BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES 1.19.17
TOWN OF BRADFORD
BUDGET COMMITTEE
January 19, 2017
Meeting called to order at 6:00pm by Beth Downs.
Members Present: Beth Downs, Chair; Dick Keller; Chris Mock; Kathy Rodgers; Dave Nunnally; John Pfeifle, Selectman; Michael James;
Also Present: Karen Hambleton, Town Administrator; Jim Bibbo, Selectman
Review and Consideration of Minutes
Minutes for January 9, 2016 were approved as written.
At the request of the Road Agent, the Chair read the first paragraph from a letter from the Road Agent:
To: the Bradford budget Commitee, Bradford Board of Selectman
Please read this in to the minutes. I am writing this letter to answer your questions about the Highway Dept budget instead of coming to the meeting personally. There is one member of the commitee who has a personal vandetta against me, who also wants my job, this person has spread past and present rumors and lies about me, like most recently that I’m a drug attic and I’m stealing the town blind. I’m fed up with this persons rumors and Lies. I dont want to come to a meeting with that member present. So Im going to address your questions thru this letter
The remainder of the letter discusses the Highway Department budget and will be addressed at the next Budget Committee meeting
Meeting with Department Heads:
4150 Financial Administration- Camila Devlin
01-4150-1202 Deputy TC/TC Wages: This line item went down because there is one less pay period this year.
01-4150-2400 Conferences: Camila was not able to attend as many conferences as she wanted to last year. Conferences are recommended by the Town Clerk and Tax Collector Associations as a mechanism to stay up to date.
01-4150-3010 Audit Fees: The increase in this line is due to the GASB 45 audit due this year. In addition to our annual audit, the GASB 45 audit is done every two years.
01-4150-3422 Software Support: There is an Avitar software module that Camila would like to purchase. The software will increase office productivity as data entry will no longer need to be duplicated in two systems. This is a subscription based program.
01-4150-6008 Clerk election expense: This line item was decreased because there are only 2 elections this year. This line item includes police detail and ballot expense for the election.
01-4150-6903 Fees & Licenses: The amount spent in this line is unpredictable because there is no way to know how many marriages/births/deaths will happen in the upcoming year.
01-4150-7401 Equipment Purchase: This line covers the State-owned printers used for registrations. The Town is responsible for any repairs needed on the printers.
4210 Police Department- Jim Valiquet and Ed Shaughnessy
01-4210-1205 Wages-Police Secretary: The Chief would like to increase the secretary’s hours so she can do more transcriptions as opposed to the officers having to do them.
01-4210-1400 Overtime: There has been an increase in crime, which requires more court appearances by the officers. There is also more training that the department is attending.
01-4210-3422 Software Support: This line covers the maintenance fee for the Crime Star software program. It also includes other software needs (virus protection etc).
01-4210-3902 Hospital blood draw: The department occasionally must cover the expense for a suspect to have their blood drawn (DUIs etc).
01-4210-3903 Animal/Vet: If the PD brings a lost or injured animal to the vet for boarding or treatment, and is not able to locate an owner, the PD covers the vet bill.
01-4210-3904 Dispatch: This line covers the dispatch services provided by Merrimack County Dispatch.
01-4210-4301 Repair-Radios: This line covers the repair of radios.
01-4210-5600 Dues & Subscriptions: This line covers any dues or subscriptions for services, such as Leads on Line which helped solve 15 burglaries in this area.
01-4210-6001 SOU: This stands for Special Operations Unit; there is a $3000 annual fee.
01-4210-6006 Police equipment: This line item pays for duty ammunition, taser replacement, and emergency repairs on guns as well. The PD would also like to purchase 2 lights to put on their riffles.
01-4210-6350 Gasoline & Oil: This line is unpredictable due to the fluctuation of gas prices. This line item was reduced slightly because the department has newer cruisers that get better gas mileage.
01-4210-7500 Rental & Expenses: This line item pays for the rent for the PD office. It also covers the alarm system and generator.
01-4210-9314 Copier: This line covers their printer/fax/copier machine expenses.
4220 Fire Department- Mark Goldberg
01-4220-3410 Telephone: The increase is due to high speed internet.
01-4220-4310 Repairs & Maintenance-Radios: Same as the police response, this is unpredictable
01-4220-4303 Repairs & Maintenance-Vehicles: Their vehicles are getting older and are requiring more repairs; again this is unpredictable.
01-4220-6005 Supplies-Uniforms/Protective Clothing: 90% of this budget line goes towards the cost of coats, boots, gloves etc.
01-4220-6300 Repairs &Maintenance-Equipment: This line covers small pieces of equipment (for example the portable pump, chainsaws etc).
01-4220-7300 Repairs & Maintenance-Building: This covers all building repairs.
01-4220-7401 Equipment Purchases: This line item pays for small, frequently replaced things like bandages, batteries, flashlights, etc.
4225 Rescue Squad-FAST- Carl Goldberg
01-4225-1208 Training Wages: This covers EMS recertification time and wages.
01-4225-3410 Telephone: This line item would cover the purchase of a mobile phone.
01-4225-4303 Repairs & Maintenance-Equipment: This covers general repairs including backboards, computers, etc.
01-4225-4304 Service Contract: This covers the service contracts for the Physio-Life Pack and the Chest Compressor.
01-4225-4305 Continuing Education: This line covers tuition for classes. The rescue squad must participate in classes and certifications to remain current.
01-4225-4306 Oxygen: This is for the rental of the tanks and the O2 that fills them.
01-4225-6171 Paramedic Intercept: This line is obsolete.
The next Budget Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th, 2017 at 6:30pm at the Community Center.
As there was no further business to come before the Committee, meeting was adjourned at 8:19pm.
Minutes submitted by Molly Hopkins.