Members Present: Marlene Freyler, Justin Dohrn, Claire James, Karen Hambleton, Carol Troy
Members Absent: Caleb Connor, Jason Allen
Meeting opened at 12:06pm.
Review and Approval of 10.9.19 Meeting Minutes
Motion was made by Karen to approve the 10.9.19 minutes, with a date correction as follows:
Change “Review and Approval of 10.9.19 Meeting Minutes” section to “Review and Approval of 10.2.19 Meeting Minutes”.
Motion seconded by Justin Dohrn. Motion carried 4-0.
Review of 2020-2030 CIP
Following discussion amongst committee members, several changes to the 2020-2030 CIP spreadsheet were recommended and will be updated prior to the next meeting, including:
1. Per Karen’s recommendation, the Executive, Community Center and Town Hall projects will be placed in three separate categories on the spreadsheet (as opposed to their present format, which has them combined).
2. In order to ease the tax burden, Karen suggested that the funds for the Heating System replacement be reallocated in the 1991 Town Facilities account as follows: 10K in year 2020 and 10K in year 2021. The 2020 expenditure year designation for this item will also be removed from the spreadsheet and instead left open, as the system will be replaced when the need to do so arises.
3. Karen advised that the cost for the “Pick-up truck with plow to replace the 2005 F350” line item should be changed from 37K to 36K, as 36K was the actual amount spent.
4. Karen raised the point that there were no expenditure designation years for the Highway Equipment items. Claire stated that annual savings allocation for these items could be referenced in the Capital Reserve Funds savings section of the spreadsheet and that designation years were left open as the Select Board has been emphasizing a repair/maintenance approach to equipment wherever possible (as opposed to a new purchase approach). Karen suggested that a separate line titled “General Highway Equipment Savings” be included in the Projects portion of the spreadsheet, using expenditure years that reflect actual savings so as to make it clearer that funds are in fact being set aside for equipment and could be expended up to a certain amount, should the decision be made to do so. The spreadsheet will be updated to reflect this recommendation.
5. The 2030 Revaluation expenditure will be increased from 30K to 34K per Karen’s recommendation, as pricing for this line item will likely have increased by then. Savings allocations for this line item from 2026-2029 will also be adjusted to reflect the anticipated increase.
6. Marlene advised the committee members that she will be requesting 5K for gravestone repair in 2020 and that as such, the $500 allocation designated for 2020 for the Gravestone Repair fund should be reduced to $0. The spreadsheet will be adjusted to reflect this.
7. After much discussion amongst committee members concerning how to best allocate savings for the West Main St. fund so as to minimize tax impact, Karen recommended allocating 25K for year 2020 and 25K for year 2021, as opposed to allocating the full 50K for that fund in 2020, since this unduly skews the tax impact. Committee members were in agreement with this recommendation. Claire will adjust the spreadsheet accordingly and will advise the committee members regarding the newly revised tax impact for 2020 and 2021 at the next meeting.
8. Claire advised the committee members that once the Road Repair Bond (annual payment of $33,385) and Loader Lease (annual payment of $15,375) are paid off in the years 2023 and 2027 respectively, that funding which would otherwise have been used to pay for these line items could be available to place into the 2019 Town Roads & Bridges fund. Claire cautioned that this could be a viable scenario so long as Operating Expenses for the town remain relatively stable over the next several years. Karen suggested – and committee members collectively agreed – that the savings for the 2019 Town Roads & Bridges fund be adjusted with this in mind. Claire will update the saving allocations for this fund accordingly.
9. Karen requested that the word “Increase” on the last line of the spreadsheet be removed, in order to avoid potential confusion regarding tax impact to any readers of the document.
10. Claire noticed that funding for the proposed Police Facility was mistakenly left out of the savings portion of the spreadsheet for the year 2029. Claire will add 10K in savings for that year and will also adjust the offsetting revenue for the project accordingly.
Discussion of Summary Spreadsheet for 2020 to be posted online
Committee members had a discussion regarding the ideal format in which to present the CIP as a summary, in conjunction with the considerably more detailed 2020-2030 CIP Spreadsheet. It was suggested that a snapshot format of project costs, savings and tax impact for the year 2020 would be the most helpful and easy to reference. Claire will create a summary spreadsheet using this suggested format and will present it to the committee members at the next meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 1:45pm.
Next meeting date is Monday, October 21, 2019, at 4:30pm at the BACC.
Minutes submitted by Claire James.