have you been to camp and uh we have a lot and they've been getting uh their compensation so and all that money comes right into these codes and get spent usually right here so I think we have about 425 veterans in town right now so we're right across the and plus we have the cemetery burials and flags that go out so it's it's pretty active dude just like a quick question like yeah like oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah like in terms of like the six people you just mentioned that did you had work with this year is that just one a yeah those six people just through the chapter 115 program those are yes okay like and then Y and then there's a host of other veterans you work with okay I just wanted to getun course I'm only here on the D um payroll for twice a week and also on the berly payroll for one day a week but you also have somebody in that office four days a week so anytime somebody shows up this they they get service and we have these email things that are voice emails I don't know much about the technology of it but I will get an email I just got one coming in that somebody put an email in so now we get it right away so we can uh we can get back to them so it works yeah the only um Revenue this department brings in I don't know where it shows up in the budget but it's a snip know something that comes in from directly I think you know you must know about that and where it is but it doesn't show up here but it's somewhere in the general fund which gu we do things for that good thank you that's what we're going to go over first um just to let you know we are doing our heart and definitely trying to be a little bit bral PES wherever we can um so for our salary um the increase uh for the contract um for both the assistant um Town Clerk and the clerk um was a two and a half% increase and also um for the town Parks position my position uh to an app increase um that as well overtime hours uh we I have $500 for additional time for training for State Mand main dat to uh train mandatory chain uh trainings uh vitals are CH our vitals are changing as well as our state computers everything's starting to um change so our vitals for our births deaths and marriages are now all changing to new paper um new bindings new everything so we have to be trained on all of that and uh what's coming so we have a little bit of uh overtime for there um equipment repair and maintenance I have $375 that's really just for our two printers um computers it's basically with nrro uh nrpc for right now and any other issues that we might have um so that's $375 uh professional technical I have $33,000 this is for conferences legal consultant fees um Town sales Constable fees um and the conferences this includes the hotel food and any incremental costs and then under Communications uh $650 this is actually for p du that we sent out for dog licensing um P du business licenses that we send out um we do it right from the office um so that is for what it costs to um for mailings uh just to let you know we actually just did a um business certificate pass do not no it didn't cost us you know cost us about $600 for um mailing and we actually got a little over 800 back already so that was great yeah um and then uh dog licensing will actually go out um soon as well for late fees um okay office supplies I have $3,200 this is for our Vital record sheet protectors the storage book books um bindings the permanent Town records um extra sheet protectors because we did find um old vital birth records from 1920 to 1955 that were never actually put into a protective sleeve so those are actually a little bit expensive and again because they are redoing um the vitals now we have to buy all new books and we have to make sure that we have the specific paper that the state requires um and then we have dog license um so the 55 so we have the 1,950 this is for the dog tags the carbon license paper this is based on a little bit of an increase um that we actually had for 2024 um we are expecting um to be spending a a little bit more um we did have we might have we might need to buy um another small set um because we are running out we're running through pretty fast um and then our travel so this is $600 um this is for mileage and other travel expenses we do have three conferences that we do go to um and this is also for um I do get a h stien for the Post Office is to deliver mail um every single day and then I have a $300 um fee this is for both myself and the assistant town clerk this is a $300 fee um for the mtca uh ma uh Mass town clerks Association Tri County clerks Association and that is the 161 any questions just probably a dum question sure what get what do you spend money with cons so I am going to try I'm going to I'm actually in the process of looking to do consle fee for me is two about $250 um a year uh so that is something I am working to do for myself uh so that way we don't have to pay the fees usually I mean it varies between um person I guess um we've been pretty lucky with the people people that we've known um so typically we use the Constable fees for any postings that we might have to do for warrants um and any kind of byw changes um it could be I feel like you know it could be anywhere from like $50 to $100 or depending on like who you call or whatever um we've uh so that's why I'm trying to look into doing it myself um because that would save the town money and also um a lot less headache so I can do it myself okay um okay elections 162 so elections are very important we do have three coming up this year for 25 we have the um State Prim primary we have the presidential election and we have our annual Town election so for the salary workers I have $13,500 this is for the three elections early voting um pre-election tabulation testing so any testing we might have to do with the um ballots as well as the machines the salary clerical this is the same as above but this is for um the assistant town clerk as well as the um the the clerk that we have that works um 10 hours for us and uh and then 25 for The treasur Collector so that is their overtime hours because this is all for the three elections as well as the Fridays we have to be here um for any last minute uh things that the state requires regist ations things like that that sometimes we have to be here on Friday because it's Mand mandatory because they say you know by 5:00 on you know this date that's the last day you can register to vote for this election so that we have to be here so those are the overtime hours there uh then we professional technical we do have $6,200 this is actually for our tabulation program programming they're the USB that go inside of our election equipment and they have to get uh redone every every time we have a new election so we have to send that back they have to reprogram it and then they send that back to us so we can start our new election um this is also includes the ballots and also includes the school rental um and any other like overtime for the like janitor janit