City Council - Finance Committee

Finance Committee Minutes May 28, 2025 Members present: Chair Tom Peake, Councilor Koni Denham (Remote), Councilor Peg Conni (Remote) Members absent: None Also in Attendance: John Mason, Director Parks & Rec, Lindsi Sekula, City Clerk Mary Ann Giza; Council President Salem Derby, Mayor LaChappelle, Karin Camahort Meeting called to order by Councilor Peake at 5:30 pm 1. Public Speak Time: No one from the public chose to speak 2. Approval of the Prior Meeting Minutes: None to approve 3. Mayor’s Communications: None 4. New Business: FY25 Supplemental Appropriations Free cash was certi ed today per the Mayor. Mayor will be submitting a revised set of Supplemental Appropriations now that free cash is certi ed. The revised list will be in the next City council and a public meeting will be set at that time. These appropriations will be brought forward at the next City Council meeting along with other appropriations and they will be handled as 1 group now that free cash is certi ed. We will have a better view of city nancials when all appropriations are done. Motion to remove without prejudice the below supplemental appropriations, made by Councilor Denham. Second Councilor Conni . Vote 3-0 to approve. • $144,011.14 for Police Dept. unforeseen contractual payout, overtime & other related expenses • $2,000.00 for increase in costs to share animal control services with the City of West eld • $110,518.52 for costs related to a grant for upgraded dispatch radio consoles ff fi fi fi ff fi fi  5. Continuing Business: • FY 2026 Municipal Budget - Discussion regarding the use of Stabilization funds in the 2026 Budget. Councilor Peake spoke of the increases in the budget are largely a factor of in ation. There are a couple of new positions which are good to have. He sees nothing in the budget to be cut. Councilor Denham has no concerns about the use of $4M from stabilization. However, due to the cut in numbers Councilor Conni spoke about the use of stabilization funds for this budget will limit the appetite of the Council to provide appropriation after appropriation to departments. The budget is the budget and use your money wisely because it is unlikely the Council will be generous with supplemental appropriations. Councilor Peake spoke of the supplemental cash that we receive from free cash about 18 months after the FY closes. Councilor Denham spoke of the change in free cash increase YOY to augment the $4M use of Stabilization funds. The Mayor has followed the policy to put money into a hard budget and not have to be concerned about using Free Cash for lling gaps. Councilor Derby would like to understand better the gap with the people who have had their hours cut. The hour reduction (Mayor LaChapelle) is across the board based on the union structure. The remaining departments were told that the excess hours were denied because it would have brought us to a de cit. Other departments were able to close the gap by changing their budget and moving money around. The amount of money in Stabilization is excessive according to the state. ARPA money has been able to close some gaps. Question about continuing to fund retirement to the degree they have in the past. Generally, the schools have the biggest budgets. And we are losing students and if this continues, we will be level funded for Chapter 70 and that will be the bare minimum. At this point, Chair Peake called a 15 minute recess to get the correct motions ready for voting. Upon returning, Chair Peake reminded us that the council has no power to raise the budget numbers. At this point the people who are having hours reduced stood. Councilor Conni spoke about the unfairness of the hours being cut. The Council has no power to raise the budget. If we make cuts, there is no guarantee that the money cut would be re-allocated to the 6 people who had hours cut. fi fi ff ff fl Councilor Denham spoke of her disagreement with the reduction of hours and that there does not seem to be the will to resolve this. Motions related to each department Section 1. General Government $3,563,535.86. Section 2. Public Safety. $9,010,248.29 Section 3. Education. $22,794,154.00 Section 4. Public Works. $2,449,717.12 Section 5. Human Services. $867,325.38 Section 6. Culture & Recreation. $816,735.00 Section 7. Debt. $5,521,522.53 Section 8. Unclassi ed. $12,757,993.87 Section 9. CPA. $811,300.00 Section 10. Enterprise. $3,387,750.60 Section 11. Revolving Fund Cap. $20,000 All Sections were approved by a vote of 2-1. Councilor Denham voted “no”. Meeting ended at 6:50p.m. Motion to adjourn Councilor Conni , Second Councilor Peake. 3-0 Vote. 5. Next Meeting: TBD No additional business to discuss. Respectfully submitted, Councilor Peg Conni ff ff fi