City Council - Finance Committee

CITY OF EASTHAMPTON OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL Easthampton Municipal Building 50 Payson Ave., Ste. 100 Easthampton, Massachusetts 01027-2260 Telephone #: (413) 529-1460 Fax #: (413) 529-1417 Finance Committee meeting 4-8-2020 Chair – Dan Rist Members –Bill Lynch (Clerk) – Peg Conniff Councilor Rist called the meeting to order at 5:34 pm through Zoom application Minutes: Minutes for Feb 26th were submitted by Councilor Conniff, Councilor Conniff motioned to approve, Councilor Rist second the motion and it passed 2-0-1 Minutes for the meeting on 3-11-2020 Councilor Conniff motioned, Councilor Lynch second and it passed 3-0 Mayor Update - None Public communications – None New Business – Budget meeting schedules – The mayor submitted proposed dates to the council for the breakdown of the budget review – May 11th, May 14th, May 19th, May 21st. These dates were ok’d by the Finance Committee and will be scheduled for 5:30 on those dates. Continuing Business – Supplemental Appropriation of $35,233 for Health care 32B contract agreements to be paid out to the workers. This is a collective bargaining agreement. Councilor Lynch made the motion to approve, Councilor Conniff second the motion and it passed 3-0 Supplemental Appropriation of $100,000 from free cash to Snow and Ice deficit fund. This is the only line that can be underfunded and go into deficit. We do this appropriation every year. Councilor Lynch requested to see the past years appropriation on this line to see how we fell this year being a mild year. Councilor Conniff made the motion to approve, Councilor Lynch second and it passed 3-0 Supplemental Appropriation of $100,000 from free cash to tax relief stabilization fund. This was to add to the Stabilization fund for future use. Councilor Conniff made the motion to approve, Councilor Lynch second and it passed 3-0 Supplemental Appropriation of $75,000 from General Stabilization fund to Emergency Tech services and Public Health Emergency salaries for the Covid-19 expenses. This was noted that the money has not been spent at this point. Also, this allows for tracking to submit to FEMA the expenses when they post what is available for reimbursement. Councilor Lynch made the motion to approve, Councilor Conniff second and it passed 3-0 Interdepartmental Transfer of $800.00 for the board of health for additional services funding. The BOH is falling behind on inspections and needs help catching up. This will allow more hours to be spent on inspections. Councilor Lynch made the motion to approve, Councilor Conniff second and it passed 3-0 - All of the Supplemental Appropriations and Interdepartmental transfer have been set for a public hearing on 4-15. Salaries and Stipends agenda item has been continued CPA tax exemption conversation has continued. Councilor Kwiecinski gave some information on this exemption. He stated that out of all of the Western Mass Cities and towns, 32 of them have a CPA. Out of those 24 of them have this exemption. Councilor Rist would like to continue this conversation and asked for more information around the ownership of this and what the requirements are for the exemption. Next meeting is scheduled for 4-22-2020 at 5:30 in Zoom. Councilor Conniff made a motion to adjourn second by Councilor Lynch and it passed 3-0 Submitted by, Bill Lynch