um the janitor from the school so that's the professional technical off duty police detail this is again three elections I'm expecting three police officers for the state primary three police officers for the annual Town election and I am actually requesting four police officers for the presidential um because we do need because of the amount of people that do show up we do need somebody that will be outside 100% going through and making sure everything is centic um and Communications so 6287 this is actually pretty much um we went up a tiny tiny bit because this is actual cost so this is our census um and our confirmation mailing so the censuses that you guys get you fill out it comes back to us this you know this is your this is based off like your listing like your you know it's basically your confirmation mailing is that secondary mailing that if you don't fill out your census that secondary mailing gets sent out and then you fill out the card otherwi it's become be inactive um and then let's see so that is communication so office supplies we have $600 this is for like storage bins for the election ballots permanent seals for bins um pens ink for the State computer printing out all of the um printing out everything that we need for the elections and then that is that do we have any questions on the elections I do okay thank you vote by me yes are you reimbursed by state of feds far so so the vote by mail so we get reimbursed for the primary the state elections and everything that we do not get reimbursed for local elections right in your V by mail yes we do get how much of a reimburse um we said I I still have to honestly send it send it back to the state from the primary and the vote by mail I have to actually do the contract and send it back to for reimbursement so I don't know when the clerk's office receives the reimbursement where does that money go free cash or does it go into the Collex account that money comes back in when do it go I'm want to say general fund um I would have to review the documents again to be 100% sure on that it wouldn't um go back directly into her budget um but if it goes into general fund then it's going to free cash technically okay anything in in general fund is free cash okay yeah like it allows us to close out basically generally like it allows us to close out the fal year budget with having Revenue to offset the expenditures that happen during the year okay 163 um registration so uh salary registers that's $600 um this is the actual cost for the stien um then we have the street listing we have $1,400 this is for the annual Street list preparation printing increase for and this did increase from 2023 and we already do have an expected increase for 2024 postage we have 6302 again this is uh for census confirmation mailings will by mail um you know automatic voters uh it's just all the postage that we do use for that um office supplies we have 350 this is kind of just a overall um volume voter registration increase suppli um and that is all I got postag is postage and Communications yeah so this is paper yes could Street listings be online that be a pdf online online look at we don't have to print them so typically for the street listing we actually for our street listing so this that's that book that we get for everybody right you know what the street listings is um we actually that we actually decreased from last year so we didn't even buy it as much as we did um the prior year but I can look into it honestly and see if if you need a street listing you can look at have toint it something I can look into it might be you know it might be mandated that we have it and typically just to let you know our street listing we do keep a vital record every year for our street listing so if it's we have to have something printed but um yeah easy to update just be able to like add yeah I have to ask our um vendor like how that works and and um see if that's something that they can even do with us because we do we go through like math mailers and they're the ones that you know PR for [Music] us any other [Music] question thank the cemet [Music] commission first I just want to say what a good job CH did so lucky to have you very good job you're doing great did um so the first budget we have is 5301 baral agent it's um we went up 2 and half% part of the budget memo um so $37.50 5310 is contract so um $23,900 is hourly work store clean up and damage and other repair and maintenance above the contractual what's in the contract and also from time to time surveying cemeteries that happens with disputes and who owns it and where lock lanes are stuff like that that's the same number that we used last year as well it works for the commission um and then the last line is 5460 ground keeping supplies that's just basic supplies that we level funded you know nearly grassy low [Music] you guys put that mowing after B yes yes this is the last year the contract we have a really based on the last three years ago we put it out to bid last and um and yeah yeah yeah we have a really good deal with Paul Green bills now he was he was by far the lowest by far the lowest and I believe the rationale behind Bing it out and having another vendor is cheaper than having Town employees like the highway or store I do have a couple questions first how much revenue Cemetery Department bring in I don't have that number uh in front of me and then the second question is when was the last time there was an increase in fees so we have Perpetual account for um which doesn't have too much in it I know we looked into that a while ago and we were really trying to build that up so that I think the goal is someday we can use the interest to pay it but um we're not there yet I know the commission looked at the fees but we were pretty happy with what we were charging as far as as far as our fees go opening your rates compared to other communities competitive as far as opening Graves anything you want to add Yes except for the veterans I okay the veterans veterans themselves in the veteran cemeter is free long as it's during Town time um we don't have a lot of burials outside the V Cemetery that seems to be the hot place right now the active ceter Riverside it's been a few years since we actually had a pro barrial we had one priation last year I can see a question about revenues I do not believe it goes to the general so it's it's going to be a long time before it can pay for itself a lot of we have 52 cemeteries 25 will maintaining We inherited most of them families moved away so we didn't none of them had plans of Perpetual care and the town's SP in the G so we're going to just try to put everything we can into also take the as we can oh thank you we did have that as an agenda item recently though that we looked at the fees [Applause] satisfi all right thank [Music] [Applause] you T yeah that wraps it up back tues same time make the motion the SEL hi thank you for the finance committee I make a motion to the finance committee adour second all in favor