Minutes of the Finance Committee Meeting,

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 1:00 PM

Judge Welsh Meeting Room, Town Hall, Provincetown, MA 02657

 

Present: Chair Ruth Gilbert, Vice Chair Sue Buerkel, Robert Vetrick, Matthew Clark, Tom Thurston, Mark Leach, Ginny Ross, Gail Enos and Ann Maguire.

 

Also present, Town Manager Keith Bergman and department heads.

Meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM by Ruth Gilbert.

 

Review of minutes from February 13, 2004.  Sue Buerkel made a motion to accept with the following amendments: 296-Shellfish-change “some” to “same” staffing levels. 210-Police-change “zero line” to “level-funded” and last line in second paragraph on page 2 should read- “That means that the department will be short at least 4 officers.” 294-Harbormaster-vote should be 6:0:1.  Matthew Clark seconded and it passed 7:0:2.

Review of minutes from February 26, 2004. Mark Leach made a motion to accept with the following amendments: 220-Fire Department-change “Travato” to “Trovato.” 330-School Department-change “Matthew Leach” to “Mark Leach.” Ann Magiure Maguire seconded and it passed 7:0:2.

 

Presentation on Health Insurance Plans for Town employees was given. (Memo dated March 12, 2004 from John Fitzgerald)

 

Discussion of Director of Municipal Finance Bruce Miller’s revised draft ten-year Fiscal Policy Plan.

 

Re-Review of Tabled Budgets

 

5 minute break called at 2:55PM

Sue Buerkel was excused from the meeting at 2:55PM

Meeting resumed at 3:00PM

 

Presentation and discussion of Cape End Manor CEO Dennis Anderson’s answers to inquiries about Manor finances and cost of various exit strategies.

 

STM-4 Cape End Manor FY2004 Supplemental Appropriation

Robert Vetrick made a motion to recommend, Gail Enos seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-525 Cape End Manor

Budget request of $2,929,792 which reflects a .4% increase. Level funding was achieved by 6 staff layoffs, 4 work reduced positions and an agreement with all vendors to reduce billings by 25%.

Tom Thurston made a motion to recommend as requested, Robert Vetrick seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-192 Building and Grounds

Request for $569,474 which is a reduction of 4.1%.

Robert Vetrick made a motion to recommend as requested, Gail Enos seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-422 Highway Department

Request for $288,236 which is a reduction of 1.3%.

Ann Maguire made a motion to accept budget requested by Town Manager for $254,473, Matthew Clark seconded and it passed 5:3:0. Matthew Clark stated that more and more cuts should be expected until Cape End Manor issues are resolved.

 

-135 Town Accountant

Request for $194,480 which is a 3.8% increase. Bruce Miller explained the negative implications of reducing this budget. 

Ann Maguire suggested asking each department (Town Accountant, Assessors and Treasurer) to reduce their budgets by about $1,600. Matthew Clark again stated in defense of his position to not recommend this budget, that townspeople need to see recognize that implications the impact of continuing deficitsed funding of Cape End Manor in terms ofwill be a reduction of services to public and that all town departments should share in reductions.  Mark Leach made the point that the Finance staff is already quite lean even by private-sector standards and that the need to complete the conversion to the new financial system was a critical need.

Tom Thurston made a motion to accept budget as requested, Mark Leach seconded. Ruth Gilbert supports Ann Maguire’s suggestion. Keith Bergman suggested that if Fin Com insists on making a $5,000 reduction in some budget that they do it in -820 Tax Titles. Motion passed 8:0:0.

 

Ann Maguire made a motion to revisit 820 Tax Title budget, Matthew Clark seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-820 Tax Title

Ann Maguire made a motion to recommend reducing this budget by $9,000 to $30,000, Matthew Clark seconded and it passed 7:1:0.

 

-141 Board of Assessors

Request for $148,833 which is a 6.4% increase.

-145 Treasurer/Collector

Request for $176,735 which is level funded.

Robert Vetrick made a motion to recommend both as requested, Ann Maguire seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-240 Inspections

Request for $140,245 which reflects a 9% increase.

Ann Maguire made a motion to recommend as requested, Gail Enos seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

-241 Community Development

Request for $101,541 which reflects a 46% decrease.

Ann Maguire made a motion to recommend as requested, Tom Thurston seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

 

Tom Thurston made a motion to reopen 156-Administration. Ginny Ross seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Tom Thurston made a motion to approve $62,930, Ginny Ross seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Tom Thurston made a motion to reopen 169-Licensing. Ginny Ross seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Tom Thurston made a motion to approve $37,930, Ginny Ross seconded and it passed 8:0:0.



Matthew Clark made a motion to reopen 210-Police in order to understand the impact of the Selectmen’s recent authorization of new hiring on the department’s overtime budget.  , Ann Maguire seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Matthew Clark made a motion to reduce the Overtime line in the Police budget by 30% based on the estimate of the Director of Municipal Finance that the new staffing plan would reduce overtime by a minimum of 30%.  Ann Maguire seconded.  After further clarifications by the Town Manager that the budget amount already approved by the Finance Committee did not include the expenses for the new officers, Matthew Clark made a motion to withdraew previous the motion.

 

Funding for Tourism is being submitted as a warrant article (ATM-31) instead of operating budget, so that unused funds can be retained for tourism and not be turned back into general fund.

Ann Maguire made a motion to reopen 699-Tourism budget, Tom Thurston seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Ann Maguire made a motion to revise this budget to $0 funding, Tom Thurston seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Matthew Clark made a motion to recommend ATM-31 with the provision that any unexpended funds as of June 30th, 2005 revert to the general fund, given the Town’s current and anticipated financial straits.  Ginny Ross seconded and it passed 8:0:0

 

Mark Leach made a motion to adjourn, Gail Enos seconded and it passed 8:0:0.

Meeting adjourned at 6:25PM

 

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis Lutsky

Phyllis Lutsky

Recording Secretary