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 Minutes City Council Finance Committee Meeting, 5/11/2023 Attendees: Finance Committee Members: Councilor Dan Rist, Chair Councilor Tom Peake, Clerk Councilor Koni Denham Other Attendees: City Auditor Hetal Patel DPW Director Greg Nuttelman Mayor Nicole LaChapelle City Council President Homar Gomez Meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM. 1) Approval of Minutes: On motion made by Councilor Rist and seconded by Councilor Peake, it was voted 2-0 to approve the minutes of May 10 as amended. 2) Mayor’s Communication: None 3) Public Speak: None 4) New Business a) FY ’24 Budget Review: i) Public Works: (1) Building Operations: Price of trash disposal rose. They also added a second full-time building custodian. Changes were made to the solar arrangements that the city is involved with, which means that the city is now receiving checks rather than credits. This means the DPW will need to pay certain electric bills they did not in the past, although those costs will be recouped at the end of the fiscal year. An HVAC tech will  also begin performing quarterly preventative maintenance on those systems. Landscapers will also be brought in to focus on native plants. (2) Administration: Increases in salary are pay plan increases. This will likely be true throughout the budget. (3) Engineering: Engineers receive a stipend for using their personal cell phones, but it has not changes. (4) Fuel: Expenses are budgeted as increasing by approximately $4,000, although the actual numbers could be higher. (5) Highway: The DWP negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with the highway division workers. It also includes money to compensate workers for standby duty. Councilor Denham asked if the overtime numbers were highway were slow, and Director Nuttelman stated that a lot of the overtime for the Highway division is covered by the snow department. Professional services in highway largely results from bringing in independent contractors and paying police for traffic control. (6) Motor Repair: No major changes. Salary includes two mechanics. (7) Snow Removal: This is always budgeted at $200,000, and this year is the same. (8) Street Lights: No major changes. LED conversion took place last year, which had some bumps, but the budget would have been significantly higher without it. (9) Traffic: No major changes. (10) Trash/Recycle/Hazardous Waste: The amount increased significantly as the price of the disposal increased. (11) Cemetery: Some services were brought in house, leading to an increase in salary costs but a decrease in services expenses. ii) Enterprise: The board of public works voted in a new rate structure which will go into effect on July 21 (1) Sewer: Salary and stand-by costs increased as a result of the new collective bargaining agreement. (2) Water: Same salary structures. Costs of many fittings and supplies have increased in recent years. (3) Wastewater: Same situation. Chemical costs have increased substantially. (4) Enterprise Reserves: Same as last year, only used for end-of-year transfers. iii) Culture and Recreation: (1) Library: Library budget increased to $244,200, a ten percent increase that the mayor intentionally put in to start a process of making the library viable in the long term. This is approximately $20,000 more than what is required from the state. The mayor also indicated that she intends to do the same in the next fiscal year. (2) Parks & Recreation: (a) Parks: Increases in personnel expenses are pay plan increases, other than one additional part time position. Expenses are fairly level. (b) Recreation: Temp positions have gone up a bit to increase lifeguard wages, and Williston is giving them a hiring bonus. No other major changes beyond pay plan increases. 5) Old Business 6) Continuing Business a) Quarterly fiscal reports from the City Auditor: This was not discussed tonight. b) Quarterly Report on Covid-19 grant funding and spending: This was not discussed tonight. By motion made by Councilor Peake and seconded by Councilor Denham, the meeting was adjourned at 6/18 PM Next meeting: 5/15/23