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 5-14-2020 Chair – Dan Rist Members –Bill Lynch (Clerk) – Peg Conniff Councilor Rist called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm through Zoom application Minutes: A Motion was made by councilor Conniff, second by councilor Lynch to approve the Minutes for meeting on 5-11-2020 – Pass 3-0 Mayor Update – None Public communications – None New Business – Supplemental Appropriation $200.00 to supplement the FY 2020 City Council Legal Advertising budget from the Reserve fund to Council Advertising. This is due to the high activity and extra needed advertising on top of the advertising costs increasing. Councilor Conniff made a motion to accept, Councilor Lynch second the motion and it passed 3-0 Supplemental Appropriation for $42,000 from the Reserve fund to supplement Dispatch sub-departments, OT, Salary and holiday pay. This will give Dispatch the additional funds needed to cover the rest of the year as well as contractual Holiday pay. Councilor Conniff made a motion to approve, Councilor Lynch second and it passed 3-0 Budget conversation – Library was discussed as it was not reviewed at the previous meeting. In the budget it is showing that the Library needs $378,017 to operate. The City can only fund $213,466 of that. That dollar amount is the same as LY, the remaining money is raised through donations and fund raisings. This is standard for the library to not get the full amount needed but they like to include it in the budget to show how much it costs to operate. Police Budget was reviewed. Noted was the call volume was around 18K calls and that was an increase over 2018. Discussed was the appropriation that was added to LY budget due to a shortfall in the Payroll line and contractual obligations. Chief Alberti noted that the OT line was down as well as the salary line. He noted that there was going to hopefully be funds from this year saved and sent to Free Cash, he noted that there will be some lines that he will need to come back for an appropriation. He also noted that he should appropriate for a cruiser this year but may hold off due to the financial unknown. It was also noted that there is a line missing for 5K for Uniform allowance. This will be added in and resubmitted. Crossing Guards was reviewed and it was noted that the payroll went up and that was due to Minimum wage increasing. The rest of the department was level funded. Detention was reviewed and there was no concerns or questions. Animal control was reviewed and it was noted that the Supplies and services line in the total was wrong, it showed 12,500 and 17,500 when it should have read 10K and 15K. This will be corrected and sent to the council. Dispatch was reviewed and there was discussion around the requested budget being more than the actual, the budget was cut in the Payroll line but it was still an increase over LY. Fire was reviewed and it was noted that the Deputy Fire Chief line was not funded. There was concerns that this would null and void the grant on the 4 firefighters. The Mayor informed us that the Deputy Fire Chief would be funded through the marijuana money and it would not null and void the grant. Incentive line was also down and it was said that it would be a line that would need an appropriation in the future. There was nothing in Sick Leave Buyback because there is no known retirements. Ambulance was reviewed and there was an increase on the incentive and this was contractual. There was also a question around the equipment repair line going up and that was caused by the older ambulances needing more repairs now. Building inspection services was reviewed. The payroll on the building clerk was addressed and is going up due to increased hours worked. The lines show an increase from what was requested and that was due to the budget being done with out the knowledge and experience on writing the budget. Board of Health was reviewed and it was discussed that they are falling behind on the inspections. Also, it was noted that there is a PT inspector that was brought on with a COVID-19 grant that expires in two weeks. There was discussion around if a grant could fund a part time position and there was not one that was known. There is a request to fund a PT inspector that would include 23k salary, 200. In Uniforms, 300 in sheriff’s service fees and education and training line. Council on aging was reviewed and the only question was around Professional Services and why it went up. It was discussed that it was contractual and once the contracts are up we will probably align with the same contracts as 50 Payson ave. which will save us money in future years. Veteran Services was reviewed and it was noted that the Cash benefits was down but we could need more. That would go up due to the passing of Vets and funeral services. It was also mentioned that the Prof. & Tech services is split with South Hadley. Unclassified was reviewed. It was discussed that W/C and medicare went up due to salary increases. Chapter 32B was flat because the trust is not planning on increasing the plans. It was discussed that the OPEB line was new here and that is why there is no budget prior to this year. Continuing Business – None Salaries and Stipends – Continued Proposal of MGL Chapter 44B - Continued Councilor Conniff made a motion to adjourn second by Councilor Lynch and it passed 3-0 Next meeting 5-19-2020 at 5:30 pm Submitted by, Bill Lynch