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 Finance Committee meeting 5-21-2020 Chair – Dan Rist Members –Bill Lynch (Clerk) – Peg Conniff Councilor Rist called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm through Zoom application 1. Minutes: A Motion was made to amend the minutes from 5/19/2020 meeting by coun- cilor Conniff. Amendment to change the reference of Alison LeClair to Dr. Allison LeClair and Marion Goldstein to Marin Goldstein. Amendment and main motion passed 3-0 2. Mayor Update – None 3. Public communications – None 4. New Business – None 5. Review of proposed FY 2021 budget: • CPA • REVENUE • GENERAL GOVERNMENT CPA The CPA budget was presented by Asst. City Planner and CPA Committee member Jamie Webb. A discussion ensued of the process for establishing a CPA budget. The proposed 2021 CPA Budget is $534,750. <Insert the buckets for each source of CPA funds>The state will match a portion of the CPA funds and will be deliv- ered in 2 payments. The budget is conservatively built as if only 1 payment will be received. Burns Maxey from City Space also spoke in favor of the CPA budget and how it will benefit the Old Town Hall and the restoration of the building. REVENUE: FY21 Revenue budget is proposed at $47,398,936. The City Council can make no changes to this portion of the budget. Although the budget was prepared using a conservative approach considering the current COVID-19 pandemic, the state re- quires that a budget is prepared with a 2.5% tax growth line item. For FY21, this line item will be $604,118. In FY20 this line item was $582,660. GENERAL GOVERNMENT General Government FY21 proposed budget is $1,922,835.96. • City Council was presented at $41,740. Requested funds for continuing ed were not included. No changes were made to this budget. • The Mayor budget which is presented at $138,245.97 includes an increase of hours for Principal Clerk from 15 to 20 hours/week, a $4,700/year in- crease. • The City Attorney line item was increased from $50,000 (FY20) to $65,000 (FY21). and the reason was given that we will need the Attorney for re- views of the easements on Union Street. • City Auditor budget is proposed at $145,108.63. Material changes from FY20 include a salary increase for the Auditor to align to recommendations from the Collins Center to bring this position more in line with similar mu- nicipal positions in this area. • Assessor proposed budget for FY21 is $108,453.60 reduction of 4% from FY20. The hours for the Assessor will be reduced, while hours for Assistant Assessor will increase. • Treasurer proposed budget is $245,685.63. There was discussion as to why there is no line item for postage when there had been one in FY20. It has been moved to central purchasing and was consolidated. • Central Purchasing proposed at budget for FY21 $36,161 and is unchanged from FY21 • Technology FY21 budget is proposed at $237,030. There was a discussion around City Technology vs. the School These two areas are served by the same technology team, but it is important to keep the work they do aligned to different budgets. • City Collector proposed FY21 budget is $130,375.95. Salaries increased as a result of recommendations from the Collins Report for these particular steps. Questions around the Office Supplies line item which are for various mailings that go out to residents. • Human Resources FY21 proposed budget is $122,513.71 which reflects a reduction from FY20 of 19.6% Discussion regarding the reason for the re- duction of 1 position and the committee learned that one position was trans- ferred from Human Resources to the Building inspector’s office. A request  was made of the current HR director regarding the line of Prof. Services that was not funded last year but includes funding in FY21 for for $1,000. The Mayor stated that it was for various speakers to provide information and ed- ucation on HR topics to the City employees. • City Clerk proposed FY21 budget is $120,409.60. No concerns from the committee • Elections FY21 budget is $33,225. A question was raised regarding the need for additional funds for Ranked Choice Voting. This line item will be in- cluded in FY22 budget. • Planning proposed budget for FY21 is for $223,423.72, an increase of 37% from FY20. This is an increase to add a part-time City Planner for 34 hours a week and $52,467/year. The addition of this position will allow for addi- tional grant writing and allow current City Planner to focus on the future vi- sion and planning for the city. The question was raised if the PT planner could be cut in half and be 17 hours instead of 34, it was said that it would not help and would not work. • Building Operations with a proposed FY21 budget of $275,163.16, a reduc- tion of 4.7% from FY20. No concerns were raised. 6. Continuing Business: - • CPA exemption - No discussion • Review of Stipends and Salaries conversation – No discussion Motion to adjourn (Conniff) second by Councilor Lynch (3-0) Next meeting 5-27-2020 at 5:30 pm Submitted by, Bill Lynch